I decided to get myself some extremerate thumbsticks myself to give it a try.

Yeah, gyro is often a hate it or love it type of input.

Back buttons though I can’t do without anymore. Like being able to map jump and crouch or dodge buttons to them so I can keep my thumbs on the left and right joystick instead of having to lift off and momentarily lose movement or camera control has been a nice convenience.

Driving is also where I’ve really loved the back buttons for driving games and setting them to gears. Before third party alternatives became common I had planned to get Xbox Elite for that reason until I saw all the complaints about them breaking despite the premium price, and people getting things like lifetime warranties and paying a portion of the controller cost whenever they went to get it replaced throughout the year over buying a whole new one.

I passed on the Elite because of that, since I could have put up with the high price if it was actually durable. Not sure why they dropped the ball in that department when my 360 has been a tank.

Entire Steam client needing to be run doesn’t really bother me, since some external program is running anyways and I don’t see the Steam launcher as that resource heavy. Problem I have is more how difficult it can be to get Steam Input to be recognized by some non Steam games.

Less of an issue now, since most of my non Steam purchases are DRM free GOG games. But, years back when I tried to use it in gamepass had trouble because I couldn’t access the directory to add in the exe to Steam due to UWP, so I had to use an external programs like glossi that would create an invisible overlay so my config could be used in Gamepass games or other launcher/drm based games that caused me trouble.

But, I really wish software wasn’t needed at all once you set up the config and could save the configs on the controller itself to run and it’d behave the way you wanted it to. No Steam needed. No stand alone Steam Input program needed.

Yeah it may seem weird. I don’t find the need for Steam Input to configure the controller weird, since I personally use it to do some unusual things with my controllers mixing mouse/keyboard/gamepad inputs on controllers ranging from the 8bitdo, playstation, to OG steam controller. When it comes to my controller use on PC I am rarely happy with the default controller setup, so need a remapper. And put in gyro into almost every game I play at the minimum.

But, am disappointed that the new Steam Controller didn’t put in support to save profiles so you don’t need Steam running to use. And that the default lizard mode when Steam isn’t running isn’t something more logical like having all the regular controller inputs being xinput so people can just use it as a regular xbox controller and the touchpads just behaving as a mouse and the click being mouse click for desktop navigation.

Like I said.

That said this controller for the price should have had a way to save profiles so they could be used without needing Steam running.

I do get their point. But, it’s not a GamerNexus exclusive criticism though, since it’s like giving a gaming mouse to someone who only uses a controller to review it then being surprised the type of insight you’d expect from a review channel centered around gaming mice. Like covering latency which is useful and general feel, but not really getting into how it translates to different grip styles and doing tracking and flick tests to see how their aim translates over.

For a good review I would expect some coverage highlighting the unique features of the Steam Controller like the gyro, touchpads, capacitive joysticks, and grip sensors along with some basic Steam Input information on what exactly are the settings available for the grip sensors. Those are after all the features that are missing from cheaper alternatives. Coverage on that for gyro gamers interested in the controller because of that tech and how well it works as a gyro activation features has been lacking, since these are inputs that many reviewers are not familiar with. Along with how the gyro compares to existing controllers and how prone to drift it is and how smooth the gyro is when mouse is bound to it on high refresh rate monitors.

Lot of the controller perspectives have felt like they are coming from the point of view of Xbox controller users who pick up a mouse for everything else, so not having much understanding or experience in how to really utilize these features or not having enough time in the two weeks they got to try it to really understand it. So coverage has been just some few second long clips of this feature exists and being more mentioned because it is on the spec sheet. It’s like getting a review on a motorcycle from a channel that only reviews cars and hasn’t driven motorcycles before.

I guess what I’d at the minimum expect is an example like this old 10 year old clip at the 1:21 mark of someone showcasing mouse input on the touchpads, gyro being activated on touch, and then demonstrating it being used to aim at multiple targets and getting forth a lot more information in those 40 seconds than 20 minute long videos to people who hadn’t seen that type of input use before and actually coming across as though they have put in time to be actually proficient at it.

You can pop off the joystick after opening up the controller and replace it with either the 8bitdo joystick or steam deck joystick. Whatever is cheapest. This video shows shows the process https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JH8CmCkltzY

It’s not ideal for mouse gamers, but gyro is ideal for controller gamers with it being the best option available that makes it possible for controller gamers to play fps games without aim assist vs mouse players.

