Valve’s Steam Controller is in demand now given that the first dedicated SteamOS hardware is now available, the company has ramped up production of the controller in order to meet demand, and has also offered us a good look at how the controller is actually manufactured. It’s using an army of robots to build the controller, the video it has released shows that much, Portal fans will particularly like it because it’s laced with Portal references.
“We kind of went overboard,” says Valve, adding that it has built one of the largest fully automated assembly lines in the country for this purpose. Despite the fact that it has an army of robots on hand for the entire manufacturing process, it does keep a small group of employees at the facility to “keep the robots from becoming sentient.”
Valve’s video tour of the Steam Controller assembly facility is very interesting to watch, it not only features the soundtrack but has plenty of gyrating robotic arms and logos of Aperture Labs.
The company has added more features to the controller, it has received increased gyro support and aside from customizable mapping for the trackpad which optimizes scrolling through complex menus.
The upcoming Steam beta client will provide players with the ability to use the Steam Controller to play games purchased on other services, configuration traveling will arrive in a future beta client as well, enabling players to use their controllers on a friend’s PC without having to reconfigure control schemes.
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