Hi all,

I've been putting the steam controller though its paces in the last couple of months and while it was slow start its really growing on me.

It's breathed new life into old favourites - halflife, quake 2, unreal & DN3d.

It took quite a bit of tweaking and practice but I'm at the point now where I can play any fps comfortably offline and online. I'm certainly at a slight disadvantage online but I think that is only naturally since I have 15 years+ with M+K. Flick headshots are possible and I can clearly see I'm making mistakes which overtime I can iron out.

I don't like the haptic feedback, I find it distracting so i turn it all off.

I've focused mainly on FPS games because I'm pretty sure other genres will work fine without practice.

There are a few advantages and disadvantages (ignoring the obvious benefit of sitting on a couch)

Advantages:

• Left analogue stick as a joystick for movement = 360 degrees of freedom rather than 8 (wasd). This is a lot nicer than it sounds, i recall historically with M+K if I had to back through a narrow space while targeting my enemy I would have to do an awkward combination of ASD to get through without clipping scenery.
• Gyro aiming has a natural "I am holding a gun" feeling to it, especially sniping. I have played through Delta Force 2 with great success. Its fun trying to keep your hands steady. Even though the mouse is more accurate it is more abstract, I think. I also gave house of the dead: overkill a run through with the gyro which gives a 1/2 decent light gun experience.
• Great for x-genre games e.g. GTAV.

Disadvantages:

• Trackpad + Gyro requires brain rewiring, rocket jumps & circle strafing are difficult to master but I think it is possible with enough practice.
• Large combo's (gripping lots of buttons simultaneously) can be quite crampy.
• Its generally harder to control the gyro if your prone to panick in a difficult firefight.

Unless I have no choice I think i'm going to go steam controller 100%. My next challenge is BF4 multiplayer (havent had access to this for some months)

Considering this is the first track pad / gyro combo controller I am very impressed. I cant wait until Valve take the community feedback and deliver a v2. I need 1 for my Wife anyway.

I am curious though, maybe someone can answer, the PS4 controller has a six axis gyro but I haven't heard of any games using it, why not?

I used to use a 360 pad but then my Steam Controller came along, I really couldn't get on with it. After a while of not playing any controller friendly games I decided to use the Steam controller again and it worked great, I'd just been so used to the xbox controller that I couldn't immediately switch. I now think it's great.

Currently playing through The Talos Principle which isn't exactly a twitch shooter but the controller is natively supported by the game and works fine. I found the gyro/touch pad aiming to be a little too jittery but over all it works well (unless I need precision at long range, in which case pulling the trigger throws my aim off as it moves the controller and affects the gyro.

I didn't try it 'for real' but I had a bash in Arma 3 with it too and I think I could quite happily play with that too thanks to the gyro aiming. Felt much better than my xbox controller. Usually I will play with M/K but keep my controller on my desk and just pick it up if I intend to drive. For Arma I mapped the stick to wasd with shift for the outer areas and it felt really fluid to move like that.

Firmware-wise it has come a long way since it's release too. Although I play at my desk it is relaxing to just pick up the controller (which is off), put my feet up, tap the Steam button 3 times (start controller, open steam, open big picture). I like how the controller shuts off when you exit big picture/steam too (though that is optional).

I'm not a fan of the x/y/a/b button placement, x is hard to press but the back paddles and rebindability helps that. Overall I am happy with it and I would recommend it.

I got a steam controller for my birthday present. I was really excited to try it out, so I brought it to work on Friday. I come back on Monday, and it is gone. Where could it have gone?! I imagine that someone stole it, but nobody in the office is a thief. Maybe it got misplaced?! I look around, and I eventually find it -- in the trash can!

"Why is it in the trash?!" I wonder to myself.

I pull it out, and I notice that it is totally broken. There is a large scrape on the side and the face plate plastic was snapped such that I can't put it back on. God damn it. Some asshole broke my shit and was too cowardly to confess to it and offer to replace it. Rather than say anything about it, they tried to hide it by throwing it away. I was lucky enough to get to the trash before the cleaning lady threw it out. It's still sitting on my desk, a reminder about the nature of people.