A
new international patent application from Valve proposes a swappable button
scheme for a handheld controller, suggesting Valve may be planning a new version
of their
recently discontinued Steam
Controller (thanks
Tyler
McVicker via
PCGamesN). Here's the abstract for the patent:
Described herein are,
among other things, handheld controllers that include housings having one or
more receiver portions for detachably coupling to one or more controls. For
example, a housing of one such controller may include, on a front surface of the
housing, a receiver that is configured to detachably couple to one or more
joysticks, one or more D-pads, one or more track pads, one or more buttons,
and/or the like. In some instances, a user may swap a first control for a second
control based on a current application (e.g., game title) that the user is
playing, based on comfort of the user, and/or for any other reason.