Anyone else picking up the Steam controller?

Mine is on it’s way :slight_smile:

Pre-ordered pretty much as soon as it was available. Really looking forward to playing around with it. not only should it make many mouse and keyboard games playable on the couch, but, I think it might be the best possible game pad for action games like GTA and Batman, where losing out on the analog inputs is bad, but losing out on the precision of the mouse is also terribad - love those types of games, but I can’t help but feel frustrated when the game asks for quick precision out of camera controls, or when I’m on M&K and I’m driving a vehicle, or camera controls are limited during scripted sequences.

Apparently Valve has struck a deal with Gamestop, EB, GAME to host a Steam machine/Steam peripherals section in their store, so you should be able to pick one up in November there. Also, apparently the Steam cards are doing good sales - kids I guess, would buy those?

Makes sense that the cards would sell well. I mean, you’d give a console gamer a gift card to Gamestop so it stands to reason you’d give a PC gamer a Steam gift card.

Or they give you a Gamestop card which you use to buy a Steam card :wink:

Waiting on everyone’s opinion of the Steam controller. Maybe they’ll have a set-up at Gamestop where you can actually try one. I’m not jazzed up about dropping $50 on a new controller style without trying it first.

Some devs have been getting early copies, and so far it looks amazing.

These two guys have some excellent vids up:

Love that there are also motion controls, they seem to work great for driving games.

The whole rollout of Valve’s “steam on your couch” stuff has been pretty bad. No doubt most of the problem was the giant push behind Steam Boxes that didn’t really find an audience since they were so feature-poor. No one wanted to buy a second low-powered PC to run their stuff on a TV. Maybe if they doubled as HTPCs, but Valve seemed pretty set against that for some reason. SteamOS took forever (and it’s now dead?)

It’s good that they finally got it together, but this stuff should’ve dropped a year ago given they announced in mid-2013.

SteamOs is definitively not dead, it’ll be on Steam machines coming out this holiday. Mind you, I don’t see myself using a pure Steam Os device any time soon - except for the Steam link.

Steamboxes didn’t find an audience? They aren’t out yet. The closes thing, the Alienware Alpha has apparently been selling pretty well.

I’ll always build my own PC, most likely, but people seem interested in a more plug in and play alternative without compromising on the other cool stuff about PC gaming. I think this is just another way for people to get into PC gaming, and if the Steam controller works out well for them, and the price point is right, I think a lot of people will bite.

Calling a low-end PC running a Linux-variant “PC Gaming without compromise” might be a stretch.

The Steam Link and Steam controller were definitely the way to go. I plan to get those whenever I get around to buying a TV. Just think it’s a shame that they didn’t go that direction first so we’d be getting generation 2 now instead of the initial batch. Steam Machines had zero hype through all of 2014 and 2015.

Well, to be fair, all Steam machines will offer windows. But yes, you’ll probably want to get windows along with it.

Valve on the other hand is bringing more and more games to Steam OS, but unless it eventually becomes ALL games, that’s going to be a tough sell for most.

As for “low powered PC’s”… the alien ware alpha is performing as well as a PS4, better than in some cases even - so it’s not a big deal. With DX12/Open GL next, and the upcoming models featuring more powerful GPU’s and lower power requirements, I think “low powered PC” will be >>> consoles for the rest of this gen (at least in terms of hardware - I still think Valve needs to do more in terms of financing a few high end PC exclusives).

Steamboxes are junk. I wouldn’t buy any of the ones I’ve looked at to hold my door open.

Steam controllers? Supposedly good. Steam Link? Seems interesting (not for me, but I can see the appeal). Overpriced Linux boxes? Erm… no thanks.

I don’t think that Guild Wars 2 will translate well to the controller.

What I really want is VR and haptics.

I will add that buying a steam controller or steamlink comes with a free rocket league, which is the greatest game ever. Also portal 2.

I’m actually somewhat interested in the steam controller but I’ll wait for reviews. I suspect it’s not quite a fit for me, but I’m interested to see what a novel gamepad idea can do.

