When you move to an appropriate text input field, a floating pop up keyboard appears on screen that has two small circular cursors on it:
hmm wonder if it could be used (well) for keyboard shortcuts
Steam Controller trailer, $50
- Thread starter Formless
- Start date
hmm wonder if it could be used (well) for keyboard shortcuts
It's funny ... my initial reaction was: "Oh? AAs? I guess that's kind of shitty." and then I immediately realized that I've been using the same rechargeable AAs in my 360 controller for like the past 5 years.
Maiden Voyage
Gold™ Member
I can change AA batteries when they go bad
Try Eneloop rechargeable batteries when you can.
Zeyphersan
Banned
A battery has never swayed my preference of a controller. Ever.
(Although, if anything, I like the Xbox One's approach. Takes AA's by default, but you can buy an optional internal battery pack that recharges through USB)
Thanks for the in-depth reply Krejlooc.
For me that's why i (without having used either) prefer the "dog" model, but i'll have to wait to October to see if the sticks works just as well.
Me too.Preordered. Super excited for this.
Well, in the trailer, they pointed out the ability to change the modes of the controller on the fly. There will surely be a mode where the left half of the pad is basically a playstation controller, where the analog stick is recognized as x-input. If that were the case, you could use the d-pad areas of the left touch pad for the things you mentioned.
Conversely, if you're using the left touchpad as it's intended, and you need equivalent buttons, you can use the analog stick by pushing it in the cardinal directions. Think the way super smash bros uses the C-stick on the gamecube controller.
This is very true. cool.
At least Nintendo has the gamepad pro, which runs on witchcraft in how long that battery can last.
Sony on the other hand, yeah, just awful on the battery front. Almost as bad as the Wii U tablet controller yet doesn't have a fucking tablet screen on the front of it.
I remember when I was about 15 years old, my dad and I were regular members of a pretty big PC users club in Houston. Every Saturday, he and I had a routine - we would go to my grandmother's restaurant in down town in the morning and do her books for her till about noon or so, then drive down the road to our PC users club with our PCs in hand and spend the rest of the day there till about midnight or 1 am or so.
This was the late 90's, and I remember some of the guys there had tons and tons of pirated anime in real player format. And I would copy all the shit they had and burn them onto CD-Rs which were the absolute cheapest form of storage at the time. There was a point where I could get several CD-Rs for a penny when I bought in enough bulk.
Anywho, my dad had an ATI All-in-wonder Pro video card, and what amazed me about that card was that it had S-video out. My own video card was some rinky-dink trident card and only outputted via VGA. I had a pretty small monitor in my room - 13" or so - but I had a 32" TV in the corner, and I would try all sorts of shit to liberate my PC from that small monitor onto my TV. My dad's PC was all the way across the house, in the office. Eventually what I did was buy a really long coaxial cable and would hook my dad's video card to the VCR using S-video, then ran the coax across the house and into my TV. Obviously, this meant the quality was terrible, and my mom would pitch a fit if I did this during the day, so I could only do it at night when everyone had gone to sleep.
I would have killed for something like the Steam Link back then. I already know this stuff tends to work pretty well - I use steam streaming from my living room to my office PC from time to time, and I'll stream to my nvidia shield in my bedroom. All those are hardwired connections so they run very well. I think this stuff will be a game changer for some people when it comes to building a PC.
I think the daisy wheel is still there when you use a normal Xbox 360 controller. That stuff is more about the Steam API and big picture mode as a user shell. It's funny because, increasingly, when you talk about steam, you wind up talking about a lot of different technologies working in concert. It's been pretty neat watching valve slowly piece together this nebulous gaming platform.
This was the late 90's, and I remember some of the guys there had tons and tons of pirated anime in real player format. And I would copy all the shit they had and burn them onto CD-Rs which were the absolute cheapest form of storage at the time. There was a point where I could get several CD-Rs for a penny when I bought in enough bulk.
