At CES 2022, Alienware unveiled its game streaming platform, Concept Nyx While in-home streaming from a PC is not a new concept (opens in new tab), Alienware is trying to streamline this experience from the controller They are.

I actually got my hands on a Concept Nyx game controller at a recent Alienware event. While I did not play the game, I was able to play with many of the controller's features.

The first thing you notice about the Nyx controller is that instead of a proper D-pad, it has a circular touchpad that allows you to control the in-game menus of titles that were previously controlled with a keyboard and mouse as a mouse. In fact, in one of the pre-recorded gameplay demos, the touchpad was mapped to skills in "Guild Wars 2". Because it can be a little awkward when the touchpad functions as a button and not for movement: the Steam controller. (Opens in new tab)

The majority of the demo was spent primarily manipulating the controller's functions and learning about its role in the Nyx game streaming ecosystem. Think of the controller as a hall pass for accessing games on every TV in the house; any TV with the Nyx app installed will immediately display your game profile as soon as you enter any room. The Alienware logo in the center is a thumbprint reader that identifies you, loads your game library, and restarts your game progress. So if for some reason you get kicked out of the TV, you can resume where you left off in another room.

My favorite controller feature is the "self-adjusting variable resistance thumbstick. This means that the thumbstick tension can be adjusted on the fly without having to open the controller or use tools. In addition to the thumbstick settings, the controller's haptics can be customized for each game. All of this is controlled by the two scroll wheels on the bottom of the controller. No software is required.

Multiple Nyx users can even share a screen to play two very different games side-by-side at the same time, as long as they have two Nyx controllers. Sounds cool in theory, but unless you have a huge TV in your living room, it could be distracting.

In a press release, Dell and Alienware said that within a decade, they hope to use the computing power of Concept Nyx for more than just gaming, featuring mixed reality experiences and "displays and other tools that eliminate the need for VR headsets" and "virtual collaboration space" featuring "displays and other tools that eliminate the need for VR headsets.

Of course, the folks at Alienware reiterated that this is a concept and that Concept Nyx has no immediate plans to hit the market. In their explanation, they wanted to see how many "dream features" they could pack into the prototype. However, if such a controller were to be sold, it would not be cheap. It's not uncommon for the company to unveil a wild concept that seems to have commercial potential to the public and then never be heard from again, as it did at CES a few years ago with its version of the Steam Deck, the "Concept UFO" (opens in new tab).