This is all in a long line of first-hand reports that all say more or less the same: it takes some getting used to, but it’s far more accurate than analog sticks. You can even use both touchpads simultaneously in cursor-driven games to move the mouse cursor faster than with either alone. You can push a thumb to the very edge of the pad to keep moving continuously. You can sweep your thumb across the pad to turn on your heel, then move it a tiny bit more to line up a headshot without having to compensate for a joystick’s return motion. The touchpads are surprisingly accurate, and they make first-person shooters and other mouse-friendly games far more accessible than any analog stick can afford. The big question: how does the controller perform?

Considering Valve is aiming for the living room, this was a major concern.

According to Valve, they’re still working on this, and the device will get even cooler and quieter as it nears release. That’s a tall order, but they’ve managed it: despite the massive amount of CPU and GPU power crammed into that tiny box, it’s quiet and cool.

And yet the box manages to fit a giant Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan graphics card and a full desktop CPU – and keep those parts quiet and cool – without cramming them in like a jigsaw puzzle. Valve’s steel and aluminum chassis measures just over 12 inches on a side and is 2.9 inches tall, making it a little bigger than an Xbox 360 and smaller than any gaming PC of its ilk. Several publications got to play with Valve’s upcoming Steam Machine and the awesome new controller, and as The Verge reports, it’s essentially nothing but good news.

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