Valve came to CES 2014 in Las Vegas with something to prove. Not only did they unveil the first 13 manufacturing partners who will be delivering the opening volley of a wide range of Steam Machines, but they also allowed many of us to get our first hands-on time with the much-anticipated Steam Controller. I was certainly intrigued after the controller's unveiling back in September , and my anticipation grew when we got a peek behind the curtains in November

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I spent 30 minutes trying out the new controller on the original Portal and Trine 2. Let’s just say that it was an interesting half-hour.My first moments with the hardware were as strange and alien as any gaming experience I’ve had in all of my time at IGN, and I say that without an ounce of hyperbole. I started the opening moments of Portal, one of my favorite games of the past decade, and I immediately felt like a toddler trying to drive stick. I stared at the ground, ran around in circles, and couldn’t figure out how to interact with a single thing. I honestly can’t remember the last time a game’s method of control stumped me so singularly. But with that being said, I pressed on.I quickly adapted to the right-hand side of the controller – the half primarily used for interaction and looking around the world. Flicking my thumb across the right trackpad delivered just the perfect amount of haptic feedback, and after no time, I was able to observe the world with ease. Sadly, I never quite reached that same level of clarity with the left-hand side of the controller, which meant that wandering around the halls of Aperture Science quickly devolved into a painful experience. I simply couldn’t get a handle on the precise amount of thumb movement required to move Chell in any human manner. The feedback I felt here couldn't match the resistance felt from an analog stick, or the ease of WASD.My time with Trine didn’t fare any better. As I fumbled through character swapping and puzzle solving, I couldn’t help but say to myself, “Why aren’t I just using a 360 controller or a mouse and keyboard?”The big question I, and I assume many of you have is just exactly who and what this controller is for. Aside from the occasional adventure game, I was primarily a console gamer up until a few years ago. I still spend quite a bit of time on the experiences that Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo have created, but more and more I find myself gravitating towards PC gaming. Fearless, innovative, unpredictable indie games are the things that are currently stoking my creative fire, and I find that the best, easiest, and earliest place to experience these are on a PC. And yet, never once have I complained that my 360 controller or a mouse and keyboard were inadequate methods of expression in these games.I can’t imagine choosing to use this to play shooters, platformers, puzzlers, or even strategy games. So then, I ask again – who and what is this controller for?I do have to say that my brief hands-on time with the Steam Controller didn’t let me explore many of the features that I’m truly interested in. I’m intrigued by having free reign to map the buttons and motions in any way imaginable, but not because that’s something I’m going to do. Honestly, I don’t know the first thing about mapping a suitable control method. However, having the robust Steam community dig their creative teeth into the hardware and really discover the best use for individual games, and then being able to see those layouts bubble to the top is a truly exciting prospect. Also, the center touch-screen was not implemented at this time, which is an important facet of the controller.Few groups truly earn the benefit of the doubt, but Valve’s track record over the past five years or so is impeccable. I know some of the best minds in the industry are hard at work making sure that the Steam Controller is a monumental leap forward in how we interact with video games, and I can’t wait to get much more hands-on time with the input device in the upcoming months. But after 30 minutes with the controller, consider me a bit underwhelmed, slightly confused, but still cautiously optimistic.

Marty Sliva is an Associate Editor at IGN. This is his first CES. Follow him on Twitter @McBiggitty