Valve Uploads Steam Controller Unboxing Video, Launch Imminent
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Valve has quietly uploaded a Steam Controller unboxing video to the Steam platform. However, the video is currently unavailable for viewing, as attempting to play it results in a "This video has not been processed for streaming" message. This occurred late last night when one of the Valve watchers n...
  • 46_and_2@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4 hours

    Ah, right after I ordered an 8bitDo Ultimate 2C because my OG Steam Controller is disintegrating. At least I hope the new SC doesn’t arrive at some ridiculous price in Europe, I’m willing to pay 50-60€ tops.

    • Nibodhika@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3 hours

      I don’t think it’s going to be 50-60, it has a lot more features and hardware than other controllers.

    • Echo Dot@feddit.ukEnglish
      3 hours

      Isn’t that the price of a PS5 controller? Given that it’s got a lot of extra features I would expect it to probably be more expensive than that in less valve decide they want to take the hit and make it a lost leader.

      • Rooster326@programming.devEnglish
        2 hours

        Why would Valve need to do that?

        This controller, and the Steam Machines can be used anywhere including not on Steam, so it doesn’t make sense to do this. Especially after Gabe demanding the hardware division stands on its own.

        My projection is these will sell like hot cakes, like most things Valve sells.

    • tfw_no_toiletpaper@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4 hours

      I bought the same one I think a few weeks ago. Also one from Gamesir to compare, but I like the 8bitDo better. The only annoying thing is that the start and select keys are too high up and I cannot remap the lower two one to be select and start also.

  • kokoto@lemmy.zipEnglish
    7 hours

    I hope they improved the dpad compared to the one on the Steam Deck. The Deck’s dpad feels quite mushy, and the glossy texture doesn’t help. I’d love a high quality controller with dual trackpads.

    • EddoWagt@feddit.nlEnglish
      7 hours

      I thought the Deck Dpad was quite well received, the one on the controller looks the same to me

  • daniskarma@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    8 hours

    I fear the price will put it out of my budget for controllers.

    Usually I buy my controllers at around 30-50€

    This, I fear would go well over double the higher end of that.

    • tfw_no_toiletpaper@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4 hours

      If you used multiple one, which did you prefer? Recently I bought a few other brands. The OG Xbox controller is my favourite but they’re always way too expensive for my taste, so I wanted to branch out a bit.

      • daniskarma@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        3 hours

        I recently went on a hunt for a cheap good offbrand controller. I bought several from gamesir 8bitdo and easysmx, and ended up landing on the gamesir cyclone 2. It’s quite good, though not perfect, because the ergonomics are not 100% my style, but it was my best option overall. I think it was like 50€.

        Before that I was using the 30€ range controllers from easysmx and for their price they were good but only lasted a couple of years because stick drift.

        I tried 8bitdo because everyone talked so good of them, but I didn’t like the ergonomics, that’s 100% personal though, the controller itself was good.

        I also read about the Vader 4 controllers, which has good reviews but never tried it.

  • kamen@lemmy.worldEnglish
    6 hours

    Haven’t used a controller on a PC, but would be interested in trying this one if it’s not ridiculously expensive. I’m predicting a hundred-ish EUR, and if it’s around that, I’d give it a go.

    • Echo Dot@feddit.ukEnglish
      3 hours

      I’m mostly just use controllers for playing games which have driving mechanics. Controlling vehicles with just WASD is awful.

      • kamen@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2 hours

        I’m the type of guy who expects driving to be done with the arrow keys (at least for a game that’s not a full blown driving simulator or driving centric), but that would imply the game not requiring you to use the mouse at the same time. But then, depending on the game, replacing a mouse with a controller could be a downgrade in a certain regard.

        In the end I’m just curious. I’ll try, if it doesn’t work for me, I’ll sell it, and that’s it.

    • dustyData@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4 hours

      Because the video it not available. It’s a report on the upload of the video to the Steam store database. Probably prep work for the launch announcement day.

      • Echo Dot@feddit.ukEnglish
        3 hours

        It’s probably unlisted on YouTube somewhere. I don’t know if there’s some sleuthing technique that can be used to find these videos although I suspect that if there was they wouldn’t have uploaded it yet.

        • Rooster326@programming.devEnglish
          2 hours

          Why would Steam, a company known for hosting millions(billions?) in content, need YouTube to host its own promotional material?

          • DragonOracleIX@lemmy.mlEnglish
            5 minutes

            In preparation to unlist it when it comes time to announce a proper release date for it. They likely will have it both on their servers to be used in steam’s frontend and on YouTube as free marketing.

    • 8dotpi@lemmy.mlEnglish
      8 hours

      I might be missing some sarcasm, but if that’s not the case: the video is not available yet

      • Echo Dot@feddit.ukEnglish
        3 hours

        The original release date was sometime around Q1 2026, obviously trump’s tariffs (illegal tax) and then AI consuming all of the RAM has messed with the timeline.

