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AMD Catalyst 15.9 Includes Some Really Needed Fixes For Linux Gamers, Releases Soon
By calexil, 15 September 2015 at 8:19 pm UTC Likes: 1
Maybe Bioshock Infinite wont run like ass anymore?

Also, stoked about Alien: Isolation coming to Linux!!
Steam Controller Demo From Pax Prime With Valve Talking About It
By Beamboom, 15 September 2015 at 8:10 pm UTC Likes: 2
Quoting: ricki42When you connect it using a wire, it powers and communicates through the wire. You can choose whether you want to use it wired or wireless.

The perfect solution.
Steam Controller Demo From Pax Prime With Valve Talking About It
By ricki42, 15 September 2015 at 8:07 pm UTC Likes: 2
Quoting: fraghopperI much prefer a wired solution.

The just connect it using a USB cable.
Quoting a reddit comment from someone who has a controller:
QuoteI took out the batteries, unplugged receiver and plugged in the usb to check just for you. You'll be glad to know that everything still worked perfectly!
When you connect it using a wire, it powers and communicates through the wire. You can choose whether you want to use it wired or wireless.
PULSAR: Lost Colony, Indie Co-Op Spaceship Simulator, Now On Early Access
By Liam Dawe, 15 September 2015 at 8:03 pm UTC Likes: 1
Sadly, the battlestar GOLACTICA lasted all of 11 minutes after jumping into a system with enemy ships, and my weapons guy who joined my game couldn't hold them off. R.I.P GOLACTICA 1!
Steam Controller Demo From Pax Prime With Valve Talking About It
By Nyamiou, 15 September 2015 at 7:50 pm UTC Likes: 1
Here an easy solution for those that do not like AA batteries :
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Steam Controller Demo From Pax Prime With Valve Talking About It
By fraghopper, 15 September 2015 at 7:44 pm UTC
I much prefer a wired solution.
Steam Controller Demo From Pax Prime With Valve Talking About It
By Keyrock, 15 September 2015 at 7:44 pm UTC Likes: 1
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Steam Controller Demo From Pax Prime With Valve Talking About It
By Mountain Man, 15 September 2015 at 7:25 pm UTC Likes: 1
It uses a standard mini-USB plug.
Steam Controller Demo From Pax Prime With Valve Talking About It
By ricki42, 15 September 2015 at 6:52 pm UTC Likes: 2
Quoting: LinasI will only buy it if it comes in a wired variety. I think there is enough waste in the world without me dumping a bunch of batteries every week.

You can use the controller wired or wireless. From what I've read, when you connect it via wire you can remove the batteries.
Steam Controller Demo From Pax Prime With Valve Talking About It
By Linas, 15 September 2015 at 6:42 pm UTC Likes: 4
I will only buy it if it comes in a wired variety. I think there is enough waste in the world without me dumping a bunch of batteries every week.

Also, from a purely practical perspective: I do not use a gamepad for all the games, so it may be laying around for a while. No fun finding out that the batteries are dead and need recharging / replacing when I do want to use it. Also, all the wireless input devices I have tried, had all sorts of stability and accuracy problems when not on full charge. Like a keyboard repeating key strokes, or a mouse pointer jumping around.

That said I do trip over the cables from time to time, so I know the sentiment. Hope they make both versions, so we can all be happy. :)
Steam Controller Demo From Pax Prime With Valve Talking About It
By miro, 15 September 2015 at 6:38 pm UTC
@FutureSuture

I didn't mean it that way - my idea was to have no proprietary battery pack built into the controller fore sure - I meant replaceable batteries of course, + the ability to recharge them via cable.

As a technician and with more than 500mA coming from any USB port I see no real reason why one would not be able to charge them. Surely, this requires some technology in there and a max. capacity allowed, but I'd see it as a benefit in any way.

But true, some built in pack that can not be replaced, is true BS, I was not even thinking about that
Steam Controller Demo From Pax Prime With Valve Talking About It
By ricki42, 15 September 2015 at 6:02 pm UTC
Just got an email from Steam to verify my shipping address by Sep. 25. Looking forward to getting my hands on the controller!
Steam Controller Demo From Pax Prime With Valve Talking About It
By linux_gamer, 15 September 2015 at 5:47 pm UTC
Quoting: ricki42From a reddit comment:
I have around 40 hours of gameplay with it and all have 82% battery life left.

If this is true, that's impressive. Even if the 82% are way off and it's 10% left, getting >40 hours is pretty good.
It's probably witchcraft, but most likely a game which uses no controller rumble.

The battery location seems to be good from a design and weight balance standpoint, but if you have to change them its almost double the work.

