Steam Controller Redesign Includes Analog Thumbstick

[Steven Bogos]

Steam Controller Redesign Includes Analog Thumbstick

The Steam controller is looking more and more like a traditional controller with each redesign.

Pretty much every single video game controller since the N64 has featured analog "thumb sticks", that making moving in 3D spaces considerably easier than other alternatives. So, you can understand the bemusement fans had when Valve face buttons [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/128240-Valve-Reveals-the-Steam-Controller] return, and now, though it still features its dual trackpads, a new redesign for the controller includes a traditional thumb stick.

The image to the right, which was fished out of the Steam database by the folks over at SteamDB [https://twitter.com/SteamDB/status/492005914862288896/photo/1], shows the thumb stick in place of what was the d-pad in the prior design. Other than this addition, and a few "streamlining" changes, the controller is more or less the same as what we saw before.

The controller was initially set to debut in November of this year, but was pushed back to 2015 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/134832-Steam-Controller-Delayed-to-2015] so Valve could make further improvements to it. "[The Steam Machines hardware beta is] generating a ton of useful feedback, and it means we'll be able to make the controller a lot better. Of course, it's also keeping us pretty busy making all those improvements. Realistically, we're now looking at a release window of 2015, not 2014."

The controller was met with somewhat mixed reviews from most of the outlets that managed to get their hands on it, with its signature trackpads being rather hit and miss. The addition of a thumb stick could be an appeal to the more traditionalist crowd.

What do you think? Have you tried a Steam Controller? Do the trackpads work or should Valve have taken its cues from the old "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" adage?

Source: PC Gamer [http://www.pcgamer.com/2014/07/23/new-steam-controller-image-suggests-valve-adding-an-analog-stick/]

Permalink

 

[Monsterfurby]

First thing to keep in mind when trying to innovate: Everything that exists has a reason to exist. If you want to improve it, find that reason first, then think about how to make the thing better. Not the other way around.

 

[FFMaster]

What is a Seam controller? Methinks you have a typo in the title there!

 

[silasbufu]

They seem to be trying to reinvent the wheel here...It would be sad to see their consoles flop because of the controller

 

[Nule]

I think this is kinda cool because I definitely would rather use the track pad rather than a thumbstick for mouse movement, but not wasd movement. Everyone just hates on the Steam controller because it's not an exact fuckin' copy of the Xbox or PS controller. And when they said "if it's not broke don't fix it", that's stupid because the xbox/PS controllers are broke, thumbsticks for looking around is terrible especially for FPS. But replacing the Dpad doesn't seem like a very good idea, I think they should keep the Dpad and replace the left trackpad with an analog stick because a trackpad isn't really better than an analog stick when it comes to wasd movement (in fact I'd say it's worse) so replacing it with an analog stick would be better for those who are used to it, which is most people, it would look stupid, but I think it would be best.

 

[BrotherRool]

It's so inelegant now. There's no way a person can use the left trackpad and the left thumbstick at the same time, so one of them is just going to be serving as the worlds worst (and most overcomplicated) d-pad ever.

Plus it's worrying that they seem to have decided that actually their trackpads can't completely replacement the movements of an analogue stick.

At least we're getting proof that the modern controllers are really well designed, if someone has spent years and years trying to innovate it and every time they make an improvement it's to make it look more like a traditional controller.

 

[FFMaster]

Because one thumbstick worked so well for PSP.

Worked better than the Vitas two thumbsticks going by current numbers and sonys own predictions for the coming year.

 

[Terwo]

Oh dear, incoming dogmas, misconceptions and other delusions about innovation management ...

They tried something new, they tried to find the next radical innovation. It would have made them a fortune and change the way we see controllers if it had worked out (not saying trackpads are the next thing, just generalising). To use a contemporary example; Much like how just regular mobile phones early on were considered useless, clunky and expensive; A toy for the rich and famous to show off .. And now every 12 year old I see has a smart phone and considers it a necessity, while sleeping in an IKEA bed and eating crappy food because proper, fresh produce is too expensive for their pauper parents; Because fuck logic and priorities.

