Valve redesigned their controller. It looks...better?

Sorry guys if you're annoyed with my "controllers" threads, but I find this interesting...

Here's what I got in the email from Valve:

Hi,

Just a quick heads up to let folks know that working prototypes of the latest Steam Controller will be on display in Valve's booth at GDC.

Announced during the recently-held Steam Dev Days, the latest version refines ergonomic aspects of the Controller by adding two diamond-patterned button layouts in the area previously designated for a touch screen display.

As shown in the attached, these analog buttons are offered in addition to the touch pads featured in the original prototypes.

Please let me know if you'd like to set a time to check these out, or feel free to stop by the booth at your convenience.

So here it is:

So, what do you think? Imho it looks way better!

Edit:

For comparison purposes...

Xbox One controller

PS4 controller:

That D-pad

The touch pads are still there.

I like the fact its designed to work for any pc game. so I am ok with the their pads or w/e you want to call it.

think they should go back to their orginal plan of a touchscreen/pad then bu ttons around that.

of course not happy with the direction they going with the the steamboxes because they could easily steal could percent of the market share

@freedomfreak: Agreed, I don't why they didn't put a proper DPad on for games that could use one, but apparently they only think you'll use those for menu navigation or something.

Still can't wait to try one out. Not really dying for a new controller, but I'd love to be convinced.

Trust in Valve my friends, They saved gaming as we know it.

Jesus Christ ! Would kill them to had some colour to the damn thing ?

Please !

Wow I actually forgot about the Steam Machine. That's how much I'm "interested" in them.

I only care about one thing....will I have to like the last controller lift my finger off the touch pads like regular computer touch pads to keep scrolling or moving? that was the issue I saw last time.

That's one of the worst Dpad designs I've seen in years. As a 2D and heavy fighting gamer, I wouldn't want to touch this thing for those.

There is A LOT of new Indie games that are 2D, what a waste.

1- trackpad for movement is as dumb as it gets

2- lol at this Dpad

The rest looks good but these two are failing too much

Ew. Just ew.

D-pad buttons? really? UGHHH

Yeah...

I think that it looks awesome. Touchpads are far more accurate than analog sticks, much like a good optical mouse...

A man is allowed to change his mind.

Halflife saved gaming. You youngsters probably can't comprehend the effect it had.

You do understand you contradict yourself with two posts in two threads about the same topic - Steam.

The pads finally allow competative gaming w/ a controller.

No they aren't. Is not like touchpads are new technology and we have yet to try them We' had them for ages on laptops and they suck for gaming.

you are arguing with a person that somehow manages to troll console and pc gaming in the same topic.

The d pad hahaha

the d pad is fine for fps's/rts's not fine for fighting games, but then again what fighting game is on the PC platform? none really,

i think its a step forward

@clyde46: peasant, why would you create a controller thats the same as the others? also analog sticks are a joke for every single game there is, name me ONE genre where analog sticks are supreme

I seriously hate everything about it.

They better work on that Dpad, steam has had a huge influx of retrograde games as of late.

I did not think there would ever be a worse controller from a major company than the PS3 controller, but this Steam controller looks like it will be even worse. I hate absolutely everything about it.

Street Fighter 4, Mortal Kombat, Divekick, Blazblue, Injustice, King of Fighters XIII, Skullgirls, Street Fighter X Tekken, etc.

3D platformers

@PurpleMan5000: didnt know those fighting games existed on pc, thanks for the info, and good point on 3d platformers, but i see the steam controller having no problems being played with this genre aswell

Half life is overrated. And no, it's not a back then vs now thing either. Halo 2 still holds up today and HL2 still is boring.

You can make your argument praising valve for their Steam service, but everything else nuh uh.

Looks like crap

Wow, they jocked the XBox controller something fierce with those action buttons. Dayum!

Clyde is no peasant by any stretch of the imagination. Then again, you wouldn't know because you are just some elitist jackass looking for someone to pick on.

I'm happy with the design, as long as the touch pads work well.

Much better than the previous model.

Why cant Valve and Amazon have to copy the X Y A B letters for their buttons?

Why cant they come up with something else jesus christ?

Looks good. Better than it did with the touchscreen, anyway.

As for the DPAD... How many games use Up/Down/Left/Right on the PC? Menu navigation aside, I can't think of any. As for WASD, that's what the left track pad is for. Does it look optimal for fighting games? Well, no... But that's why people buy fight sticks. This isn't meant to compete with the DS4 or the X1/360 pad (all of which you can use with PC), but instead to bring older PC games to life with controller support, and to bring otherwise unapproachable genres into the living room (I could play a Paradox game on this).

Not sure about the analog buttons, though.

That's not a D-pad, those are D-buttons haha

There's hundreds of titles on Steam that use XYAB as button prompts, even if you're using a DS4/DS3/other pad. Just makes sense, I guess.

I know the controller is supposed to offer a higher degree of precision over normal controllers, but are mouse and keyboard still going to have an advantage with online multiplayer games? Because I don't really see PC gamers wanting to make the switch so soon with regard to online MP if the controller is going to put them at a disadvantage. Which brings up another point with regard to using a controller. So say people playing single player or co-op games were competition isn't really an issue and they can relax with a controller; is this controller more comfortable than using an X360 or X1 controller on a PC?

Well I can't say for sure until I get my hands on it, but it looks like the best controller goes to the Wii U gamepad and the X1 controller, followed by Dual Shock 4, and finally the Steam Owl controller. That Dpad needs to change.

Curvature is all wrong, and I haven't heard one person say they like the way the "analog sticks" are made. I've heard some people say they never see themselves getting use to them, or it even being viable for competitive game. Dat D-Pad Tho....

I can't imagine playing without sticks and using a trackpad for moving/moving the camera.

I guess this is one of the things that you have to try out first before judging.

In all seriousness, what the heck? With all the knowledge Valve has about games, all the "developer input", and the thousands of games available on Steam dating back decades upon decades.........THAT'S the fcking dpad? Imagine the meeting that went down for this.

Is that... meant to be a Dpad?

Fucking horrible.

I think they should have kept the original design, but I guess they had to appease the traditionalists afraid of change....

I know :(

The D-pad looks like a bad solution; 3-4 times better than the 360 controller one, at best.

I've heard and read that them trackpads are better than analog sticks, I've not used one so I'm only going off what i've heard and read.

d pad is a d pad i don't think i've touched the d pad for years except playing some classic ps1 games on ps3 and changing my gameplan on fifa. in the new 2d platformers i use the analog sticks to move around with anyway, but thats just me.

and anyway i won't be using this contoller as i'm not getting a steam machine seeing as tho it's probably cheaper to build your own system than buy one of them

Changing the controller this late, on a system that is pretty much vapor ware at this point. Yeah, this looks like a real winner.