Anywho, my dad had an ATI All-in-wonder Pro video card, and what amazed me about that card was that it had S-video out. My own video card was some rinky-dink trident card and only outputted via VGA. I had a pretty small monitor in my room - 13" or so - but I had a 32" TV in the corner, and I would try all sorts of shit to liberate my PC from that small monitor onto my TV. My dad's PC was all the way across the house, in the office. Eventually what I did was buy a really long coaxial cable and would hook my dad's video card to the VCR using S-video, then ran the coax across the house and into my TV. Obviously, this meant the quality was terrible, and my mom would pitch a fit if I did this during the day, so I could only do it at night when everyone had gone to sleep.
I would have killed for something like the Steam Link back then. I already know this stuff tends to work pretty well - I use steam streaming from my living room to my office PC from time to time, and I'll stream to my nvidia shield in my bedroom. All those are hardwired connections so they run very well. I think this stuff will be a game changer for some people when it comes to building a PC.
I think the daisy wheel is still there when you use a normal Xbox 360 controller. That stuff is more about the Steam API and big picture mode as a user shell. It's funny because, increasingly, when you talk about steam, you wind up talking about a lot of different technologies working in concert. It's been pretty neat watching valve slowly piece together this nebulous gaming platform.
Moon_frogger
Member
will not be using this as I'm left handed and this controller is clearly for right handed people. You can keep your steam machine, valve and your controller.
Zeyphersan
Banned
What would the advantages of using a Steam Link versus an Nvidia Shield be?
You know, the original controller was designed very specifically to be ambidextrous, and they brought that up several times in defense of that design. Valve always maintained that, with familiarity, you would be able to use either touchpad as a means of locomation just as well as you would use a D-pad or analog stick, but a lot of people said they couldn't adapt.
I wonder if they will consider releasing left handed versions of this controller in the future, since they had considered left handed people originally.
morningbus
Serious Sam is a wicked gahbidge series for chowdaheads.
Steam Link requires that you just have Steam on a computer.
Nvidia's solution requires specific Nvidia hardware.
Not the mention the cost difference of a $50 device vs. a $200 one.
Nothing at all. The experience of streaming to my shield is basically identical to my experience of streaming to my actual steam machine at my office. I'm expecting the steam link to be the exact same experience.
Clearly, the steam link isn't going to be the only option for in-home streaming. Eventually, those x86 sticks are going to become good enough to do decent in-home streaming as well. It's neat, though, that valve has such a cheap streaming solution right now. The shield is several hundred dollars, and the gigabyte steam machine I have retails for like $600. Once those x86 sticks start making viable steam links, you'll start seeing streaming solutions for like $10-$20 in the next few years.
EDIT: ^^Oh yeah, forgot to mention I needed an Nvidia card to stream to the shield. Although, I guess you don't necessarily need a shield to stream, as you can get the software running on any android device.
I used one of the earlier developer prototype Steam controllers at PAX East 2014. After several minutes of practice, the trackpads were intuitive and felt far more precise than analog sticks.
Granted, the controller has gone through several iterations since I used it, but it still shares some similarities to the final design.
Granted, the controller has gone through several iterations since I used it, but it still shares some similarities to the final design.
Moon_frogger
Member
I can tell literally just by looking at it that I won't be using any touchpad to control movement. Might as well stick to mobile games with virtual analogs or even better, use a touchpad from a laptop to control my games. It's great for all you rightys, and even you lefties that play everything right handed. I however, am strictly left handed and any righty who thinks i can 'adapt' should try playing counterstrike with the mouse in your left hand sometime.
Zeyphersan
Banned
Nvidia card I have (or, will have). I guess I would get a Steam Link to stream to a TV in my house, a Shield Tablet to stream wherever I go since isn't the Steam Link restricted to the same network, while in theory I could take a Shield Tablet to a friend's house and stream from my PC to his network (despite how bad that could potentially be quality-wise)?
you might want to spend some time and learn how this controller works.
Pretty much what I'm doing. I ordered a steam link despite having a shield. I'm just going to relegate my shield to a PC-portable from now on.
Incidentally, it's funny how similar the PS4 and my PC feel to me now. I have a Playstation TV and a PS Vita for my PS4 as well, which mirrors my PC with it's Steam Link and an Nvidia Shield pretty closely.