I’m not going to preorder hardware perhaps excepting a limited edition Nintendo console (because those things sell out instantly and then go on ebay for 4x markup).

I’ll almost certainly get a Steam Link unless it turns out to be a terrible lemon. Steam Controller I’m on the fence about. Currently I’m using a PS4 controller which is really good, but has some issues on PC.

I’ve heard from reviews that the Steam Controller fills a weird niche, it’s not really that great for FPS games (use M&K), or Character Action games, racing games, or 3D platformers (you really want the second stick for camera control), but it shines in games that are kind of meant for M&K, but don’t require pinpoint accuracy like FPS games. It seems like a peripheral meant to complement your existing setup rather than replace your existing controller.

I’m waiting for reviews, but I’ll probably grab one eventually.

Actually it’s games like 3D platformers, where the accuracy and speed of the mouse when controlling the camera is of huge benefit over an analog stick, but where analog movement can be critical, depending on the game, that something like the Seam controller might just shine.

Also, I think this would do just fine in a single-player FPS like Say Bioshock, or a third person shooter like Mass effect. WAY better than analog sticks! Sure, not competitive with m&k, but it’s a single player game, you don’t need to be, you simply tailor the difficulty fo the game to how well you do with one of these.

I’ll definitely be playing the next mass effect with this controller, over a standard gamepad (at least whenever I feel like putting it up on the TV).

The steam link has a singular purpose, so I’m not sure how it would turn out to be a lemon. It’s going to stream our games from your PC to your TV, that’s it. You can test this functionality out now with Steam in home streaming. All you need is a second PC or laptop. Best results require a decent router and a wired connection. But so long as your network can support the low latency connection, you should be able to achieve very playable 1080p/60FPS.

I am kind of interested in a Steam Controller: I need a new PC-friendly controller (because my wife stole my old Logitech, grrrr), I hate the Xbox controllers, and the PS4 controller (while better than the PS3!) still is not nearly as plug and play as I’d like. Especially on the Linux box that I’ve got hooked up to my TV for streaming Steam. I could, and may, just get another Logitech, but if this really does add some useful functionality, why not?

Not that you shouldn’t get the Steam controller (Everyone should!), but have you tried the Xbox one gamepads? I like those better than the 360 ones.

I don’t know, the reviews I’ve read have basically said “if you wouldn’t use a laptop trackpad for a game, you probably won’t want to use the Steam controller for it”. But we’ll see when it’s released to the general public.

I mostly means if it turns out they’re all underpowered and their decoders are laggy, or they have issues with breaking, or they burst into flames, summon satan, and claim your first born. I doubt it will happen, but I’ve seen some hardware that should be a slam dunk that ended up being cheaply manufactured before.

I’m very interested in both the Steam Controller and the Steam Link, but I’m going to wait for reviews before I commit. My laptop tends to live close to my TV so the Steam Link is not the huge convenience it would be if I had a desktop in another room as my main gaming system. I use PS3 controllers with my PC and while they’re not perfect (wireless doesn’t work), the Steam Controller is going to have to be pretty nice for me buy one without an immediate need for an extra controller.

Then again, my fiancee is eventually going to have a beefy desktop in the house and the Steam Link may become much more useful then.

I hadn’t heard about it until now. I really don’t get how a trackpad is going to work on a gamepad. I have yet to find a PC game where using the trackpad wasn’t an absolute last resort.

Because it’s not at all like a trackpad.

Everyone that has used it has likened it to using a trackball mouse. There are haptics in those pads, that give you the sense of working with a trackball, a sense of momentum, of speed, or direction, etc, something that a trackpad isn’t going to give you. And you can press it too, like an actual button, so the comparisons to trackpads and mobile screens is ludicrous - and those are the words of several devs I have heard speaking about it.

I have. And they’re better! But still just not a great fit for me, for a bunch of reasons.
Still another month for the Steam stuff if you pre-order it now, anyways, so plenty of time to get reviews from the first wave before any decisions.

What makes people like the XBone controllers better? I compared them side by side and there’s barely any difference besides a different level of spring centering. IIRC I thought the xbone triggers were slightly worse, with less analog range.