How the Steam Controller works as a keyboard

I’m not yet convinced

So, Valve has been singing the praises of its upcoming Steam Controller for a while now as the herald of a new golden age of couch friendly PC gaming. Outside of issues like precise mouse controls and button layouts, one of the big questions on people’s minds has been how the controller will function when you would otherwise need to type on a keyboard.

Thankfully, this video released by Valve gives us our first look at how typing on the Steam Controller is likely to work. Skip to the 35-second mark for a look.

So, the idea is that much like texting on a phone, you’ll use two touch pads to point and tap on letters. While the video makes this look like a fast and easy process, I suspect in practice getting your thumbs to independently select letters at speed is going to take some practice.

So, does this look like a better solution to virtual keyboards than other options in the past? Is it just a reality that physical keyboards will always be superior to alternatives? Let us know your thoughts.