Leaker here is Brad Lynch, who generally seems reliable as a leaker for Valve software and products. He was also the source for the leaked renders of the steam controller.
That controller is the lynchpin for making a mini PC my future home theater center. I care for it more than the steam machine
Same. Its a perfect device for running an HTPC / living room gaming device. Im planning navigate through streaming options, kodi, steam remote play, moonlight, and a bunch of emulators all with the same controller.
I hear yeah, I want that Controller, its everything I asked for after using the Deck plus more. My Steam Account is preloaded with Money cause I remember when the Steam Deck went pre order the payment processing couldnt keep up. Frame is interesting. But probably way to expensive for the little interest I have.
Oh thank you for the heads up! I might add money myself for this.
Me too, I have my home theater set already and this would be the icing on the
Same. I desperately hope they release a version with the regular thumbstick layout instead of the PlayStation layout that’s on the Deck.
“Regular” thumbstick layout? PlayStation’s was first.
EDIT: I see you edited your comment to remove “regular”. Thank you! I’ve always been able to use either kind just fine, but I do prefer symmetrical, probably because I play a lot of 2D games and actually use the d-pad.
This controller was peak design. I was using a DS3 as my go to pc controller for years before the sticks died.
I keep rebuilding the same DS4 controller as it’s ideal as a PC controller, both wired and Bluetooth protocol. But it keeps breaking or wearing down on me and parts keep going up in price and the dang thing is getting beat up. I looked into the 8-bitdo controllers but I didn’t care for the only one they had with the DS layout, their retro one.
I’ll heavily consider the Steam Controller 2 if the price and quality is right.
I love every 8bitdo I own. The pro2 is great, aside from the Nintendo face button labels, it’s become my daily driver and dev controller.
I’m the opposite, Xbox button labels drive me crazy. I learned the layout on the SNES, so it’s hard for me to adjust. I’ve gotten better since playing more PC games on my Steam Deck since the XBox layout is the default, though I always choose PS button prompts if the game has the option.
Universal glyphs are better imo. In my head I call them north, south, east, west instead of a, b, x, y (I’m pretty sure that’s how the facebuttons are labeled in the Linux kernel, regardless of Xbox,Nintendo,ps)
I play so many retro games that i just found it easier to memorize all the different controllers.
Did your 8bitdo only have nintendo buttons as an option? I was able to pick from three designs for my 8bitdo pro 2
What about a PS5 controller?
Roommate has one and I didn’t like the feel as much as the DS4 and the DS4 is cheaper than the DS5. But I had been considering the DS4 over the 8-bitdo, and this is so minor, but I liked that the DS controllers had the speaker compatibility with Death Stranding 1 and 2 to add some little sound effects to the game. Tho those are the only two games I’ve seen it work with on the PC so it’s so so minor.
The PS1 controller was my first real PC controller btw, with an adapter! Back then it was such a blast to play emulation with such a great controller. As other PC controllers sucked for the most part.
It was kind of a pain to find a good controller for PC back in the day. It was nice when standard console controllers just worked with it.
“DEBATE ME”
lol but seriously who cares who’s first if we’re going with who’s thumbstick layout was first then it’s n64 and I think we agree nobody wants that
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Wii, Wii U, and Steam Deck (soon Steam Controller) did it that way
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N64 wasn’t dual analog, so not relevant since it wasn’t symmetrical or asymmetrical.
n64 is relevant in any discussion about analog sticks on console controllera
The layout was very very non standard and had a single stick. I’m smoking a lot of weed but I can tell you the n64 controller doesn’t count here.
I said it was first I didn’t say it was standard. But being the first it definitionally can’t be “nonstandard” since it was the only one at the time!
Why would a single analog stick be relevant in a discussion of whether symmetrical or asymmetrical analog sticks are “regular”?
that’s not what the discussion is about
I’ll just include consoles that came with symmetrical or asymmetrical for simplicity’s sake:
Symmetrical:
PS2: 160 million
PS3: 87 million
PS4: 117 million
PS5: 92 million
Wii U: 14 million
Symmetrical total: 470 million
Asymmetrical:
Xbox: 24 million
Xbox 360: 84 million
Xbox One: 58 million
Xbox Series X: 35 million
Gamecube: 21 million
Switch: 155 million
Switch 2: 17 million
Asymmetrical total: 394 million
More people have played on symmetrical controllers than asymmetrical.
