Hands-On With Valve's New Controller

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Several game developers talked to Kotaku about how it felt to use Valve's new controller. Here's what indie developer Ichiro Lambe had to say:

"This sounds weird, but it's almost like rolling two weighted trackballs that are too large to actually fit into the controller," Lambe said as he tried to explain what it's like to have one's thumbs on those two trackpads. "For camera controls, slide one thumb to the right, and you'll feel this ticking, like you're turning a physical control. Flick your thumb quickly, and this imaginary physical thing reacts like something with weight to it—the 'trackball' continues to roll for a bit, eventually coming to a rest. And since it's all controlled through the software, the same trackpad then becomes more like a mouse or a laptop trackpad when you're navigating through menus. Dynamic!"
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in before you will not pry my keyboard and mouse from my cold dead hands posts lol
 
I thought it would have the trackball effect, that's a big upgrade from thumbsticks. I want one.
 
want to try it out for 3rd person games, hope it is good
 
Whelp, I retract my previous statement.

Based on how the tester described the 'feeling' of the touch pads I'm much more excited about this controller.

I recently played through DS3, SS:BL, Tomb Raider, and Metro Last Light with PC Xbox controller.

For SP gaming I'm all about a good controller. I'll need hands on before I am willing to use it for BF4/FPS gaming.
 
Sounds like it has feedback similar to the microsoft touch mouse. The scroll wheel was replaced with a strip, and it "feels" like it's scrolling when you flick your finger across the strip.
 
I'm still skeptical.

But I'll probably get one ... one of these days to play with. Then I'll really decide. It just looks so uncomfortable as it is.
 
Demon10000 said:
Sounds like it has feedback similar to the microsoft touch mouse. The scroll wheel was replaced with a strip, and it "feels" like it's scrolling when you flick your finger across the strip.
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That's exactly what I was expecting when I read about the steamtroller.

I think it might be pretty cool. I read an article by the Super Meat Boy creator (Tommy Refenes) and he had largely positive things to say about it. The only reason he said he might not switch is the familiarity of the stick controllers. But if he could play through SMB with it, then it sounds like the 'stickpads' are pretty good.

So it's good for platformers, and I think they'll be fine for 3rd person games and twin stick shooters. It sounds like it will be better than the current controllers for fps games, but I'm still kbam all the way for fps.

Driving games and fighting games are the ones I still want to hear about. I also want to know how well the button placement works for games that require many buttons (3rd person games with rpg elements, typically).
 
The controller seems to have more potential buttons (with modifier options) but they will involve more button presses than a normal controller. The XYAB buttons on an Xbox controller could be mapped to the right track pad and activated with a button on the back of the controller. That's fine, but that's two clicks to get to the button instead of the one on a current controller. You could map XYAB to the four buttons around the touch screen but then you're having to hit two of them with your left thumb which, in FPS and third-person action games could be potentially problematic ... having to stop moving to hit XY or AB.

I think the idea is interesting I just haven't seen an explanation that makes XYAB work out nicely for games that use them a lot. Massive amounts of potential, yes, especially in MMORPG's and RTS where I think the massive button options and menu-friendly trackpads will help ... but I'm not convinced they'll pan out for the XYAB issues in FPS and third-person action games.
 
I think it's a good controller, but it needs more work. Like more buttons. The reason a keyboard and mouse works so much better then a gamepad is that it makes better use of your hands. Think about it, most controllers use 4 fingers at best. Your thumbs and your pointer fingers. With the keyboard your entire left hand is used. With "MOST" mice only two fingers are used, but your wrist is used to control the aim of the mouse. So your wrist kinda acts as a third button?

To me the biggest feature of the Steam controller is they seemed to include two extra buttons in the back. At least I think they're buttons? This will at least make good use of your fingers that wrap around the back of the controller. We haven't seen something like this since the SNES controller introduced triggers. Even still, this controller won't come close to most modern keyboard and mice setups.

And really that doesn't matter cause even Valve says the accuracy approaches that of a keyboard and mice, but never said it matches. Anyone who gets serious about pc gaming will move away from this, but it's a good replacement over the traditional controller.
 
I'm still very skeptical... I'll wait until it hits market before I give a true opinion, but I don't hold very high expectations from what I've seen. I also loathe trackballs with a passion, so that really doesn't help.
 
