darthbator

Return of the Steam Box!

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It looks so strange! I want one. I gotta know how that thing feels and controls.

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Argh I want this thing so bad

 

Clickable middle touchscreen is awesome - no accidentally brushing your fingers across the surface in the heat of action and triggering something you didn't want. They thought of everything.

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I'm eager to try that out. Those circular touchpads could be a really nice alternative to the analog sticks. 

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This is the first thing I thought of:

 

nightowlship.jpg

 

Very exciting! Actually, it's the most exciting of the three, since the first two announcements were things I kind of already have. This, though, is new.

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I really hope they are offering some good support to devs, because this controller really doesn't map one-to-one with anything out already. I'm already thinking of games that make use of the D-pad for quick functions and wondering if putting those buttons in the middle of the controller will feel okay. 

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Did anyone else immediately think of a set of speakers when they saw the controller? 

 

It has speakers in it. When I used it, the cursor pad made a little mechanical rolling sound as you used it. It was really subtle and effective.

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I feel like it will be an amazing controller but I'll still want to use mouse and keyboard. Although I'd love to see someone play Starcraft 2 with this thing.

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Wow, I think this is the first time I've ever been excited about a controller!

I was thinking the same, but then I remembered the Wii remote, which excited me until I realized it wasn't what I actually wanted. Then Wii motion plus add-on thing came out years later.

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I was thinking the same, but then I remembered the Wii remote, which excited me until I realized it wasn't what I actually wanted. Then Wii motion plus add-on thing came out years later.

 

Which was only usable for like Wii Sports Plus, and the Zelda game. What a waste.

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Traditional controller usage makes those 4 buttons around the touch screen scream "We're impossible to use!", but maybe they actually aren't.

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Which was only usable for like Wii Sports Plus, and the Zelda game. What a waste.

Yeah, but I really just meant that the PLUS was what turned the controller into what I (and I'm sure a lot of other people) wanted it to be, regardless of its post-release support.

 

Now awaiting Steam Controller Motion Plus.

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I've always had a negative view of motion controls because they undo one of the nice things about the way video games work.

 

We always imagine the cool sword fighting game, where we get really proficient at parrying and riposting. Neal Stephenson certainly did. The problem is that this assumes a physical ability on behalf of the user that you really can't account for. Almost everyone can push A, or time the pushing a stick from left to right and pushing A. Not only does the user need to be good at video games, but they need to be physically agile. Does the developer spend a ton of money creating this really fine tuned system that you know most of your audience isn't physically capable of doing? 

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Traditional controller usage makes those 4 buttons around the touch screen scream "We're impossible to use!", but maybe they actually aren't.

 

I think the intention is that most traditional face button usage is still under your right thumb, using quadrants of the haptic touchscreen.

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I was thinking the same, but then I remembered the Wii remote, which excited me until I realized it wasn't what I actually wanted. Then Wii motion plus add-on thing came out years later.

 

I distinctly remember seeing the wii remote for the first time online. I was in St. Helen's visiting a friend, and I'd had a bunch to drink and I looked up the controller for the Revolution, about which I was hugely excited (I think it was still the Revolution then). My friends were not as into games as I was and found the whole thing bizarre.

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Well, if there's one company I trust to revolutionise something as entrenched as how game controllers are interacted with it's Valve. And I mean true revolution, not a gimmick that'll disappear after a few years. There are some genuinely marvellous ideas going on here, and I doubt they'll be tripped up by something as fundamental as ergonomics.

 

This is definitely a big blow for Microsoft, though. Both Sony and Valve are going to be sporting controllers that basically put the fidelity of keyboard-and-mouse gaming on the sofa in front of a huge TV — exactly the kind of scenario where even the most seasoned PC gamer has to admit defeat and go with a pad — whereas playing Microsoft games is going to seem downright primitive if they can't approximate a similar kind of accuracy using a Kinect-controller tandem.

 

There's going to be this whole comeback of genres previously unsuccessful on consoles precisely because of shitty controls, and even the ones that are successful like shooters and racers will feel better — and Microsoft won't be in on it. They'd better think fast.

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So there is tactile feedback on those trackpads? How does that work?

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Hmm, apparently my work is now blocking some parts of the steam site, but not others. It makes for a real scrambled looking page.

 

Sounds nice though.

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So there is tactile feedback on those trackpads? How does that work?

 

Am I being a d-bag simply quoting the page? See here:

 

Haptics

 

Trackpads, by their nature, are less physical than thumbsticks. By themselves, they are “light touch” devices and don’t offer the kind of visceral feedback that players get from pushing joysticks around. As we investigated trackpad-based input devices, it became clear through testing that we had to find ways to add more physicality to the experience. It also became clear that “rumble”, as it has been traditionally implemented (a lopsided weight spun around a single axis), was not going to be enough. Not even close.
 
The Steam Controller is built around a new generation of super-precise haptic feedback, employing dual linear resonant actuators. These small, strong, weighted electro-magnets are attached to each of the dual trackpads. They are capable of delivering a wide range of force and vibration, allowing precise control over frequency, amplitude, and direction of movement.
 
This haptic capability provides a vital channel of information to the player - delivering in-game information about speed, boundaries, thresholds, textures, action confirmations, or any other events about which game designers want players to be aware. It is a higher-bandwidth haptic information channel than exists in any other consumer product that we know of. As a parlour trick they can even play audio waveforms and function as speakers.

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yeah I read that. It was more a question towards Chris (or anyone else that tried it already) on how it feels like.

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