HORI, a manufacturer of popular gaming accessories have today revealed the Wireless Horipad for Steam. So if you're in need of a gamepad, this might be for you.
The main thing that concerns me here for Linux and Steam Deck support, is their mention of a dedicated app for it. We've seen before from the likes of 8BitDo, that certain buttons on their controllers (like back paddles) require a dedicated app and so cannot be configured directly on Linux / Steam Deck.
In this case though, HORI do show a shot of Steam Input which has the back paddles listed on it, so perhaps we might see full Steam Input support for it. Considering it's a dedicated Steam controller, it would be odd if you couldn't adjust everything in Steam Input. They do also mention Steam Deck repeatedly too.
Features:
- Back paddles (L4/R4) and 2 extra custom buttons (M1/M2) right on the bottom.
- A dedicated Quick Access button.
- Support for Bluetooth, XInput and DirectInput, but seems XInput only via Wired connection.
- Estimated 12 hour battery life (3.5 hours to fully charge).
- Gyro in the "Steam mode". With the sticks having a touch sensor too.
- Rapid fire ability on face buttons (ABXY).
Their info mentions it does not have vibration though, or a microphone port.
So far, it seems to be only announced via their Japanese store with no mention on their USA or UK stores. Price according to their page is 9,780 Japanese Yen, so about £50 GBP / $60 USD.
Update: in a news post about Steam Input, Valve confirmed they have added support for the new HORIPAD for Steam and they "worked with HORI's team to make their controller work well with Steam Input".
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I'm just slowly starting to replace my aging Xbox 360 gamepad collection, and I love the Xbox layout and the purple color. But a gamepad without vibration — why??
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Quoting: Liam DaweQuoting: Pickettf3nceThe "Gulikit KK3 MAX" is a great alternative for those of us in the US or UK.Do their paddles actually fully work on Linux and Steam Deck without needing an external app like 8bitdo?
L3, L4, R3, R4 detachable rear paddles, toggle-able hair triggers, analog triggers, hall-effect joysticks, 8 (or 4) way d-pad, programmable macros, 3 vibration intensities, USB-C rechargeable, addressable RGB, integrated gyroscope, extra buttons to swap between Nintendo and Traditional button layouts. Support for Switch, SteamOS, Android, iOS, MacOS, and windows.
It's a night and day difference between this and an Xbox Series controller.
Perhaps not ideal, but I went around this issue by using the 8Bitdo android app to configure the controls, which allows you to do everything the Windows program does, if I'm not mistaken. I'd definitely not give up my 8bitdo controller for something as minuscule and easily solvable as this.
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Pickettf3nce 3 days ago
Quoting: Liam DaweTo my knowledge, there are no dedicated apps for any of Gulikit's products, the KK3 included. I have neither installed nor needed any supporting applications to date... Updates to the controller's firmware, for example, are handled via a USB connection to a computer and booting the controller into a removable storage mode. After which the firmware can be manually downloaded from Gulikit's support site, transferred over to the controller, extracted, and applied with a reboot.Quoting: Pickettf3nceThe "Gulikit KK3 MAX" is a great alternative for those of us in the US or UK.Do their paddles actually fully work on Linux and Steam Deck without needing an external app like 8bitdo?
L3, L4, R3, R4 detachable rear paddles, toggle-able hair triggers, analog triggers, hall-effect joysticks, 8 (or 4) way d-pad, programmable macros, 3 vibration intensities, USB-C rechargeable, addressable RGB, integrated gyroscope, extra buttons to swap between Nintendo and Traditional button layouts. Support for Switch, SteamOS, Android, iOS, MacOS, and windows.
It's a night and day difference between this and an Xbox Series controller.
As for the paddles, all the mapping and configuration for the KK3 is handled by the controller itself. So back buttons/paddles can sadly only be mapped to other buttons on the controller. So long as your distro and app can recognize traditional controller DInput or XInput (Depending on the controller's selected mode), you should be able to use all the buttons on the controller with a little bit of extra legwork.