Where's the circuitry that causes all keyboards and mice to stop working for games? At least how people were talking about it as if they made these, all kb/m would cease to function for games. I'm a kb/m man myself but some people need some perspective where this is going to be used, (living room of a house that probably has a wife/mother who care about how the livingroom looks) and who the audience is that games in that situation. If you want to keep gaming at a desk in front of a monitor, I'm sure kb/m will still work.
 
tazeat said:
I'm still very skeptical... I'll wait until it hits market before I give a true opinion, but I don't hold very high expectations from what I've seen. I also loathe trackballs with a passion, so that really doesn't help.
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Well its a controller, not a condo so it doesn't really need incredible amounts of soul searching. And I'm not sure the point about trackballs. The guy made an analogy, he didn't say "it feels just like a trackball".
 
jpm100 said:
Where's the circuitry that causes all keyboards and mice to stop working for games? At least how people were talking about it as if they made these, all kb/m would cease to function for games. I'm a kb/m man myself but some people need some perspective where this is going to be used, (living room of a house that probably has a wife/mother who care about how the livingroom looks) and who the audience is that games in that situation. If you want to keep gaming at a desk in front of a monitor, I'm sure kb/m will still work.
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This wasn't designed to replace KB+M at your desk. This is designed for people like me that would game more often in the living room on my large TV if there was a lower barrier to entry. And that means a handheld controller, that's better than the current analog sticks and approaches mouse-like precision. Because I'm not going to deal with a keyboard and mouse on my lap.

Valve's reason for pushing into the livingroom is to build PC gaming marketshare by siphoning from outside of PC gaming marketshare. They're not trying to convert the already converted.
 
Looking great!
It should be very easy to generate the tactile feedback as it essentially uses 2 micro seat shakers capable of much higher frequency response.
All they need is audio from 1Hz upwards.
 
Spire3660 said:
'a trackball bigger then could be fit in the device'

THAT is interesting.
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Yes, it is. I mean, this could even replace a remote control for htpc if supported properly. The gaming implications could change everything if it is clean and precise.
 
Sounds better then what I was expecting. I do wish it had a d-pad on it though.
 
Has anyone heard a rough price for it? that's what is going to make or break this controller.
 
seems like a interesting controller.

i just hope they will also support wireless mouse and keyboard along with the controller.
 
I'd give any controller a spin. I mainly use them for racing games. It looks cool.

I really wish someone would make a UBS or wireless handheld Steering wheel controller like the UltraRacer 64. I used to have one for hte PC. It plugged into the old "Game/MIDI" port. Worked like a dream until it broke. Either way, when was the last time anyone saw a game port on a PC? *sigh*
 
viscountalpha said:
Has anyone heard a rough price for it? that's what is going to make or break this controller.
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You're not going to hear a rough price because the design is not even final.

TheBuzzer said:
i just hope they will also support wireless mouse and keyboard along with the controller.
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Well of course it will. They're not trying to replace the keyboard & mouse. They're trying to give people an alternative to it more convenient for playing on a couch.
 
I am still extremely skeptical about it. Anyone who has used a trackpad for any length of time is going to be for a large number of reasons. The chief among them being they aren't precise by any measure and rubbing your fingers on that surface for any length of time is less than fun. I am still more than a little doubtful that any type of touch surface can be faster and more accurate than a thumbstick. Should they prove me wrong, more power too them but I still don't see me enjoying rubbing my fingertips raw for hours.
 
lol thumb sticks are horribly inaccurate what are you talking about Dekoth? Is this thing going to top a mouse and keyboard? No... But could it top the ghetto horrible thumb joy sticks in a PS3 or Xbox controller? easily. Will it? No one knows yet.

Also track pads can be fairly accurate, as accurate as a high end gaming mouse? No again... But more accurate than a console controller? Several I have used easily surpass that accuracy already and have for some years. You just have to avoid the cheap stuff put on most low end laptops.
 
Not sure why people have such binary opinions about controllers. I'm pretty sure most gamers have at some point played consoles, and I grew up playing both console and PC games. I am loathe to use a controller for FPS/RTS but there are many games that just feel more comfortable with a controller. I have a wireless 360 pad on my PC, and if the the Valve controller ends up working well then I welcome more competition and options to the market.
 
rudy said:
lol thumb sticks are horribly inaccurate what are you talking about Dekoth? Is this thing going to top a mouse and keyboard? No... But could it top the ghetto horrible thumb joy sticks in a PS3 or Xbox controller? easily. Will it? No one knows yet.