But no, now we got internet know-it-alls proclaiming they shouldn't try reinventing the wheel, staying ahead of the curve, the bloody disgusting 'I told you so attitude'. Do you even have a solid foundation for your opinion other than the standard "my e-peen is bigger than yours" attitude?

I for one wish more companies tried to think outside the box. I want to see the next big thing. Why would anyone not want to go forward? Do you really enjoy your xbox one/ps4 so much? Do you really enjoy how every game is practically the same uninspired mess with questionably better visuals? How every movie consists of the same big tits, muscles and explosions?

Anyway, if you're seriously interested in innovation management, I can highly recommend the following books:

Strategy from the Outside In: Profiting from Customer Value, McGraw-Hill Professional (2010) (by George S. Day and Christine Moorman)
Strategic management of technological innovation 3rd edition (2010) McGraw Hill New York (by Schilling, Melissa A.)

And these 2 articles:

Profiting from Technological Innovation: Implications for Integration, Collaboration, Licensing and Public Policy (1986) Research Policy, 15: 285?305 (by Teece, D.J.)
How firms capture value from their innovations (2013) Journal of Management, 39(5): 1123-1155 (by James, S.D., Leiblein, M.J. and Lu, S.)

/end rant

Have a nice day

 

[Rozalia1]

Wow that is a lot of people now very embarrassed by this news, don't worry I'll not publicly embarrass you as you know who you are. If the trackpads are supposed to be so accurate than why not drop the D-pad for another stick if you're going to have sticks?

Because one thumbstick worked so well for PSP.

Worked better than the Vitas two thumbsticks going by current numbers and sonys own predictions for the coming year.

Sales figures have nothing to do with the matter of sales (well that comparison anyway). The two sticks the Vita has is far better than the one the PSP had.

 

[tzimize]

First thing to keep in mind when trying to innovate: Everything that exists has a reason to exist. If you want to improve it, find that reason first, then think about how to make the thing better. Not the other way around.

Simple but brilliant philosophy. Strange that it seems so hard to follow.

 

[RealRT]

Because one thumbstick worked so well for PSP.

PSP didn't have trackpads that worked as thumbsticks.

-----

Valve, valve, valve... Just make into a DualShock already!

 

[tzimize]

First thing to keep in mind when trying to innovate: Everything that exists has a reason to exist. If you want to improve it, find that reason first, then think about how to make the thing better. Not the other way around.

Simple but brilliant philosophy. Strange that it seems so hard to follow.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, the finest of wisdom the internet has to offer. If only product designers and innovation managers took 10 minutes a day to browse fora and google for such jewels and other old adages. The world would be a better place and we'd be flying space cars and have sex with robots. Dear god, why would anyone spend years slogging it out at uni, and then spend another decade researching unproven technologies to try and find the next best thing, only to fail over and over, while the internet contains everything one could ever hope for.

Please refrain from spouting nonsense; This should have been basic knowledge. Never ask the consumer what they want; Never assume the consumer knows what they want. Consumers are clueless. Never assume technology is only useful in one specific application, field or context (refrigerators, GPS, combustion engines, x-ray machines, ..)

Mankind would still be trying to rub sticks together to make fires if we adapted your dogma. People would just keep improving on their sticks, technique, whatever. Sure, we'd have the best frigging sticks possible, make the fastest and most reliable fire ever. They'd be shiny, polished, symbols of wealth. We could have an entire economy basic on manufacturing and exporting sticks. You could be the kind of sticks, sitting on your throne, being envied by the plebs. God himself would be jealous of your stick mastery. But for fuck's sake; I'd rather use the world's crappiest lighter or matches compared to the greatest pair of sticks mankind has ever known. Because PROGRESS!

Not quite sure what to make of this post. If its sarcastic, honest or what.

