It's Time to Bring Back the Steam Machine
It's Time to Bring Back the Steam Machine
With all the layoffs and industry volatility, I think now is a great time to consider bringing back the Steam Machine, with a few changes.
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I've seen these mockups for a steam controller that is essentially a steam deck without a screen multiple times now and it looks like absolute dogshit. This would be far from "the perfect controller".
Yeah, I don't know why they'd use that image. It's so lazy and uncreative. That's not what it'll look like. They literally just cut the edges of the Deck and shoved them together. I've seen better concepts of how it'll look.
As an owner of a Steam Controller, it's actually pretty nice. It's probably the most ergonomic controller out there, though for functionality it hits a different niche than the typical controllers you find everywhere. Its better for some games, particularly ones designed for mouse, but worse for others. I'd bet on the Steam Controller 2 being very ergonomic and adding sticks, as well as the track pads, to be quite possibly the best controller available for every game (excluding keyboard and mouse obviously).
Yeah, I don’t know why they’d use that image. It’s so lazy and uncreative. That’s not what it’ll look like.
I don't care what any future Steam Controllers look like as long as it is comfortable and maintains base feature parity with the original.
You seem to think that Valve would never release such an uninspired design, but Valve has already shown images of their Steam Deck prototype iteration with exactly this: the screen of the Steam Deck removed with the left and right sides right up against each other.
Valve even went on record in an interview talking about it saying that they did it to iterate faster on the ergonomics and comfort of holding the Steam Deck without wasting the material or manufacturing time to include the screen; therefore, they very well could release something similar as a future Steam Controller knowing that it would have the exact same ergonomics as the Steam Deck
Like you said, these are Steam Deck prototypes, not the controller. They made a cheap controller with the same potential profile of the Deck without the screen because it's cheaper. It was to iterate on the Deck quickly and cheaply. They'd never release a controller like that. They do the same thing for all their products.
They already tried a ton of designs for the Steam Controller to figure out the ergonomics of that. They'll likely iterate some more with Version 2, but it's likely to follow the controller design, not the deck design. It has very different considerations since it doesn't need to contain a screen.
Regardless of why it came into existence, it would be a better Steam Controller successor in every way except that it is ugly; Never say never dude... 😜
I seriously doubt they would maintain the current Steam Controller profile, but I wouldn't say it's impossible.
I'd be perfectly happy if they did just refresh the original Steam Controller, but I doubt they will. I think it sold poorly enough to the point where the second iteration has to be a slam dunk -- and what better way to ensure that than to base it on the ever popular Steam Deck.
I would bet on the same hand grip bits and a similar set of back buttons. The touch pads will be revamped and it'll probably force the shape to change a lot.
I think the controllers sold relatively well though. Just not Steam Deck well. I know a good number of people who own at least one.
I love it and own 8, but I'm willing to bet it sold the second least right behind Steam Machine. Steam Link probably sold the most ...
When you say looks like shit, are you referring to the appearance of it or the functionality looks shit?
Because I don't really care what it looks like, I care how useable it is.
anything looks good in matte black
When you say looks like shit, are you referring to the appearance of it or the functionality looks shit?
Probably both. The hand position to use that thing would be an ergonomics nightmare to your wrists
I mean, why not bring back the OG Steam Controller aswell? I still use it and it works great, and it is almost creepy how it handles almost the same as the SD.
Controllers always look like shit IMO. The PlayStation and Xbox controllers are weird bulbous slabs with buttons, but extended use has made them look normal.
I think most mockups make the mistake of keeping the rectangular shape of the deck surface, but add a few bulbous growths for style in areas your fingers aren't reaching anyway, and they all look like your regular old console controller
The steam controller itself is pretty good, especially for like RTSs. But tbh the closest I've got to a KB/m is the DS5E. Just so damn expensive.
I've used my Steam Deck as a controller (via remote play) while sitting at my desktop PC. It is by far my favorite of the various controllers I've used.
