the steam gamepad

[Napoleon BonaPARTY]

how the fuck are you supposed to play fighting games or games like devil may cry with that thing.

http://store.steampowered.com/livingroom/SteamController/

[Old Crow]

That interesting to say in the least, but yeah I wonder how do you even use the thing. They certainly need a demo to show how it works.

[Pillz]

Looks simple enough to me.

You can bind any button, mouse movement or key to anywhere on the controller you like. You can map it like a PS3 controller using the two circles as movement and the buttons on top, back and front as attack buttons and whatnot.

It would take some getting used to but I really like the look of the controller and wouldn't mind it at all.

[IsYn Wooley]

It works by unplugging it and getting a Mouse & keyboard 

[Christovski]

To me it looks like one of those things where if you are learning to play from not using anything ever it would be do-able, but if you've played for years and years with what works (a fucking mouse and keys) its just a jumbled mess of way-too-crazy.

I say fuck that.  The whole idea of touchpads just kills me though, if they were analog sticks maybe, but not fucking touchpads I hate using even laptop touchpads that people say are "good" because they still aren't very accurate because your finger is a big fat nub with no real precise tip

[Cortez (Mr. T. FOO!)]

So it has been confirmed that Chris hates everything that is different, even if he hasn't tried it.

[Christovski]

I've used numerous touchpads and they all suck.  I refuse to waste money on something like this just to try it, and why give up mouse and keys perfection?

[Leetgrain]

I've used numerous touchpads and they all suck.  I refuse to waste money on something like this just to try it, and why give up mouse and keys perfection?

They're releasing it to use for SteamOS as you can tell, it's... a unique controller.

[Kwaurtz]

Because you are pre-emptively judging a product before you've even had a chance to fucking touch it. Quit being a bunch of retards, its still for glorious pc master race and it has descended from the heavens by the one true lord gaben. Bow before its glory.

[Old Crow]

My one concern is the lack of thumb sticks as well. Who knows maybe the tech will work, and Steam will put some magic into it that nobody else can, but thumb sticks are a known item that works pretty well for what they are designed for.

I think of the Xbox 360 controller as the perfect controller. Every button is easy to use, easy to reach, easy to notice when you push said buttons.

[AlphaWeeaboo]

Nah man the original Playstation controller is where it's at. May not have comfy curves but that is the literal definition of easily useable and reachable. Excellent shape for all hand sizes too.

[Christovski]

Because you are pre-emptively judging a product before you've even had a chance to fucking touch it. Quit being a bunch of retards, its still for glorious pc master race and it has descended from the heavens by the one true lord gaben. Bow before its glory.

"true lord gaben" can eat a dick until he decides to give us the last game of the Half-Life series

Nah man the original Playstation controller is where it's at. May not have comfy curves but that is the literal definition of easily useable and reachable. Excellent shape for all hand sizes too.

If you mean the Dualshock then yes, if you mean the original that only had a d-pad and no sticks, then no.

[AlphaWeeaboo]

Yee, I shoulda worded that a bit differently. I didn't really mean ORIGINAL as much as I really meant the Dualshock which is in my opinion the staple perfect gaming controller.

This controller looks appealing to say the least however.

[Blackllama]

Looks pretty neat to me.

Touchpads don't need a precise tip as long as there is a single point. That's why they are touchpads and not screenless touchscreens. They don't care where you are touching them, all they do is detect movement.

[Pillz]

My one concern is the lack of thumb sticks as well. Who knows maybe the tech will work, and Steam will put some magic into it that nobody else can, but thumb sticks are a known item that works pretty well for what they are designed for.

I think of the Xbox 360 controller as the perfect controller. Every button is easy to use, easy to reach, easy to notice when you push said buttons.

I've been kind of wondering if the gaming industry would ever give up on thumb-sticks and start using game pads like this. I've had a history of breaking the thumb sticks on my PS2 controllers and I've halfway broke my left PS3 thumbstick already, it gets stuck sometimes when pushing to the right and it rotates in place for some reason. It's the most common reason aside from cord problems that controllers become broken, and I think Valve has turned things around. Not to mention how hackable and redesignable these things will be, I imagine they'll be pretty sturdy at that.

I think concave thumbpads are perfect and I believe they'll be more sensitive also. You know what else is genius? Having the XY,AB buttons RIGHT next to the thumbpads so you barely have to take your hand off the movement controls to perform another action, while the remaining buttons are on the back of the controller. Like they said you hardly have to lift a finger to do anything, aside from press start or one of the other keys binded to the center pad.

You can use a mouse and keyboard right along with it too. The controller won't be too useful to anti-controller fanatics, or FPS only gamers but maybe having the Steambox out there will cause developers to make games for the Box along with PS4,XB1 and WiiU and in that sense the controller becomes a necessity. There are all sorts of racing games, arcade shooters, indie games and the such that will work amazing on a controller like this, and on top of that you'll be able to bind it however the hell you want? How could you not like it?

OHH I WAS MOLESTED BY A TOUCHPAD ONCE, IT TOUCHED ME IN MY NAUGHTY SPOT AND EVER SINCE IVE HATED THEM. Just the way they feel sends shivers down my spine. It's completely impossible that anyone could ever properly design a controller in a useful fashion, so useful in fact they chose it over controller sticks or D-pads; especially Valve, if anyone could do it it's definitely not Valve, they clearly fucked up and failed to make the observations we have. Guess we're going to have to use our PS3/XB/computer controllers instead. :/

I'm seriously excited for this controller though, as I knew the Steambox was going to have an accompanying controller and this is far more than what I expected. I really thought they were going to throw out a Dualshock knockoff or something so this makes me really happy. It's original and it looks sexy. Sure not all games will work well with it but like I said you can run a keyboard with it or not use it at all. This is opening the Valve market to millions of new users. I get not wanting to play with controllers but there's no real reason to dislike it as far as I can see.