We’ve all heard it. This sound. The infamous Wilhelm scream, famous for cropping up whenever a game or film sound designer fancies a bit of inside jokery. Or, in this case, when Valve want to work an easter egg into their new Steam Controller. Yep, if you drop it in the right way, the controller Wilhelm screams in pain.
This little quirk’s been discovered over on Reddit, only emerging now I assume because hardware reviewers are hardwired to be very careful with their tech and tend not to lob it all over the shop. The video evidence provided by one poster’s immediately been corroborated by Peeved Controller Gamer, negating the need for me to insist that James or Julian start off their days by unleashing the terrors of gravity on their controllers.
Watch on YouTube
It seems this isn’t something the demented device does every time you drop it, especially if you do so several times in quick succession, suggesting there’s a cooldown at play. It also seems this response only comes when you drop the controller from a certain height, stopping you from being randomly screamed at if you happen to put it down abruptly mid-game.
As PC Gamer point out, the first Steam Controller could also be a noisy little thing, but only if you modded its haptic motors to play midi files. Valve clearly thought a bit of that was what was missing with the current controller’s ancestor was the ability to have a good shout right out of the box.
Who knows, maybe the Steam Machine will also be equipped to yell at you for dropping it whenever it comes out. Though, given how expensive the RAM crisis could render it, I’m not sure you’ll want to let it become acquainted with your floor from a great height.