        Oh and then international shipping will be more expensive due to increased fuel prices because of the Iran war.

      • tiramichu@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        7 hours

        Me too, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be getting one.

        I haven’t had a VR headset since the original Oculus Rift. I’m still salty about them selling to Meta, and after I moved to Linux it turned into a paperweight anyway.

        Since that point, no new headset had checked all the boxes for features, first-class Linux support, and a vendor I could actually tolerate engaging with.

        The Steam Frame is doubtless going to seem very expensive in comparison, but I see that as the price I have to pay to avoid an account on a platform I don’t want and all the associated data harvesting.

        I will pay that price.

  • 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒆𝒍@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    7 hours

    i liked my original steam controller, but it’s a pain in the ass to make it work outside of steam, now i bought a cheap gamesir gamepad and i’m playing comfortably in gamepass games and emulators

    • Bakkoda@lemmy.worldEnglish
      7 hours

      I just set up the original steam link with the original controller which was a pita after not having a dongle and spending 2 hours updating. Paired it with my 8bit and it’s ok so far. Still a pita on startup because it doesn’t recognize the 8bit but I’m sure that’s a operator error (xinput or whatever).

      I can’t see myself using anytime other than my 8bit honestly.

    • Atomic@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      7 hours

      You can launch non steam games via steam and get access to their steam controller software.

      I have the original too. Best controller I’ve ever used.

  • Hubi@feddit.orgEnglish
    18 hours

    Probably the only thing out of their new hardware lineup that has any chance of releasing in the near future.

    • Regrettable_incident@lemmy.worldEnglish
      18 hours

      Yeah. Damn shame, but if they released the steam machine or frame at the moment, the price would probably have to be at the point it would ensure the product didn’t have a chance to catch on. Pity, I kind of want a steam frame.

      • quips@slrpnk.netEnglish
        16 hours

        I mean I guarantee the timing is no coincidence with the chinese ram market crashing

        • Regrettable_incident@lemmy.worldEnglish
          11 hours

          I’ll keep my fingers crossed! 🤞

          However I kinda suspect it may be valve responding to all the gamers who have been saying they want the controller now, it doesn’t need ram so why wait to release it with the other products? I get that valve probably wanted to do a simultaneous release, but that just doesn’t seem possible any longer.

      • ripcord@lemmy.worldEnglish
        15 hours

        I want the vr headset but not for that price.

        No I do not know what the price is.

        • lonefighter@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          14 hours

          I have an Index and it was 100% worth the price. I used to play a variety of games (Half Life Alyx, Synth Riders and Until You Fall were my favorites) and then I discovered modded Skyrim. A couple years later and my mind is still blown every time I put my headset on and get to wander around Skyrim, look up at the mountains and sunsets, stealth through caves so dark I can barely see a thing, slay dragons using realistic archery where I have to reach back to get an arrow for every shot and actually aim my bow down the arrow, sword fighting involves more than just mashing attack and block, and I can cast spells with hand gestures. I sometimes go months without playing and then wonder why I stopped when I load back into it. I have to set a timer because I lose myself in VR and will play for hours and hours. Sometimes I turn it on and just go somewhere sit down and look at the scenery or watch the NPCs going about their lives.

          • FauxLiving@lemmy.worldEnglish
            10 hours

            Index is great, I don’t regret buying it at all.

            Half Life: Alyx made me ‘get’ VR. I look forward to future AAA releases.

            I haven’t tried Skyrim VR. I did not know that was even a thing until now, thanks!

            Here’s some recommendations in exchange:

            VTOL VR is DCS where you don’t need a 50 hour tutorial to start the jet or $1200 in control hardware and head tracking (just a $1000 VR headset!).

            Iron Rebellion is still early access/in development, but VR is begging for a good mech shooter and they’ve been making steady improvements.

            XSOverlay is great, basically lets you access windows from in-game (I pin my Signal client, for example) just by rotating your wrist like you’re looking at a wrist watch. It’s a good way to get access to media controls/see who’s at the door without going through the process of getting out of the VR setup.

            • lonefighter@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
              6 hours

              Half Life Alyx made me forget I was playing a game.

              Vanilla Skyrim VR is a terrible, buggy mess. Modded it’s really good. Vanilla VR you just have hands and no body, can only equip weapons with a button, and can only have one weapon equipped at a time. With mods you can look down and see your whole body, have all your weapons in holsters that you draw from and switch between as needed (my default load is a short sword on each hip, a dagger on each forearm, and a bow with different enchantments over each shoulder). Mods also let you use the index controllers to their potential, so I can keep my hands open and to draw my weapons I literally just reach and grab my controllers like I’m actually grabbing the weapon. It adds a touch of realism that’s just amazing.

