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A fellow named Devin White has written up a lengthy blog post on his experience using the final iteration of the Steam Controller, and it's well worth a read.
I was most interested in reading about how it worked with FPS games, and I'm pleased to read at least this fellow liked it:
QuoteI played Team Fortress 2, Borderlands 2, Fistful of Frags, and even went old school with Star Wars: Republic Commando.* Here is my main takeaway from these games: technically, I feel like yes, playing with the Steam controller is not as precise as a keyboard and mouse. I know this should be the case.
But it did not feel that way.
Even when playing multiplayer, every death and every kill felt fair. I never thought, “Darn, if only I had a mouse and keyboard.” Sniping, in particular, felt like an improvement. Lining up shots by feeling your way over the target felt more natural than playing with a keyboard, though twitch aiming is undoubtedly not as accurate.
I also agree with his main concerns:
QuoteMy main controller issues were the issues that come when you try to play any PC game with a controller. Finding a control scheme that both has everything you need while also being comfortable and functional was sometimes difficult, but even with that, Valve has made it easy to re-assign keys and customize your settings to exactly how you see fit.
Biggest problem with playing PC games on a TV is not the controller, but the UI. Squinting at my TV to read small text is not great when you are in a multiplayer online game and there is vital information onscreen. However, with the amount of console games getting ported to the PC and PC games being designed to be ported, this issue was not frequent.
I was playing games from across a room on Linux for ~6 months on a big TV, and the experience sucked. I can't think of many games that allow you to adjust UI size, text size and things like that. I really hope SteamOS can push developers to include such things, as it will still be an issue when SteamOS is out. It won't be such an issue for action type games, but for strategy games, the UI is generally used a lot more, so scaling options will be a must.
You can see the full blog post here.
I have one pre-ordered, so I will also be giving it my thoughts. Sadly, I missed the early orders, so mine will be up in November when they reach general availability. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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The comments on this article are closed.
Regarding controller configuration - that's why I like Valve's idea of sharing Steam Controller schemes with other players for your games. If interface is intuitive enough, that should be a killer feature for it.
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Even Gianas Twisted Dreams, playing with a controller (wired or Bluetooth) sucked so much I just use my controller for XBMC. So I am curious about the steam controller, I preordered it, as I know many guys that cannot play with their keyboards / mice, and I totally blame me / my controller for not being able to do so. This article makes me think my decisson of ordering one was right, lets see how it works out.
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I have mixed experience with gaming on TV. I had big hopes for playing strategy games, but titles like Civilization V, Crusader Kings II, Empire: Total War - all have really tiny text in 1920x1080 resolution, so I have to size it down to the point that everything barely fits on the screen, for the text to be readable, at which point it's a much better idea to just play on my laptop at 1600x900...
FPS and Arcade games, on the other hand, are a prefect fit. In Talos Principle, even though there's lots of reading on the terminal, the text is perfectly legible from the couch. Borderlands 2 - similarly, the text size is just right at 1920x1080. I really hope that new releases (esp. strategy games) will be better adapted to Steambox & couch gaming.
FPS and Arcade games, on the other hand, are a prefect fit. In Talos Principle, even though there's lots of reading on the terminal, the text is perfectly legible from the couch. Borderlands 2 - similarly, the text size is just right at 1920x1080. I really hope that new releases (esp. strategy games) will be better adapted to Steambox & couch gaming.
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I need to wait for the final release in November i can't preorder it on Steam in Switzerland.
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Quoting: pbIn Talos Principle, even though there's lots of reading on the terminal, the text is perfectly legible from the couch. Borderlands 2 - similarly, the text size is just right at 1920x1080.
I have a monitor and the TV connected to my PC, and I have the problem with Talos principle that it always opens on the monitor instead of the TV. I have Big Picture running on the TV with sound output set to TV speakers, but when I open Talos Principle, it comes up on the (main) monitor. It even switches the sound output to the monitor speakers (which are terrible). Mark of the Ninja outputs to both screens and also switches the sound. I have not found a way around this, I guess I'd have to boot without the monitor connected or something.
On the other hand, Borderlands 2 works nicely for me as well, comes up fullscreen on the TV with sound from the TV. As do Bioshock Infinite and Victor Vran, those play all really well on TV.
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I am pretty excited about this controller, it may wind up replacing my XBOX 360 controller. Of course, I want to hold it and try it out first. Regardless of how good the trackpads are a controller, any controller, will always run into the issue of having a limited amount of buttons to work with; you can't put more than at most 14 or 15 buttons on a controller and still make all of them comfortable to use, so a controller can never fully replace m&kb. Still, having a controller that expands the repertoire of games I can comfortably and accurately play while sitting in a recliner away from my desk is a plus.
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I think the scaling issue will only get worse with HiDPI screens too. I was playing "Choice of Robots" the other day and the text is unreadable. You have to edit a CSS file in the game's directory to fix it!
As for the controller, I'm nearly sold, but games like Hero Siege really require twin sticks and I worry that the single-stick design will trip up a lot of the experience. I wonder if anyone has tried Geometry Wars (or Hero Siege itself) with this design?
As for the controller, I'm nearly sold, but games like Hero Siege really require twin sticks and I worry that the single-stick design will trip up a lot of the experience. I wonder if anyone has tried Geometry Wars (or Hero Siege itself) with this design?
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Quoting: scaineAs for the controller, I'm nearly sold, but games like Hero Siege really require twin sticks and I worry that the single-stick design will trip up a lot of the experience. I wonder if anyone has tried Geometry Wars (or Hero Siege itself) with this design?
I've never tried to play a hack'n'slash with a controller. How do you make use of twin sticks on Hero Siege?
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Quoting: SpeedsterQuoting: scaineAs for the controller, I'm nearly sold, but games like Hero Siege really require twin sticks and I worry that the single-stick design will trip up a lot of the experience. I wonder if anyone has tried Geometry Wars (or Hero Siege itself) with this design?
I've never tried to play a hack'n'slash with a controller. How do you make use of twin sticks on Hero Siege?
Hero Siege is currently my new favourite game. It's a weird mix of Diablo-mechanics (looting, powerups) and twin-stick shooter. You move with the left stick and shoot (or swing) with the right stick, which means that you can be moving left, but swinging left/right/up or down.
Fantastic game, ridiculously, cheap. Well, you know me, Speedster. You know how I get hooked on stuff. If it's not Killing Floor or Tales of Maj'Eyal, then it's Hero Siege... :D
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I'll be the party pooper as usual and point out it's unlikely that devs will rush at the idea of fixing the UI scaling for TVs. Windows has been dominating the market for decades and they haven't bothered, so why would they for a brand new OS. Still, maybe the 1440p and 4K gaming might bring about the needed change, though the latter is still a few years away IMO.
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