[EDIT: For my european mates, as I've been asked that a lot: It shipped from NL by GLS with tracking-number. So no worries]


I'm usually not a controller-freak, as most games that I favor play way
better with mouse/kb than with a controller. But sometimes it's just way more comfy.
Then I saw this little gem, noticed TOUCH-PADS instead of thumb-wheels and did
not hesitate much nor read anything prior and just ordered one.

Is it the missing link or an overpriced useless gadget?

On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is a diabolic laughter and 10 is an instant
disposal of my mouse and keyboard, it's a solid 7-8. Great idea, much love
for details and close to a really solid new type of controller.

The good (what to love):

• Gain precision without loosing comfort
  
• TONS of configuration options. Really a damn lot to tinker it to your preference
  
• The tactile feedback is awesome. Using the touch-pad like a trackball REALLY feels like a trackball. You have to feel it to "see" what I mean. Oh and all buttons have tactile feedback too. Oh and all feedbacks are configurable too.
  
• Wireless OR wired. Your choice.
  
• Gyroscope. What a nice addition. Steer your car by tilting it, just like you do with your mobile.
  
• Firmware is update-able
  
• Too lazy to configure it? Choose some pre-mades by Steam or from a bag of community-created. Nice feature!
  
• The touch-pads are quite responsive and really usable
  
• The on-screen-keyboard used with dual touch-pads is kinda great. Takes some time but at least you've never typed faster from your couch (without a keyboard)
  
• The two added big buttons on the rear are GREAT and every other controller should have them too! Easy to press but not too soft so you're never hitting them accidentally
  
• The two triggers have a soft-pull (like usual) AND a full-pull feature (that means: It's basically two buttons in one)
  
• The thumb-wheel is even tighter than from the XBOX One (Good or bad, that's subjective I guess)
  
• Uses two AA-Batteries. Easy to replace and better than an integrated accu.
  
• It's kinda useless, but you can enable a HUD ingame that shows you what you're doing (like your thumbs position on the touch-pad etc.)
  
• You can totally configure everything with only the controller itself, it's completly integrated with "BigPicture", no mouse needed

The bad (not good, but no show-stopper):

• Only configurable in "BigPictureMode"? Come on, that's kinda dumb and took me like an hour to find out (I didn't RTFM!)
  
• Only natively works with Steam games? Come on, that's not nice. (But there's a workaround for Linux though) (Problem will be fixed, see comments)
  (Problem not really fixed (see comments).
• It got the same overly bright LED-Logo like the XBOX. Why? Just WHY? In a darker room it's simply annoying.
  (See comments, problem solved)
• The triggers only have like half of the range of the XBOX One controller. A bit too short for my taste, but others may even like it

The ugly (what to hate, may kill the fun):

• Using TWO controllers (like XBOX and Steam) is not possible. Local multi-player would not be possible
  (seems it's possible (see comments), guess I just tested the wrong games)
• It can be horribly problematic with games that do NOT allow simultaneous usage of mouse/keyboard AND the controller
  
• It...feels...cheap. The XBOX One controller is a lot cheaper but feels WAY more valuable and of a much higher quality. The Steam controller just looks and feels like it came out of a Kinder Surprise.

Recommended?

For anyone who likes controllers and may adapt to a "new" one that does a lot of things differently: Yes.

For those who would never switch a controller because A/Y were swapped or something minor like that? Better not.

For people who always missed the ability to tinker and adapt hundreds of values to their controller to make it THEIRS: YESYESYES.

This thing is even totally fulfilling as a HTPC-Remote :-)

Is it the missing link? Yesno. Kinda. It's very close and could use some tweaks. But one does really need to adapt to it. It's not just "another" controller and they didn't just swap 2 buttons. It's really different. But better.


I really like the way Steam wants to go here, and I'm not easily impressed. This thing has a lot of innovation and some really nice details (talk about the tactile feedback!). Well, except the price. But considering your alternatives are more or less ZERO...

