Valve have revealed their final secret of the week and it’s not Half Life 3, sorry. Instead, it is the much rumoured Steam Box controller which does away with joysticks completely and replaces them with dual trackpads.
The trackpads allow far higher fidelity input than has previously been possible with traditional handheld controllers. Steam gamers, who are used to the input associated with PCs, will appreciate that the Steam Controller’s resolution approaches that of a desktop mouse.
The Steam Controller also includes haptic feedback which can be used to deliver in-game information such speed, boundaries or textures.
The now obligatory touch screen can be found in the centre of the pad whilst the buttons have been “placed based on frequency of use, precision required and ergonomic comfort.”
It’s certainly rather different, what do you think?
Source: Steam
TheDemocrodile
Brilliant. Its lovely to see some innovation going on with input devices for mainstream gaming isn’t it? After some cool (although in my opinion fluff) experiments with motion input finally we now have a thought out, measured attempt at providing an input solution good enough for both Console and PC users.
It’s going to be fascinating to see how this pans out, certainly on first viewing the idea that the old 0 to 255 levels of speed that you’ve been getting on gamepad thumbsticks has been thrown in a bin and replaced with a dual stick solution far closer to the mouse’s 1000+ levels is a big plus to Valve’s machine.
The benefits to people that use controllers in FPS’s seem huge if the sticks work as well as Valve are saying.
Gotta love the future.
cam_manutd
I think I can speak for every gamer in which I would have rather seen Half Life 3 announced this week.
Starman
Kudos for them trying something different, looks like it would take some getting used to though.
DJ Judas
I really want to give one a go, but the poor attempt at relating the trackpads to a mouse isn’t ringing true for me at the moment.
Looking forward to seeing one in action though, like I say, anything that varies the market and gives us another option is welcome in my book.
gazzagb
Looks horrible, but I’d love to try it out to see what it feels like.
plutoniumdragon
Seems very similar in theory to the patent held by Cirque…
First thoughts are that it’s an ugly POS that would be awkward to use, but Valve are highly unlikely to get something like this wrong so it must work better than it looks :)
MadYetHatless
I have no idea what I’m actually looking at. It looks like a pair of speakers with handles. Unnecessarily big handles. Since we don’t have any photos of the size of the controller when held, it honestly makes me wonder whether I would be able to properly position my hand on it. After playing using the Dualshock for so long as well, it would be a very odd change of pace.
Not to mention it has the newest technological bane of my existance, the touch screen.
EditorGed
Well thats just… Awful. A terrible design and trackpads? No thanks.
zeroTRoN
The more I hear about the STEAM Box, the more it intrigues me . There are soooooo MANY games im missing out on from being a console fan boy. I want Kerbal Space Station !!!
hazelam
i really don’t like the look of that.
not the look so much, just those touchpads, though i don’t know if i like the placement of the buttons.
i know with the buttons on one side you have to take your thumb off the stick to use them, but that usually leaves with the stick you use to move still under your control.
you’re going to need movement controls while pressing buttons quite a lot in many games, less so with the camera.
so having to potentially take both thumbs off to press the button is a huge disadvantage in my opinion.
but my main problem is with the touchpads.
i’ve seen a couple of pads that had these kind of touchpad type controls before, though usually only one, and i’ve found them universally awful.
i’ve made no secret of my dislike for touchscreen controls, they never work as well as a proper stick, not for me anyway.
it lacks the tactile feedback you get from a stick, that’s why i don’t really like most of these motion controls, unless they’re mimicking the actual action you use in the real version, like that bowling game that came out early in the PS3s life, that made great use of the sixaxis motion controls.
that replicated the motions of real bowling pretty well.
i know it has those little ridges running round it, but they just can’t compare.
even that nub thing off the PSP is a pale imitation of a good analog stick.
i like that it can mimic the mouse and keyboard, but i’ve got a twin stick pad that can do that, one flip of a switch on the back and the right stick moves the mouse pointer and the left stick can replicate the WASD keys, with the triggers doing the mouse buttons.
honestly, i’d rather use that or my wired 360 pad, a Call Of Duty branded pad that seems like it’s made of rock given how solid the thing seems to be.
anyway, that’s my opinion.