Will: "I might sound too effusive saying that this is the future of gaming... but it really is."
No Will. It's not just the future of gaming; it's the future of computing you're describing there.
With that said, big props to Valve for cracking that accuracy/money and computation cost puzzle.
But the controller design can stand to see significant improvement IMO. 2 buttons and a touchpad?
I like the touchpad... but it needs triggers, touchpad/thumbstick + 4 face buttons. Tactile and muscle memory is just so important for controls. It's not like touch screens either where you're at least looking at the screen where the buttons are (also they rely a lot of gesture, which activates proprioception and tactile feedback).
I don't know what the 'haptic touchpad' feels like... but it can succeed so long as it can let the user differentiate 'buttons' with light touch, without actually activating the buttons themselves... and it can of course provide a different feedback for when you actually push 1 button or two buttons or more buttons (similar to how a real controller will feel different between resting, pushing and pushing multiple buttons).
If it can't do that... then it'll either have to improve, or step aside and allow for real buttons.
Also, it needs velcro straps and a touch strip on the side. The idea is to allow you to open and close your hands without dropping the controller - allowing for natural grasping motion.
With that sort of setup... then you have a controller that can actually replicate the critical functionality of traditional controllers, full motion controllers and finger tracking controllers.
As it currently stands... it's a 'VR only' controller - which is limiting, and fails to take the VR paradigm as far as it could potentially go.
But it'll be fine as a first generation VR experience. I'm just saying there's room for improvement here.