              I’m playing the Yggdrasil modpack. It’s not perfect, but it’s really good. If you aren’t familiar with modpacks, the nice thing about them is that you don’t have to worry about tweaking mods and making sure they’re compatible, you just run through the modpack install and you’re good to go. I’ve found it to be pretty stable as far as crashes, I did disable a few mods related to spellcasting that I didn’t like, which you aren’t supposed to do, and that has led to more crashing but I can live with it. Just save often.

              I’ll have to check your recommendations out!

  • InvalidName2@lemmy.zipEnglish
    16 hours

    I’ve been waiting for this controller for a while. Hoping it’s even remotely close to my expectations.

    I’m so ready to turn the page on the crappy PS4 Pro controller I bought a few years back that developed charging and battery issues and become unreliable. Regardless of what Lemmy trolls want me to believe, I feel like a 2.5 year life span for a premium Sony controller was a rip-off.

    I like the fact that the analog sticks are symmetrical in placement (compared to XBOX). So really, I’m just hoping that the batteries and connectors in these are more reliable than the poor quality crap that Sony puts out.

    • mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      14 hours

      Regardless of what Lemmy trolls want me to believe, I feel like a 2.5 year life span for a premium Sony controller was a rip-off.

      No, you’re right. That’s a fucking ripoff

    • Nibodhika@lemmy.worldEnglish
      8 hours

      2.5 years life spam for a controller is a rip-off, that being said I have PlayStation 4 controllers that are waaaay older than that and still work (battery is not great, anymore, but I’m sure I could find a replacement). I don’t know what people do with their controllers, mine last for years and years, the only controller I have that actually developed an issue is one that I lent to a friend for a month.

    • ripcord@lemmy.worldEnglish
      15 hours

      I’m hoping for something under $70 even though I know there’s no chance.

    • Dangerhart@lemmy.zipEnglish
      14 hours

      Not that tbjs necessarily helps you but the battery in switch pro contolers was really easy to replace, spent like 5$ getting new ones from Ali express. Maybe try looking it up?

  • chisel@piefed.socialEnglish
    18 hours

    I still hold firm that the first steam controller is GOATed and it only failed because the world wasn’t ready for it yet.

    • Nibodhika@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3 hours

      I love my steam controller, but to me it wasn’t a good replacement for controller games. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great and the ONLY alternative to play non-controller games (and I put FPS games in this category), but trying to play most games that waere actually designed for a controller always felt off. The lack of a proper d-pad made it worse for pixel perfect games like Dead Cells, and while the track pad is great for aiming by emulating a mouse and adding gyro, most games also use the thumb stick for mini-games or something that feels weird with the track pad. And yes, I know I could setup layers to solve that, but it’s just easier to grab another controller.

      On the other hand, since I held my Steam Deck I’ve been wanting a controller that was the exact same thing. It works 100% like a normal controller, plus has 2 trackpads and 4 back buttons. They fixed every single issue I had with the OG controller, kept everything I loved about it, and even added some things I didn’t knew I needed (extra back buttons, capacitive gyro, etc).

    • Chais@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      17 hours

      It also failed because they had to stop producing it due to some patent troll.

      • mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        14 hours

        This. Fuck SCUF and their owners Corsair

        Back buttons are an obvious modification kf previous designs; they aren’t patentable.

    • Cyber Cafe@lemmy.worldEnglish
      18 hours

      I still have mine and I agree. Though I do like the changes on this new one to more mirror the steamdeck.

      • hayvan@piefed.worldEnglish
        16 hours

        I wish I could get an original one, but the new one being in line with the deck is great because the deck is ergonomic as duck!

        • Boost@lemmy.worldEnglish
          11 hours

          You can get them for pretty reasonable prices on eBay. I got mine last year for like $60

        • Pycorax@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          13 hours

          I hope it’s more ergonomic than the Deck is because the proximity of the face buttons to the edge of the device on the Deck make it really difficult to press compared with an Xbox controller. With the Xbox controller your thumb has a nice uninterruptable range of motion when moving between the buttons. However, on the Deck, trying to press the B button especially causes the thumb to hit the part of your hand below the index finger.

          Either that or I just have small hands.

        • CH3DD4R_G0B-L1N@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          15 hours

          I have extras (used, good shape) if you’re serious and want to discuss in DMs. Not a scam, I just bought 4 when they unloaded the old stock cheap and would entertain giving you one.