I'm interested in the lifespan of the touch pads, as I carved the analog sticks of my XBOX 360 controllers with my -- obviously not gnawed -- fingernails.
Steam Controller Demo From Pax Prime With Valve Talking About It
By lvlark, 15 September 2015 at 5:46 pm UTC
Quoting: FutureSutureAs you can see, some gamers aren't thrilled by the idea of using AA batteries. I, however, am ecstatic that Valve chose to go with the superior choice of allowing gamers to use rechargeable AA batteries as opposed to a proprietary battery pack built into the controller that will someday not be able to hold a charge. rendering the controller a useless brick. Now that's bad for the environment!

Should it not be able to charge AA batteries? I mean, just because its batteries aren't proprietary (which is a good thing) doesn't mean it can't also act as a charger..

Quoting: feyerbrand5 meters is 16 feet. That doesn't seem short at all.

But as it says at the linked page: Actual results may vary. If it turns out to be 2-3 meters in your specific living room that could turn out to be too short. Personally, I have a HDMI-cable running from my desktop to my TV, which easily adds a meter to the distance the controllers have to cover.
But maybe Valve is sensible enough to not put idealised measurements up on their product description? Although alot of companies aren't...
Steam Controller Demo From Pax Prime With Valve Talking About It
By feyerbrand, 15 September 2015 at 5:00 pm UTC
Quoting: MaxPower
Quoting: miroI still see an issue there - the controllers/batteries can not be charged when a wire is attached.
Hopefully some third party company might do some battery pack for it (The same way the wii had some)
Quoting: ricki42EDIT to add: Estimated 5 meters of wireless communications range.
Is it me or is it a bit short ? Is it 5 meters in an ideal environment and 2-3 meters in real life ?

Still looking forward to it though.

5 meters is 16 feet. That doesn't seem short at all.
Don't Count On Any EA Frostbite Powered Games On Linux
By Liam Dawe, 15 September 2015 at 4:36 pm UTC
Quoting: tuubi
Quoting: oldrocker99Currently, the total concurrent Steam users is ~7.85 million. Even if it's only 1%, 1% of 7, 850,000 is 785,000 or 863,500 if 1.1% and 1,020,500 if 1.3%.
You better check that math, good man. :) 7 580 000 * 0.01 = 75 800.

We are the 1%, not the 0.01% ;)
Steam Controller Demo From Pax Prime With Valve Talking About It
By mao_dze_dun, 15 September 2015 at 4:35 pm UTC
Quoting: CreakI think this SteamController has a huge potential in e-sport games. Each player can customize its own controller layout. It would not only be about the game techniques, but also about how smart the player customized his controller for, say, a specific street fighter character. Then, as an amateur, you could use the same layout as this e-sport player, or that one...

I see also lots of other use case, but this one just popped in my mind.

I seriously doubt it. It lacks the precision for FPS games, precision and buttons for RTS and MOBA and pro fighting game players use special custom controllers.
Steam Controller Demo From Pax Prime With Valve Talking About It
By FutureSuture, 15 September 2015 at 4:31 pm UTC Likes: 5
Quoting: miroI still see an issue there - the controllers/batteries can not be charged when a wire is attached.

That is kinda annoying, one would have to have rechargeable ones + a charger. Honestly, I know this from friends who have a XBox and call me for gaming, saying something like hey bro, bring a 12 pack of batteries from the store, we're gonna need them.

This actually means that people are not always having chargers or appropriate batteries, hence battery sales go up, but these little things are really not healthy for our environment. So it is a question of mother nature, our money, ..and last but not least it is unconvincing for gamers to have a battery box instead of just plugging that thing in once a session is finished to recharge overnight.

Seriously, I want it built-in into that controller, don't tell me to buy a charger and 2 times the rechargeables, since one pair of these has to be in the gamepad, the other one in the charger to swap them every now and then. That is BS.
This has been discussed to death on the Steam Controller's forum on Steam. It has been established that rechargeable batteries that you can switch out with ease are a superior solution to a proprietary battery pack built into the controller. I'll link you to the two biggest of these threads so you can see why it most certainly is not bullshit.

It uses batteries?

AA Batteries?

As you can see, some gamers aren't thrilled by the idea of using AA batteries. I, however, am ecstatic that Valve chose to go with the superior choice of allowing gamers to use rechargeable AA batteries as opposed to a proprietary battery pack built into the controller that will someday not be able to hold a charge. rendering the controller a useless brick. Now that's bad for the environment!
Steam Controller Demo From Pax Prime With Valve Talking About It
By MayeulC, 15 September 2015 at 4:00 pm UTC
Quoting: GuestOn the contrary, wireless sucks and I’d much prefer if it was wired.

Just attach a micro usb, and the data goes trough there.