I prefer assymetrical xbox style for modern games where the analog stick is more important than dpad. For oldschool games I prefer the dpad on the outside (symmetrical) like Playstation does. Just my opinion.
hardly any of those are still in production by that logic a regular TV is a crt lol
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The PlayStation controller is the same as a SNES controller, but with two sticks and finger grips.
Xbox took thier controller design from the Dreamcast. Which came out long after the SNES, and before the xbox.
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What other way? The A and B buttons?
The sticks? I just explained to you why they have the layouts they do.
Will pay a frankly humiliating amount of money to get one of these ASAP. My OG Steam Controller (my second, in fact) is on death’s door.
Fortunately it doesn’t contain RAM or flash storage or a GPU, so you may not need to go to humiliation levels of money.
I hear you. I preloaded my Steam with 150cad. During the steam deck pre order the hold up when the website worked was payment processors.
Thanks for the reminder. I don’t think I encountered payment issues with the Deck (I used a credit card and was early enough to be in one of the April 2022 waves), but better safe than sorry.
I broke my first steam controller, and an old xbox controller, beating the final boss of Sekiro. My replacement is more-or-less a shelf ornament at the moment due to its irreplaceable nature. That old man’s got a lot to answer for.
I will also be at the front of the queue for this. Hesitation is defeat, after all.
this is the only controller than will retire my alpakka 1
this is the only controller that might retire my wavebird
I wish the alpakka 2’s kickstarted had exceeded. That would have been sweet
Oh snap it’s got the Playstation joystick config… I kinda want this to replace my dying DS4 I’ve repaired a few times now. I wonder how easy it’ll be to reach over those pads and touch the sticks
to reach over those pads and touch the sticks
Plz stop
Huh???
This is the only new valve hardware I am interested in. I love the steam deck track pads, so having them on a controller will be awesome.
I have a bunch of nice controllers that all work on my gaming PC and Macs, etc.
But I’ll probally buy one of these too. I feel like it’s compulsory in a weird nagging way.
I want this controller, but I am so annoyed that no controller on the planet comes with separated directional buttons for the D-Pad. Accidental diagonal input is the bane of my existence. The Nintendo Switch Joy-Cons have separate buttons and I freaking love it! But the ONLY reason they did that is to allow them to serve as ABXY when held sideways. No “real” controller does this.
The only option I’ve found to achieve this is to get a PlayStation controller (PS4 or PS5), and mod it with a kit that separates the buttons under the faceplate. But the extra features of the Steam Controller sound too good to sacrifice just for that.
The only D-Pad I’ve ever actually liked is the 3DS (XL), because it’s so clicky and never caused accidental diagonal input. Seriously, how do people accept this crap?
So yeah, I really hope the D-Pad on this is clicky. I’ll probably be buying it either way.
8bitdo d-pad is very clicky and defined
Xbox Series controller dpad is very clicky and well defined, so accidental diagonal inputs aren’t a concern with that one.
There’s likely a number of other similar clicky dpads on the market nowadays, it’s been popularised again with quite a few retro handhelds.I only accept it because I have become used to it.
Otherwise, I do tend to agree with you for the pretty rare time I need to not go accidental diagonal.
luckily the steam controller is very configurable. All the buttons can be remapped, with layers, for basically anything you could imagine. I have an OG steam controller that I use to play helldivers 2. The OG steam controller does not have a D pad at all, and D pad input is very important in that game. Normally you hold LB and then use the D pad to input stuff. So for the steam controller, I added a layer where when holding LB (and only when holding LB) the ABXY buttons become a D pad. So it’s ABXY or a D pad depending on the context and proper layers mean I don’t even have to think about it. I’m sure if the D pad on this one isn’t clicky enough, you could do something like that.
It’s an interesting thought, but no amount of software is going to conjure up new physical buttons. You pretty much always need to use the ABXY buttons at the same time as the D-pad, so this remapping trick wouldn’t be possible.
