That controller render thing looks so much better than the original Steam controller. I am not gonna get too excited, but I hope they have a wired model because it looks like a controller I would actually try. Maybe even use it as a replacement for my other 2 controllers.
Even as someone with big hands, that does not look like a comfortable controller to use. I’ll wait for the next $5 clearance sale like I did with the original Steam controller. 🙃
I bought it on sale…then got the message that they are out of stock and ill get refunded :(
I hope they added back the two stage triggers of the OG Steam Controller.
The new controller seems like a Steam Deck sans the screen/APU, which means the two-stage triggers will be there.
The Steam Deck doesn’t have a real two stage trigger. It has bullshit vibration that feels like shit. The Steam controller has a smell click at the end which feels fantastic.
Day. One. Purchase.
I seriously hope it’s like the rendering at the bottom of the article with two physical button areas (4 each), two physical joysticks, and two touch pads. That feels like the best of all worlds.
I want to love the Steam Controller 1 so much but the missing right joystick and the touch pad for the left dpad just feels so bad for so many games that were designed for two joysticks. It’s so hard to get the muscle memory right. I’m always trying to use the left pad as a dpad and tapping it wrong.
I wish someone could show me what I’m missing but it feels so frustrating
Been holding off on buying any new controllers just for this
Rocking a 10 year old Xbox Elite Controller that’ve I’ve kept going through multiple repairs
So a steam deck without the screen. I’ll take that.
And a Steam console to go with it, please.
And a Steam console to go with it, please.
Current state of the rumor mill is that it’ll be a companion device for the stand-alone VR headset where traditional games are supposedly being projected on a virtual giant screen.
100% agree! I know so many nerds rag on this idea of a steam console “well you can just build a PC and install Bazzite on it”, yeah tell that to those who don’t know anything about building PCs, and just want to buy a console and start playing. So, yeah, a steam console. Give it to me right now.
Honestly no idea why the Framework Desktop isn’t being sold in a SteamOS configuration.
That’s actually a great idea. Maybe suggest it to the framework folks. Maybe they can collaborate with BazziteOS and sell steam machines since SteamOS for PC isn’t official yet.
They had the “Steam Machine”, but effectively nobody bought it. Maybe now with the Deck people would be more open to it, who knows.
The Steam machines flopped because of game compatibility, or lack thereof. That can be pretty much considered solved. These days a steam console would be much more attractive.
Steam Machines flopped because everyone with the badge thought it was a licence to print money and marked up mini PCs to the point where it made no sense to not buy a dedicatd gaming laptop instead.
We live in a very different world with 1080p capable mini-pcs abounds and SteamOS/Bazzite showing how a gaming OS should be.
I would love to see them sell the controller and mini PCs through hardware partners that get that this is an opportunity to shift units, not mark up, but I’m not optimistic, and if I save $200 by not having a little steam badge so be it.
It’s pretty obviously both things that were a problem. A mediocre prebuilt with a $200 premium over other mediocre prebuilts was unattractive, but plenty of people do buy overpriced mediocre prebuilts. The killer feature being that nearly no games were compatible was going to kill it even if the price was right, though.
Now we’re in the era of Proton, and games just work, if the price is fair, it’ll sell. If the price is you cannot get anything like this without spending much more like the Deck or how consoles used to be priced when the hardware made a loss and the profits came from games, then it’ll sell really well.
d-pad d-pad d-pad please…!
oh come the fuck on
If you look at the 3d render, it has a dpad and second joystick. I’m pretty sure the 2d icon is just meant to be recognizable without all the buttons/details.
What do you think the circle on the left is for? I really doubt it’s gonna be a joystick. More like the Xbox style d-pad.
I hope they stick with the “mini steamdeck layout” like shown in the 3D model pic. I saw a video awhile ago where someone made their own steam controller using spare parts from various Steam Decks, and I always hoped the official would look at least somewhat similar.
I hope they didn’t remove the dpad and a joystick that’d be a dealbreaker for me
the removal on the icon was supposedlu just gor icon simplification rather than on the physical product.
including 2 touchpads already makes the icon fairly recognizable for what controller its trying to convey
Well it’s irrelevant until they announce the thing anyways
I bet they know they can’t do anything other than a Deck with no screen if they don’t want it to fail like the SC1.
hell yeah!
I starting to become afraid this controller will be uncomfortable for those trying to use the touchpad as the primary way of doing camera control…
Instant buy from me!
I loved the first steam controller…but it wasn’t robust.
My paddle buttons broke within a few hundred hours, I 3d printed a new one and good to go. Then the shoulder buttons stopped working quite quickly, which I fixed. Then the thumbsticks stopped. Then it was something else. Then something else. After about 500 hours of gaming I had given up.I thought it was me being too harsh. Bought another one but that -relatively- quickly stopped working. Same issues, paddles, buttons etc etc.
Got myself a second hand DS4 for £10 and carried on. 1200ish hours of Rocket League later and one shoulder button started to play up. I opened it up, put a mechanical keyboard o ring over the silicone membrane thing under the buttons and carried on playing for thousands more hours. Every now and again I would open it up to clean it etc but that’s all that happened.
All in all I put nearly 4000 hours in to RL, but only about 900 of them with the steam controller. And they constantly broke. The rest of those hours were with a second hand DS4, with a few O rings to help along the way.But I did love those steam controllers. They just felt right in the hand. I just hope the second one is a bit more robust than the first.
Edit:
I just remembered the LHS thumbstick started to drift at some point.
I opened it up and WD-40’d it and it worked for a loooong time, then started drifting again. Bought a new one and popped that in and it was like new.Eww.
The touchpad are amazing but do not replace an analog stick or dpad. If this is legit, it is going to be the steam controller 1 all over again where it really is only good for games without xinput gamepad support
There’s literally analog sticks right there?
