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Steam Controller

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Re: Steam Controller

#361

Post by moocowduckquack »

jlgreco wrote: post #121
pak wrote: post #18

I've played some FPS games with a trackpad for lack of having a mouse available, and on a larger, higher precision one (e.g., Macbook size) it was not a bad experience at all. You can move a finger a lot faster than a whole arm. Reflex high-res motion at the pro Counter-Strike level isn't likely, but for the casual gamer, trackpad FPS control absolutely seemed plausible. So I believe this kind of input will work for…

> You can move a finger a lot faster than a whole arm. If you're moving your arm to move your mouse, there is probably something wrong with your mouse.

depending on what motion you are doing with the mouse, from careful aiming through to whipping right round in circles with the mouse coming off the surface, you end up using everything from your fingers to your shoulder. Up and down (away and toward) motions are generally shoulder motions, for instance, unless they are very slight, as otherwise you arch your hand too far off the mouse.

Re: Steam Controller

#363

Post by egsec »

Pxtl wrote: post #191
romaniv wrote: post #154

While this might be a good replacement for console controllers, I seriously doubt that it will be successful in replacing keyboard and mouse for FPSes, RTSes, point-and-click adventures and other genres that currently make PC game market interesting . Which makes me sad. Valve is effectively turning its back on the games (and gamers) that allowed it succeed despite competition from consoles. Personally, I am keenly i…

wat? That PC market is literally the entire point of this device . It's meant to get you mouse-like interactions on a handheld controller. If you want to sit down on the sofa and play a PC-style game? It's this brand new gamepad concept or nothing else . There is nothing like this thing (well, except maybe that crazy alpha-grip thingy, but that's freaking weird).

For those who don't know what the "alpha-grip" is --> http://www.alphagrips.com/ - its a keyboard in the feel of a controller.

Re: Steam Controller

#364

Post by stcredzero »

narwally wrote: post #158
mkaziz wrote: post #51

"You can’t make a sentence into a question by just putting a question-mark at the end." err "You can’t make a sentence into a question by just putting a question-mark at the end?" <--- it's a question now.

That's just a sentence with a question mark?

It is?

Re: Steam Controller

#365

Post by Pxtl »

kelvie wrote: post #254
Pxtl wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dota 2 will likely be one of the flagships of this thing. I don't know how well it will work - likely you won't make it to the top of the league with this. But you can be damned well sure that Valve had Dota 2 in mind when they made this, and they will do everything possible to make Dota 2 play nicely on it.

I can last hit OK with a trackball (after some getting used to, thanks to RSI), but edge scrolling is difficult. With two trackballs, perhaps one of the wheels can be used for moving the screen, and the other for moving the mouse. They've implemented a "chat-wheel" with common in-game phrases to help with communications as well, which seems to be a perfect fit for controller play. I just can't wait for the day where…

On an 80" screen I'd want to see a DOTA-like game that zooms out and shows all the action in a single-screen, Super Smash Bros style.

Re: Steam Controller

#366

Post by f00_ »

beloch wrote: post #350
Anonymous9823 wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand the FPS debate. Do you know what's better for racing games? http://i.imgur.com/HYOmoQl.jpg - Racing Wheel and Pedals Flying games? http://i.imgur.com/ejf4hPf.jpg - Joysticks Fighting games? http://i.imgur.com/2lrevkG.jpg - Arcade Sticks There's one device that works best for every single game genre, and mouse and keyboard is that device for FPS games. Why do people expect one device to match the fu…

You forgot sword-play games, which could really benefit from a controller that hasn't hit market yet (see Clang and STEM). All of these game genres exist on consoles, and all of them are most typically played with a game-pad. While specialist devices exist for most genres of games, the gamepad is the default generalist that plays them all. The steam controller promises to be a better generalist. Don't underestimate t…

What sword play games are there? The only ones I can think of off the top of my head are Red Steel, and Skyward Sword. And both were made in service of the wii.

Re: Steam Controller

#367

Post by f00_ »

mikelat wrote: post #47

Call me impressed. I never thought that the biggest innovator and risk taker in the console market would be valve. All the other manufacturers have basically made their platforms "safe" and they're pretty much like the last generation, but this is pretty ballsy from valve.

I wouldn't say any console manufacturers took the "safe" route this time around. Microsoft was going to dramatically accelerate the adoption of digital games in the console market, and Sony bashing Microsoft for this and having a huge push for Independents/Self-Publishing, these don't sound like safe moves by any means. And that's not talking about Microsoft bundling Kinect, the Wii U controller, and Sony's abandoning of PlayStation Move.

If anything this is the most "un-safe" the console market has been in awhile.

Re: Steam Controller

#368

Post by f00_ »

Osiris wrote: post #55
mikelat wrote: post #47

Call me impressed. I never thought that the biggest innovator and risk taker in the console market would be valve. All the other manufacturers have basically made their platforms "safe" and they're pretty much like the last generation, but this is pretty ballsy from valve.

Speaking on innovation, the Xbox 360 came out with a brand new controller, but the Xbox One has practically the same controller? It's like they didn't take any time to re-evaluate the controller with the new console. For that matter, the PS4 controller is the same except with a small touchpad in the middle.

They didn't need to innovate with the controller, their controller is the standard. They improved in all aspects that they needed to, i.e. the d-pad, and then fixed some ergonomics.

The PS3 controller, however, was kind of awful in comparison. Really light, horrible triggers. And they fixed that.

Saying the new controllers are the same except the features they have for the sake of marketing (Touchpad, and rumble triggers) is disingenuous.

Re: Steam Controller

#369

Post by hackula1 »

z999 wrote: post #340
ibrahima wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hotkeys are pretty important for RTSes too (at least SC2). I will definitely try this out for ergonomics reasons but I don't know if they'll have enough hotkeys to make it playable at a reasonable level. But maybe if buttons are context sensitive or something it could work out.

That's why you've got the touchscreen.

SC2 at least uses ~half the keys on the keyboard. Anyone above the absolute bottom rung (bronze) is going to use these extensively.

Re: Steam Controller

#370

Post by gcb0 »

jwpeddle wrote: post #282
gcb0 wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a trackball heavy user (i use both thumb and index ones, with both hands) I avoid playing FPS without a mouse! the thumbs trackball is more precise. But still not good. A good and cheap microsoft mouse is always with me when i'm playing FPSs. Also, even if the control wasn't an issue, no trackball has more than 300DPI. EVER. The minimum for mouses is 400. I don't know why that is. But even the overly expensive Ken…

no trackball has more than 300DPI My 1600DPI L-Trac disagrees.

Ok, One or two $100+ trackballs have it. While all sub $50 mouses are over 3000DPI...
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