Steam Controller--anybody get one?

I got mine last night. I haven't had much time to tinker with it but it's ineresting. It has "haptic feedback" so when you're using the pads as a mouse or analogue stick it "clicks" at you so that you know it's moving. I have to tinker with the advanced settings to make the pad sensitive enough. It moves really slow when you try to use it as camera control or panning/turning in first-person games, but I'm reading that people have gotten it to work well and that it's quite accurate. One neat thing about it is that it's got more buttons than any controller I've seen, 1 more than the PS4 has. That's nice because some PC games (like Elite: Dangerous) use so many keys that you couldn't use a controller by itself.

So, did anybody else get one? Do you like it? Official retail release is Nov. 10th

I hear its not working for OSX yet. So I am waiting for that. (I mostly play Civ on my mac, so I don't even know if it'll be any good for that.)

Is it modular like the original prototype where you can change out the dpad for track balls and move buttons around etc....?

Yeah, you can configure it to do whatever you want. You can use it as a game pad or make the keys/mouse to it. Every aspect of it, like mouse sensitivity is configurable. You can make it emulate a trackball if you want. The community also posts different setups and you can download the profiles.

I kind of hate it. Playing it with mgs v is a clusterfuck, and really the fps games I tried with work much better than a mouse and keyboard. I don't know if I could ever get used to it. Maybe if more games are developed to use it it'll get better.

Have you tried it with something like civ v?

I think its usefulness will be highly dependent on your gaming setup. For example, if you use Big Screen mode and play from your couch, it would likely be very useful for stuff like Civilization, as mentioned. I do my PC gaming at a desk, so I have a much more specific use for it. I use my 360 TE stick or a USB Saturn pad for 2D games. I use the M/Kb for RTS, FPS, etc. However, 3PS just don't feel right with a M/Kb, and aiming with a right analog has always sucked. Thus, my niche for the controller for now is that one, though I am forcing myself to try it in lots of scenarios, because I think it has potential in many places... but not 2D games.

bloodycelt said:

Have you tried it with something like civ v?

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No, I haven't. I should try it with Shadowrun and see how it goes. It definitely will take some time to get used to it.

It has a learning curve, for sure, that you have to spend time to get over. To use it as a gamepad is very strange, and doesn't really work well. I'll have to keep trying it with new stuff periodically

I think of it almost like a Wii nunchuk and remote or PSMove setup. That's how it functions best in my experience. You get analog movement and pointer aiming, hold the waggle.

I don't have one but I've been thinking about picking one up. I understand it's one of those controllers you really have to give several hours to in order to acclimate before deciding good/bad.

I bought one... and I really don't enjoy using it much. It works fine for point n click type games; but not much else. I tried using it with Bad Company 2 and I don't find it to be terrible but it's certainly not great. Been in it's box since I got the Xone adapter.

I really like the concept, but the guys at redlettermedia made a review... and it doesn't make me want to buy one ever. Biggest issue seems to be the sensitivity.

I just got it recently and I've been playing Fallout 4 and Binding of Isaac with it. Haven't played much just yet, but I think it has promise just due to how configurable it is. I don't like using the left thumb disc for controlling Isaac though. For that one, I just use the analog stick.

With a controller so different, it would certainly have to be something I'd want to try out first. Another consideration would be what amount of actual usage would I get out of it? I would only use it for 3rd person games or platformers, which are types that I feel would be better off with a controller rather than keyboard/mouse.

A friend of mine pre-ordered one on a whim and I got to try it out yesterday. They're....interesting.

I haven't been doing very much modern gaming in the past few years so I can't compare it to something like a PS4 or Xbone controller, but overall it wasn't terrible. I definitely thought it looked goofy at first. The biggest obstacle was getting used to the button placement not being on the edge but rather towards the center of the controller. The touch-sensitive pad took awhile to get used to as well. He plays Fallout 4 on his PC and the aiming seemed a little difficult, even for him. The d-pad looked pretty shitty for platformer games where you'd want a d-pad. It looks like it's mad specifically just for toggling quick-map/weapon choices for FPS games. I could be wrong but when I played around with the d-pad it was my least favorite part.

Anyway, I mainly used it to play Rocket League (which I know really really really want to own for myself because it's a ton of fun) and it got the job done well for that. It'll be interesting to see the development of this thing and where this may lead to.

I've been playing with mine a bit more recently and it's been growing on me. My big problem at the moment is the amount of time and care you have to take with the settings to get it to a point that you like. One really nice aspect of it though is that you have access to other people's configurations and see how many people have also used that person's bindings. That being said, it's ridiculously customizable and trying to easily discern the difference between tweaks can be really difficult. Valve has descriptions for what most of the individual settings do, but it's difficult to understand just how most tweaks will effect the controls.

Lastly, it would be awesome if there was some sort of simple demo (obviously easier said than done) that would let you see the outcome of the setting's tweak much faster than jumping through a number of screens before you get to the controller customization panel. It makes getting used to the controller and subtly tweaking the settings to your liking so much harder due to how time-consuming it becomes.

why would i want this shit? buy a console if you want to use a fucking pad.

It does look like a piece of shit.

I don't understand why the general consensus of people making consoles and gaming peripherals keep ice skating uphill...why in hell do you want to get rid off the perfect tactile design of a D-pad and buttons, for fuck's sake, stop re-inventing the god damn wheel!

ElectricGrave said:

It does look like a piece of shit.

I don't understand why the general consensus of people making consoles and gaming peripherals keep ice skating uphill...why in hell do you want to get rid off the perfect tactile design of a D-pad and buttons, for fuck's sake, stop re-inventing the god damn wheel!

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That's what I thought when I first tried to use it. You're exactly right about the tactile feed back. I basically have to lood at the thing to use it. My thumbs keep sliding off the touch pads.

I've basically shelved it. Anybody wanna buy one?