Hey guys this is Austin. Is this the future of game controllers? Valve usually does things
differently and the Steam Controller is no exception. Pop open the box and you’ll see
the controller itself and a few accessories like a USB cable, the included wireless dongle
and AA batteries. The Steam Controller has a very different layout that you’re probably
used to, we’ve got a single traditional stick and face buttons but two trackpads up
top. Everything about this controller takes a lot of getting used to, even something as
simple as having the face buttons on the bottom right feels totally backward. The single control
stick works well enough, it has a grippy surface with a convex shape like the PS3. You’ll
see the traditional shoulder buttons and triggers on top and a pair of built in paddles on the
back, this actually works really nicely although you’ll probably have to remap these manually
as most games assume you’re using a 360 controller. One thing I’m not a huge fan
of is the feel in the hand. The plastic feels a little cheap and it doesn’t have the same
reassuring heft that the Xbox controller has. The shape buries itself into your palms which
feels fine but there’s a fair bit of glossy plastic which gets coated in fingerprints
almost immediately. The weirdest thing by far though are the trackpads. That name isn’t
a coincidence, it feels a lot like a laptop touchpad where you would normally find a thumbstick.
The other side is a giant D-pad which works fine although it’s definitely not the most
precise thing I’ve ever tried. On the complete other end of the spectrum we’ve got the
new Xbox One Elite Controller. Open this up and you’re immediately greeted by a hard
shell carrying pouch. While this might be a little unnecessary for a normal controller
it comes in handy for the Elite as it’s modular. The thumbsticks and D-pad are interchangeable
and all of your options fit inside the case. One of the first things that jumped out to
me is just how rock solid it feels, it has a satisfying heft and feels like it’s up
to some serious abuse. Flip the controller over and you’ll find something else that
makes this special, customizable paddles. These can be mapped to any of the normal buttons
on the controller and you can pull them off easily thanks to magnets, it’s a really
dope setup. You’ll also find a pair of bump stops for the triggers, this allows you to
shorten the amount of travel independently which can be helpful for some types of games.
For the thumbsticks you have three options, the standard sticks from the Xbox One controller,
a convex stick and the standard option that’s much taller. Like the paddles these are magnetic
which makes swapping them dead simple and they still feel solid while gaming. You can
mix and match these as much as you like which could lead to some interesting combos depending
on what games you play. The same goes for the D-pad, you can use the normal style or
a faceted version which feels a little mushy but makes a lot of sense for fighting games.
It also has a switch to move between custom profiles along with the same headphone and
headset jacks from the latest Xbox One controller. The cool thing about the Elite controller
is that all of this works not only on the Xbox One but also on Windows. Setting things
up is simple, just download the Xbox Accessories app and you can load premade configurations
or make your own. You can really go in-depth with this by remapping buttons and even adjusting
the sensitivity of the triggers and sticks. It’s not all great news though, the Elite
controller still comes with AA batteries out of the box and while it works wirelessly with
the Xbox you’ll need to use the included cable or buy a wireless adapter to play on
PC. So when you put it all together how do the Steam Controller and Xbox Elite stack
up? The Steam Controller is weird. Very weird. Not only does it have odd button placement
but the touchpads just feel backwards. The best way to use them is less like a laptop
trackpad and more like a typical thumbstick which in theory works but in practice is incredibly
hard to get used to. With enough practice you could probably get good with the pads
and they make sense for some traditional PC games that use a mouse and keyboard but for
the most part it really feels like Valve are trying to fix something that just isn’t
broken. The Xbox Elite on the other hand is the traditional controller taken to the extreme.
As it’s based on the Xbox One controller it feels familiar but they’ve tweaked the
feel of the buttons and sticks and it’s a welcome change. The paddles can be helpful
for when you want to keep both thumbs on the sticks and the bump stops are nice for quick
reactions especially with shooting games. There’s really not much to complain about,
especially once you start customizing things it’s a rock solid controller. The Steam
Controller is a lot cheaper and while it tries some new things it just doesn’t make much
sense when you can spend $10 more to get a normal Xbox One controller. The Elite on the
other hand is about as premium as it gets, Microsoft made what’s one of the best controllers
period but it comes with a steep $150 price tag to match. So what do you guys think about
these controllers? Let me know over on Snapchat and I will catch you in the next one.