The Steam Controller ditches its touchscreen

Valve's experimental touchpad-based Steam Controller is getting a redesign that ditches its tiny touch screen in lieu of a D-Pad and four face buttons.

As reported by Steam DB, the redesign was announced at Valve's developer-only Steam Dev Days conference this afternoon in Seattle. Supposedly the change was made because this format is better suited for backwards compatibility with many games.

Unfortunately there are no pictures of what the new model looks like, so the pic above's a mock-up captured by Twitter user Leszek Godlewski. Bear in mind this is only a working image, and Valve is still tinkering with the final version based on feedback from the 300 person beta.

Steam DB also noted that the controller will take AA batteries, and Valve's still looking into biometric feedback in other parts of the body since hands aren't the best place to measure these things.

The Steam Controller will be available both at retail and directly through Valve. Its release window has yet to be announced.

What has been announced is the release month for Alienware's Steam Machine, which is now due in September. It will contain Intel Haswell and Nvidia hardware, but its specifics have yet to be revealed.

Elsewhere at the clandestine conference, Valve founder Gabe Newell hinted that the studio is considering putting the kabash to Steam Greenlight, but we're not sure why. "Our goal is to make Greenlight go away. Not because it's not useful, but because we're evolving," he said. Ooohkay then.

We've reached out to Valve to gain more insight into the changes it's brewing, and will update if we find anything out.