Pre purchase the Steam Controller or Steam Link(no Zelda sadly) for 55€ each

I kinda want the Vive VR headset.

So Valve's entrance to the hardware world is a controller that isn't too far off of the SpaceOrb 360 (interesting concept that doesn't really work) and a box that's pretty much the Steam version of PlaystationTV. Well, it's an idea.

For those wondering SpaceOrb 360 is a controller that came out in the late 90's with a ball. The idea was you could move every way with the ball, like move forward and look up and strafe left all at once with just the one stick. It...worked...?

View attached image.

I'm a bit worried disappointed about steam link.

I kinda want for this thing to replace my bulky and expensive solution to stream 1080p 60fps desktop to the living room upstairs which includes an hdmi and usb extender through a 2x50ft cat5e cables.

Going to the specs page, it says:

A host computer running SteamOS, or Steam Big Picture Mode on Windows Vista or newer, Mac OS X 10.10 (Yosemite) or newer, Linux Ubuntu 12.04 or newer.

So this means I won't be able to stream the desktop, ok fair enough since It's aimed for gaming purposes and not for general streaming purpose.

I assume this hardware works very similarly with steam in-home streaming, this is where I have my concerns:

• My biggest worry and dealbreaker for this is if it can only extend/stream usb input with a keyboard, mouse and controller only. I still hope that it works like a generic usb extender so I can stream emulated wii games with this. My dolphin setup is using a wireless sensorbar so it can accept up to 4 wiiremotes as inputs. If it's a generic USB extender also, then you can run steering while, flight sticks, microphones, Audio DACs, wacom tablet and etc.

• Second is audio, in-home streaming doesn't support 5.1 audio and above. So if this is trying to stream games through the living room, this is an absolute must or this is bust for me.

• Finally, my final minor concern is if it is restricted to steam games only, though this might not be a problem since you can stream non-steam games in in-home streaming as long as you add the program/game to your steam library.

Already tried emailing gaben for these questiosn since store page doesn't answer these questions. Hopefully it doesn't get ignored and he can answer those concerns before I pre-order it

Well, I have been trying to get myself to buy a controller and try it out for probably more than a year now... this one might be just the right thing for me.
Heck, I might even be just the right person to try it out and truly see how it should work since I've had very limited use of a regular controller and thus wouldn't find this one too weird.

Eh... maybe in a few months when I'm feeling less stingy about the whole "getting a controller" thing (and when I'm in the UK again, since, pffff, of course it's not available in Bulgaria). :D