Steam Controller Officially Announced!

[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.

 

[DrOswald]

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.

Emulated buttons are vastly inferior to actual buttons. They are less responsive, they are less precise and they do not give tactile feedback. You cannot tell just by touch if you are actually pressing the button or not. And you can't rest your finger on the button for comfort and extremely fast response times. And there are similar issues when emulating sticks and emulated d-pads are a joke. I guess it might be ok with a steering wheel.

And this is the root of the problem with this device. I don't see how it is going to be better than the current preferred input method for any genre. It doesn't look like a bad controller necessarily, I just don't see the point. The only thing it has going for it is the precision of a mouse (and I really doubt that extends to it being as precise a pointer as a mouse. Not even touch screens are as precise as a mouse when it comes to pointing.) It lacks the versatility of a keyboard and it lacks the precision and tactile feedback of analog buttons.

The only situation in which I can see this as a superior device is when I want to play an FPS and keyboard and mouse are not an option (such as when I am on a couch.) Maybe some new genres will be able to use this in new and interesting ways, but for existing genres this looks inferior except in that one case.

I am open to being proven wrong. Valve has always provided me with great products, they have never done wrong by me and I am really excited about SteamOS and the steam box. I will give them the benefit of the doubt for now, but I am not excited about this controller.

 

[coolguy5678]

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.

The ABXY buttons on the Steam Controller are more like start/back on an Xbox controller. If you look at the Portal 2 example, you can see that they're bound to stuff like push-to-talk, communication pings and so on. The fact that they're labelled the same as the Xbox face buttons is a coincidence (and a pretty bad choice on Valve's part, since a lot of people are making this mistake).

 

[synobal]

Spoiler

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.

Spoiler

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...

Spoiler

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.

It is like no one actually read the announcement, Everyone who says the face buttons are in a terrible place, please look at the portal 2 input graphic, it is clear that they are used for secondary controls. The primary inputs are the 4 top/shoulder buttons, the 2 bottom buttons and the track pads. Also it can be remapped entirely so it isn't like in any game your control layout is set in stone.

 

[DrOswald]

Spoiler

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.

Spoiler

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...

Spoiler

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.

It is like no one actually read the announcement, Everyone who says the face buttons are in a terrible place, please look at the portal 2 input graphic, it is clear that they are used for secondary controls. The primary inputs are the 4 top/shoulder buttons, the 2 bottom buttons and the track pads. Also it can be remapped entirely so it isn't like in any game your control layout is set in stone.

Shoulder buttons are no where near as responsive or easy to use as face buttons. The bottom buttons are really the most questionable as highly responsive because those buttons will be activated by your pinky and ring finger which are weaker and slower than any other fingers on your hand. And don't forget you will also be using those fingers to actually hold the controller.

The track pad button emulation might be good, but even with a really good feedback system I doubt they will ever achieve the precision, feedback and responsiveness of physical buttons. I will give them the chance to prove me wrong, but they are going to have to prove it before I believe it.

I have read every word in the announcement 3 times now. I still have the same concerns.

 

[synobal]

It is like no one actually read the announcement, Everyone who says the face buttons are in a terrible place, please look at the portal 2 input graphic, it is clear that they are used for secondary controls. The primary inputs are the 4 top/shoulder buttons, the 2 bottom buttons and the track pads. Also it can be remapped entirely so it isn't like in any game your control layout is set in stone.

Shoulder buttons are no where near as responsive or easy to use as face buttons. The bottom buttons are really the most questionable as highly responsive because those buttons will be activated by your pinky and ring finger which are weaker and slower than any other fingers on your hand. And don't forget you will also be using those fingers to actually hold the controller.

The track pad button emulation might be good, but even with a really good feedback system I doubt they will ever achieve the effectiveness, feedback and responsiveness of physical buttons. I will give them the chance to prove me wrong, but they are going to have to prove it before I believe it.

I have read every word in the announcement 3 times now. I still have the same concerns.

Shoulder buttons less responsive than face buttons? Umm a button has 2 states, depressed, not depressed. How do tell are shoulder buttons less responsive than face buttons?

 

[DrOswald]

It is like no one actually read the announcement, Everyone who says the face buttons are in a terrible place, please look at the portal 2 input graphic, it is clear that they are used for secondary controls. The primary inputs are the 4 top/shoulder buttons, the 2 bottom buttons and the track pads. Also it can be remapped entirely so it isn't like in any game your control layout is set in stone.

Shoulder buttons are no where near as responsive or easy to use as face buttons. The bottom buttons are really the most questionable as highly responsive because those buttons will be activated by your pinky and ring finger which are weaker and slower than any other fingers on your hand. And don't forget you will also be using those fingers to actually hold the controller.