Though only reason I mentioned possible when it comes to the touchpad use on the new Steam Controller is since it is up in the air until I actually get to try it to see if it will be ideal to use as a touchpad gyro controller like my original Steam Controller with the different ergonomics it has.

I’m looking at this controller more as gamepad exclusive gamer than a PC user that only sometimes uses the controller and mouse for other games on PC. Guess more similar to being from the perspective of a console player with many opting for controller even after a game gets mouse support.

I also use eneloops and the same eneloops I used since I got my Steam Controller back in 2015 and would also use on my 360 controller still go about a month before needing a charge.

I wouldn’t even say they’re good for FPS. Mouse is still gonna be king for that.

I use them to play FPS like The Finals. My set up being gyro being activated when I touch the right touchpad, edge to edge swipe of the touchpad doing a 180, and clicking the edges/center for 5 different inputs.

Gyro and touchpads having mouse mapped to them so no aim assist. Not sure how the ergonomics of the controller will be though for FPS, since I didn’t find them comfortable to use on the Deck due to touchpads being lower than the OG Steam Controller. But, some people don’t have issue with them, so it is possible.

I use it for games designed for controller too. Like Pragmata preferring the touchpads for turning the camera around over joystick, and gyro to aim.

Get the wireless version. Not the bluetooth version. Reason is because the 8bitdo ultimate 2 wireless got a firmware update so it supports dinput mode when you power it on while holding down the B button. That provides full Steam Input support to rebind the extra 2 bumpers and paddles to any input you want. Wireless version does have bluetooth support, but difference is just that the one with the bluetooth name is one that connects to the Switch console over bluetooth and the wireless one made more with PC support in mind. Which is the reason it got dinput update while the bluetooth version didn’t.

Doesn’t have gyro. I like playing games without aim assist preferring raw input aiming with mouse bound to the gyro.

I’d pick up other third party controllers over a Xbox these days, since hall effect and TMR sticks are standard. Extra grip buttons are common on third party controllers too without paying Xbox Elite prices, which are notorious for breaking down despite the premium price. And lot of third party controllers offer gyro too.

My 360 controller still works and I’ve used them for playing through Yakuza on the PC. But, when it comes to buying a new controller Xbox is last on my list now. Too many missing features while not being cheaper than the alternatives out there.

People seem to like the idea of just having to use when they need mouse input instead of having to grab a mouse or using the touchpads to type something quickly over grabbing a keyboard. Useful if you are gaming in the living room, so more a convenience.

For gameplay others have liked setting up touch menus. Like for retroarch on the Steam Deck I set up a touch menu with short cuts to bring up the menu, select save states, rewind and fast forward.

And in my case I actually prefer to use the touchpads as primary inputs in FPS titles like The Finals. I set up the right touchpad so gyro is activated on touch, swiping to quickly turn, and setting up a dpad modeshift to act as a facebutton replacement by expanding the clicks from 1 to 5. So lets me not have to take my thumb off the right pad.

Not sure the ergonomics of the new Steam Controller will be good for dual pad gaming though, since didn’t find myself finding the Deck touchpads comfortable for that use case do to them being lower than the OG Steam Controller.

You’d need to use Steam Input anyways to set up unique inputs like touchpads, capacitive sticks, and grip sensors other controllers don’t have.

Those features are kind of the point of the new Steam Controller and requires user set up on a per game basis, since they aren’t natively supported in games.

So it is pointless to spend more on the Steam Controller if you are just wanting a Xbox controller experience. It’s an enthusiast controller where the extra price is for the inputs other controllers don’t have to set up to be used in ways devs didn’t anticipate.

That said this controller for the price should have had a way to save profiles so they could be used without needing Steam running.

Difference is that those who extensively use Steam Input like me have already been adding games to Steam to utilize Steam Input in non Steam games to set up things like gyro aim, radial menus, modeshifts, action sets, etc.

Steam Input is a powerful remapper and free. Paid options like ReWASD ended up getting people banned, since mouse and keyboard users started using it to cheat by having their mouse emulate a joystick and the company refusing to remove support to bind controller inputs to mouse/keyboard.

It’d come down to how good Epic’s controller remapping software is in supporting advanced configs, and customization for inputs like gyro and touchpads and third party controllers.