Steam Controller Release Date Set For March 2015 As Revealed By Valve As New Design Of The Steam Machine Gamepad Shows Additional Analog Stick

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Do you want to get your hands on the Steam Controller? Well, you won't have to wait for long as the Steam Controller release date has been set!

Cyberland has reported that after being delayed to 2015, the Valve Steam Controller release date has been set March 2015!

The current, prototype version of the Steam Controller was refreshed in mid-March when Valve announced that it'd added two four-button diamonds between the haptic trackpads and an analog stick was added to replace the d-pad of the Steam controller.

But why was the analog stick added?

Steven Bogos from Escapist Magazine went to Valve and he found out why the analog stick replaced the d-pad in which he says:

"I spoke with one of the machinists working on the project, and he offered me some insight onto how the analog stick came to be. First up, he admitted that adjusting to the radical dual trackpads of the Steam controller is the biggest problem new users have. While he (and pretty much everyone else at Valve) swear that the dual trackpads are absolutely necessary, and that they really do make all the difference, it's not as easy to convince people who've never used them. The machinist said that the new prototype's analog stick was tied to movement, in order to "ease new players in" to using the two trackpads, by starting them off using just one for aiming. While he said that the prototype had been successful, and that players were eventually able to transition to the dual trackpad layout, its big disadvantage that the controller's d-pad had to be cut to make room for the stick."

PC Gamer added that the completion of Valve's Steam Controller was the final piece that would precede the availability of most Steam Machines, which indicates that Steam Machines will also begin to release at the end of the year. The source also told PC Gamer that they expect "about 500" games to be natively playable on SteamOS by the end of this year, up from the current count of 382.

Are you excited for the Steam Controller release date? Will you buy one once the Steam Controller release date drops? Sound off in the comments below!

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