Steam Controller Long Term Review - Is it terrible?
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2016-05-06
·
1,636 words · ~8 min read
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the steam controller is weird and this review is going to be kind of weird just
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straight up feature to feature comparing it against a standard style controller
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like one made by Microsoft or Sony for their game consoles is useless and it
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definitely is not a weote so what do we do well we're going to go on an
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adventure investigating the games and game types that this controller works
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well or doesn't work well with by the end of this adventure I don't expect you
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to think that the controller isn't weird but I expect you to understand when I
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say weird I don't mean bad some of the
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best things and people I know are weird
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hi Taran also I believe that you'll
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understand what it's for and who might or might not be interested in it so stay
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tuned Corsair's RMI series power supplies feature premium components for
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great performance with very low noise check out the link in the video
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description down below to learn more all right first off starting off with the
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hardware it doesn't feel fantastically premium especially compared to the Xbox
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Elite controller that I recently reviewed here but it doesn't feel that
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horrible either and it comes at a pretty damn fair price for a controller 50
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bucks USD at least this puts it below the cost of most other first party
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controllers in terms of physical layout you have two paddles on the back
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shoulder buttons triggers AB X and Y buttons in a really weird position a
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thumb stick just to the left of middle and down a bit left and right arrow
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buttons which are essentially just start and select a steam home button and the
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main event the Dual opposing touchpads with haptic feedback haptic feedback on
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here is basically when you move your finger across the touchpad it will
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vibrate ever so slightly just so that you know that the input is going through
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it's actually very satisfactory on the bottom there's a switch that releases
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the Dual paddles and reveals the batteries if you don't want to use the
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wireless dongle either directly plugged in or through an extension and on the
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front there's a micro USB plug just in case you like wired so the haptic
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feedback actually felt really good I I totally knew what was happening under my
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fingers while they were on touchpads which is actually a huge relief when I
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first saw this controller I was very worried about that that being said none
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of the other inputs amazed me in terms of their feel they still F made me feel
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very in control which is actually more than what I was expecting when I saw the
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price tag and even when I picked it up for the first time it felt kind of cheap
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so what is it actually good for well I think of it as an enabler which is why I
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don't really want to compare it much to other controllers personally I will
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always prefer a standard controller for driving games or like a racing wheel or
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something and a keyboard and mouse for things like shooters for anyone who
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isn't diluted these are widely accepted strengths to these input methods and I
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don't expect the steam controller is going to change anyone 's mind about
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this actually I would go as far as to say that the steam controller should
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pretty much never be used when seated at a desk because there's always a better
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option but that's just my opinion but when you're sitting on a couch using a
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keyboard or Mouse either totally sucks or makes you look like a complete doofus
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yeah I know there's some options like the couch Master but honestly when I'm
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couch gaming I'm going to want a controller so I can sit comfortably
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whatever my comfortable might actually look like which is why many games like
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Civilization or papers please can't really be played in what I would call a
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satisfactory way on a home theater couch based setup until now playing papers
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pleased with this thing felt entirely natural and playing Civ 5 on the couch
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nice and relaxed expanding my civilization and trying to hold off
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barbarians and whatnot that felt like home I wouldn't use this for every game
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and those were easy examples but it does enable games that wouldn't really
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normally be a thing for Coach gaming controller users the controls seem to be
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endlessly customizable with people online even doing Auto hotkey setups in
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order to control their desktop better which is pretty cool many reviews that
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I've read leading up to this one have proclaimed that there is a steep and
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scary learning curve I'm going to go out on a limb here and completely disagree
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in my opinion if you've ever used a laptop with a touchpad you should be
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able to get pretty familiar with this guy pretty quick sure if you're going to
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play something like a shooter on it it's going to take some time to get
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proficient with it but I don't really think that's what it's actually designed
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for anyways although your mileage may vary I
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personally didn't enjoy the over theh shoulder games like Mass Effect with the
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steam controller but I've read rave reviews online about how it's great for
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this style of gaming so none of this addresses the people who
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don't want to customize their controllers however which doesn't mean
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tinkering is the only way to enjoy a steam controller in fact in many cases
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not tinkering at all may be a better route steam will warn you when a game
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may not work very well with the default profile and suggest that you customize
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things at this point you'll probably utilize the sometimes awesome hi mind
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power that is the Steam Community you can see Community submitted controller
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configs and even see how many people are using which one every single time I
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needed a config I just used the most commonly used Community config and it
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worked splendidly no reason for me to fight with things when somebody else has
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already done the heavy lifting I'd love to see valve improve this functionality
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by allowing the profile creators to upload short videos demonstrating how to
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use their profiles most effectively so all good then I should rush out and buy
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it no not necessarily I have some
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concerns about making a sweeping recommendation that you should buy one
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your grandma should buy one and your dog should buy one the cost is cheap but it
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feels pretty pretty cheap which is a little disappointing not to mention damn
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Gabe why is there glossy plastic on the top what what is this what purpose does
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this serve it looks like crap in like 3 seconds God anyways and aside from those
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minor quibbles this is my biggest problem it doesn't really have a home at
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the desk and unless you're one of those six people who bought a steam machine or
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happen to have a home theater PC how much time are you going to spend couch
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gaming on the specific titles that will actually benefit from this I actually
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don't know for me at least with the hours of Civ 5 on the couch I see in my
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future this is a $50 pill that I can swallow so if that interests you at all
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then check it out and I guess the real bottom line here is that while my
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initial Impressions were why did they try to reinvent the wheel it's just
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weird after spending more time getting to know it and in the appropriate
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context of not forcing myself to use it as a replacement for my existing
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controller or keyboard or Mouse but rather an entirely new Beast I'm glad
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of $50 or more for yourself or maybe a holiday present for a
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friend thanks for watching guys if the video sucked you know what to do but if
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it was awesome get subscribed hit the like button or even consider supporting
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us directly by using our affiliate code to shop at Amazon buying a cool t-shirt
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like this one or with a direct monthly contribution through the Forum now that
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that's done you're probably wondering what to watch next so I called it out
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earlier in the video but check out the Xbox One Elite controller review here to
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see like a more standard controller but with a super premium feel it's actually
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pretty cool