Valve Releases New Video Showing Steam Controller in Action

[loa]

Why didn't they use dual swipe for the civ game?
That would be the one thing this can do that neither keyboard+mouse nor controllers can.

 

[Westaway]

I didn't realize you would need to lift your fingers up to turn. That looks awful. I was curious about this, but now I don't want to go anywhere near it.

 

[Agayek]

Well I'm interested. I like the feel of controllers, they just seem "right" for gaming, but I like the precision of mouse + keyboard. With 1:1 trackpad control this could fill that niche very nicely.

Still though, I'm wondering how we're expected to use most of the buttons ergonomically.

Here's an idea, a controller with buttons on the back that I can press with my middle fingers so my thumbs can stick to movement and camera controls.

You realize that's what the Steam controller does right?

There's four shoulder buttons and two paddles on the back of the controller which together are supposed to be the primary inputs. The face buttons are for secondary/menu functions.

 

[JayRPG]

Constant swiping of the thumbs in order to turn around in an FPS? Yep, those are trackpads alright. And given that he said Portal 2 was using 1:1 controls, there seemed a surprising amount of aim acceleration on display.

Not convinced.

If I had my mouse set to 1:1 I would have to make constant swipes to turn around in an fps too.

If there are options to increase the ratio or acceleration like we do with dpi settings on a mouse, this would work fine.

Hell.. even if you could only 1:1, I would still prefer it to a thumbstick with auto-aim settings turned on.

I've been playing PC FPS's competitively since CS 1.6 and no matter how much I try, I cannot play an FPS on a console, aiming feels SO clunky and SO inaccurate and it's evident developers feel the same way or there wouldn't be things like aim assistance on console versions.

 

[Akytalusia]

it's nothing special so far. actually worse than current key-binders like xpadder or joy2key from the look of it. having to keep swiping across the pad to move the mouse looks like it would get real annoying real fast when you can just use one of the previously mentioned programs for smooth mouse emulation. also, while it may also provide mouse precision for fps's like other programs do, they're still a far cry from competing with the speed and precision of keyboard+mouse. i'll give it credit for providing a convenient and accessible option for [], but an analogue controller will just never be able to compete against K+M for some game types.

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

Reeeeeally not liking the way he has to turn with the right touch pad. swiping your thumb across something repeatedly seems imprecise and clumsy as hell. Definitely won't buy one unless I try it first and it functions much better than it looks like it does.

 

[unstabLized]

Very nice. I was pretty impressed. Sure it may or may not be good for FPS, but it'd be pretty hard to beat the Keyboard Mouse combo in the first place. Even still I might be getting one, just to play non-FPS games, or maybe even non-competitive FPS games. Looking forward to more updates.

 

[Grimh]

Looks pretty decent. I'm interested to see what they can do with configurations to maybe reduce the need for swiping your thumb too much in FPS games and the like. Show us how customizable it really is.
I do hope it's a great controller, it's always good to have options.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Constant swiping of the thumbs in order to turn around in an FPS? Yep, those are trackpads alright. And given that he said Portal 2 was using 1:1 controls, there seemed a surprising amount of aim acceleration on display.

Not convinced.

Of course you're not. Nintendo didn't make it. After all, this is the pinnacle of gaming input, right?

Not surprised you aren't convinced. The only thing aside from actually trying it that might sell you before hand would be a Nintendo logo on it.

Knock it off. Jeffer's enjoyment of Nintendo has nothing to do with this, and if your only reason to quote him was to insult him and then try and prove his opinion wrong, all it does is show how petty you are. Get over yourselves.

As for the video, I'll need to see more before I make a decision. I like the sound of the gamepad being fully configurable, so that might solve some of the sensitivity issues I noticed in the video.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

Until I see how it responds to fighting games and melee style brawlers this is no different to me in terms of functionality. Not saying it won't work with those genres but the skepticism is still there. It's also curious that those were the two genres that made this controller's functionality questionable.

 

[Brian Tams]

They can show me all the videos they want, but in order to convince me, I'm going to have to use the controller for myself. After all, watching =/= using.