Also track pads can be fairly accurate, as accurate as a high end gaming mouse? No again... But more accurate than a console controller? Several I have used easily surpass that accuracy already and have for some years. You just have to avoid the cheap stuff put on most low end laptops.
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Yes Thumbsticks are horribly inaccurate compared to a mouse..this is why I don't play shooters on a console. However they are still Faster and more accurate than any trackpad I have ever used and I use an extremely high end laptop every day. Can a trackpad be faster and more accurate than a thumbstick? I would have to see it proven because frankly after years of using them I don't think a trackpad can come even close.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
Yes Thumbsticks are horribly inaccurate compared to a mouse..this is why I don't play shooters on a console. However they are still Faster and more accurate than any trackpad I have ever used and I use an extremely high end laptop every day. Can a trackpad be faster and more accurate than a thumbstick? I would have to see it proven because frankly after years of using them I don't think a trackpad can come even close.
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The impression that I got was that they had specifically upgraded the trackpads resolution to support gaming, so these should be higher sensitivity than a laptop.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
Yes Thumbsticks are horribly inaccurate compared to a mouse..this is why I don't play shooters on a console. However they are still Faster and more accurate than any trackpad I have ever used and I use an extremely high end laptop every day. Can a trackpad be faster and more accurate than a thumbstick? I would have to see it proven because frankly after years of using them I don't think a trackpad can come even close.
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Well they're trying to do something better than analog sticks so if the trackpads are even worse than that then I'd think they would have just put the sticks on there. So I suspect this should be an upgrade.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
Yes Thumbsticks are horribly inaccurate compared to a mouse..this is why I don't play shooters on a console. However they are still Faster and more accurate than any trackpad I have ever used and I use an extremely high end laptop every day. Can a trackpad be faster and more accurate than a thumbstick? I would have to see it proven because frankly after years of using them I don't think a trackpad can come even close.
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You must have picked some bad settings, you need mouse accel on a trackpad obviously but who knows why you are having that much trouble.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
Yes Thumbsticks are horribly inaccurate compared to a mouse..this is why I don't play shooters on a console. However they are still Faster and more accurate than any trackpad I have ever used and I use an extremely high end laptop every day. Can a trackpad be faster and more accurate than a thumbstick? I would have to see it proven because frankly after years of using them I don't think a trackpad can come even close.
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This is what i feel to. People say "its upgraded and far more accurate". Big deal.. its still not going to be better then a low quality joystick. What people don't understand is that joysticks in our consoles are not working to their fullest potential because the software/interfaces let them down. IF we had proper exponential control built into consoles at a base OS level we'd be able to make these joysticks we all love/hate work FAR better then they currently do. And they work quite well. I'd rather take a KB/M for FPS over a controller any day of the week. But i've been playing console FPS's for the passed years because i work on a PC all the time and they are work-able. (blame GoldenEye for getting me into that!).

For a controller... sure it'll probably be ok. Better then joysticks? Yes we can't tell.. i dont have one to prove it. But i highly doubt it will be "better" then a joystick combo for FPS's on consoles. i'd like to be suprised, for sure. i'm all for advancing. But anyone that blindly thinks the next big marketed BS device/idea/buzz word is actually anywhere near their claims.. well.. welcome to nonsense-ville 2013.
 
You guys! Has anyone who has tried this controller said it was better than a console?

No. So it sux. :eek:
 
It isn't a matter of being old and against innovation. It is called a healthy measure of "Prove it to me" because I can name a LONG list of products that were supposed to be better than what they replaced and were far worse. Something some of you will learn as you get older is that just because it is newer, or innovative doesn't necessarily make it better automatically. As I mentioned, I have a long history with trackpad devices of all qualities and I have yet to ever experience one that was better than a joystick. I can also point out the fact that the thumbsticks on current controllers are actually pretty darn bad and hardly a difficult standard to beat. The major problem? Gamers don't demand better. I have had several joysticks over the years on my PC that simply blew away any modern controller for speed and accuracy. It is the same technology, so why the huge game? As mentioned above, software optimization. There have also been quite a few console joysticks that were quite fast and accurate as well, unfortunately most of these were highly specialized to a specific game.

