Steam Controller Officially Announced!

[Chessrook44]

Welp the final announcement has been made, and it ain't Half-Life 5. It's the Steam Controller. So let's take a look at this thing and what the f&*k is this s#!t?

http://store.steampowered.com/livingroom/SteamController/

Spoiler

How the frack are you going to make that thing work like a mouse and keyboard and not feel clunky?

 

[RangerDruid]

Welp the final announcement has been made, and it ain't Half-Life 5. It's the Steam Controller. So let's take a look at this thing and what the f&*k is this s#!t?

http://store.steampowered.com/livingroom/SteamController/

How the frack are you going to make that thing work like a mouse and keyboard and not feel clunky?

Such a HUGE disappointment they didn't announce Half-Life 3 after all this.

Don't be so quick to judge the controller by its looks. Despite the ugly button layout, I'm hoping those circular pads actually handles better than traditional sticks (it probably will because it's valve after all).

 

[endtherapture]

I think the shape is off, but I definitely get it.

For example say you're playing Football manager on your TV, you use your thumb to move the mouse to a point and then click down to press the button - seems like a decent idea - cool that finally a company is trying to get different styles of games playable on a big screen.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

OK. It looks unlike anything I've ever seen. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Need more data.
I do like the idea of having a controller that can play games that weren't designed with a controller in mind. Maybe I can finally play Mass Effect with my PC connected to my TV sitting on a sofa. I don't know what the fuck were they thinking when they decided not to add controller support to Mass Effect. It's a console port anyway for fuck sake.

Captcha: baby boomer

I wish death upon all of them.

 

[oppp7]

Wow, it's fucking nothing!

I think Valve's given up on Half Life.

 

[Juan Regular]

Half Life 3 announcement is still coming. They'd be insane not to release their Steam machines with the biggest system seller they got. And at this point even Valve must know that the wait has been long enough for even the most hardcore fan.

OT: I'm buying this thing, no questions asked. At the very least it's a breath of fresh air for a device that quite simply doesn't work as well as it should. We may be used to controllers but there's a lot of room for improvement and this might just be it.

 

[NoMercy Rider]

Complaints about no HL3 announcement incoming!

Really? If you were on top of things, you'd already know that Gabe said a few weeks back that none of this week's announcements would be about individual video game titles.

So it came as no surprise to me that today's final announcement was NOT HL3.

OT, I'm not a fan of the controller design, but I'll hold off judgment until I try one out for myself. Personally, I think Valve should leave controller design to the experts (Sony and MS), but I would love to be proven wrong.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

That doesn't seem like a great controller. I'd like to play around with one to know for sure though.

 

[Thr33X]

This means I can play APB Reloaded on my big screen. I am pleased.

 

[Roxas1359]

Eh I need to hold the controller and test it out before I give my official judgement on it. However, I will say that the controller just seems weird to me.

 

[skywolfblue]

1) Horrible ABXY button placement. In current controllers, you may have to stop looking around, but with this you'd have to stop moving for X and Y (or do some awkward twisting of your right thumb). To stop moving in most competitive FPS's = dead.

2) It's difficult, really difficult to be precise with a trackpad. I should know, I've played Unreal Tournament 2004, World of Warcraft, RTSs like Starcraft 2, for ages on a laptop trackpad (it was a rather decent MacbookPro with a good trackpad, not a crappy walmart-laptop's touchpad). It was certainly doable, but not ideal. Without weight (mouse, thumbstick) countering your fingers to add resistance, it's hard to make tiny precise movements, maybe the haptic system fixes that, we'll have to wait and see.

It's something new, I guess I should be glad for variety and people testing new ways of input, but my skeptical side says it's not going to go very far.

 

[LetalisK]

I'm still confused on its purpose. Is Steambox just Steam on its own piece of hardware or is it a separate console?

 

[LAGG]

Looks awesome for me.

Sure I would have chosen a Stick + Trackball layout, but it's good enough and already worlds better than two analog sticks.
I'll be doing Headshots and Shock Combo all day long with that baby <3

Trackpads 99% as as good as trackballs which are 99% as good as mice. And those trackpads look to be the kind that doesn't get bad in sweaty hands.

Spoiler: FPS with Trackball

This is an early prototype without the touch screen: http://cdn3.store.steampowered.com/public/images/promo/livingroom/rljKewyz3M/prototypes.jpg

 

[Full]

M+KB similar precision with a controller is very intriguing. Looks pretty fragile though, but it's only glamour shots. Wondering if the whole touch thing would be clunky as well.

Overall, want to hear a tad more (reviews etc.), but this is appealing to me.

 

[DrOswald]

My biggest complaint is the lack of face buttons. Track pads can at least approximate analog sticks, but there are no easily reached buttons on the face of that controller. How am I to play a precision game, such as Rouge Legacy, with no easily reached buttons? And shoulder buttons are not as easily or quickly manipulated as face buttons. I really am not a believer on this one. I will give it a chance (you know, wait for reviews and maybe borrow a friends controller) before casting final judgement, but this thing looks pretty bad to me.

Maybe this thing will be awesome. Maybe it really will have the precision of a mouse and keyboard but in controller format, and I can see the value in that. But I really doubt this will be replacing the PS3/X360 controller style as the default gaming input device. But then again, SteamOS is linux based so I am sure day 1 we will have the ability to use a PS3 or X360 controller if we want.

I guess it is better for Valve to do something new and fill a need that is not being filled, but I am still really disappointed by this announcement. Color me skeptical.

 

[LAGG]

Spoiler: snip

Ergonomically it's a mess. And I say this as someone who has defended motion controllers like the Wii Remote and PS Move.

