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Comment by tylerkahn | Hacker News Reader

I think it actually is considering that both games he played were platformers (SMB and Spelunky).

The 360 controller is pretty much the ideal controller for that genre so if the Steam controller can reach parity that's a big deal.

The real test is how it performs with twitch FPSs and games like DOTA.

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I really don't think you can call the 360 controller "ideal" for platformers with its unusable d-pad. Or do people actually use sticks for platformers these days?

Since the Wii U's not selling so well, most people probably don't know about it, but I think the Wii U Pro Controller is probably the best modern controller for classic gaming. It's basically a 360 controller with Nintendo quality. And people have already written drivers for Windows and OS X, and support was added to Linux in 3.11.

Most people do actually use the stick for platformers.

As someone who has wasted a lot of their life on DOTA2, I can't see me playing it with a controller. There's just too much accuracy involved in clicking for that (and that's saying something, because the accuracy required is nowhere near that of an FPS).

The dota2 quick-chat wheel suddenly just made sense.

Well, that's just good design, I don't think they were explicitly thinking of the controller.

Does DOTA2 really require that much less accuracy? I've found in FPS games, the amount of accuracy required is often proportional to the time you have to make the shot, while in DOTA2 it goes the other way- the more units on-screen, the less time you have to act, and the more difficult it is to select the right unit.

I guess it depends, if you're sniping you need a lot of accuracy. Then again, I can't say I've never ultied a creep...

Right, but if you're sniping you generally have time to chose your shot, and more than a few seconds to make it. In DOTA2 in the middle of a teamfight, the whole tide of the engagement can change in 1-2 seconds, and when there's creeps everywhere it can get more difficult to mouse-select your target.

Long time Halo veteran here so i dont really see why this would pose problems on FPS games.

Microsoft tried pitting average pc players against pro console players. [1] Guess what happened? The pro's got destroyed... Skill in Halo is mostly coping with the bad controller. Skill in Counter-Strike is very different...

[1]http://www.rahulsood.com/2010/07/console-gamers-get-killed-a...

Agreed. Having said that, I think something like this would work:

For clicking and targeting, you have the touch screen. Dota 2 is a 5vs5 player game. Controller can display all your enemies on the touch screen, just as you'd normally see their profile pictures at the top of your screen. You can click on their profile pictures to target them when they're visible on the map etc. As for the movement, I think movement could be much better with a game controller. You probably can not click on a map and wait for your hero to go to the spot you've clicked on, but you can direct him there with one of the touchpads.

I think another big problem would be using the shops. In the current style of the game, I don't think it'd be possible to use the shops with a controller because there are just too many items. Having said that, if Valve really wants people to play Dota 2 with a game controller, I'm sure they can implement some changes. Currently in game items are seperated in categories. They can use that wheel chat idea with the shop and let players browse through the items. I'm just brainstorming. It can be done. 2 different UI implementations for 2 different platforms, but one game.

I'm not saying these changes or even playing Dota 2 with a game controller would be ideal, but I think it's doable to make the game controller friendly. But there's no way in hell I'm going to give up on my mouse and keyboard for Dota 2 and most of the games that I play (apart from the sports games).

You can work the shops easily enough with the quick buy button, but there's no way in hell I'm taking my eyes off the screen when in a fight to look down at my controller so I can target someone. Neither would I like people to be able to auto-target in some way and get a competitive advantage over me.

Yeah, as I said, it wouldn't be ideal. Valve would pretty much have to change the whole interface to make it more controller friendly.

Take it from a guy who has actually played it with a controller. I played LoL with a xbox 360 usb controller. its nearly impossibly to get it right. I had figured that this wud be fun cuz i could map the spells to the buttons but the pointer movement is so not cool. I tried higher sensitivity and the pinter was running all over the place, so brought it low so i cud aim with precision but then turning an attack into a retreat took a LOT of time. It was just a crazy experience. Maybe we could get better at it over time but i dont see why anyone would sacrifice their mouse advantage to play on a controller? it would be a huge disadvantage in a competitive game.

That is only because a controller doesn't work well with MOBAs.

Blizzard made really appealing console controls for Diablo3, i actually had more fun playing it than the PC version. If that would work for a competitive PvP MOBA is another story but i think it could work and player movement could even be more accurate!

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