Valve Shows Off New Steam Controller

Looks excellent. They've obviously been listening to feedback from developers and the community.

The buttons are infinitely more useful than a touchscreen in the middle could have ever been.

2SxfjYI.jpg
 
I still don't know until I use one personally but I agree with DPI that it does look better. I look forward to building a steam box later this year or early next and look forward to trying out that controller.

I hope it's good but if not I'll just use a Xbox360/One controller or Dualshock 3/4.
 
Im worried about the dpad's use as a dpad, the buttons should have less of a gap between them imo.

But i will likely buy one for pc usage.
 
LOL! A touch based controller, I thought that touch based input was a gimmick. /s
 
Ocean said:
Im worried about the dpad's use as a dpad, the buttons should have less of a gap between them imo.

But i will likely buy one for pc usage.
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I think the gap is exaggerated, the controller looks massive in renders but much smaller and more reasonable when I've seen photos of people with it in their hands.
 
For navigating menus it will be ok, I still think it should be an NES/SNES style dpad. Those were and are still the best.
 
heatlesssun said:
LOL! A touch based controller, I thought that touch based input was a gimmick. /s
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Just because value is determined to make controllers worse than they are, doesn't justify touch as an input method.

Controller is fucking horrible, sorry. I can't wait for it to release and all the idiots to run out buy it, and find out that yep, it is just as terrible as many of us have been saying since it was first talked about. But like the Ouya, they aren't able to see past the "Ohh shiny its by Valve who can do no wrong" factor and they will end up massively disappointed.
 
I thought I read someplace that the touchpad part was being dropped?

I can't really give an opinion until I try one, but it looks ok.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
Just because value is determined to make controllers worse than they are, doesn't justify touch as an input method.

Controller is fucking horrible, sorry. I can't wait for it to release and all the idiots to run out buy it, and find out that yep, it is just as terrible as many of us have been saying since it was first talked about. But like the Ouya, they aren't able to see past the "Ohh shiny its by Valve who can do no wrong" factor and they will end up massively disappointed.
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Having never used the Steam Controller I have no idea if it's good or not. I do agree with the point you're making, I was just pointing the hypocrisy of those who are so into Valve's Steam hardware efforts but at the same time think that touch input is horrible otherwise.
 
Using buttons instead of a D-pad is for accessibility.

This way you can swap the function of the ABXY buttons with the directional buttons.
 
hopefully its easy to swap left handed/right handed button mapping through software, will make it much better for everyone IMO.
 
heatlesssun said:
Having never used the Steam Controller I have no idea if it's good or not. I do agree with the point you're making, I was just pointing the hypocrisy of those who are so into Valve's Steam hardware efforts but at the same time think that touch input is horrible otherwise.
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The difference here is that Valve has put a lot of effort into developing haptic feedback for the touche pads in their device. Developers having tried the Steam Controller have said it is like nothing else. However, I'll still reserve judgement until I can try for myself and make my own opinion.
 
Not every game is best played with keyboard and mouse, I'm not a fan of playing hack n' slash games like Dynasty Warriors with a mouse nor the new South Park game. For those games, I very much look forward to a better controller like this one.
 
_PixelNinja said:
The difference here is that Valve has put a lot of effort into developing haptic feedback for the touche pads in their device. Developers having tried the Steam Controller have said it is like nothing else. However, I'll still reserve judgement until I can try for myself and make my own opinion.
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I find your lack of preconceptions disturbing. :p
 
I want a controller that uses mechanical keys instead of those shitty contact rubber pressure pads. I'll pay the extra $5 for that.
 
_PixelNinja said:
The difference here is that Valve has put a lot of effort into developing haptic feedback for the touche pads in their device.
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Ye[, these aren't just two regular circle-shaped touchpads. But hey, if recognizing that fact somehow makes me an Ouya believer (of all things), so be it.
 
How the hell do you get to those buttons in the middle? It seems like having buttons there would make it a pain to reach and use them. Like if you were playing a dpad centric game and didn't need to use the touch pads at all, it feels looks like it would be pretty awkward to play on...
 
The new N64 controller. Awkward, difficult to use, but remembered highly of (somehow, at least for me).
 
How are they allowed to use same button markeings and color codes as microsoft ?
 
Interested in this, but a release date would be nice. We always get teased with stuff, but rarely does anything really follow through meeting the expectations that are generated by potentially false advertising.

Hopefully this is one of the few things that actually delivers. We will see when it actually becomes available and after it's reviewed. Till then, meh
 
Remember that time Dreamcast's dumbass controller had the cord coming out the bottom.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
Just because value is determined to make controllers worse than they are, doesn't justify touch as an input method.

