I’m too twitchy for gyro aim to be better than just using the sticks. My crosshair would just be jiggling all over 😔

Gross!

I don’t like fiddling with configuring a controller. On consoles it typically just works.

I really like how rotating the camera works on the track pad - the right track pad works as a right joystick, but crucially has momentum. So I could do a quick swipe on the pad and the camera would continue moving for a moment after. It also allows fine speed control by changing how quickly I swipe. Once I got used to it, I could make very quick and accurate orientation changes. Much better than joystick imo where you have to hold it down, using up your thumb for a second or two while you turn. As a bonus, the track pad also could be used as buttons so your thumb is already in position to get mashing again.

And the haptics feel fantastic, you can’t really judge it correctly without feeling it

If they’re the same track pads as on the Steam Deck they don’t actually physically click in anywhere, but they have really good pressure sensitivity and can be configured to deliver a haptic feedback “click” back to your thumb when you press hard enough. It feels just like clicking a physical button, but it’s all a clever electronic illusion.

To test this on a Deck, try clicking with the unit switched off and keep trying as you hit the power button and it starts up.

this is the only controller that might retire my wavebird

I wish the alpakka 2’s kickstarted had exceeded. That would have been sweet

to reach over those pads and touch the sticks

Plz stop

I hear you. I preloaded my Steam with 150cad. During the steam deck pre order the hold up when the website worked was payment processors.

I broke my first steam controller, and an old xbox controller, beating the final boss of Sekiro. My replacement is more-or-less a shelf ornament at the moment due to its irreplaceable nature. That old man’s got a lot to answer for.

I will also be at the front of the queue for this. Hesitation is defeat, after all.

Fortunately it doesn’t contain RAM or flash storage or a GPU, so you may not need to go to humiliation levels of money.

I only accept it because I have become used to it.

Otherwise, I do tend to agree with you for the pretty rare time I need to not go accidental diagonal.

luckily the steam controller is very configurable. All the buttons can be remapped, with layers, for basically anything you could imagine. I have an OG steam controller that I use to play helldivers 2. The OG steam controller does not have a D pad at all, and D pad input is very important in that game. Normally you hold LB and then use the D pad to input stuff. So for the steam controller, I added a layer where when holding LB (and only when holding LB) the ABXY buttons become a D pad. So it’s ABXY or a D pad depending on the context and proper layers mean I don’t even have to think about it. I’m sure if the D pad on this one isn’t clicky enough, you could do something like that.

8bitdo d-pad is very clicky and defined

I mean, arguably… it isn’t a D Pad if its actually seperate buttons.

But anyway, with the Steam Deck, which the Steam Controller 2.0 is basically a scaled down version of, that doesn’t have the whole computer and screen… you can at least get after market uh… contact boards?

I’m not sure of the term, but like the internal platter board thing, that the dpad/abxy buttons actually physically connect to, with the trigger/switch mechanisms.

For my deck, I got a kit that replaces the original ones with ones that are much ‘clickier’, like a mechanical keyboard as compared to a membrane keyboard.

It has more tactile and also audio feedback, beyond just being more responsive… that was like $30 bucks or something?

For a while, it was the case that to do this kind of mod, you’d have to do your own solder, but I waited and eventually somebody in China somewhere started making ones that are pre-soldered, and just require an appropriate screw driver and some dexterity to install.

So… if the Steam Controller takes off, I’d say give it 6 months, and by then something similar will probably exist for it.

In some use cases the 4 buttons instead of the D pad on the Joy Cons are amazing. As you say, you have no false diagonals. I really like them in Tetris for example.

But in 2D platformers or metroidvanias like Mario or Hollow Knight? Literally unplayable.

Xbox Series controller dpad is very clicky and well defined, so accidental diagonal inputs aren’t a concern with that one.
There’s likely a number of other similar clicky dpads on the market nowadays, it’s been popularised again with quite a few retro handhelds.

I know you didn’t ask but i recommend looking into a rii mini keyboard with trackpad as well.

Look up the Logitech k400. All my home theaters have computers and they all have that keyboard hahaha

I hear yeah, I want that Controller, its everything I asked for after using the Deck plus more. My Steam Account is preloaded with Money cause I remember when the Steam Deck went pre order the payment processing couldnt keep up. Frame is interesting. But probably way to expensive for the little interest I have.

Same. Its a perfect device for running an HTPC / living room gaming device. Im planning navigate through streaming options, kodi, steam remote play, moonlight, and a bunch of emulators all with the same controller.

Same. I desperately hope they release a version with the regular thumbstick layout instead of the PlayStation layout that’s on the Deck.