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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Can someone explain to me WTF is the Steam Machine controller?

arcelonious on 27 September 2013
Mythmaker1 said:
arcelonious said:

One of the major aspects of this gamepad that has me intrigued is its ability to present itself as a keyboard and mouse (its legacy mode), effectively enabling people to use the gamepad on existing games that weren't designed with the Steam gamepad in mind. Not only is this great for being able to play past games, it's also a great option for games that don't have native gamepad support (where users traditionally have had to utilize third-party software in order to play with a gamepad).


That's one thing I'm really happy to see. I like being able to sit on the couch and play, and it's a pain to do with a keyboard and mouse.


I think that is essentially the attraction for this gamepad, as an alternative (and not so much a replacement) to the keyboard and mouse for PC gaming.  I'll still prefer to use an arcade stick for fighting games, or a wheel for racing games, or a mouse and keyboard for competitive online FPS play, but when I want to kick back on a couch and play most other types of PC-oriented games, I can see potential in this gamepad.



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Th3PANO on 27 September 2013
iamdeath said:
Th3PANO said:
iamdeath said:
Only valve has the balls to try some innovation like this. Not sure how it will work, but it could be brilliant, or fail. I wouldn't count valve out. Typical people judging too quickly.

Sorry, but why would a console company make a controller like this? Racing games, platformers, fighting games, adventure games and rpg's don't get anything from such a design. It's MAYBE good for FPS and RTS but then, mouse and keyboard are still better.


Have you used it? Fighting games are not exactly big nowadays.

Why have I to use it? The first look also tells me a lot of the button placement and the lack of a D-Pad. And saying it doesn't need it cause a certain genre isn't popular anymore is just nonsense lol. A lot of people missed a proper D-Pad on the 360 controller. Nothing beats a D-Pad in a 2D environment. Give me one reason why I should use the controller as a PCowner.... One good reason. With Analog sticks and a mouse you get a physical feedback. This is missing here completely. Pure touch based controls won't replace anything.



RenCutypoison on 27 September 2013

No stick, no shmup, no me.

Seriously, no stick, anyone ?



Mythmaker1 on 27 September 2013
Player2 said:
Mythmaker1 said:
Player2 said:
Mythmaker1 said:

I'm honestly curious what specifically makes the controller unsuitable for certian types of games. In terms of games I've personally played (which I'll admit may be somewhat limited) I don't forsee any complications.

Could you explain that to me?

I use three fingers (like in a arcade) instead of my right thumb to press face buttons whenever it's possible (always for 3D fighting games) because it's faster (no need to move the right thumb to different spots, makes pressing multiple buttons at the same time (something like A+X) easy). With this controller that's impossible.

If you're wanting to hit three buttons with three different fingers, I'm pretty sure you can still do that, if you use the ones on the back.

Since they're in the back and they're only two, I'm forced to use my thumbs for the others, which is what I was trying to avoid.

Okay, I assummed you only needed to hit three buttons, not four.

If the way you play means you can't hit the other two buttons with your thumb, I can see how that'd be a problem.



I believe in honesty, civility, generosity, practicality, and impartiality.

Fusioncode on 27 September 2013

If this was from Sony, Microsoft, or Nintendo; there would have been a massive backlash.



Sigs are dumb. And so are you!

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Scoobes on 27 September 2013

Like all of Valve's announcements this week, it has potential. I would love to give this a go and see if it can actually replicate a keyboard and mouse's accuracy. For typical PC genres it could be the only controller worth using.




Get your Portable ID!

theprof00 on 27 September 2013

Wow. It's impressive.
The most impressive thing however, is that it's designed to be hackable. This is really a step ahead of anything else.



Assyrian612 on 27 September 2013

I'm excited for Valve, the controller is PC innovative minded and I like that. In terms of looks it's probably the ugliest thing I've seen since the Atari Jaguar game pad, but that's not to say it won't function well or even be better than expectations of critics. This is for PC gamers and only they can really understand and appreciate the controllers design. I'm curious to see how those dual pads will work; that could change a lot of things in the future.



 

richardhutnik on 27 September 2013
Mythmaker1 said:
richardhutnik said:
Mythmaker1 said:
richardhutnik said:
Mythmaker1 said:

I'm a bit confused. Each home console controller allows you access to only four face buttons without taking both thumbs off the sticks.

With the two buttons on the back, and two on each side of the controller, the Steam controller allows the same number of buttons while still keeping a thumb on the pad. Or is there something that makes the back buttons wrong for these game types?

The Steam Box controller takes the four buttons on front on the right hand side, and spaces them evenly on the left and the right to make them not work the same way.  They do look like they keep the same buttons on the back, but the front is missing the buttons on the side.

But what's wrong with the two new ones on the back? I mean, why can't they fill in for the ones that were moved?

Buttons on back?  They really didn't show the back, so I had no idea what the diagram was at all.  

The picture didn't really show the back, but the page linked in the OP has more detailed schematics. The buttons I'm talking about are...

Can't tell by that diagram if those are buttons or a Vita type sensor area.  A sensor area is different than buttons.



richardhutnik on 27 September 2013
Assyrian612 said:
I'm excited for Valve, the controller is PC innovative minded and I like that. In terms of looks it's probably the ugliest thing I've seen since the Atari Jaguar game pad, but that's not to say it won't function well or even be better than expectations of critics. This is for PC gamers and only they can really understand and appreciate the controllers design. I'm curious to see how those dual pads will work; that could change a lot of things in the future.

I think the Steam Machine pad doesn't look too bad... for a set of speakers