The simple reality is this; Trackpads just like thumbsticks have some Very definite limitations. To ignore this and proclaim this the greatest thing ever just because it is from valve before it ever hits the market is just foolishness.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
It isn't a matter of being old and against innovation. It is called a healthy measure of "Prove it to me" because I can name a LONG list of products that were supposed to be better than what they replaced and were far worse. Something some of you will learn as you get older is that just because it is newer, or innovative doesn't necessarily make it better automatically. As I mentioned, I have a long history with trackpad devices of all qualities and I have yet to ever experience one that was better than a joystick. I can also point out the fact that the thumbsticks on current controllers are actually pretty darn bad and hardly a difficult standard to beat. The major problem? Gamers don't demand better. I have had several joysticks over the years on my PC that simply blew away any modern controller for speed and accuracy. It is the same technology, so why the huge game? As mentioned above, software optimization. There have also been quite a few console joysticks that were quite fast and accurate as well, unfortunately most of these were highly specialized to a specific game.

The simple reality is this; Trackpads just like thumbsticks have some Very definite limitations. To ignore this and proclaim this the greatest thing ever just because it is from valve before it ever hits the market is just foolishness.
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We aren't saying it is better, we are saying it might be better. Optimism and all that. You just kinda rant against it and make assertions without actually reading anything about it, which is why you catch flak.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
It isn't a matter of being old and against innovation. It is called a healthy measure of "Prove it to me" because I can name a LONG list of products that were supposed to be better than what they replaced and were far worse. Something some of you will learn as you get older is that just because it is newer, or innovative doesn't necessarily make it better automatically. As I mentioned, I have a long history with trackpad devices of all qualities and I have yet to ever experience one that was better than a joystick. I can also point out the fact that the thumbsticks on current controllers are actually pretty darn bad and hardly a difficult standard to beat. The major problem? Gamers don't demand better. I have had several joysticks over the years on my PC that simply blew away any modern controller for speed and accuracy. It is the same technology, so why the huge game? As mentioned above, software optimization. There have also been quite a few console joysticks that were quite fast and accurate as well, unfortunately most of these were highly specialized to a specific game.

The simple reality is this; Trackpads just like thumbsticks have some Very definite limitations. To ignore this and proclaim this the greatest thing ever just because it is from valve before it ever hits the market is just foolishness.
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I've been playing video games since the early 90s and gaming on PCs since we all used ball mice. So I don't think this is a matter of me having unrealistic expectations or a lack of knowledge of history. Rather, I don't think Valve would gamble on such a device unless they were reasonably confident that it provided improvements over the status quo. Valve's controller doesn't need to be perfect, which is what you seem to be comparing to - it just needs to be noticeably better than what exists, and provide a reasonably comfortable experience for genres of games that struggle on controller. There are some games that don't control as "precisely" in some regards on a controller, but are still a great experience, e.g. third person cover shooters. I don't think Valve is trying to attract the hardcore PC gamers here, just provide a better experience for those coming over from consoles and to make some genres of games that were previously inaccessible, possible.
 
LeninGHOLA said:
We aren't saying it is better, we are saying it might be better. Optimism and all that. You just kinda rant against it and make assertions without actually reading anything about it, which is why you catch flak.
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The big difference being that my stance is based on real experience. This controller contains no technology that is not already out. That technology had thus far failed to live up to any of these expectations in other applications. Blind optimism that somehow valve is accomplishing something that no one else in the industry has been able to vs pragmatic realistic expectations. I haven't said the controller is guaranteed to be shit, I simply said I have very serious doubts and those proclaiming it as the next best thing need to realize they are likely getting their hopes unrealistically high.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
The big difference being that my stance is based on real experience. This controller contains no technology that is not already out. That technology had thus far failed to live up to any of these expectations in other applications. Blind optimism that somehow valve is accomplishing something that no one else in the industry has been able to vs pragmatic realistic expectations. I haven't said the controller is guaranteed to be shit, I simply said I have very serious doubts and those proclaiming it as the next best thing need to realize they are likely getting their hopes unrealistically high.
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You've never used a high sensitivity trackpad controller nestled in your fragile paws. Especially one using brand new haptics based on electro magnets, multiple clickable trackpad button configurations, programmable feedback, and a ticking trackball simulator.

Your real life experience is based on an entirely different form and scale of input method. A laptop trackpad is an afterthought.
 
Sounds better than what I expected. I don't play games with a controller (except MAME/Gens, and occasional racing, like in RAGE) but it is configurable enough it might be new retro gaming and XBMC remote, replacing my wireless 360 pad.
 
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