That said, a little of skepticism melted after watching that video.

 

[Summerstorm]

Hmmm... i am not convinced of this controller.

He needs to have multiple "swishes" with his thumb to move the cursor over the whole screen in Civ5 or to turn 360° in Portal, which you can reliable with the flick of the wrist with a mouse.

Now of course he could just set the sensitivity higher, but point remains: is the thumb as fast AND accurate as your hand? does the scrolling and such slow down your clickspeed and fingers on buttons down? Can you handle multiple keys and key-combination with that controller?

Tested a bit... but i am not accustomed to controllers, never used one for like ten years. I guess i will have to wait the reviews.

 

[GladiatorUA]

This controller is not a replacement of mouse and keyboard. THEY DON'T INTEND IT TO BE.
This is for living room couch gaming. It doesn't compete with M+KB. It competes with dual stick controllers.

 

[42Weasels]

Looks pretty good, but I think a controller is one of those things that you have to get your hand on before you can really know how you'd like it. I remember when PSPGO came out, and I was interested right up until I held on and realized my fingers would kill me for putting them through holding that device (which would be a sad way to go), and the whole "we won't transfer anything for you" bit that accompanied it.

Look forward to eventually trying this one though, looks promising.

 

[Vigormortis]

Knock it off. Jeffer's enjoyment of Nintendo has nothing to do with this, and if your only reason to quote him was to insult him and then try and prove his opinion wrong, all it does is show how petty you are. Get over yourselves.

You're right. His affinity for Nintendo has nothing to do with this.

However, he has personally berated others, including me, in other threads for not having nothing but pure praise for Nintendo.

Besides, I was answering a dismissive comment with a dismissive post. At worst, you can say I sank to his level.

Though, if that be the case, then I regret my previous comment. Apologies to all.

I didn't realize you would need to lift your fingers up to turn. That looks awful. I was curious about this, but now I don't want to go anywhere near it.

It can be programmed to allow for a more "joystick" like input. As in, the further you move your thumb to each edge the more the game will "auto-scroll". Just as with a joystick.

However, I think I'd much prefer the swiping. I detest the turn-mechanics of joysticks. They've always felt slow, inaccurate, and sluggish to me.

The idea of a 1-to-1 swiping motion, with variable speed and acceleration, seems much better to me. I know it won't be for everyone, but to me it seems more akin to how a mouse or trackball behaves. So, in that regard, I'd prefer the swiping.

 

[Vivi22]

Knock it off. Jeffer's enjoyment of Nintendo has nothing to do with this, and if your only reason to quote him was to insult him and then try and prove his opinion wrong, all it does is show how petty you are. Get over yourselves.

It was a little tongue in cheek humour. We're not the ones who need to get over ourselves.

 

[Lightknight]

Constant swiping of the thumbs in order to turn around in an FPS? Yep, those are trackpads alright. And given that he said Portal 2 was using 1:1 controls, there seemed a surprising amount of aim acceleration on display.

Not convinced.

It seems to be an excellent RTS controller. I'm likewise unconvinced at the moment.

 

[MrBaskerville]

yeah... uh... no.

It just looks like a laptop track pad to me, which is to say that im not overly convinced in terms of how well it will control, definitely not more accurate than a mouse, and whether or not its better than analogue sticks is still debatable.

Imma' need more convincing.

As a person who is pretty damn good with a track pad on a laptop, i can say that playing fps games that way, is highly undesireable.

I'm more into fighting games and stuff like that, than fps and rts, so i really don't like the look of this controller. It just doesn't seem ideal to the things i want to play.

 

[EHKOS]

So instead of just holding the right stick to turn, I have to swipe three to four times to turn like a normal trackpad....NOPE. I have a laptop, and while I use a trackpad for most things, you just can't play a First-Person game with them, in fact I have trouble in Virtual DJ with it.

*crotchety old man voice*
I say analog is better than digital! Kids and their newfangled ways of playing games! When I was young, we were lucky when we got those sticks! Back then it was just a D-Pad! And those callouses were badges of honor!