The news around the Steam Deck keeps on coming in, with a new video posted up by (surprise) IGN that checks out the Steam Deck's Trackpad and Gyroscopic controls.
IGN of course being probably the biggest around, we don't need to wonder why Valve has a seemingly exclusive deal with them to show off everything first. So for now, until the Steam Deck releases and our unit arrives sometime in Q1 2022, we're mostly relying on what Valve say to IGN.
Valve are no stranger to Trackpads of course, with the Steam Controller (R.I.P) having two of them and they were a lot of fun to use and setup. On the Steam Deck we have Valve mentioning how "We have capacitive touch joysticks and one of the really cool things about that is we can use that in tandem with our gyroscope to turn on or turn off gyroscopic aiming and motion controls in games." — Valve designer Scott Dalton. It seems to work a lot like the Steam Controller too, allowing you more freedom in how you aim.
Check out the new video:
Direct Link
It works thanks to Steam Input so Valve and game developers can set it up however they like. Presumably then, it means users will still get access to adjust everything as they want just like we can do so now.
One of the worries with such a handheld is joystick drift, something that has been a problem elsewhere like with the Nintendo Switch. I've seen it myself and it can get quite bad, thankfully Valve said previously (that we missed) how they don't think it will be a problem "We purposely picked something that we knew the performance of, right? We didn't want to take a risk on that, right? As I'm sure our customers don't want us to take a risk on that either." — Steam Deck designer John Ikeda.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
I know this has been mentioned but i wonder if the steam deck can be used as a controller with a regular PC ? A game could be adapted to take advantage of the screen for the map, ammo or even just social interaction buttons for instance instead of having to hold tab and bring up a radial menu. Not only that, but it would be great for using as a touch screen keyboard and remote control. Everything the steam deck can do but just attached to a powerful PC.
This in turn is one more thing that's useful about them making the thing themselves. With Steam Machines, they couldn't really talk about its features because there were a bunch of different ones and they weren't in control of any of them. With the Steam Deck, they have one unified thing--there are specific facts about it that they can talk about. Plus they seem to have put a fair amount of love into designing it, so they're happy to brag about it.
So far I think the PR is going fairly well.
no_information_here Jul 27, 2021
QuoteSteam Controller (R.I.P)... quiet weeping ...
Quoting: axredneckI wish my Steam Controller had a D-pad...Me too. Me too.
(I am a little concerned that Valve has hardware ADHD. The fact they can't get a 2nd gen controller out the door seems like they just don't have the right internal capacity for hardware.)
Quoting: no_information_hereQuoteSteam Controller (R.I.P)... quiet weeping ...
Quoting: axredneckI wish my Steam Controller had a D-pad...Me too. Me too.
same. i have never used the second haptic touch pad, it only ever becomes a nuisance. If they had put a d-pad there it would of been a lot better. I see the same thing with the steam deck, the need for two haptics is limited.. one i can see for use as a mouse but two i don't really get.. maybe for fast typing on the steam controller (although one could do the job sufficiently enough & and lets be real how many people used the on screen keyboard for BPM with the steam controller to type ? every time i tried it, it minimized the game and brought up a small keyboard window on the desktop lol ) But for the deck you have a touch screen so you can type out your chat making the second haptic even more useless.
Last edited by Lofty on 27 July 2021 at 7:01 pm UTC
grumpytoad Jul 27, 2021
rustybroomhandle Jul 27, 2021
Quoting: LoftyQuoting: no_information_hereQuoteSteam Controller (R.I.P)... quiet weeping ...
Quoting: axredneckI wish my Steam Controller had a D-pad...Me too. Me too.
same. i have never used the second haptic touch pad, it only ever becomes a nuisance. If they had put a d-pad there it would of been a lot better. I see the same thing with the steam deck, the need for two haptics is limited.. one i can see for use as a mouse but two i don't really get.. maybe for fast typing on the steam controller (although one could do the job sufficiently enough & and lets be real how many people used the on screen keyboard for BPM with the steam controller to type ? every time i tried it, it minimized the game and brought up a small keyboard window on the desktop lol ) But for the deck you have a touch screen so you can type out your chat making the second haptic even more useless.
I would much rather trade the analog stick for a d-pad personally, but I like the Steam Deck approach of just including everything!
Quoting: no_information_here(I am a little concerned that Valve has hardware ADHD. The fact they can't get a 2nd gen controller out the door seems like they just don't have the right internal capacity for hardware.)
Yeahhhh, the rate at which they abandon hardware is alot.... They have what, one piece of hardware they still sell?
Quoting: grumpytoadI'm just glad they're calling it a PC, so we can finally put that mainstream mentality that a PC is a windows OS to bed.
Maybe I'm reading it weird, but from the context, I'm less certain they don't mean "PC is Windows" and thier understanding of proton is so poor they are confusing the basics.
Last edited by denyasis on 28 July 2021 at 12:28 am UTC
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