Is it just me, or we didn't learn anything new in this video?
Don't Count On Any EA Frostbite Powered Games On Linux
By tuubi, 15 September 2015 at 3:05 pm UTC Likes: 1
Quoting: oldrocker99Currently, the total concurrent Steam users is ~7.85 million. Even if it's only 1%, 1% of 7, 850,000 is 785,000 or 863,500 if 1.1% and 1,020,500 if 1.3%.
You better check that math, good man. :) 7 580 000 * 0.01 = 75 800.
Steam Controller Demo From Pax Prime With Valve Talking About It
By ricki42, 15 September 2015 at 2:33 pm UTC Likes: 3
Quoting: miroThat is kinda annoying, one would have to have rechargeable ones + a charger. Honestly, I know this from friends who have a XBox and call me for gaming, saying something like hey bro, bring a 12 pack of batteries from the store, we're gonna need them.

From a reddit comment:
I have around 40 hours of gameplay with it and all have 82% battery life left.

If this is true, that's impressive. Even if the 82% are way off and it's 10% left, getting >40 hours is pretty good.
Company of Heroes 2 Reviewed For Linux
By PublicNuisance, 15 September 2015 at 2:26 pm UTC
I'll give kudos to Feral and to Sega for giving us the Linux version but i'll give them even bigger props if they maintain it and fix some of these issues down the road.
Steam Controller Demo From Pax Prime With Valve Talking About It
By Creak, 15 September 2015 at 2:23 pm UTC Likes: 2
I think this SteamController has a huge potential in e-sport games. Each player can customize its own controller layout. It would not only be about the game techniques, but also about how smart the player customized his controller for, say, a specific street fighter character. Then, as an amateur, you could use the same layout as this e-sport player, or that one...

I see also lots of other use case, but this one just popped in my mind.
Steam Controller Demo From Pax Prime With Valve Talking About It
By MaxPower, 15 September 2015 at 2:19 pm UTC Likes: 1
Quoting: miroI still see an issue there - the controllers/batteries can not be charged when a wire is attached.
Hopefully some third party company might do some battery pack for it (The same way the wii had some)
Quoting: ricki42EDIT to add: Estimated 5 meters of wireless communications range.
Is it me or is it a bit short ? Is it 5 meters in an ideal environment and 2-3 meters in real life ?

Still looking forward to it though.
Don't Count On Any EA Frostbite Powered Games On Linux
By oldrocker99, 15 September 2015 at 2:11 pm UTC
Currently, the total concurrent Steam users is ~7.85 million. Even if it's only 1%, 1% of 7, 850,000 is 785,000 or 863,500 if 1.1% and 1,020,500 if 1.3%. That's a pretty big audience, regardless. Quit using percentages and look at the actual Linux users total.

OK, EA?
Steam Controller Demo From Pax Prime With Valve Talking About It
By miro, 15 September 2015 at 2:04 pm UTC Likes: 1
@stan

I believe one has the option either to wire it or not
Steam Controller Demo From Pax Prime With Valve Talking About It
By miro, 15 September 2015 at 2:01 pm UTC Likes: 1
I still see an issue there - the controllers/batteries can not be charged when a wire is attached.

That is kinda annoying, one would have to have rechargeable ones + a charger. Honestly, I know this from friends who have a XBox and call me for gaming, saying something like hey bro, bring a 12 pack of batteries from the store, we're gonna need them.

This actually means that people are not always having chargers or appropriate batteries, hence battery sales go up, but these little things are really not healthy for our environment. So it is a question of mother nature, our money, ..and last but not least it is unconvincing for gamers to have a battery box instead of just plugging that thing in once a session is finished to recharge overnight.

Seriously, I want it built-in into that controller, don't tell me to buy a charger and 2 times the rechargeables, since one pair of these has to be in the gamepad, the other one in the charger to swap them every now and then. That is BS.
Steam Controller Demo From Pax Prime With Valve Talking About It
By Liam Dawe, 15 September 2015 at 1:41 pm UTC Likes: 1
Yeah it's very much wireless don't worry heh.

I'm just really exciting to feel the pads for movement and looking in FPS games, I can't currently get my head around how it would work.
Steam Controller Demo From Pax Prime With Valve Talking About It
By Beamboom, 15 September 2015 at 1:40 pm UTC Likes: 1
Yeah I got it confirmed on the GOL IRC channel now. I almost choked my coffe here I sat.

Thanks, man.
Steam Controller Demo From Pax Prime With Valve Talking About It
By ricki42, 15 September 2015 at 1:33 pm UTC Likes: 3
Quoting: BeamboomWired? Seriously? A WIRED controller in 2015? For a livingroom "console-PC"? You got to be kidding me, and kidding me hard. That cable must go. Please tell me this is a prototype or something.

It works wirelessly, runs off batteries.
When you see controllers/games demonstrated at any sort of press conference or convention, the controllers are usually wired. I guess they just want to make sure they don't run out of battery or avoid interference with the next booth.

EDIT to add: Estimated 5 meters of wireless communications range.
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