Valve patent hints at a new Steam Controller

[Andrew]

The patent for this new version, originally filed in late 2018 before being published in 2020, was tweeted out (Via PCGamesN) by Valve News Network’s Tyler McVicker who pointed out an intriguing aspect of the controller's design: swappable components.

 

Source

[schuck6566]

They discontinued the last 1 because they didn't sell.I purchased mine with the link during one of the earlier sales and got both for under 47.00 total in 2017. hated the touch pad joystick & the HUGE D pad. Was a lesson learned. Others like it.

[Supercrumpet]

I got a Steam controller during the last few days it was available when they were trying to get rid of all of their stock, so it was a whopping $5 (though shipping was like $7 or $9 or something). I quite like it, but I wouldn't have spent more than $20 on it. I really like the idea of modular devices though. I was quite interested in the concept of modular phones, and I was rather disappointed when those seemed to flop. Hopefully that won't be the case here.

[schuck6566]

I got a Steam controller during the last few days it was available when they were trying to get rid of all of their stock, so it was a whopping $5 (though shipping was like $7 or $9 or something). I quite like it, but I wouldn't have spent more than $20 on it. I really like the idea of modular devices though. I was quite interested in the concept of modular phones, and I was rather disappointed when those seemed to flop. Hopefully that won't be the case here.

 

Think I was just too heavy handed to work with the touch portion of the controller and didn't want to put in the time/effort to work it out.

[486]

I also bought my Steam controller during that final sale. Would have grabbed a few but they didn't offer combined shipping.. It is a good controller, but the buttons are oddly small and using the touchpad is pretty tough. Not sure how they can really make that more user friendly, unless they take some notes from VR and give us some kind of finger/hand tracking.

 

I actually forced myself to use it for a few weeks and it has found it's place. It was worth the price just for TES IV: Oblivion for me, since I've always preferred the PS3 version so I could chill on a couch and play. Took a while to set up hot keys and get used to them but now it's pretty much second nature and I can couch potato the PC version.. There is a controller mod for that game but it changes to a skyrim-ish UI and you can't hotswap..

 

Oblivion doesn't require snappy aim though, so games like the original COD have been far more challenging. I managed to beat COD 1 on regular difficulty but not without frustration. I have been messing with Diablo 2 and Civ VI but those have been a bit too difficult to play.

 

 

[Supercrumpet]

I also bought my Steam controller during that final sale. Would have grabbed a few but they didn't offer combined shipping.. It is a good controller, but the buttons are oddly small and using the touchpad is pretty tough. Not sure how they can really make that more user friendly, unless they take some notes from VR and give us some kind of finger/hand tracking.

 

I actually forced myself to use it for a few weeks and it has found it's place. It was worth the price just for TES IV: Oblivion for me, since I've always preferred the PS3 version so I could chill on a couch and play. Took a while to set up hot keys and get used to them but now it's pretty much second nature and I can couch potato the PC version.. There is a controller mod for that game but it changes to a skyrim-ish UI and you can't hotswap..

 

Oblivion doesn't require snappy aim though, so games like the original COD have been far more challenging. I managed to beat COD 1 on regular difficulty but not without frustration. I have been messing with Diablo 2 and Civ VI but those have been a bit too difficult to play.

 

 

Interesting, props to you for actually using it in a few different games. I've just used mine for general browsing at my couch/TV PC when I didn't feel like using my wireless keyboard and mouse, and I've found the touchpad to be pretty comfortable to use for me. But I agree, I'm not sure how exactly that could be improved, but with the innovation of the first Steam controller itself, I have some faith that they can come up with something.