Let's go over the physical design. To steal a phrase from Apple, the steam controller is "un-apologetically plastic." Its design is made up of a black matte plastic on a majority of the controller and a black glossy plastic on the grips. Now, I know some people don't like glossy plastic because of fingerprints, but it didn't bother me. The design manages to feel solidly put together and there were creaks and pops when holding it despite it being made out of plastic. The buttons are your typical ABXY affair, placed further in the center of the controller than I would have liked. They felt a but mushy and lacked good thumb feel. The analog stick is clicky and grippy, I would have preferred a concave top for it, but you might be OK with it. There are shoulder buttons and bumpers which are unimpressive, but also unoffensive. These could have used a different material choice. Maybe the glossy plastic on the grips would have been a better choice here? There paddles on the back that also could have used a different more robust material, but like I said, it didn't bug me. The only part of the design that confused me were the handles. They're concave. That didn't make any sense to me. It should have been convex, which would have aided in comfort which I will go into more later.
Ok, let's get to the thing you're probably wondering about. What the hell is with those giant circle things on the thing? Those are touchpads. They are meant to replace the right analog stick and d-pad. They feel good actually. They provide adjustable haptic feedback while maneuvering around them. They work like a laptop's touch pad. The main problem with the steam controller is its size.
I have a confession to make. I have really small hands for a guy. I am the guy who is forced to use smaller phones because my hands are tiny (even though all the best phones are gigantic). This made the steam controller an..interesting experience for me. The buttons are too far in board, and a little too low for me. When reaching the X button, I would often mash the Y button. This resulted in a lot of in game deaths, and almost one steam controller death. The same problem persists with the analog stick. It got difficult for my thumb to push the analog stick all the way to the right. A person with bigger hands might love this controller, but I found it a little annoying, However my small hands did lead to one big problem. I found the controller to be physically uncomfortable after a couple hours. I had to change my grip a couple times until I found something that works.
The way I would address design isn't to change the materials. Changing materials would make the price go up, and the steam controller is already a steep ask at 50 bucks. I would make a lot of small design and ergonomic changes. I would make the controller grips convex to avoid the aching thumb I felt earlier. I would also shrink the touchpads. They're just too big for no reason. This would allow the thumb stick and buttons to move closer to the outside and closer up to where the players thumbs are going to naturally rest. Lastly, I would replace the analog stick with a dpad. Having the other touchpad act as a d pad for most games really defeats the purpose of having such a unique design. Having it act as an analog stick let's you leverage the inherent benefits of a touchpad. It would allow you to have more dexterous movement, where the character on screen would mimic your thumb movements.
But how do the perform in gameplay? Playing games with the steam controller is a strange affair. Some games mimic an Xbox 360's control schemes. This is OK, but then why not just buy a 360 controller and pocket the cash? Luckily for you and me is that the steam controller is fully customizable. Every button can be individually assigned to a keyboard function, and thus the steam controller can fit any control scheme you want. This is absolutely key. The steam controller allows me to map character movement to the other touch pad, and if you think that's a bad idea, you can do something that makes sense to you. It also allows for disabled gamers to get a layout that works best for them. Not individuals with disabilities can make controller profiles that allow them to play games that they never dreamed about. This is one of the biggest reasons I love the steam controller. It allows those who are already struggling a chance to play games in a comfortable fashion.
What if you don't want to customize, but don't like the controls a game comes with? No worries! You can just download profiles from people who aren't as lazy as you are! Hell, I did it with almost every game I tried, so no judgements.
The steam controller didn't click with me for a long time. I kept thinking that an Xbox controller would be more efficient. That is Until I finally booted up a game that has absolutely no controller support: Civilization V. My god, what a treat that was. I found a profile that was easy enough to get to know, and I got to work. it worked like a charm. Before I knew it, it was 4 hours later and I had gotten through a whole game with the controller. I lost, but that's no fault of the steam controller. It was Japan's fault, when the stabbed me in the back and we had a 135 year war. Anyways, yeah Steam controller.
Is it perfect no, it's not. However, I think the potential is there for you to really fall in love with the device. If the pros don't outweigh the cons for you, then wait for generation two. However, if you can look past the problems, then I can recommend the Steam controller... provided you don't have baby hands.
The Steam Controller can be bought from Here!
Image Used from: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51bJI-6A2OL._SX425_.jpg
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