The thing about Valve's record with hardware is that the products aren't bad, just extremely niche. If this thing really can play most of most people's Steam games in a Switch-like form factor with a standard gamepad layout, I think it stands to be a hit in a way their past hardware attempts weren't.
It's also an interesting counterpoint to all the streaming services popping up these days. PC game streaming to mobile has major downsides, even more so when you're away from stable and fast internet. Until 5G is everywhere and mobile bandwidth [soft] caps aren't a thing anymore, a mobile device that can play games locally will be a much more attractive option for a lot of people.
I am one of them. I have three in the house, mostly for future parts.
I have been gaming for 35 years, and in the 15 of those where I have played first person shooters, no controller compares. Even when I'm playing other kinds of games, the ability to do everything without having to remove your finger from the pads to hit buttons, the size is perfect, everything is so responsive.
They "feel" cheap, but I don't care. They are gaming nirvana for me.
I am definitely a SC Stan too. I learned how to truly master it playing Hollow Knight funny enough. Have a setup where I literally do not need to use anything but the trackpads and the occasional turning over of the whole controller to invoke the map. Absolutely love it.
Only things I don't like are the bumper buttons and I'd much rather USB C than micro usb.
I wish they would make an SC 2 with fixed bumpers, ditching the thumbsticks for bigger trackpads with more advanced haptics and a doubling of paddle buttons like with this new device.
Maybe by setting the gyroscope to directional pad and lowering the sensitivity? There are a few ways you could do it, those things likely the most customizable controller ever made.
Yup, and the remapping tool is killer and supports absolutely everything and has browsable and sharable configs that work like spotify playlists. They absolutely did their best to make it a hit. The quality of work they put into building the software for my SC is exactly why I'm reserving a Deck today.
Oh right, the controller has a gyro as well - something which for some reason Valve completely failed to advertise. You can use it both to aim and as a kind of spatial D-Pad (among a lot of other options).
But not all games are "PC" games. Plenty of games that are released on PC are best/better played with a conroller and thanks to the PC being a open platform you have many more choices than console. Hell you can use your console's controllers if you like.
Outer Wilds in general is better with KB/M because of mouselook's precision, but getting through Dark Bramble is significantly more difficult because of how thrust works.
Valve has experience already with making m+kb games playable via a trackpad on the Steam Controller, so I'm confident that the trackpads on the Deck will be good enough for a decent chunk of games (though I'm not about to try Dota 2 on the thing).
Not every game will be a perfect fit, certainly, but I've had a great time with my Steam Controller playing things like XCOM, Prey (2017), and Divinity Original Sin. IIRC Civilization 5 was explicitly a part of the advertising for the controller in the first place, as a way to play mouse-heavy games from the couch.
Not sure I agree. I feel like the majority of AAA PC games are designed for console first and work well with gamepads. At least the ones I play. It’s also just more relaxing since you can lean back.
Yeah even some of the biggest PC games out there like GTA just don't feel as good on KB/M as they do on controllers. Like others said, with the dual trackpads built in and the extensive controller configurations offered by steam's controller settings I don't see the controls being much of a problem on the steam deck.
You're in luck, then. The Steam Deck has thumb trackpads for mouse-like aiming. This is their 3rd kick at thumb trackpads (they're on the Steam Controller and the Index Controller) so they're established pretty well at it.
It's not the same as a mouse but it beats the pants off of thumbstick aiming.
The more interesting thing to me would be actual peripheral support. It's apparently a PC that can connect to an external display or mouse and keyboard.
These days I think many or even most PC gamers own a gamepad and choose to use it for certain games, even when they have a mouse and keyboard sitting right in front of them. These also tend to be the same games I'd consider most suitable for playing at reduced resolutions and framerates.
To add a point against comments here talking about some games being playable on controllers: of top 10 in Steam's own stats only Destiny 2 looks like you won't be handicapped by a controller.
Depends on the game. Flight and driving games are vastly better with a gamepad (let alone proper joysticks or steering wheels) than with a keyboard and mouse IMO.
PC games are built with power in mind that Switch does not have. So you couldn't play them. Switch games are not built with m+kb support, so that would be pointless.
I am sorry, but this got stupid very quickly. You are blind either by inability to see or by choice.
> Lots of PC games can be played without K+M, what's your point again?
The comment you were replying to directly answers you question about the point:
> PC games are built with power in mind that Switch does not have
The part of comment about "can be played without K+M" is entirely irrelevant to what I am saying because the preference _for_ K+M is the premise of this whole comment subtree.
I'd argue the Steam controller was kinda bad. But more in concept than execution. The touch pads were just not a good replacement for a thumbstick or a D-pad
But I agree with what you're saying. If this thing is actually good, it could have some real mainstream appeal.
I felt almost the exact opposite, in that I think the concept was great but the execution fell a little bit short, mostly in build quality/button-feel.
The biggest single win for me is replacing the right stick for camera control, as the trackball emulation with haptics on the touchpad is so much faster and more responsive than a traditional thumbstick. There are some games that I'd still prefer the standard twin sticks or dpad (twin-stick shooters maybe, some platformers, or hyper-specific designed games like Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons), but overall I've much preferred the touchpad over thumbsticks for almost every first- or third-person game I've played.
Yeah the controller was really good in theory and the technology was definitely great but the build quality just felt really off and like you said sometimes you can't beat twin stick/dpad but overall the controller was a great concept and paved the way for the index controllers and now the deck's controllers too.
I felt completely differently, the Steam Controller is my favorite one by far. The touch pads make so much sense for a lot of games, and you still have the analog stick for the rest.
> I'd argue the Steam controller was kinda bad. But more in concept than execution. The touch pads were just not a good replacement for a thumbstick or a D-pad
There are plenty of people with great things to say about it, but they largely seem to be people who wanted to play FPS games without a mouse and keyboard, and were willing to put in some effort to get it configured right. I can imagine it being more successful if it had gotten first-class out-of-the-box support for more games, but it seems like it never reached the level of adoption where that was worth it for developers.
I've never tried it myself, though. If the Steam Deck is a success, maybe we'll see the Steam Controller model finally take off (since the Deck has similar touchpads built in). Or maybe it will be like the Kinect, a pet feature deleted in later hardware revisions.
Touch pads a better than a joystick by far. You don't need to snap back the stick to stop moving. Where ever your thumb stops is where your aim is at. A fast flick of a touch pad can 180 which takes a lot longer on a joystick. Plus gyro support it's almost as good as a mouse.
It was great but not ergonomic. I have the same concern about the steam deck (that and the name that sounds like something from a 1920s bathhouse). I still use the steam link.
It's also an interesting counterpoint to all the streaming services popping up these days. PC game streaming to mobile has major downsides, even more so when you're away from stable and fast internet. Until 5G is everywhere and mobile bandwidth [soft] caps aren't a thing anymore, a mobile device that can play games locally will be a much more attractive option for a lot of people.