Steam Controller Touchscreen Replaced with Buttons

[Taleweaver]

For those of you who follow the progress of the steambox a bit, it may not be much of a surprise, but valve decided to swap the touchscreen of the controller for actual buttons.

We’re currently busy hand-building ten of the very latest iterations of the Steam Controller prototype to bring with us to GDC.

These prototypes incorporate much of the testing feedback we have received so far and the changes that were announced at Steam Dev Days [www.steamdevdays.com].

Even though our limited internal play testing has been going really well, we're excited to get some feedback from our customers on these latest changes.

For those of you able to attend GDC next week, please drop by our booth, as there will be some demo stations set up with the latest prototypes for play testing and feedback gathering. For those of you not able to attend GDC, for now we wanted to at least share a photo of the latest design changes:

We will be posting more updates very soon about the continuing testing, development, and refinement of the controller. Your questions and suggestions are what will ultimately shape the Steam Controller, so keep them coming!

(probably) original source
source with some more background information

Comparison picture ('now' on the left; 'past' on the right):

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So...how do you guys feel about it? (keep in mind that this is all prototype stuff...the end result may still change)

Personally, I've got mixed feelings. On one hand, I can certainly understand that if tests show that if the most expensive part (the touchpad) is the least used, they decided to ditch it. And the buttons will certainly be more accessible.
On the other hand, it sure starts to look exactly the same as a 360 controller. And while that isn't necessary a bad thing (lots of games on steam were originally designed for that controller), there already is a 360 controller.

 

[FAST6191]

By all accounts it was the touch pads that made it work well, also though it worked well on the DS for name entry and a select few games I am not sure the touch screen added all that much to gameplay of the sorts of things I tend to play. Going further if it is a slightly fiddled with PC I imagine it will still retain support for a keyboard and mouse at some level.

Anyway thanks for sharing.

 

[Psionic Roshambo]

Lots of things I like about the controller and lots of things I hate.

Touch "analog" sticks? I don't like it, I am sure it works fine but given the choice I would rather have the tactile feedback of a stick (I notice they put some circles on the pad to try and help with that.)

The cross pad being made out of buttons? Again I don't like that at all, if your going to have a digital pad make it like Nintendo's or at least like Sony's.

The shape of the controller and ditching the touch pad for a couple of buttons? I like those things, the shape looks like you could play games on it for hours and be completely comfy. The touch screen in the middle of the pad is a bad idea... (Just use the pad on the left or right, it's redundant and the extra buttons actually do help)

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Still going to wait until I try out the controller before I complain about it, though I am glad they took the screen in the center away, just didn't seem to make sense.

 

[TyBlood13]

The controller still looks upside down to me

 

[Arras]

Lots of things I like about the controller and lots of things I hate.

Touch "analog" sticks? I don't like it, I am sure it works fine but given the choice I would rather have the tactile feedback of a stick (I notice they put some circles on the pad to try and help with that.)

The cross pad being made out of buttons? Again I don't like that at all, if your going to have a digital pad make it like Nintendo's or at least like Sony's.

The shape of the controller and ditching the touch pad for a couple of buttons? I like those things, the shape looks like you could play games on it for hours and be completely comfy. The touch screen in the middle of the pad is a bad idea... (Just use the pad on the left or right, it's redundant and the extra buttons actually do help)

From what I've seen people say the touchpads use some special feedback method that has to be tried to be properly judged, and it feels more like you're rolling a trackball.

 

[Gahars]

inb4 the final design is just a slightly altered 360 pad. This is what happens when you try to fix what ain't broken.

I appreciate Valve trying to come around with something now, and if they can pull off an amazing new development, all the better for them. However, considering how well refined controllers are for their specific niche, it's a daunting challenge to pull off a worthwhile reinvention.

 

[trumpet-205]

You know, if they can replace directional key with a proper D-Pad (not one you found in X360 controller), it is a solid controller.

 

[emigre]

That D pad makes me cry

 

[Psionic Roshambo]

That D pad makes me cry

Just imagine trying to pull off some pixel perfect jumps on that thing... Makes my thumb hurt looking at it lol

 

[Arras]

inb4 the final design is just a slightly altered 360 pad. This is what happens when you try to fix what ain't broken.

I appreciate Valve trying to come around with something now, and if they can pull off an amazing new development, all the better for them. However, considering how well refined controllers are for their specific niche, it's a daunting challenge to pull off a worthwhile reinvention.

It IS broken if you try playing, say, RTS games on a controller though, which is what this is intending to fix with the touchpads in place of analog sticks. Whether it'll actually work is another matter entirely, of course, but I'm carefully optimistic about the thing.

 

[pokefloote]

Valve, please take some ideas from Sony's Vita D-pad...

Ah well, still want one. It's interesting and seems more convenient than having to use Pinnacle Game Profiler to map keys to a 360 controller. (Which does not always work well/responsive enough for PC games not built for it.)

 

[Zaide]

I much prefer the new design. The lack of buttons on the touchscreen design was a bit worrisome. They just better not get rid of the touch pads.

 

[YayMii]

I'm kinda glad they're taking the controller in this new direction. Keeping their original innovative design while somewhat integrating the existing controller support into the mix, a pretty good idea if you ask me.

 

[Bladexdsl]

it looks like a fucking speaker!

 

[Foxi4]

Hey Valve, Nintendo 64 called, it says it wants its terrible C-Buttons back. This must be the most awkward D-Pad they could possibly come up with. I understand that it won't play the role of directional buttons 9 out of 10 cases, but I'd still like a traditional D-Pad on my controller for fighting games, 2D platformers and whatnot. I'm still not sold on the touchpads, but I'll reserve my judgement for when the gamepad is actually released.

 

[Hells Malice]

They're getting closer, but I still can't see myself using the controller over a 360 pad. Though i'm really curious to try their strange new-age analog sticks. Seems like an interesting concept to me.
The layout with the touch screen was just absolutely awkward looking though. Very poorly placed. With an improved dpad it'll be a much more viable controller.

 

[chartube12]

i dont like track pads n track balls. the grips on this thing are still backwards. I hope someone makes support for ps3 controller. so far the ps3 is my pefered controller.

 

[gokujr1000]

Not a fan of the D-Pad but other than that it looks much more viable now.

 

[Bobbyloujo]

The grips aren't backward. I imagine them working much better with the touchpads this way. I like this idea and I can't wait to use and see how good it really is.