[EDIT: For my european mates, as I've been asked that a lot: It shipped from NL by GLS with tracking-number. So no worries] [h1]Niiice![/h1] I'm usually not a controller-freak, as most games that I favor play way better with mouse/kb than with a controller. But sometimes it's just way more comfy. Then I saw this little gem, noticed TOUCH-PADS instead of thumb-wheels and did not hesitate much nor read anything prior and just ordered one. Is it the missing link or an overpriced useless gadget? On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is a diabolic laughter and 10 is an instant disposal of my mouse and keyboard, it's a solid 7-8. Great idea, much love for details and close to a really solid new type of controller. [u]The good (what to love):[/u] [list] [*] Gain precision without loosing comfort [*] TONS of configuration options. Really a damn lot to tinker it to your preference [*] The tactile feedback is awesome. Using the touch-pad like a trackball REALLY feels like a trackball. You have to feel it to "see" what I mean. Oh and all buttons have tactile feedback too. Oh and all feedbacks are configurable too. [*] Wireless OR wired. Your choice. [*] Gyroscope. What a nice addition. Steer your car by tilting it, just like you do with your mobile. [*] Firmware is update-able [*] Too lazy to configure it? Choose some pre-mades by Steam or from a bag of community-created. Nice feature! [*] The touch-pads are quite responsive and really usable [*] The on-screen-keyboard used with dual touch-pads is kinda great. Takes some time but at least you've never typed faster from your couch (without a keyboard) [*] The two added big buttons on the rear are GREAT and every other controller should have them too! Easy to press but not too soft so you're never hitting them accidentally [*] The two triggers have a soft-pull (like usual) AND a full-pull feature (that means: It's basically two buttons in one) [*] The thumb-wheel is even tighter than from the XBOX One (Good or bad, that's subjective I guess) [*] Uses two AA-Batteries. Easy to replace and better than an integrated accu. [*] It's kinda useless, but you can enable a HUD ingame that shows you what you're doing (like your thumbs position on the touch-pad etc.) [*] You can totally configure everything with only the controller itself, it's completly integrated with "BigPicture", no mouse needed [/list] [u]The bad (not good, but no show-stopper):[/u] [list] [*] Only configurable in "BigPictureMode"? Come on, that's kinda dumb and took me like an hour to find out (I didn't RTFM!) [*] Only natively works with Steam games? Come on, that's not nice. (But there's a workaround for Linux though) [strike](Problem will be fixed, see comments)[/strike][h1](Problem not really fixed (see comments).[/h1] [*] [strike]It got the same overly bright LED-Logo like the XBOX. Why? Just WHY? In a darker room it's simply annoying.[/strike][h1](See comments, problem solved)[/h1] [*] The triggers only have like half of the range of the XBOX One controller. A bit too short for my taste, but others may even like it [/list] [u]The ugly (what to hate, may kill the fun):[/u] [list] [*][strike] Using TWO controllers (like XBOX and Steam) is not possible. Local multi-player would not be possible[/strike] [h1](seems it's possible (see comments), guess I just tested the wrong games)[/h1] [*] It can be horribly problematic with games that do NOT allow simultaneous usage of mouse/keyboard AND the controller [*] It...feels...cheap. The XBOX One controller is a lot cheaper but feels WAY more valuable and of a much higher quality. The Steam controller just looks and feels like it came out of a Kinder Surprise. [/list] [b]Recommended?[/b] For anyone who likes controllers and may adapt to a "new" one that does a lot of things differently: Yes. For those who would never switch a controller because A/Y were swapped or something minor like that? Better not. For people who always missed the ability to tinker and adapt hundreds of values to their controller to make it THEIRS: YESYESYES. This thing is even totally fulfilling as a HTPC-Remote :-) Is it the missing link? Yesno. Kinda. It's very close and could use some tweaks. But one does really need to adapt to it. It's not just "another" controller and they didn't just swap 2 buttons. It's really different. But better. [h1]I'm quite sure that If you invest enough time to adjust its settings AND invest enough time to adapt to it you may really master even a competitive FPS against mouse+keyboard players. Something that's totally unthinkable of by using "normal" controllers (except maybe you're a controller-god playing against m+k-newbies)[/h1] I really like the way Steam wants to go here, and I'm not easily impressed. This thing has a lot of innovation and some really nice details (talk about the tactile feedback!). Well, except the price. But considering your alternatives are more or less ZERO...