I have a setup with my Dualsense Edge (and Steam Deck) for FPS games where I use flick stick and gyro to aim, and swipe on the touchpad to switch weapons. It works disgustingly well. I play FPS games on controller now.
I’m too twitchy for gyro aim to be better than just using the sticks. My crosshair would just be jiggling all over 😔
Gross!
Inject it straight to my htpc!
Yay. My Playstation controller is at the point where it needs to be replaced. It’s got both battery capacity issues and charging issues. I’m hoping that the Steam controller lasts longer than the PS4 Pro controller b/c for the price that Sony charges, I’d expect those to last longer than mine has, especially given how little time I spend playing / using it.
I’ve been looking forward to the Steam controller. I was starting to think I should give up and just go get another PS controller. Granted, I’m sure I won’t get a first release Steam controller. They’ll have a limited quantity and wouldn’t surprise me if they’re gone by the time that the steam store has recovered from the outage and bugs that crop up every time a new product goes on sale.
Didn’t the PS4 Pro controller come out 10 years ago?
Wondering the same thing. Probably a battery replacement would ail their woes.
I’m not sure when they came out. Why would it matter, though?
Why would t it matter? Does age not matter when it comes to how an electronic is expected to perform? I don’t expect to get more than 10 years Of perfect play out of any controller. Whether it stick drift or buttons wearing out or whatever the case may be. Nothing lasts forever even in perfect conditions. Not to mention the battery is the quickest thing the degrade anyhow. How often do you even see miniUSB cables?
Why would t it matter? Does age not matter when it comes to how an electronic is expected to perform? I don’t expect to get more than 10 years Of perfect play out of any controller.
You do know that not everybody who owns a PS4 controller bought them on day 1 when they were originally released, right? That it’s possible people like myself bought them much later than in 2016, correct? And you also realize that the problems I’m talking about – those didn’t start yesterday.
How often do you even see miniUSB cables?
Literally daily.
Ok, but you do realize that even if you didn’t purchase it day 1, that the battery begins decaying from the first day it’s created right? And maybe you’re not in the US, but at least where I’m at you have to go out of your way to purchase a miniUSB cable.
Hell yes.
I’m waiting years for this, even longer than the Steam Deck exists! I think that I buy it twice, one to use it and the second one as collection (and backup). :-) (Edit: typo, I didn’t meant unpacked)
I have a first gen but I’m not really a fan. My one non-gamer kid likes it though.
The issue with the first one is that it loses basic controller functionality for the touchpads. Many games that come with controller support don’t work well on it without adjusting the controls.
The new steam controller should be fully functional as a standard controller, while having a lot more capabilities when the user can use them.
The trackpads on the deck are nice, it’s a great substitute for a mouse when you don’t have a mouse. But that’s all they are. Not a single game* has done anything to show off any greater potential. Binding ten keyboard keys into a dodgy ring menu is not a pleasant interface. I have never once wanted to use a trackpad as a redundant joystick input. I would like to freely pan around with one pad and point with the other - imagine that in a puzzle box game. Nothing can do this, the closest to an independent view control i’ve found is “bind mouse wheel up/down buttons to vertical swipes”.
Heck, I would like a water filled toy game where you just press the pads to squirt rings upwards, and it feels just a little bit haptically squooshy. Nobody has done even that much to make a game feel truly at home on the Deck with the deck’s controls.
The new controller looks nice, but I don’t see any reason for it to replace the lowest-common-denominator xbox style controller. Especially when there are some really good xbox clones with magnetic sticks being sold for super cheap.
*okay, there’s Aperture Desk Job. That hardly adds up to a game, it’s basically the manual that comes with the Deck controller. I’ve spent more time playing the PC Jr’s bios tutorial.
I would like to freely pan around with one pad and point with the other
I think XCOM 2 does exactly this
Yeah I only really use track pad as mouse in steam desktop. It’s pretty cool there tho.
Try out a steam deck if you get a chance. The haptics are fantastic and makes using a mouse with your thumb feel very natural
@Fubarberry I want one!
I want
