Talk of the new Steam Machine’s living room PC bona fides usually come down to its size or its noise, both of which could be described as "very little." In third place, I’d argue, must come its tidiness. Whereas my big-lad Windows PC has enough wires spilling out to strangle the Colossus of Rhodes, I rarely need to add to the power and display cables hidden behind Valve’s SteamOS cube; in particular, its integrated Steam Controller antenna means I get gamepad and (near enough) mouse input without so much as a USB receiver.

In a lounge environment, this is appreciated cable-cutting. But I’ve also discovered that it denies, or at the very least discourages, one of the Steam Controller’s most gratifying interactions: magnetically snapping on its cabled charging puck.

Read the rest of this article with a premium subscription

Get a Rock Paper Shotgun Premium subscription to access this article and also enjoy ad-free browsing, our monthly letter from the editor, and discounts on RPS merch.

Support us View supporter archive