It’s not the clearest photo, but it clearly has both 2 thumb sticks and 2 track pads.
WOOOOOOOO
“…it clearly has both 2 thumb sticks and 2 track pads.”
Hell yes, I am very bullish on the two thumb sticks and two touchpads being the controller format that will establish the steam deck/handheld gaming pc as the future of gamepads.
It won’t necessarily be a quick, all at once change, but that is because it is a strategic longterm play to reframe what a gamepad is, what its limitations are, and what kind of games can be played with a gamepad.
It will be the kind of thing people look back and point to as the beginning of the whole industry shifting into a new paradigm where playing cool indie games with a gamepad is something people associate with pc gaming first, console gaming second.
They just better have a gyro sensor in there too!
God dammit, why will nobody bring back 6 button pads? I’m so sick and tired of having to buy a separate controller just for fighting games. This controller would be absolutely perfect if it just had two more buttons…
what 650g shape are you holding for an hour that doesn’t cause wrist pain?
SadleyItsBradley is the bane of every developer trying to keep a secret.
I’ve pretty much been asking for a steam deck without a screen, so if this leak is accurate than I for one am fucking STOKED
It could just be my screen, but that render is hard AF to decipher. Here’s a quick n dirty curves manipulation to get better contrast.
Those trackpads better have damn good palm reject because getting to those thumbsticks without brushing the trackpads will be impossible for many people.
The steam deck does
The steam deck already does in my experience!
People were saying that about the steam deck before it came out. Maybe some people have had issues, but anecdotally I’ve literally never heard one complaint about that from someone who actually used the device. The way the joystick is elevated above the pad your palm really shouldn’t touch it
Aside from I don’t think that will actually be an issue, the thumb sticks are likely to have touch sensitivity on top like the steam deck ones have. So they can just disable the TouchPad anytime the thumb stick is being touched.
Again, though. I don’t think it will be an issue with your palms.
Awww, poor guy looks sad
Thank you - I couldn’t see the buttons between the track pads before. Does anyone have an idea what that might be?
if its the same as steamdeck, those are the steam and … (status) overlay buttons.
Non concave? Square trackpads? Clear preference to analog sticks? This seems like a worse Xbox controller on the surface. Unless the ergonomics are somehow amazing I would be hesitant to buy it (and I own an original steam controller).
Anyone got a non-xitter copy of this news?
Thank you kind person.
Looks like they want to bring back the DukeI miss the duke
You’re in luck. The Steam Duke is coming our way!
Can someone put some blush marks and eye dots on it?
from xitter:
I shouldn’t quit my day job
There will probably be gamingonlinux/steamdeckhq articles in the morning, but for now this is the only source.
Give us the circle pads back! Just keep making the steam controller actually, with another back paddle, hall effect stick… Damn squares.
Honestly not having a dpad and second thumbstick is a deal breaker for me on the original steam controller, it means that most games with built in controller support don’t work well without switching to a custom or community layout. I think having a “normal” controller layout + trackpads/etc is necessary for the controller to succeed.
Additionally, having this layout means it will match the Steam Deck, which should make all control profiles interchangable.
“Additionally, having this layout means it will match the Steam Deck, which should make all control profiles interchangable.”
Additionally an order of magnitude more indie devs who don’t have the cash for a steam deck could pick up used/new steam controllers for not too money and that will inveitably lead to an order of magnitude more devs actually trying out their game using steam deck control schemes and I think that will be hard to overstate in impact longterm on gaming… especially because transformative, revolutionary new gaming experiences almost exclusively come from these kinds of developers.
Look at the anemic evolution of VR games, it is because the developers who could innovate and grow the medium with the next big VR hit is sitting in the bedroom of their parents house making a different game because neither them or any of their friends can afford VR goggles.
Square pads are where it’s at until you start playing on a round TV screen. Besides, it’s way easier to set up hockey buttons in a square Touch Pad than a round one.
I was going to say that if you wanted one they’re cheap on eBay, but after checking, they’re $50+
Consider yourself lucky you can even find the damn things, where I live they simply don’t exist on the used market.
I’m getting ready to eat the bullshit import taxes and buy the SC2 as soon as it drops, I’m so pissed I missed out on v1 😒
I love my Steam Controller. I still use it majority of the time over my playstation, nintendo, and xbox controllers because of the touchpads.
But, I didn’t like using the touchpads on the Deck because of the size, shape, and orientation making it a regression for maining the touchpads for the games I play. So not surprised by the leak, since Valve would obviously be better off focusing on making the ergonomics better for joystick users than touchpad users. Still let down because it’ll mean for touchpad focused users like me Steam Controller is the only touchpad centric controller on the market with great ergonomics, size with 40mm concave pads, and circular shape for more consistent swipes.
But, it is discontinued and the gyro feels aged compared to the options out there. Will still be using it though from the looks of it for years to come hoping for an eventual dual pad centric controller from some niche group.
It would be cool if they made the next steam controller have two versions which are exactly the same both with two touchpads and with two with joysticks except one has the touchpads in the prime ergonomic spot on top the other with the two joysticks in the prime ergonomic spot.
I imagine a decent amount of people would like the “subpar” placement of their preferred inputs too because there is such a variety of hand shapes and sizes.
I would be so happy if that happened, but I think Valve has moved away from touchpad centric layouts. I wouldn’t be surprised if there aren’t touchpad enthusiasts involved
There’s little signs here and there with the placement and shape, but also signs that people at Valve don’t use stuff like dpad modeshift with an inverted outering bind for 5 click inputs over the default 1 click that long time Steam Controllers love. With the biggest sign coming from not separating soft press and regular click for the touchpads in the new Steam Input.
Leading to having to use stuff like action layers on the Deck because regular click pressure can’t be set without soft press to set up the touchpad for 5 click functions. Not ideal with how action layers can sometimes get stuck between layers. https://imgur.com/a/b1wyHEK
Ok clearly you know more about this than me, but I grew up using an xbox controller, I prefer it over touchpads by 1000% percent (with gyro on) but the touchpads are still integral to all of the complex steam deck bindings I have used and those I have made myself. Whether the touchpads are used for configurable virtual menus or as mouse and movement inputs, people are heavily using the touchpads. I hope they dont mess it up for touchpad users though.
This thing looks almost as big as The Duke.
I fear that, just like the Steam Deck’s controller, it won’t be usable without Steam running. IMO by default and without any special “driver” running in the background, the sticks and buttons should just behave like a Xbox controller.
The Steam Deck’s controller is usable without Steam running, except for that long, looong pause when Steam has taken over the controller but isn’t doing anything about it yet.
I wish that Steam would not put the mouse buttons on the triggers, just leave them on the trackpad-click. And put “high res trackpad scrolling” on the left pad. But you can’t have everything.
The original Steam controller worked without Steam running, even including some of the extra features like mouse and scrolling functions for the trackpads if you wanted it to. So here’s hoping
I love it. Absolutely buying one.
I hope not. To get to the sticks you’d need giant hands.
