Still worth it to me. I love the idea of playing Civ 5 on my couch with this controller like I do with Deck.
Really hard ask in CAD, especially since I’d want two so my partner has one. Hope the price is not true but, honestly, I was kinda expecting that price point.
Hard to justify what that will come to converted to CAD. That will be 1/4 of a Steam deck (1/3 of a Steam deck when it has gone on sale).
$40 more than I’d personally pay for it, imagine buying controllers for the family or for your home setup and choosing these and having to pay $400 for just 4 of them. Too gougy for me. 8bitdo at least is reasonably priced and who knows if/when there will be clones.
Massively hard pass.
$70-80 felt reasonable. $100 is a steep ask.
The price is painful but theres nothing else like it, im gonna buy it when it launches
More expensive than the base-level Xbox/PS controller, but cheaper than their pro-version - as well as the Joy-Con 2s.
I’m down for it, nobody else is doing trackpad controllers after all.
IMO it should be compared to the pro controllers, since it has back buttons and Hall effect sticks
Not “Hall Effect.” “TMR” specifically - it’s an even more advanced version of the magnetic field measurement used for Hall Effect but distinct.
Uses less battery power, too.
I think the main advancement and attraction of the TMR technology over Hall Effect is the better battery power usage. I wasn’t aware that it is even more sensitive to movements and changes than Hall Effect, according to the linked article. But don’t know how much the differences in battery usage and sensitivity are.
Not with two of them, but the Dualsense does have a trackpad.
Due to the placement its not even remotely comparable, their trackpad is useless for precise aiming or really anything since its that out of the way. At this point it only exists for the few ps4 games that used it.
I find that trackpad icky. I hate how PlayStation users have been forced to mash the mushy button that it is for the past 10 years.
It’s never lived up to the potential.
I own a dualsense. I’ve always loved its trackpad for mouse cursor control in games that are less controller friendly on PC, but ever since the steam deck and it’s split trackpads, I’ll never look back. The split pads are such a superior option, especially with the way they work with the steam deck’s on screen keyboard, or for aiming in FPS games.
The leaked review also lists several controller features. These include dual trackpads, magnetic TMR or Hall effect thumbsticks, HD rumble and four back buttons. The controller is also said to use a wireless dongle that doubles as a magnetic charging puck.
We don’t need the “leaked” video for that. These are officially confirmed features of the controller, with a video and web page dedicated to the controller by Valve.
Anyone else read ‘four back buttons’ and think “why do you need so many ways to return to the previous menu screen?”
Just me?They don’t have the same limitations that you have on a console. Steam input allows you to bind any button to the following things:
- keyboard buttons
- mouse buttons
- controller buttons
- system actions (volume, power, etc.)
- controller actions (controller slot toggle, controller power, action layers)
- steam actions
And probably one of my favorite but underutilized:
- Games can also provide custom actions that show up in the button bind menu, and they can be basic things like “jump” or really bizarre things like “make character think.” Games can have built-in action layers as well, so you can bind buttons multiple times for different layers such as “in combat”, “in a menu”, “dialog”, etc. which means you can have contextual actions be different to match your comfort (think PlayStation × vs o regional differences in-menu and in-game where o is confirm in menus but × is the main action button in combat).
Steam Input is awesome, and rarely gets the love it deserves.
I remember what it was like back when it was a toss up as to whether or not a game was going to recognize my controller without some additional program that maps keyboard keys to controller bottoms.
The cool thing is, that you can assign the buttons any function. I use RetroArch on my Steam Deck and the back buttons have some special functionality, such as open the RetroArch menu itself or enable / disable fast forward or slow motion. That’s good to have, so that all other regular buttons can be used as a regular joypad without changing their functionality.
But leaks get clicks tho
Yes, THEY do need leaks, not WE. :-)
I was hoping for less but bracing for more.
Let’s see if that price is true.
I like my original steam controller but that is a lot. I need some more cheap controllers tbh for co-op games like overcooked. Also need more good local co-op games because it isn’t something I have really bought much of before as I always play on my own or online. But if my partner has friends over we only have my PC.
https://anbernic.com/products/rg-p01
I have two of these and they’re pretty nice. The battery isn’t great and that’s the worst thing about them.
8bitdo lite 2 was my solution for a 4th co op controller.
However it looks like it’s 40% more expensive than when I bought it in 24… maybe scratch that advice.
Touch pads and back buttons. I don’t have any gamepads with this many buttons. Once I get one I’ll try less gamepad friendly games with community layouts
It’s awesome. Especially when you need a ton more buttons Steam Input together with the touchpads is a godsend. You just create two or more menus and access them with the touchpads.