Zeyphersan
Banned
Same, I have my PS TV for PS1 games and streaming to a different TV, and a Vita for friend's houses and situations where I'm out and about. The Steam Link and Shield Tablet will fill the same void
I guess the difference is that the Shield Tablet can output to a TV through HDMI, which is nice
Then don't get it? The fact I can replace my controller's batteries means I won't have to go hunting for that stupidly short recharge cable and sit their like an idiot so close to my TV playing a game. Hell Ikea sells $3 packs of batteries that last a good day or so. Criticism is fine but outright dismissing the controller because of actual options is just plain silly.
Moon_frogger
Member
I've only watched the trailer, which I watched twice. Can you elaborate?
I know lots of people swear by trackballs but I never liked them, and this just seems like another thing that a certain subset of people will really like and I will not. They even say "like a trackball" in the video
I wouldn't be opposed to trying it out, but I'm not gonna shell out $50 for it on a whim that I might maybe like it even though I love my DS4 and mouse/keyboard already.
I wouldn't be opposed to trying it out, but I'm not gonna shell out $50 for it on a whim that I might maybe like it even though I love my DS4 and mouse/keyboard already.
Maiden Voyage
Gold™ Member
I went with Valve. What's the advantage of going with GameStop? In store pick up?
Maiden Voyage
Gold™ Member
Moon_frogger
Member
Yeah I gathered that from the video. I realize it's far more than a normal touchpad but still wont replace analog movement on a controller, which is why they literally added an analog stick to the thing. Again, I can tell by looking this isn't something I"ll ever be able to use comfortably.
Well, like I said, maybe you'll get lucky and they will release a left handed version.
Zeyphersan
Banned
Quick question Krejlooc, what setting on Windows would I turn on so that the Steam Link/Nvidia Shield can wake the computer remotely?
Robottiimu2000
Member
Sold at the 24s. mark... Dat cities skyline!
I want to try their mapping on my version of Cities Skyline, haha. They don't have the mapping online.
viveks86
Member
Hey Krejlooc, just read your detailed post from a few pages back and native mode sounds really intriguing. A few questions: is the native mode available for consumers to fiddle around with or is it only for devs/programmers? Does it require coding or is it a UI based configurator? If, say a dev comes up with a smart new way to play an FPS using native mode, would anyone be able to download that template and play any game with it? Or would it end up being game specific? It sounds like the latter, given anything that isn't a legacy input device needs to be supported directly by the game.
Moon_frogger
Member
I'd prefer to have something symmetrical, so my kid can use it as well. Haha I'm extremely picky I know. I'm sure this thing will do well but the moment I saw it in the video my interest went to zero. ah well.
native mode is directly working steam controller support into your game. It is game specific.
viveks86
Member
Got it. Realized that myself as I started cascading my questions. Really hope it gets enough dev support so that we start seeing fresh new ways to play games. Do you foresee native mode for a game getting exposed to the mod community, so people start releasing modded control schemes post game launch?
BigMastadon
Member
The advantage for me at least with Gamestop was that they don't charge you until the product ships. Valve charges it all up front.
QuixoticNeutral
Member
It would be nice if I could swap out or relabel the face buttons to match the Nintendo ABXY layout. I don't do the backwards Xbox layout; I just don't.
M_A_C
Member
Or Playstation buttons would be great too.
alexandros
Banned
This is what I'm most excited about. The controller is so unique that I can't even imagine how PC developers will take advantage of its cababilities. I can't wait to find out!
...why would you even ask this
Zeyphersan
Banned
Thinking about all the new tech I'm going to have by the end of the year is making me giddy
New computer
New monitor
Steam VR
New TV
Steam Link
Nvidia Shield Tablet
Bunches of Steam Controllers
How am I supposed to play games now with all that on the way?
New computer
New monitor
Steam VR
New TV
Steam Link
Nvidia Shield Tablet
Bunches of Steam Controllers
How am I supposed to play games now with all that on the way?