Controller is fucking horrible, sorry. I can't wait for it to release and all the idiots to run out buy it, and find out that yep, it is just as terrible as many of us have been saying since it was first talked about. But like the Ouya, they aren't able to see past the "Ohh shiny its by Valve who can do no wrong" factor and they will end up massively disappointed.
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I am blown away you still get honest responses from people. Also that you are allowed to continue posting on these forums.
 
Megalith said:
Directional buttons. What.
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Nintendo's patents on the d-pad have been a thorn in the sides of companies trying to make decent competing designs. There's a reason Sony, Sega, and Microsoft all used different designs. It's all about patents. Even though Nintendo's patent expired in 2005, there seems to be a continuing tradition for companies to produce functionally similar, but distinctly different, solutions whether for legal reasons or that they genuinely feel they have a better solution. Honestly, as far as the Steam controller's latest beta is concerned, so long as it doesn't have an awful circular d-pad like found on the 360 controller I imagine it will fare at least decently. Sony's d-pad is also split (sort of anyway) and it is an excellent d-pad.
 
blitzkommando said:
Nintendo's patents on the d-pad have been a thorn in the sides of companies trying to make decent competing designs. There's a reason Sony, Sega, and Microsoft all used different designs. It's all about patents. Even though Nintendo's patent expired in 2005, there seems to be a continuing tradition for companies to produce functionally similar, but distinctly different, solutions whether for legal reasons or that they genuinely feel they have a better solution. Honestly, as far as the Steam controller's latest beta is concerned, so long as it doesn't have an awful circular d-pad like found on the 360 controller I imagine it will fare at least decently. Sony's d-pad is also split (sort of anyway) and it is an excellent d-pad.
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Indeed. I believe it was SEGA who found a nice trick in getting around Nintendo's patent on the Dreamcast pad by using an inverted fulcrum. I found that to be pretty interesting.

Otherwise, in regards to Sony's D-Pad; although by no means bad, I don't know if I would call it excellent. The absence of diagonals can be quite bothersome in certain instances.
 
I'm thinking "um... no...".

I was using Cirque touch pads for gaming, back when laptops did not have touch pads ( they had that piece of shit clitoris button and trackballs ).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cirque_Corporation

I found the touch area not wide enough, even for high-sensitivity gaming. Grouping and click-drags were more difficult with a touch pad.

I can't see the Steam controller being used for fighting games. Somebody mentioned that it's haptic, so I'd really need to play around with it ( not that I'd go out and buy it ).
 
Kalabalana said:
I am blown away you still get honest responses from people. Also that you are allowed to continue posting on these forums.
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Why? Because you disagree with me? Great reasoning.

Unfortunately for you my track record on predicting crap that is going to fail miserably is pretty darn good. I called the Ouya a failure waiting to happen, I called the WiiU a failure, I called Win 8 a failure due to the UI and a slew of other crap that a handful of people swore would be the next big thing and failed miserably. You might not like my opinion, but it isn't something I just randomly throw out there. I constantly observe peoples buying behavior and I am very in tune with gaming in particular. I don't let my judgement get clouded by "Ooh Shiny", I judge something based on very realistic standards. As a result, I am rarely wrong about calling out technology missteps. Obviously doesn't mean I'm always right, but more often than not I am.

So really you can hate what I have to say all you want. I see things like this controller and the OR and they fall squarely into the "Product looking to solve a problem that doesn't exist" category. Products like this almost never succeed, and in particular to the controller it is using technology that already exists. It isn't doing anything revolutionary it is just mashing two existing things together, neither of which are very good and one of which (touch) offers even less in respect to improved interaction. Don't get me wrong, it sounds neat in theory, but that is pretty much where it stops. Touch has proven over and over and over that it is just flatly inferior to all other forms of input in respect to "Accuracy and Speed" when it comes to games. So no, I don't have high hopes for this controller and no I don't even need to use it to come to an educated opinion regarding it. I have decades of experience when it comes to gaming and input devices as well as every form of touch input on the market. That experience allows me to make a fairly educated guess on how well this is going to or not going to work. Could I be wrong? I could indeed. However going off my history I'm probably not.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
Unfortunately for you my track record on predicting crap that is going to fail miserably is pretty darn good. I called the Ouya a failure waiting to happen, I called the WiiU a failure, I called Win 8 a failure due to the UI and a slew of other crap that a handful of people swore would be the next big thing and failed miserably.
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You "predicted" the most glaringly obvious failures in the tech industry, good lord. Stopped reading there.
 
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