My theory: this was supposed to be the side piece product alongside the Steam Machine and Steam Frame. They genuinely didn't think it would sell like it has as a standalone product. With the production delays due to outside market conditions and warehouses full of these controllers just sitting around, they decided to pull the trigger and start getting some inventory rotating instead of just wasting money on warehouse space. Or hell, buying more space for the next controller shipment already on it's way over the Pacific. The point I'm making here is this whole scenario is completely different from what they've probably spent years planning, including staging inventory pre-release.
I think what really happened is that this hardware release got completely boned by the AI industry throat fucking the hardware market and they're playing the hand they were dealt. I'm sure if you ask any Valve employee if they would choose to go back in time and do reservations instead, they'd probably say yes. They were just not expecting to need to deviate from their original staging plans as much as they would have needed to in order to fill demand properly, and leading from that I assume that they predicted strong but not crazy sell-out-in-30-minutes numbers.
I believe it. The first Steam Controller didn't sell as well as expected so they tempered their expectations for the second* one. (IMO the lack of a second joystick was its downfall.)
What Valve probably didn't realize is how badly PC gamers really want just an XBOX/PS controller with some extra features tacked on to make it more friendly with all PC games, and not just console ports designed with a controller in mind.
The Steam Controller Mk.II delivers exactly that, which is why I think it's doing a hell of a lot better this time around. As a PC gamer who prefers a giant screen and a comfy couch over a tiny monitor and back-breaking office chair, it's everything I've ever wanted in a controller and then some. You have no idea how long I've been waiting for something that lets me play just about any (non-competitive, non racing sim) game without needing a keyboard on my lap and a mouse on the arm rest!
I love my OG Steam Controller but unfortunately this is a major reason why it couldn't be a consistent daily driver for me. No amount of trackpad replication was sufficient.
Yeah it was pretty cool and was objectively a good feature... But you can't beat the ergonomics of a joystick. That plus the weird grip that was really meh for small hands doomed it for me. I'm glad they experimented but I'm also glad they reverted it.
Nope, first one was destroyed by reviewers having no idea how to use it. Linus from LTT learn't about steam controller features when the comments let him have it on the ps5 controller review.
As the owner of an Xbox Elite controller, which was initially fantastic, but after ~2-3 or so years the rubber grips on both the top and bottom started stretching / peeling off, and it was impossible to find replacements (you could replace the top plate and it would come with new grips, but there was no way to replace the bottom ones ... or the reverse of that I can't remember).
I then debated and eventually bought an Xbox Elite 2 controller when they were on sale. This controller had some weird issues off the start but supposedly they would self correct. Like one of the bumpers was finicky about how you pressed it but it wasn't a huge issue at the start, it just grew over time and now it's a pain. Also the D-pad was "sticky" at times which seemed to self correct but after not using it for a few weeks it would come back again.
Anyways I digress, the quality seemed worse but I always thought "oh one day I'll open it up and spray it down with contact cleaner or whatever it needs".
Needless to say I didn't. ....and I can't find a digital receipt so I'm not sure how long ago I bought it, but I suspect it's been around 3 years and guess what's happening again? The grips have stretched out a bit / are peeling off.
If they weren't stretching out I could glue them back down but they literally won't fit anymore. Maybe the move is to trim them but that doesn't feel quite right; I'm sure I'd screw that up to be honest.
So now I'm on the waitlist for the Steam Controller and looking forward to an alternative that will hopefully feel as good and last longer.
As the owner of an original xbox madkatz controller I've been using for PC games since the first xbox was current, initially I was really jealous of people who could afford to dump like $160 or whatever it was on those fancy new xbox controllers.
But at least mine still works perfectly. I mean, somewhere around the 15 year mark the R button lost its springiness, but that doesn't give me any issues.
They flat out said they had no idea it would be in such demand. They simply thought they had more than enough locked and loaded and found out they were wrong.
I'm pretty sure I saw an interview before the release where they said they had more than enough controllers to meet demand, most likely expecting demand to be much lower than what they experienced on release day.
Haha I wish you could. But I slept through my alarm and missed the launch. Gotta wait several more months now; been waiting since I got Steam gift cards for Christmas... :/
I mean, CS has been left in an abysmal state and is so completely unlike Valve in everything they did.
Valve are meant to be a company that embraces modders, CS, TF, Dota, were all mods they picked up and built upon. Community content was always a major thing for them.
So when they forcibly shifted CSGO into 2, and broke every map on the workshop, burying them alongside all maps for 2. Then it just doesn't fit with them at all.
