No One Innovates like Valve

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I love the way they operate as a company and the way they create. They don’t always hit 100% of the time, and nobody does, but man when they do is it something special.

Steam Input is the biggest reason why I got the Steam Deck. The ability to remap the controls or include gyro is really appealing to me.

Nintendo came up with the cross shaped directional pad for their Game & Watch series of handheld games. They even patented the design. However, the patent did little to discourage competitors because they simply had to use a different shape (like a circle) for their own directional pads. Nintendo couldn't stop them because there was prior art in that the Mattel Intellivision console had circle shaped directional pads. They had no markings or raised portions, but they were essentially directional pads.

valve is such an awesome company. The fact that we are getting more storage for the price on this new revision steam deck is insane. Also, just all the little revisions that they made to it. They could’ve just slapped the OLED screen on it and called it a day but no, they improved a lot of other things as well.

Bill's old videos on configuring steam input on controllers was invaluable when i made a layout for the lord of the rings online. it's truly the best feature of steam input.

I love Steam Input. I sometimes find it as enjoyable to 'program' in a controller scheme for a game as actually playing the game (there have been games where I would spend more time on controls than in the game at the start). One recent thing I'm proud of is my Diablo 4 (toggle to M&K with a button) config, which my PS5 friend that I play with hates, because he can't hover over items, skills, link stuff in chat quick or even chat. You can't even organize your chests as they will be placed and taken out at the first available spot when you press [A]. With a mouse, you just pick them up and drop them where you want. All the menus are on a virtual Steam menu so no more bumpers to go to other screens and much more. I love it :) - I also want to give a shoutout to Steam's Notes, which are very helpful so you don't have to alt-tab or use your phone to check something. I have some of those set up too. But as for copy-ing Valve... You're right... We're seeing these new handhelds coming out that do try and pack their devices with gyro, trackpads and all sorts of extra buttons. So from a hardware perspective they may be comparable, but they are no where near when it comes to software, that's for sure.

One of the reasons the Steam Controller was so amazing was that it actually sent the configuration down to the firmware level. So when you pressed a button, it would actually respond with the key it was mapped to, it didn't have to go through a translation layer like you would see with the numerous controller to keyboard programs for the PS3 and PS4 controllers. It didn't add latency because it was legitimately just sending "w" when you pushed the stick forward, instead of sending the analog axis value, then determining which axis it was, and checking against some threshold value, then finally converting it to "w". Yes, that doesn't take that much time, but it still takes time, thus adding latency. Cutting out the middle man made the Steam Controller so amazing. I really wish Valve had kept the hardware enabled dual stage triggers. You can still get it through software, but I don't think it is as good. Those with the gyro and touch pads made the Steam Controller feel so good and it was a lot of fun to play with.

The Steam Deck is the most comfortable controller I’ve ever used.

When I first got the deck I wasn’t really fond of the trackpads. I felt they took too much space and that I won’t be using them. But after playing zombie army 4 and doom 3 with the right trackpad for camera control and pressing the trackpad for shooting, I can’t see myself go back to a joystick for camera control. They really are awesome

You know that USB port on the front of the index? Valve said themselves that they included it for the community to develop their own additions for the index on. They released a VR headset with features inviting and encouraging community development. Absolutely amazing.

I realized how incredible steam input is, when installing mods to my games on the deck. Often mod menus are tied to hotkeys like "insert", "f11", "f12" etc. and I used a wireless keyboard at first to manage that up until I realized I could simply reconfigure the backpedals to the hotkeys I need.

I've got 5 Steam Controllers. One is on it's last leg and has already had the bumper mechanism replaced several times with 3D printed parts. I still have 2 controllers new in box, never opened.

The steam deck, is the single most impressive piece of Hardware I have owned, I am a software engineer who studied along olympiad finalists, I am not easy to impress. It is a dream, truly, it is so good that I can notice the effects physically! I literally go on the treadmill with it. It is more powerful than many PCs and the 800p resolution is perfect! And the fact that it is fucking comfortable unlike the switch which is a nightmare to hold with my man hands is amazing.

Love these style of videos bill! Keep up the great work

I am very much looking forward to a steam controller 2 based on the deck's controls.

"There is a new king when it comes to video game controller Innovations and its valve, and it's been that way for a long time, but that hasn't always been the case." This opening sentence broke my brain lol. Great video!

For other console makers, they are stuck with their new inputs if not adopted each time they innovate on their own because game dev might not be interested in it. However Steam being naturally a PC has an advantage on making a custom input without ruining game dev's original intended input. Last innovation that was adopted universally was the PS2 controller layout i guess.

I'd argue that the best part of the steam controller was the haptic feedback. It made the trackpads come alive and gave me important input in regards to button presses.

My very first Steam Deck arrived about two hours ago. Currently installing Dragon's Dogma. Very excited :)