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The Steam Controller doesn't just scream. It sings, too [1]

['Grant St. Clair']

Date: 2026-05-18  

Valve's brand-new PC gaming controller, the aptly-named Steam Controller, is full of secrets. At that hundred-dollar price point, it better be!

Those lucky enough to actually get their hands on it after it sold out in half an hour have already discovered that the controller will play a Wilhelm scream if dropped from high enough. That's pretty cool, but you know what's even cooler? The controller's haptics, if manipulated in just the right way, can vibrate at the right frequency to play MIDI audio fed into it. It's not a stock feature, and no game that I know of actually uses it, but the community has already managed to get their hands all over it.

It feels oddly fitting that the first real breakthough I've seen here comes in the form of the controller playing Still Alive from Valve's timeless Portal.

It's like a little Aperture turret! This warms my heart. I can't wait to see what weird stuff people do with the controller in the coming days, if only to soothe my own pain over not getting one myself.

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[1] Url: https://boingboing.net/2026/05/18/the-steam-controller-doesnt-just-scream-it-sings-too.html

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