Seems reasonable. I’m hoping the $1k I have earmarked for the Frame is enough.
I wonder if old Valves leak on purpose
Oh no, I can’t believe that. 100 Dollars is a lot of money for a gamepad, even though it is exactly what I was waiting (and hoping) for years. I thought it would cost 70, and was ready for 80 if neccessary. I said 90 would be the maximum limits… Oh no, do I have to break my word? Man 100 is tough. Maybe it will cost 90 Euros… maybe I don’t have to break my word…
It is if you compare it to a regular controller, but from what it offers - touchpads, back buttons, hall effect sticks, gyro, full remappability etc - it’s more comparable to something like the PS5 Edge and those are almost twice the cost.
There are controllers that offer almost all off this such as hall effects, back buttons, gyro, full remappability, even including a dock and a builtin memory to save settings, just without the touchpads. In example the 8BitDo Ultimate 2 Wireless Controller and it costs only $55.99. I am not saying it is fully equivalent (clearly it isn’t, as touchpads are missing and a few little features off course).
If you don’t care about the back buttons, the Ultimate 2C is $29 and has Hall Effect joysticks.
That’s not the only difference. The non C version has TMR over Hall Effect, which is better (although I doubt it is noticeable in daily life). It also has gyro, which was one of the main selling points to me at that time and it can be configured with their newest iteration of software (although I had to do this in a virtual machine as it does not support Linux). And the non C version comes with a Dock too. Just wanted say that, because someone might want to buy in order save money (huge difference!), but it should be an informed decision.
There is a chart showing which of the 3 models support features. I remember it was hugely confusing when I purchased it: https://www.8bitdo.com/ultimate-2-wireless-controller/
Good point. Is the gyro working on Linux? Last I heard it didn’t work with the 2.4ghz dongle and only with Bluetooth.
I have the Ulmate 2 Wireless (using 2.4ghz), which is different from 2.4ghz named variant, and the Bluetooth variant. I don’t know why they are making it this complicated. Unfortunately there is a huge problem with this, and its not the hardware but from software side. I think it works on Linux, but…
The controller has multiple modes. The Xbox mode is the default one and behaves like a Xbox controller. That means in this mode no gyro is available. To activate gyro, we have to be in Switch mode, which on the other side deactivates analog triggers (I think). And in the Switch mode off course the programs and applications do not see it as an Xbox controller and activate different options and modes (I suppose, because I do not use that mode).
In the end, I do not want to deal with the different modes and use it in Xbox only. That means I don’t use one of the main functionalities I purchased the controller for. Other than that, its basically a better version of my previous Xbox 360 / One S / Series S controllers. I didn’t want bring up this issue, because it was not really relevant to the price point I was making, as this is a software logic / development issue. Besides this one issue, I am actually happy about the controller and use it on Steam and for emulators in general on Linux. Just without gyro…
I have the same controller. With newer firmware, if you hold B while turning it on, it starts in D-Input mode instead of X-Input or Switch. That should enable analog triggers and gyro at the same time.
It’s not fully comparable. Basically Microsoft, as it seems to be the default, messed things up by making the Xbox: sure, before that the computer gamepad situation was chaotic, but after, they created the de facto standard that is the Xbox controller. Is a feature on that controller? No? Well, nobody else will have it then. Back buttons are really just there for ergonomics because with a thumb over each stick you get no access to face buttons but back ones can be remapped to those. It’s cool! But also the only thing they can really do. Steam Controller/Deck? Thanks to Steam input, more or less anything you want! Mouse click? Sure. Pop up menu with a bunch of options? Obviously. The game supports Steam input? Then you can bind them to anything the game offers. As a super basic thing, you end up with a controller that has two analogs, a d-pad, “not anymore start and select”, a “home” button, 4 face buttons, two shoulder buttons, two triggers, two trackpads, a gyro and four back buttons. I have a GameSir Cyclone 2, and I’m eagerly waiting for the Steam Controller 2 as it’ll be a meaningful upgrade even if at first glance the only missing feature are the trackpads.
Probably 120€ if you add shipping from the US and VAT to it. The weak US$ helps a bit so maybe 110€.
The Steam Deck had a European release. Will probably be the same with this one.
Earlier today (or yesterday) the Steam Controller page on Komodo, the official Asian reseller, went accidentally live. I’d say that’s a good indicator that they’re gearing up for a more or less worldwide release with dedicated shipping centers.
Still needs shipping and the US prices given are usually without VAT, which means another ~20% on top.