The track pad button emulation might be good, but even with a really good feedback system I doubt they will ever achieve the effectiveness, feedback and responsiveness of physical buttons. I will give them the chance to prove me wrong, but they are going to have to prove it before I believe it.

I have read every word in the announcement 3 times now. I still have the same concerns.

Shoulder buttons less responsive than face buttons? Umm a button has 2 states, depressed, not depressed. How do tell are shoulder buttons less responsive than face buttons?

Because of the finger that uses it. The thumb is capable of much more precise and complex movements than an index finger or middle finger. It is much stronger, can make rapid inputs much more reliably and for much longer and is far faster to respond. In addition, separating the inputs across more appendages (4 fingers for 4 shoulder buttons compared to 1 thumb for 4 face buttons) means that the inputs are far more difficult to keep track of and much harder to learn. Try playing Mega Man X on a PS3 controller with the 4 face buttons mapped to the shoulder buttons. I have actually done this. It is really, really hard.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

I know I shouldn't knock it based on appearances, but it keeps making me think someone smacked together a controller and a boombox.

Would like to give it a spin though.

 

[mysecondlife]

*inhale*
*loud exhale through mouth*
*walk backwards slowly*

 

[synobal]

Because of the finger that uses it. The thumb is capable of much more precise and complex movements than an index finger or middle finger. It is much stronger, can make rapid inputs much more reliably and for much longer and is far faster to respond. In addition, separating the inputs across more appendages (4 fingers for 4 shoulder buttons compared to 1 thumb for 4 face buttons) means that the inputs are far more difficult to keep track of and much harder to learn. Try playing Mega Man X on a PS3 controller with the 4 face buttons mapped to the shoulder buttons. I have actually done this. It is really, really hard.

Hmm I play most games with a keyboard and mouse, I use primarily the first 3 fingers on either hand with some pinkie use on my left hand. Why should my other fingers suddenly become terrible for button pressing? Also you'd need a finger on each button? I'd have a finger for both shoulder buttons. Perhaps it is a console gamer issue but I've no issues using my fingers over thumbs for pressing buttons.

 

[Brian Tams]

I really can't say how I feel about it, since I've never seen anything like it.

I will, however, say this: I hope valve will allow other gamepads to be used with the Steam Machine, in case this really is as horrible as its detractors say it is.

 

[DrOswald]

Because of the finger that uses it. The thumb is capable of much more precise and complex movements than an index finger or middle finger. It is much stronger, can make rapid inputs much more reliably and for much longer and is far faster to respond. In addition, separating the inputs across more appendages (4 fingers for 4 shoulder buttons compared to 1 thumb for 4 face buttons) means that the inputs are far more difficult to keep track of and much harder to learn. Try playing Mega Man X on a PS3 controller with the 4 face buttons mapped to the shoulder buttons. I have actually done this. It is really, really hard.

Hmm I play most games with a keyboard and mouse, I use primarily the first 3 fingers on either hand with some pinkie use on my left hand. Why should my other fingers suddenly become terrible for button pressing? Also you'd need a finger on each button? I'd have a finger for both shoulder buttons. Perhaps it is a console gamer issue but I've no issues using my fingers over thumbs for pressing buttons.

If you don't have a finger for each shoulder button then you can't do simultaneous input. And many games require simultaneous input. So you need a finger on each of the buttons, especially if those are going to be your primary input method.

Mega Man X is a great example of this. You often need to hold down the charge button while simultaneously pressing the jump and dash buttons. This 3 button maneuver that is really easy to learn on face buttons using a single thumb but very difficult to do using three separate fingers. And this is a very common type of setup.

And it is not that the other fingers are terrible for input. They are just not as good. Also, shoulder button input is different from mouse/keyboard input. Perform this test: See how rapidly and for how long you can repeatedly click the left button on a mouse. Then go and find a controller with shoulder buttons and see how rapidly and for how long you can repeatedly press the shoulder button. Those figures will be very different.

I play most games using keyboard and mouse because I spend most of my gaming time on the computer. It just is not as good for many types of games. FPS? Can't beat it. Strategy? Great. Platformers? Inferior. Metroidvania? Even worse.

I am talking about optimization. Why would we use the Valve controller? Only because it is better than the other options, options most of us already have. I am not going to use a controller out of brand loyalty. And I really don't see it being better than current options except in a very narrow set of circumstances. This will probably be a very good FPS controller. I doubt it will surpass Keyboard/Mouse, but it might just become the preferred input method for couch COD. That doesn't interest me.

I like a lot of the ideas they are bringing to the table with this controller and I love Valve. I really want to be wrong about this. And I am going to give them the chance to prove me wrong. I will work to prove myself wrong. And I will buy one of these just because it is probably the most important thing to happen in video game input since the Wiimote. But I have spent dozens of hours just comparing and considering video game input methods. I don't see how this will improve on what we already have.

