A thumb will never be as accurate as moving your entire hand. That's nothing to do with games, that's just how we are built. And I don't doubt this thing will play FPS games at least as well as the ps3 and 360 controllers, because both those controllers are awful at shooters. Actually, I hope it really catches on for shooters on the PC, because I'm bad at shooters and could use the kd ratio boost from the free kills.

And it can be as good as it wants to be, if there aren't enough units for it to make financial sense to do the work no one will take advantage.

haptic feedback , that sounds facinating but in previous examples it might be implimented into Portal 2 then forgotten by almost everything valve makes. Like the HL2 gravity gun application with the Novit Falcon controller which was also Haptic feedback.

There are two buttons on the back of the controller. X and Y are not meant to be used the same way as on the 360 controller. Look at the Portal 2 bindings, Crouch and Toggle Zoom are bound to the back buttons while Push to Talk and Partner View are on X and Y. X and Y will be used for less important functions on any decent configuration.

I didn't see that. I just think it is quite good that all the feedback from developers has been positive. I don't see why people are so hung up on face buttons. It has six on the back, all of which you can use while still having two thumbs on the controllers, something not possible with the current set-up. If you look at the Portal set-up on the site (an uncomplicated game admittedly) all the in-game controlls are handled by the back buttons, the face being for interface and communication functions.

It is definitely a different way of setting up a controller and as he says if he had to choose between the Steam and an Xbox, at the moment he would chose Xbox, but that is only because he has put 1000s of hours into that controller.

It is hard to imagine what the touch pads are like but one comment I read said the haptic stuff made it feel like using two large tracker balls which I think could work very well.

It is impossible to know what the controller feels like until using it but from just the layout I don't see that there is anything you can't do on the Steam that you can do on another controller. It all depends on how the track pads work. I haven't used anything like this before, don't know if you have, and the potential for programming it certainly sounds interesting and full of potential.

Valve are a bunch of clever people and I find it impossible to believe that they would have released something without thinking of all the potential ways for it to be used. It all depends on the actual functionality of the buttons and pads, I don't see any drawbacks to the layout, it is just something different than we are used to.

I love how all these closed minded people can't see past the fact that just because some buttons are labeled A,B,X,Y that they might not be the primary buttons.

@mithhunter55: Sure. What are the primary buttons if shoulders are already used? Click the pads, which does not sound like fun to me, the two back buttons, and what else?

It looks really weird! But Sony and Microsoft already have the 4 trigger, 11 face button, two stick ting down. I'm glad Valve is trying something different, and I'll be extremely interested to see if it actually works out.

Yeah the quality of the stick replacement will determine whether this thing is of any value or not. I cannot even wrap my head around how it would be good though, laptop trackpads are easily broken and generally terrible even when working properly.

I went from being skeptical to desperately wanting to try one. I hope the haptic feedback is as good as it sounds.

The amount of input options seems really great. Will be awesome to see custom mapping created by the community for specific games and finding something that works for yourself. It could still be a bad controller but it is a prototype and I'm willing to give Valve the benefit of the doubt. A standard pad like we have now would be pointless and boring anyway. So I'm really excited to give it a try.

Yep this is key. Controllers are way more comfortable to use in a long gaming session though so hope they get the track pad right. Valve definately has the resources to put the engineering/testing this needs to be done right.

@oldschool2112: No, it was absolutely too long to quote. Dial it back. Shift-arrows-delete.

It's crazy but I appreciate that. Going for that sort of accuracy they could manage to simulate mouse movement for a controller.

If it was EA releasing this controller, people would be shitting down their throats. The only reason why this controller is going to be given a chance is because Valve is producing it.

@rasgueado: get a wii

I was arguing with an idiot. Won't make that mistake twice. Oops.

@presidentofjellybeans: This probably isn't your shit trackpads on laptops. If anything, if Valve is confident that these could be better than traditional sticks, then they at least won't go cheap on them. These are probably the best trackpads you will ever see.

Just love how quick people here are to conclude that it will be bad. It's Valve, if they're saying it's good then I think I will trust them until I use it myself. This is seriously a huge part of their plan to take over the living room, if it wasn't better than the 360 controller then they would have just ripped off the 360 controller.

@oldschool2112: can't construct a decent argument, can't be bothered to read, calling other people idiots. That's rich.

Also I would like to blame the Vita for the fact that I thought the photos were the back of the controller, for like... the first 10 minutes. :P Yeah... the Vita...

The only thing on PC I would play on a controller is sports and fighting games and lol, I don't see myself playing Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter or any sports game on that thing.

"Finish him!" Give me a second, I must find the buttons "x" which seems to be on the left side of the controller.

Forget the thumb sticks-where's the D-pad?

I believe it. I'd have to look it up for specifics, but back in the day of the NES I had a controller with a track pad instead of a d-pad, and it was awesome (and that was OLD tech.)

I designed something like this maybe 6 years ago. I knew that one day something needed to replace lousy analog sticks. For me it was oval touchscreens where you drag your thumbs, and it would be so much more accurate then analog sticks.

The reason for that being: There are already controllers for playing sports and fighting games, the Steam controller is not meant as an replacement for those. It's meant as an replacement for mouse+keyboard, so you can play games, that usually would never work with a controller, from your couch with a controller.

This is way smarter then releasing "just another controller" that competes with dozens of others that are already out and all do the same thing and people already have in their living room. This thing simulates your mouse+keyboard, in essence you could play any game on this, regardless of it having controller support or not.

Yeah people are closed minded because they are defaulting conventions that have been drilled into their heads since they were children. You know something other people might not know, no reason to be elitist about it.

Sorry, been reading to much /r/PCmasterrace and then showing up here. haha Seeing the same complaint over and over again was starting to annoy me. Logitech controllers used to be labeled with numbers. In fact valve might be doing them selves a disservice by not using letters later int he alphabet.

They're going out on a limb for gaming. If it works out it'll be big, if it doesn't it won't. It's better than staying the course over many generations. Props to them for trying something new.

Keep an open mind until you try it guys.