It's impossible not to recommend this to everyone I know

Dec 22, 2015 14:50 GMT  ·  By

The Steam Controller was launched a while back, and the world didn't stop spinning. The problem is that it should have. If players give it enough time, they will be impressed and soon realize that Microsoft, Sony, and all the others have been lying to them for a long time.

When I first got to hold the Steam Controller, I found myself to be slightly disappointed, but I couldn't figure out why. It feels good in the hand, it fits like a glove. Everything is in reach for people with regular-sized hands, but I could feel that the problem was something else. I was comparing it with other controllers when I shouldn't have.

So, I did what any normal user would do, I plugged it in, started Steam, and I was terribly disappointed about the performance for about half an hour. The mouse pad thingy was terrible, and I couldn't understand why there was no calibration option available. I suddenly remembered that Valve recommended users to get the Steam Beta client for the best performance, so I did that and the entire performance became smooth.

Maybe I'm going a little bit too fast and some of you might not know what the Steam Controller is and why you should care, so let's backtrack a little bit.

What's the Steam Controller?

Valve announced a few years back that it wants to take over the living room with Steam, and that it won't settle only with the desk. It started working on all sorts of features, like the Steam Big Screen that enables users to use the application on big screens and control everything with a gamepad.

After that, it moved to a more serious endeavor like a new console / PC hybrid called Steam Machines, that runs the open source Linux and that should give the company the edge it needs to battle with giants like Microsoft or Sony, who are the current occupants of the living room.

Valve also launched the Steam Link, which can be used to stream the gaming content from the PC to the TV without any cables and with the help of gamepad support, and introduced the new Steam Controller to the world.

Steam Controller unboxing
Steam Controller unboxing

Why is this controller important?

If you're like me, you come from a time when we used the term "gamepad" to define this input device, but it looks like that time is over. We now call them controllers, but that's just a fancy name for gamepads.

They come in various shapes and sizes, but they are all pretty much the same: a couple of sticks, a D-PAD, triggers, and start and options buttons. Some have more buttons, like the Xbox One Elite Controller, but it's still pretty standard.

Here comes the Steam Controller, which is different from all the rest. Instead of the regular D-PAD and the left stick, the controller comes with a couple of touch-sensitive surfaces, with haptic feedback. The right one is usually assigned to act pretty much like a laptop touchpad, controlling the view in games.

Suddenly, it's no longer difficult or annoying to play FPS games or strategies with a controller, but that's the idea. The Steam Controller challenges the paradigm of the old gamepads and shows that you can do better if you really want to.

Features of the Steam Controller

There are two aspects that people usually notice and mention right away. One is a good thing and one is not. First of all, the controller fits extremely well into the hand, and you can see that they put a lot of work into ergonomics. The weight of the controller is given by the batteries, which are inserted into the handles and not in the back. It's not slippery, and the remaining left stick is of really good quality. It gives the impression that it will never break or wear out.

Now to the bad part. This is something I'm not seeing, but several other people mentioned that the build felt cheap. My guess is that it's too different from what they've used until now, which might give that impression. Calling it ragged is a little bit too much, but that might be a closer description.

And now we're getting to the actual features, and there are so many of them that I'm afraid I'm going to miss some. First of all, if you connect the Steam Controller to the PC, it will be recognized as a regular HID interface. It's basically like plugging in a mouse and a keyboard, yet it's not going to work in the OS unless you turn on Steam.

When Steam is working, the controller can be used just like a mouse in the operating systems, which is a nice touch. Both the D-PAD and the mouse control are touch-sensitive and have haptic feedback. The haptic feedback also extends to the left stick, in some scenarios, but I haven't seen it working in a game, just in the client.

Steam Controller mouse
Steam Controller mouse

This takes us to the left and right triggers and buttons. The ones on top feel like you're clicking on mouse keys while the ones at the bottom actually have a double function. For example, the right trigger is used in FPS games to fire the weapon. With two positions on the same button, you can squeeze to aim down the sights and fire with the final click. Two actions on one button.

There are two more buttons on the back that can be assigned to do anything and they can be easily pressed with the remaining fingers.

This takes us to customization and the most interesting part. This is where the Steam Controller shines. Users can define all the input parameters on the controller. Nothing is restricted, and there are too many options to count.

The good news is that you'll never probably have to do everything each time you start a new game. The controller has access to profiles for each game. The developers can upload a recommended scheme, or you can download the ones being used by the community. It only takes a second, and the profile is instantly applied. Any profile can be changed.

This is something that no other controller can do, and it looks like Valve is still not done with it. The company just added the option to link the controller to a specific Steam account, which means that if I like my controls for a specific game, and I go to my friend’s house with my controller, I'm going to be able to use my profile on his Steam account.


The Good

Steam Controller is the epitome of hardware development when it comes to controllers. It's done by a company that uses gamers to design things, and that's more than obvious. The fact that all the features that you might need are already there is proof of that.

The most interesting part of the controller is the fact that you can customize it in any way you can, and that is extremely helpful. I've already used it to play a ton of games, like Fallout 4 or Skyrim, for example, and it worked wonderfully. The community still needs to catch up to it, but that's happening.

Also, I need to point out that it seems to have pretty good battery life. The controller came with a couple of Duracell batteries and after a couple of weeks of intensive playing, they still register as full.

The Bad

The biggest problem with the Steam Controller is that it's a new device and that only means that it has a really steep learning curve. It was terrible when I started using it, and it took me a few days to feel like I'm comfortable with it. That's probably a few days more than some people will give it. Many users will pick it up, say that the controls are horrible, and move on.

Also, some games don't recognize it as a controller. I tried playing Shank and the game thought that I had a keyboard and mouse. The controller needs some way of emulating an old-style gamepad that can be easily recognized by older games.

Conclusion

What people don't seem to understand is that the Steam Controller is a device mostly for people who are migrating from mouse and keyboard to a controller, and not the other way around. I am a patient man, and I adapted to the Steam Controller, but the people who didn't like it were more used to "old" controllers like the ones from Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

A week after playing with the Steam Controller, I can say that it's the best I've ever used. It's still new, and it needs more support from developers, but it's head and shoulders above the competition, and it will only get better from now on.

Steam Controller (13 Images)

Steam Controller box
Steam Controller made in USASteam Controller inside
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