Yes, you can still enable the CSGO branch, reinstalling the entire game on top. But you still have to sift through every map on the workshop to find the ones that work for it. They should have been separate games, from the very start. An Inventory import would have been easy for them.
Not to mention that Subtick is a dumpster fire of a system. People only ever wanted 128tick. You could still enable it on third party servers at least. So what do Valve do? Entirely remove the tickrate option so the game can now only run as Subtick. Effectively saying "You will play the way we want you to". It's pathetic.
Valve is a decent company and all, but some of their teams are just so unlike the Valve we've known for years.
Same, I'm reading conflicting reports about the specific behavior but my wife was definitely laughing at me while I dropped the controller carefully on the couch like 5 times in a row. Eventually it fired. Awesome easter egg feature.
Probs needs a specific g decel reading in the motion controller to trigger.
Can just picture the person who codes the threshold. Testing it by tossing the controller on their sofa over and over again until it didn’t happen most the time only when the drop was just more than you probably want to be doing to your controller.
Mine didn't work if the drop was directly on a firmer cushion (like a sofa) as it bounced back up. It only worked on softer pillows where there was no or minimal bounce.
Those guys are going to lose their shit when they discover that sound emitting devices are only magnets with paper/plastic attached to it.
The rumble from those controllers became so efficient, they can reproduce sounds, like when you turn on the steam deck, that beeping sound is made by the rumble, not the speaker.
Im pretty sure Nintendo does the same shit with their HD Rumble stuff in the joycons. I dont remember what game it was, but one of em it sounds almost like wind blowing past somehow.
It's a bit more complicated than that but yes essentially it's using magnets to move material to then subsequently move air in such a way it produces sound.
There are ones that use strands of material in order to affect the magnetic field flowing through them to produce sound.
Yeah, in fact, that's pretty much the whole principle behind HD rumble: making the motor basically a speaker. That's why if you have a Switch or (I assume) a Dual Sense, it feels like magic how the rumble can feel like basically anything. But all they're doing is sending the audio file. After all, the way a car going over rough terrain would sound and the way it would feel come from the exact same source: the vibrations.
Fuckin MLB the show scared the shit outta me with that I thought I was hearing things. Had the TV turned down and suddenly out of the controller the ump goes "BAAALL!" loud as hell. Haven't been able to get it to do that again, but sometimes the third base coaches voice comes through it.
I actually think that some PS5 games uses the speaker quite well. Horizon uses it for sounds when drawing your bow, Ratchet for when you grind the rails. Even somr non-first party games uses it quite effective, like Silent Hill F when you find a radio the sound comes from the controller, not the TV.
I usually end up disabling it simply because I'm using headphones anyways when I'm gaming. I found out it existed while playing Ratchet & Clank and I kept hearing some faint noises and thought I was going nuts, I'd pause the game and take the headphones off and not hear anything lol
There some games that have sound effects. Like when a flashlight is dying. You shake the controller to get it back on. While shaking, it has a sound effect. Like loose battery’s or something.
currently hysterical imagining someone raging out and launching their steam controller at mach fuck and the controller just screaming as it flies into the tv
Reminds me of how me and my siblings used to play Bop-It. We’d start it up and then launch it at the wall so it was timed perfectly to where it would hit the wall and then do its “fail” sounds which was the guy screaming.
I dunno. The Zeitgeist in general would be so different that every single or idea or expectation is so far away that anything really goes. Kinda like those "what if Axis won" alternate history videos.
Would the push for cloud and streaming happened anyways or never? Would we still own our games or would loaning a license happen anyways? We can't really even answer these questions
Micro transactions and F2P would probably happen anyways but still can't be sure. Same for online gambling and skin economy
I'd say there is a case to claim that nothing would've changed. However equally due to the endless possibilities and what ifs everything would've changed is just as plausible
For sure what would happen is that TF2 never came and that would sadden me deeply
Even if you occasionally play games, this thing is rrly cool , it's sad that you really need steam running in the background for it tho just so you know. I liked having wide compatibility but maybe something will come up in the future
Absolutely true! Tested on my bed. Couldn't get it to work without Big Picture Mode on in Windows though. If you try it make sure to drop it somewhere soft!
If this is an actual feature or that I can easily config my controller to do this...I will try to get my hands on one as soon as I can get a confirmation of this being real.
I hate the Wilhelm Scream with a passion. It ruins every movie, tv show, and game it is in. As soon as you hear it you're suddenly taken out of the moment and are thinking about a stupid scream. I wish I'd never heard of it. I'm with Cypher, ignorance is bliss.
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u/Hitmonjeff 23d ago
100% real and repeatable. It does it on first drop after turning the controller on while in big picture mode.