A gaming phone controller accessory that connects physically to phone (With same layout and functionality like the Steam Controller, Steam Deck, and Steam Frame Controllers) Would be cheaper than regular Steam Controller
With FEX making x86 Steam games capable of working on ARM devices it will be cool to game on mobile with mobile controller that has the dual touch control pad things the hardware above has to go with the phone and what better way than another option aside from the actual controller. Plus it gives phone more of a Gameboy Advance type of feel to play like that
Maybe to incentivize more people to have that you can use gaming phone accessory wirelessly or wired connected to any Steam hardware for using your phone with the gaming phone controller accessory as controllers too
Like the idea? Not like the idea? Anyone wanna suggest changes/additions/etc to the idea to be better be my guest.
Also if anyone wants to suggest other stuff Valve can do then please do!! All of us together can ask for the ecosystem to grow in ways that are good and fun for us all!!
Trying to help make gaming better for us all!
All I want from Value is for them to continue to destroy everything that greedy game CEOs want to shove down gamers throats to pump their stock prices.
I love your enthusiasm but Valve makes hardware to sell more Steam games. I don’t think they would make a phone controller unless the intent was to push Steamlink. I could see a whole ecosystem of Steam products if the Machine takes off.
Official keyboard and mouse would be great for the Deck and Machine. When I’m not traveling or sitting at my desk I plug my Deck into my TV and having something native and Steam branded would be great because I enjoy playing FPS and RTS.
I would really like for Valve to put a mag on the back of the Deck, maybe for Deck 2. Like a Magsafe/MagGo. I have The Mechanism (Deckmate) and it’s fantastic, I really recommend it, the variety of parts and attachments really cover a lot of bases. But it’s not perfect, the clips sometimes break and they attach using double sided tape, so you have to peel it off and clean it up, then stick a new one on. Wireless charging on the Deck doesn’t seem practical but there’s a lot of great Mag stuff already out there.
Valve should also open up LAN play. If I have friends over and I have a PC/Steam Machine/Deck then I would like to be logged in on multiple systems if they’re connected via LAN instead of logging me out of the other PC if I try to launch a game while a game is running. I’m sure this is a built in security measure, but I’m sure a guest account would be do able, like on consoles.
A premium bag/case for the Deck. Check out The Mechanism Bag, it’s expensive but I believe it the best bag out there. I would like to see the Deck 2 come with a much better bag/case than the one the Deck came with. I carry a charger, battery pack, folding keyboard, mouse, headphones, kickstand, sometimes a HDMI combo charger and attach a pair of controllers. My son and I will play local multiplayer games on long trips. I can fit everything, except for the controllers, in The Mechanism Bag. But I attach the controllers to a carabiner to the bag.
This wouldn’t make sense for Valve to do but there might be third party accessories that fit that niche. Also, they released the CAD files for the old SC so they’ll prolly do it this time as well and when push comes to shove just design your own thingy.
Would be cheaper than regular Steam Controller
Why would Valve make the same Steam Controller again but with a phone cradle in the middle and somehow make this cheaper? It would need to house the same hardware components as the regular Steam Controller AND possibly add an active cooler.
That’s even less realistic than Valve managers reading posts on Lemmy.
Not personally interested because gaming on a phone feels like watching a film or a YT video on a phone to me, some sort of transgression, a line that isn’t meant to be crossed, science gone too far etc. but I do understand that many people do it, so maybe it’s not a bad idea, just not for me.
I think I’d prefer it if they took out the arm on-computer stuff out of the steam frame and just made a good PCVR headset with both streaming compressed jpeg slop wirelessly and decoding on headset and an option for proper lossless HDMI streaming + inside-out tracking over USB-C (one cable, two connectors on the PC end for convenience), costing about $500 bux and aimed at PCVR users with decent-ish hardware like 3090s etc.
The Steam Deck was a real home run for them. I guess we will see for sure when the new lineup but it sure seems like they’ve could become a competitive hardware company and I’d love to see what else is up their sleeve.
My long time wish has been for a truly open Linux based iPhone competitor. Maybe too far outside their wheelhouse still but can you imagine a Steam Phone?
That would be amazing!! Should have made a post about that a lot more people would want it
Hm maybe I will do that!
Maybe too far outside their wheelhouse still but can you imagine a Steam Phone?
Valve allows redistribution of the Steam client. Other than resources, there is little that would stop companies like Jolla to put the Steam client on their phones.
Controllers that hold your phone already exist.
So do normal controllers. So did gaming handhelds. So do PCs. So do VR headsets. I’m not sure what you’re point is.
The difference is each of those options from Valve offer things that traditional options do not. HDMI-CEC, trackpads, SteamOS, foveated streaming, etc.
Why could a phone controller not have innovations such as those? You mentioned track pads yourself.
Why could a phone controller not have innovations such as those?
OP didn’t ask for additional innovations, OP asked for “the same functionality as the Steam Controller” which the slot-in things + the phone’s touch screen already provide.
I mean, no phone controller has the same layout as the steam controller. If Valve could implement the software to support steaminput when streaming games to a phone from your PC or a cloud PC, that’d be kinda cool.
I’m also not saying I’d buy it or that Valve should make it, but a controller with feature parity with the Steam Controller would be an innovation.
Because phones already have touchpads on the screen. And games you would play on a phone would be optimized accordingly.
I suppose it’s not impossible, I’m just not sure there is any useful innovation to be had in that area.
The SteamDeck also has a touchscreen. If you’re using your phone to stream games from your PC, I’d imagine that track pads would be much better, similar to with the SteamDeck.
I personally have no use for playing games on my phone with a controller, that’s why I bought a SteamDeck, but there could definitely be room for innovation, both in hardware and software, especially if you take streaming into account. A good steam-input supported controller could turn your phone into a killer game-streaming machine.
The SteamDeck also has a touchscreen.
The Steam Deck has touchpads because many games are optimized for keyboard and mouse, not touchscreens. Phone games are not.
Not saying you’re wrong, just that there’s not a lot of value to be added there, in my opinion.
especially if you take streaming into account
I suppose that’s a fair point.
The other consideration is that if you need those things, you can just connect a Steam Controller, and get one of those cheap phone mounts to attach to it. No need for a new product.
The Steam Deck has touchpads because many games are optimized for keyboard and mouse, not touchscreens. Phone games are not.
I’d assume they want it for Steam remote play
Where touchpads?
On the screen
You’re looking for Mcon (or however it’s spelled).
