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Re:Valve demonstrates Steam Controller [video] by barbs on Friday October 11, 2013 @06:20PM (#6536230)
2. It looks like the pads are "pressable", so whilst they can react to touches, you can configure them to only react to presses. Not quite the same as buttons, but it might be good enough.

You might be interested in looking at Tommy Refenes thoughts on his testing of the steam controller prototype. He discusses using it to play his difficult platformer Super Meat Boy:

http://tommyrefenes.tumblr.com/post/62476523677/my-time-with...

Re:Valve demonstrates Steam Controller [video] by baby on Friday October 11, 2013 @06:57PM (#6536360)
and IIRC he says he will keep playing with an Xbox Controller eventually.
Re:Valve demonstrates Steam Controller [video] by michael_michael on Friday October 11, 2013 @07:07PM (#6536397)
What he _actually_ said is slightly more nuanced:

   If you were to ask me to choose between Steam Controller and a 360 
   controller, I would choose 360. Don’t take that as slight to the controller 
   though because it’s more about the comfort of familiarity over 
   functionality. I would choose a 360 controller because I have several 
   thousand hours experience using it, however if tomorrow all game controllers 
   were wiped off the earth and the only option was the Steam Controller, I 
   don’t think this would be a bad thing. In fact, I don’t think gaming would 
   miss a beat.