2 Likes, Who?
Quoting: Pickettf3nceQuoting: Liam DaweTo my knowledge, there are no dedicated apps for any of Gulikit's products, the KK3 included. I have neither installed nor needed any supporting applications to date... Updates to the controller's firmware, for example, are handled via a USB connection to a computer and booting the controller into a removable storage mode. After which the firmware can be manually downloaded from Gulikit's support site, transferred over to the controller, extracted, and applied with a reboot.Quoting: Pickettf3nceThe "Gulikit KK3 MAX" is a great alternative for those of us in the US or UK.Do their paddles actually fully work on Linux and Steam Deck without needing an external app like 8bitdo?
L3, L4, R3, R4 detachable rear paddles, toggle-able hair triggers, analog triggers, hall-effect joysticks, 8 (or 4) way d-pad, programmable macros, 3 vibration intensities, USB-C rechargeable, addressable RGB, integrated gyroscope, extra buttons to swap between Nintendo and Traditional button layouts. Support for Switch, SteamOS, Android, iOS, MacOS, and windows.
It's a night and day difference between this and an Xbox Series controller.
As for the paddles, all the mapping and configuration for the KK3 is handled by the controller itself. So back buttons/paddles can sadly only be mapped to other buttons on the controller. So long as your distro and app can recognize traditional controller DInput or XInput (Depending on the controller's selected mode), you should be able to use all the buttons on the controller with a little bit of extra legwork.
I can second the KK3 Max. After having suffered with drift on both my Dualshock and Dualsense controllers, I've been loving the versatility of this controller. My only complaints are that because it reports as an Xbox controller, I've yet to find a way to natively activate it's gyro functionality via Steam Input, and unfortunately the built in gyro option leaves something to be desired in terms of fidelity. It's not awful but you can tell it's not quite as precise as a Dualsense or Joycon.
The only other issue I've encountered really has just been that the low latency dongle seems to struggle with connecting from time to time, requiring I either unplug the dongle or just keep cycling it a few times before it catches. That being said I'm not one hundred percent convinced the controller is at fault there as I've had a few other devices behave similarly in the room I'm renting, so it might just be interference from the plethora of other wireless signals saturating the house. And either way, once it connects, so long as it isn't left idle for 10 minutes, it stays consistently connected.
EDIT: Small note, one of the recent firmware updates adjusted it so that when the battery is running low, the LED starts blinking with a bright white light, even if you've disabled the LEDs completely. The flashing continues even if you plug in the controller, so you'll have a nice, relaxed orange interspersed with a harsh white flash every 5 seconds or so, which I'm not super fond of.
EDIT 2: Because I keep forgetting to add these things before posting, my thoughts on the HORI controller. It looks nice, and is probably the closest we'll get to a Steam Controller 2 (No, I do not count the Steam Deck, it's a handheld computer/portable console) anytime soon, but not including vibration is an odd choice, and as mentioned above, if they're going to use regular potentiometer sticks, it's just not worth it in my opinion. No matter the build quality, no matter the feature set, no matter the price, there's more than enough e-waste in the world, I don't want to support the use of sticks that are designed to fail at some point.
Last edited by JustinWood on 28 June 2024 at 3:11 pm UTC
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Quoting: JustinWoodand as mentioned above, if they're going to use regular potentiometer sticks, it's just not worth it in my opinion. No matter the build quality, no matter the feature set, no matter the price, there's more than enough e-waste in the world, I don't want to support the use of sticks that are designed to fail at some point.
Sorry, I didn't understand - could you please explain further? I understand a potentiometer is some kind of electronic component. What are regular potentiometer sticks and what is the alternative? What do Steam Controllers use?
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Quoting: chrWhat are regular potentiometer sticks and what is the alternative?Irregular potentiometer sticks, obviously.
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