The Valve Thread

[Comrade]

It's surely derived from heat maps of where your finger/thumb tips are at any one time. It probably seems odd because it completely skips the paradigm we've had since pretty much pads existed.

Assuming your thumbs rest at the centre of the trackpads, try moving your thumb to where those buttons are. It's incredibly awkward.

[simms]

I can see why they did this. Maybe MS will go fuck you Valve for moving in on our manner (the living room) with your fancy OS and machines and withdraw official support for Xbox one controllers next year for PC's.

[Simbo]

Here is an acid test for the controller - do you think you could play DOTA 2 with it?

[TehStu]

It's just a fucking controller

At the risk of being labelled the Valve Defence Force or something, that's a little disingenuous. The Xbone and PS4 pads are "just pads", really. A few extra tidbits thrown in, like a share-my-screen button, etc. I think it's reasonable to say this is quite a different pad.

Unless you just didn't want to see a pad in this announcement! In which case move along, nothing to see here.

[NecroMorrius]

Here is an acid test for the controller - do you think you could play DOTA 2 with it?

Lol

[Smitty]

I'm HIGHLY disappointed that it isn't Half Life 3, but this sounds intriguing and I'm very much interested in it. We haven't had anything this radical in controllers for a while.

It could be a stroke of genius if it meets the design brief, bringing together controllers with the precision of a mouse. Exciting stuff.

[spork]

[Mallet]

Controller sounds really interesting!

[TehStu]

Assuming your thumbs rest at the centre of the trackpads, try moving your thumb to where those buttons are. It's incredibly awkward.

Yeah, the proof will be in the pudding, of course. I'd be astonished if they were dumb enough to make this thing un-ergonomic, though. Looking at where your thumb might need to be as compared the bottom button and center of stick, doesn't seem too dissimilar (from memory) of switching between the d-pad and stick with your left thumb and stick/buttons with your right, on a 360 pad? I'd have to overlay an image or something.

[simms]

I like, not as bulky as I thought. I'm excite to see hands on with games.

[Vimster]

Next week Valve will have a live stream of the new pad. They'll go "so let's see it in action". Cue an alpha build of HL3 running on a Steam Machine, casual mention of being able to "easily control Gordon". It's going to happen.

[Cyhwuhx]

This will probably have been specifically designed for Half-Life 3.

After the DS, the iPhone, the iPad and numerous games with virtual stick/d-pad controls, I am highly skeptical of the touchpads on this thing. And that's a severe understatement.

[simms]

Next week Valve will have a live stream of the new pad. They'll go "so let's see it in action". Cue an alpha build of HL3 running on a Steam Machine, casual mention of being able to "easily control Gordon". It's going to happen.

I like your thinking. What about someone from valve saying tomorrow will be fun. Did he mean today or Saturday? Beli3v3

[TehStu]

After [...] the iPhone, the iPad and numerous games with virtual stick/d-pad controls, I am highly skeptical of the touchpads on this thing.

Do any of those devices have haptic feedback to give you a sense of where your digits are as compared the virtual control?

[Bojangle]

If this was any other company than Valve, I'd have been all "LOOOOOOL". But Valve aren't going to put a shit controller out, they just aren't. It'll be amazing, yo.

[NecroMorrius]

Splitting opinion like a motherfucker. Here, GAF, twitter etc.

[fasteasyfree]

Is this the moment to start masturbating furiously through my tears? :-(

Perhaps tomorrow they'll be all "oh yeah, by the way, hl3 will be out in time for Christmas. lulz"

[Flub]

Splitting opinion like a motherfucker. Here, GAF, twitter etc.

You'd think Nintendo made it

[Polmon]

This looks like the first proper innovation in controllers since the analogue stick. I'm a little worried by how expensive it's going to be. As someone already mentioned, the description of the technology used makes it sound like something out of Star Trek.

[Massive Invisible Dog]

This will probably have been specifically designed for Half-Life 3.

After the DS, the iPhone, the iPad and numerous games with virtual stick/d-pad controls, I am highly skeptical of the touchpads on this thing. And that's a severe understatement.

The difference between the Steam controller and all of those previous attempts at doing a virtual stick is that this has been specifically designed to work in that way. They even acknowledge how crap it usually is and how they've tried to solve those problems.

I'm more interested in how well they works as a mouse replacement than than a stick replacement. That's the actual problem they needed to solve.

[Smitty]

This will probably have been specifically designed for Half-Life 3.

After the DS, the iPhone, the iPad and numerous games with virtual stick/d-pad controls, I am highly skeptical of the touchpads on this thing. And that's a severe understatement.

But these aren't virtual controls.

[Cyhwuhx]

Do any of those devices have haptic feedback to give you a sense of where your digits are as compared the virtual control?

What will that accomplish? Hit the edge and feel the thing rumble? Which means the thing will be continuously rumbling while you move forward?

Unless haptic feedback means something completely different these days, as my experience of haptic feedback is largely based on those Immersion mice during the Unreal Tournament days. And even those presented just a few different forms of rumble.

[Comrade]

Yeah, the proof will be in the pudding, of course. I'd be astonished if they were dumb enough to make this thing un-ergonomic, though. Looking at where your thumb might need to be as compared the bottom button and center of stick, doesn't seem too dissimilar (from memory) of switching between the d-pad and stick with your left thumb and stick/buttons with your right, on a 360 pad? I'd have to overlay an image or something.

No, try it out with your thumb and see. The bottom button is further away horizontally than than the switch between stick and buttons on a 360 pad, which makes it more awkward. And the top button is far worse than even that.

[Colonel Panic]

I'll be interested to try it, but yeah... I like normal controllers.

[Smitty]

This looks like the first proper innovation in controllers since the analogue stick. I'm a little worried by how expensive it's going to be. As someone already mentioned, the description of the technology used makes it sound like something out of Star Trek.

Nah it's more that haptics in pads has only taken the form of very, very crude vibrations thus far and hasn't been developed any more. I mean, rumble in pads is currently extremely simliar to what you had in the 64 pad with the rumble pak. The technology has moved on since then it's just that the pads stay the same for the duration of the consoles life and we're up to 6-7 years now on that front.

So it's more a case of a other pads being backwards in terms of haptics rather than this being extremely forward, y'know? It's not futuristic as much as it is just up to date with what's possible. We've already had that the One pad has much more refined and detailed levels of vibration.

[simms]

It's a controller stuck between two worlds - analogue sticks and mouse & k/b and hardcore fans of both will have to have their sticks and mouses prised from their cold dead hands.

[Boozy The Clown]

Pre order cancelled.

[Nick R]

"These aren't the announcements you're looking for"

[Shook]

I hope the layoffs weren't because the hardware staff were like "Gabe dude, this controller sucks."

[Cyhwuhx]

I hope the layoffs weren't because the hardware staff were like "Gabe dude, this controller sucks."

It was probably because they finished the project.