Progress is great. But sometimes a limit can be reached. There are limits to what we can do physically as human beings. There are limits to how precise we can be with different tools. Some tools are better than others for certain tasks. Doing something new, does not mean doing something better. I'd rather use a shovel for digging than a fork, even if a fork seems more original.

Same principle applies to controllers. We have an abundance. D-pads, mouse, analogue stick etc. Some things work better for certain tasks than others. Imagine playing street fighter with a mouse. Wouldnt work so well. I applaud Steam for trying something new, but all it seems to be to me (granted I have not actually tried the controller) is an attempt to make the gamepad more like a mouse. And I really dont think it will work as well. In the end it doesnt matter much though. The Steam machines will be PCs at heart. Which means all peripherals are available. So I'll just stick with the one best suited to the game I am currently playing.

I just think that progress means more than doing something new. It means doing something new that is BETTER than what came before.

 

[Jumwa]

I was excited for the controller as a replacement for the lackluster 360 controller I currently use on PC games. But if they don't have a decent D-pad then I'm not interested. Track pads? Sounds cool and different, I'm willing to give that a shot. But I need a decent D-pad for 2D games. The biggest reason I want to replace the 360 controller is because of the dreadful D-pad, after all.

 

[Hairless Mammoth]

Why an analog stick? I guess that gives someone the choice of either touch pad or thumbstick for the left hand. It would be better, though, if this thing was modular like those third party console controllers from a few years back that let you swap out the positions of the buttons/d-pad/thumbsticks. A customizable PC controller that let me choose where and what kind of inputs it had would have me throwing gold bullion at my screen.

Jeese, at the current rate, someone at Valve probably called one of the designs the "Steam Controller 3" and suddenly Gabe's eyes lit up, then he said "We can never release this now." If this ever reaches stores, it'll be bundled with Half-Life 3: Episode 2. /jk

For now, I'll stick to KB/Mouse(which I can use at my recliner with the magic of usb extentions and an MDF board) and the xbone controller I just bought. That thing has a really damn good d-pad[footnote]I think it's got tactile switches for the d-pad! MS, drop that dumbass media box you've been tripping over and downsize the "services" horseshit and get back to making awesome computer accessories and games like the good ol' days. At least update the drivers to what is the proper successor to the Sidewinder gamepads.[/footnote]for 2D games, which Steam has a fairly high amount of. (Valve, you paying attention to your own store? Don't tell me touchpads work good with that kind of game.) The only thing that needs work is the bumpers are kinda funky like others have said but you can get used to them and, just like the 360 controller, the driver treats the triggers as a single axis, so forget using them in a game with generic button mapping options unless you will never use them simultaneously.

 

[FFMaster]

Sales figures have nothing to do with the matter of sales (well that comparison anyway). The two sticks the Vita has is far better than the one the PSP had.

Well sales figures have everything to do with the matter of sales, as they are proof of sales and the amount of them, but i'm going to assume there was a typo/word you didn't mean to write somewhere in there.

But if two thumbsticks is better than one then as this has a thumbstick and 2 things that work as thumbsticks it has 3 so is even better!!!

(if your not getting it yet, I'm pointing out that saying that number of thumb sticks was a problem is stupid hence my reply to the first person. It was only a problem on the PSP because people kept on making games that really needed two thumbsticks on a console with only one. That's not a problem with the console, that was an issue with the idiots making the games)

 

[CardinalPiggles]

I thought the point of the trackpads was to emulate mouse movement, not WASD movement. Why does it need two trackpads? One would work perfectly fine, and not way up the controller either. That would be like moving someones foot pedal in their car.

 

[Nurb]

So they discovered two pads that don't offer tactile feedback aren't going to work well, but they're trying to save face by keeping them even though sticks and a proper d-pad get the job done better in most cases and they're going to try and get devs to shoehorn in elements that require them just like that stupid pad on the PS4.

 

[Major_Tom]

The fuck? I thought the trackpads are the replacement for analog sticks. If they are not good enough then DITCH THE FUCKING TRACKPADS.