    • Goodeye8@piefed.socialEnglish
      16 hours

      I felt like replacing one of the two sticks with a trackpad just ended up being the worst of both worlds. You don’t get the accuracy of using a mouse and you don’t get any of the design benefits of having twin sticks. The vast majority of controller supported games are designed with twin sticks in mind. Crimson Desert is a great example from recent memory because I can’t imagine doing circular motions on the right trackpad, which is what you need to do for one skill and the fishing minigame. My thumbs are too lazy for that. But with a stick that’s easy enough to do. Overall fighting games are harder, flying games are harder, twin-stick shooters are almost impossible. Any game that requires some stick-like movements from the right stick instantly get harder to play.

      I’m not hating on the Steam Controller, there were quite a lot of innovations I would’ve loved with twin stick controller. The return of the twin sticks is the main reason I’m excited for the controller. I’m also happy with the Dpad coming back because I always felt that was also somewhat clunky on the first controller. Overall I think this one might end up being GOATed.

      • dreamkeeper@literature.cafeEnglish
        3 hours

        Yeah I don’t get why people praise the trackpads on it so much. Trackpads are such ass and always have been. Some people will just praise valve no matter what they do.

    • Deconceptualist@leminal.spaceEnglish
      17 hours

      Mostly yes, but it wasn’t flawless. Those trackpads are quite loud (compared to the Deck), the ABXY buttons are a bit too small and awkwardly placed, and there are just many times that I want a second thumbstick. Also it lacks touch-to-engage for the gyro but that’s a newer invention.

      I think the most impressive innovation came from pairing it with Steam Input. That system is still wildly underappreciated; it’s what lets you turn the trackpads into things like custom radial menus.

      • dreamkeeper@literature.cafeEnglish
        3 hours

        I despise trackpads so I never bought a steam controller. But steam input is money. It made some of my old PC favorites like Thief playable with a controller.

      • Calfpupa [she/her]@lemmy.mlEnglish
        16 hours

        There was touch-to-engage with the gyros tied to the touchpads, I still use it today. Unless I’m not understanding what that means.

        • Deconceptualist@leminal.spaceEnglish
          15 hours

          Oh, maybe they added it later! Pretty cool if so. It just means you can tilt the controller without affecting the gyro until your thumbs are on the pads or joysticks. It’s configurable on the Deck.

      • djdarren@piefed.socialEnglish
        3 hours

        How do you use yours? I have a couple, and have never managed to figure out how to get them to pair properly to either my Mac or my Linux machine. I mean, they pair, but then I can’t really seem to use them for much.

      • isyasad@lemmy.worldEnglish
        17 hours

        What do you use it for? The only game I found that worked really well was Metroid Prime (after a ton of tweaking)

        • KiwiTB@lemmy.worldEnglish
          17 hours

          Every controller game, and select mouse ones. It’s especially good at FPS games over a normal controller thanks to it’s gyro.

            • KiwiTB@lemmy.worldEnglish
              13 hours

              Yeah so you use the pads for normal aiming and refine with the gyro. It works well tho takes time to get used to it.

              • teslekova@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
                13 hours

                Ah, nice. It’s a long time since I tried playing a shooter on a console. It’s good to know they’ve addressed the mushiness of the aiming.

            • SolSerkonos@piefed.socialEnglish
              13 hours

              I hate shooters on console, but shooters on console with tilt-aiming are way more palatable for me. Only way I managed to play BOTW on Switch and Horizon: Zero Dawn on PS4.

    • ripcord@lemmy.worldEnglish
      15 hours

      I agree, although I believe it was:

      60% society not ready for the awesome

      40% people with small hands

      • dreamkeeper@literature.cafeEnglish
        3 hours

        Lmao. More like 60% of people know that replacing sticks with trackpads was an awful idea. Valve tried too hard and failed, and they know they failed by the looks of it

      • jacksilver@lemmy.worldEnglish
        12 hours

        100% reason to remember the name.

        But also:

        • Only one thumbstick
        • Terrible Dpad
    • thingsiplay@lemmy.mlEnglish
      16 hours

      I have it. The original Steam Controller is not really a good controller in my opinion. It has huge flaws, such as holding it for longer period of time starts hurting my hands, the missing dpad and missing second stick, and the weird sound it makes when using the touchpads.

    • TrousersMcPants@lemmy.worldEnglish
      17 hours

      The thing that killed it for me is that the touch pads were just terrible as replacements for the dpad and right analog stick

  • Bananskal@nord.pubEnglish
    9 hours

    I hate that the left stick and D pad have the PlayStation layout. Much more strenuous for the thumb.

    • BurgerBaron@piefed.socialEnglish
      4 hours

      Is this thing Xbox Duke huge? I wouldn’t mind if so, less crab thumb for my giant hands.

    • Nibodhika@lemmy.worldEnglish
      8 hours

      I personally love that, I find the Xbox one more strenuous because of the asymmetry.

  • eli@lemmy.worldEnglish
    12 hours

    Pretty sure I’m going to buy at least 2. But would want 3 or 4. I feel like it’s gonna be limited per customer and there’s not going to be enough…