 

[Triforceformer]

I want to believe:

http://i.imgur.com/xTirgi9.png

 

[synobal]

Because of the finger that uses it. The thumb is capable of much more precise and complex movements than an index finger or middle finger. It is much stronger, can make rapid inputs much more reliably and for much longer and is far faster to respond. In addition, separating the inputs across more appendages (4 fingers for 4 shoulder buttons compared to 1 thumb for 4 face buttons) means that the inputs are far more difficult to keep track of and much harder to learn. Try playing Mega Man X on a PS3 controller with the 4 face buttons mapped to the shoulder buttons. I have actually done this. It is really, really hard.

Hmm I play most games with a keyboard and mouse, I use primarily the first 3 fingers on either hand with some pinkie use on my left hand. Why should my other fingers suddenly become terrible for button pressing? Also you'd need a finger on each button? I'd have a finger for both shoulder buttons. Perhaps it is a console gamer issue but I've no issues using my fingers over thumbs for pressing buttons.

If you don't have a finger for each shoulder button then you can't do simultaneous input. And many games require simultaneous input. So you need a finger on each of the buttons, especially if those are going to be your primary input method.

Mega Man X is a great example of this. You often need to hold down the charge button while simultaneously pressing the jump and dash buttons. This 3 button maneuver that is really easy to learn on face buttons using a single thumb but very difficult to do using three separate fingers. And this is a very common type of setup.

And it is not that the other fingers are terrible for input. They are just not as good. Also, shoulder button input is different from mouse/keyboard input. Perform this test: See how rapidly and for how long you can repeatedly click the left button on a mouse. Then go and find a controller with shoulder buttons and see how rapidly and for how long you can repeatedly press the shoulder button. Those figures will be very different.

I play most games using keyboard and mouse because I spend most of my gaming time on the computer. It just is not as good for many types of games. FPS? Can't beat it. Strategy? Great. Platformers? Inferior. Metroidvania? Even worse.

I am talking about optimization. Why would we use the Valve controller? Only because it is better than the other options, options most of us already have. I am not going to use a controller out of brand loyalty. And I really don't see it being better than current options except in a very narrow set of circumstances. This will probably be a very good FPS controller. I doubt it will surpass Keyboard/Mouse, but it might just become the preferred input method for couch COD. That doesn't interest me.

I like a lot of the ideas they are bringing to the table with this controller and I love Valve. I really want to be wrong about this. And I am going to give them the chance to prove me wrong. I will work to prove myself wrong. And I will buy one of these just because it is probably the most important thing to happen in video game input since the Wiimote. But I have spent dozens of hours just comparing and considering video game input methods. I don't see how this will improve on what we already have.

Weird on my PS2 controller I can use 1 finger to hold down both shoulder buttons. If i want to release only 1 I just slide my finger a little.

 

[RicoADF]

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...

This gives more feedback than motion control and frankly I'd rather this than a Wiimote. Read the full article, don't just go by a picture, specifically the part where they adress your concerns:
"Haptics
Trackpads, by their nature, are less physical than thumbsticks. By themselves, they are ?light touch? devices and don?t offer the kind of visceral feedback that players get from pushing joysticks around. As we investigated trackpad-based input devices, it became clear through testing that we had to find ways to add more physicality to the experience. It also became clear that ?rumble?, as it has been traditionally implemented (a lopsided weight spun around a single axis), was not going to be enough. Not even close.

The Steam Controller is built around a new generation of super-precise haptic feedback, employing dual linear resonant actuators. These small, strong, weighted electro-magnets are attached to each of the dual trackpads. They are capable of delivering a wide range of force and vibration, allowing precise control over frequency, amplitude, and direction of movement.

This haptic capability provides a vital channel of information to the player - delivering in-game information about speed, boundaries, thresholds, textures, action confirmations, or any other events about which game designers want players to be aware. It is a higher-bandwidth haptic information channel than exists in any other consumer product that we know of. As a parlour trick they can even play audio waveforms and function as speakers."

While I don't know weather I will like it, I'm going to give it a try and see how it feels, honestly I take my hat off to Valve, their trying something different and taking a risk. I wouldn't jump to conclusions yet, they seem to have thought this through and worked on where there may have been issues.

 

[Vigormortis]

Looks good.

Also looks like something that breaks quickly when dropped or accidently stabbed with sharp objects, which means I won't be getting one.

Well...the one they've shown in the beta build version.

So of course the thing looks like it'll break if someone sneezes too harshly.

'Course, the final build could be the same, so who knows? All I know is I want to try it out. I'm genuinely curious if Valve's found a way to make trackpads useful.