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.
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.
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 think XCOM 2 does exactly this
The Dishonoured games and Prey by Arcane Studios actually bothered to make proper Steam Controller configs and use the proper glyphs too, it makes a difference
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