Face buttons should be within easy reach of one of the thumbsticks, preferably the right one. With the Steam controller, in order to press X or Y, you have to take your thumb away from the left trackpad. That means if you're playing something like COD, you would have to stop moving in order to reload.

That is not progress. That is a completely regressive step. Face buttons work as they are. Sure, there's always room for improvement (one of the pluses of motion controls is that they allow for simultaneous camera movement and button presses), but this is not it. How are you supposed to play something like DMC, Metal Gear Rising, Street Fighter, Darkstalkers, Darksiders, Mortal Kombat or any form of action game with those face buttons scattered to the winds like they are?

And seriously, track pads? Fucking track pads? The PSP's analogue nub is a better form of input than a goddamn track pad. You need tactile feedback for movement. You need to be able to tell purely from the physical response in your fingers whether your character is walking or running, whether they're looking up or down.

How could Valve mess up controller design this badly? I know they're primarily a PC company, but it's like they've paid absolutely no attention to controller development over the last thirty years. Sure, stick a touchscreen in there if you want to emulate mouse controls. Give it motion support. But not this. Not this...

Or bind reloading to something else.

Yep, weird that people don't know you can make your own binds. Plus that controller will have extra virtual buttons on the touch screen. Valve needs to spread some flyers around.

My biggest complaint is the lack of face buttons. Track pads can at least approximate analog sticks, but there are no easily reached buttons on the face of that controller. How am I to play a precision game, such as Rouge Legacy, with no easily reached buttons? And shoulder buttons are not as easily or quickly manipulated as face buttons. I really am not a believer on this one. I will give it a chance (you know, wait for reviews and maybe borrow a friends controller) before casting final judgement, but this thing looks pretty bad to me.

Maybe this thing will be awesome. Maybe it really will have the precision of a mouse and keyboard but in controller format, and I can see the value in that. But I really doubt this will be replacing the PS3/X360 controller style as the default gaming input device. But then again, SteamOS is linux based so I am sure day 1 we will have the ability to use a PS3 or X360 controller if we want.

I guess it is better for Valve to do something new and fill a need that is not being filled, but I am still really disappointed by this announcement. Color me skeptical.

The trackpad , besides being a mouse-like device, can emulate sticks, d-pad/face-buttons (4 to 9 depending on the game and the user preference) and steering wheel.

 

[StriderShinryu]

I won't comment on how it will actually work, or not work, right now but just based on the appearance of it, I'm not impressed. It looks like something that may work well for games that don't traditionally work as well on a standard controller, but it also looks like the design choices made in that direction will make it worse for games that worked perfectly fine on a traditional controller. At best, it looks like you'd still be best off swapping between this and a 360 controller depending on what you're going to play, which is hardly optimal.

 

[lacktheknack]

or accidently stabbed with sharp objects, which means I won't be getting one.

so

many

questions

OT: I have high hopes for it. The new type of feedback could be really interesting.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Ergonomically it's a mess. And I say this as someone who has defended motion controllers like the Wii Remote and PS Move.

Face buttons should be within easy reach of one of the thumbsticks, preferably the right one. With the Steam controller, in order to press X or Y, you have to take your thumb away from the left trackpad. That means if you're playing something like COD, you would have to stop moving in order to reload.

That is not progress. That is a completely regressive step. Face buttons work as they are. Sure, there's always room for improvement (one of the pluses of motion controls is that they allow for simultaneous camera movement and button presses), but this is not it. How are you supposed to play something like DMC, Metal Gear Rising, Street Fighter, Darkstalkers, Darksiders, Mortal Kombat or any form of action game with those face buttons scattered to the winds like they are?

And seriously, track pads? Fucking track pads? The PSP's analogue nub is a better form of input than a goddamn track pad. You need tactile feedback for movement. You need to be able to tell purely from the physical response in your fingers whether your character is walking or running, whether they're looking up or down.

How could Valve mess up controller design this badly? I know they're primarily a PC company, but it's like they've paid absolutely no attention to controller development over the last thirty years. Sure, stick a touchscreen in there if you want to emulate mouse controls. Give it motion support. But not this. Not this...

did you...just look at the picture and instantly decide to hate it?

the buttons can all be remapped into new configurations, the controller is designed so between left/right handed people they can set it up however they wish, and the controller is completely open to new ideas as valve has stated themselves, they WANT people to hack/mod it to see what they can do with it, i'm sure this is only the beginning in terms of the controller. (maybe you haven't used a trackpad for games? I have, and it worked surprisingly well, so i suggest you go try one on an fps and see how you hold up, you might be surprised.)

i'm not saying it's amazing and i'm not saying i'll like it (obviously have to hold the damn thing to figure that out) but instantly throwing it out before you even have a chance to try it is a bit nieve.


OT: I'll have to see it used in some games before I'll give it any thumps up/down, but for now i'm pretty "meh" as to how it looks/will feel in my hands.

 

[MysticSlayer]

I really hope that Valve adds another controller type to this one because I really just don't see myself liking this that much. I'm not a huge fan of using trackpads, and the general button layout just seems like a pain to work with. However, given that they want us to mess around with it, I can't imagine that there won't be a more traditional controller released for the system.

On the other hand, I'm really not sure how they're going to do much better in trying to bring a PC experience to the living room without going the keyboard/mouse route, which is sort of pointless. Traditional controllers just aren't suited for certain gaming experiences, like RTS games. I'm just hoping they offer a traditional controller for more console-like games that are ported, because this doesn't seem like an enjoyable way to play a fighting, console-based FPS, or action games. I even have my reserves on saying this will be good for turn-based games.