Video Games have always had a bit of fun with easter eggs — from the original Xbox using garbled space transmissions from the Apollo missions in its main menu (remember being spooked by that?), to the hilariously ironic sign on the Gant Bridge in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas that reads “There are no easter eggs up here. Go away.”
However, there is a new easter egg featured within the new Steam Controller that might take the cake for me. The controller can scream. You heard that right.
Well, it’s actually a bit more specific than just a scream. The controller lets out the classic Wilhelm Scream from its haptic motors when dropped from a significant height. Also, yes, you read that correctly — the soundbite actually comes from the controller’s haptic motors because the new Steam Controller doesn’t have any speakers.
Now, for those who don’t know what the Wilhelm Scream is, it is a stock sound voiced by actor Sheb Wooley for the 1951 film Distant Drums. In fact, it was initially named “Man getting bit by Alligator and then screams.” It took off in popularity when it was used in Lucasfilm projects like the Indiana Jones and Star Wars series, getting the Wilhelm name from Pvt. Wilhelm in the 1953 film The Charge at Feather River, who emits the scream in the film.
Moving on from that history lesson, the easter egg was spotted by u/RF3D19 last week, and helped spread the news about the fun new feature. It was originally thought that you needed to be in Steam’s “Big Picture Mode” in order for it to work, but that is no longer the case.
Interestingly, RF3D19 pointed out that there is a bit of a delay in how often you can trigger the easter egg, and the timeout appears to be about a minute long.
Source: RF3D19 on r/steamcontroller via AndroidAuthority
