Delivery: Ordered on the 2nd March 2016 - Recieved: 8th March 2016 - Expected delivery between 4/8 days so great delivery overall.

Build Quality

The controller just feels like it could break easily. It's like a choice between an official xbox controller to some third party controller where the steam controller is the third party quality, It's lacking that human quality to ensure that every piece of the product is the best it can be. the shell doesn't feel like it's connected properly or screwed in tight enough, there is a gap that I feel between the top and bottom shell around the whole controller that doesn't feel flush, honestly, with a little effort you could probably cut yourself on it.

The pads feel nice to the touch but again, the quality of them just look dodgy. On my controller there is a embelishment of the left pad on the top where it looks like the pads coating hasn't been applied correctly e.g. http://www.technodabbler.com/content/images/2015/12/DPP_0008.JPG]Picture Example Look at the right at the top left of it. These kind of defects seem to be common.

The buttons feel okay, they aren't anything special but not bad either, maybe on the slightly small side and placement questionable. especially the Y and B button being to close to the right pad but I'll get to that later. The triggers feel great but I feel they are slightly small, like the travel distance just isn't enough, the "second trigger click" is sublime, brilliant feature. The analogue stick again feels slightly on the shallow side, so sensitivity isn't quite as fine tuned as you'll want it to be. The back paddles are great, but the build and placement of them directly onto the removable cover is a bit awkward, the plastic feels rigid enough but the whole back plate doesn't ooze confidence. I won't complain about the battery compartment, That's just some weird over engineering going on there, but hey, it works and feels sturdy.

The haptic feedback, This is one part I expected it to shine over my cheap huawei phones haptics, but for some reason, they just don't feel right in some instances they work great and others fall flat. you could compare it to what an audiophole would say about flat tinny cans over a quality set of cans. It does the job for the time being.

Right that's enough of the build quality for now, add amendments if I feel I missed anything important.

Gaming

Any game built with controllers first in mind: Pretty much any controller based game will feel right at home with the additional influence of gyro if you'll like to use it the lack of a second analogue stick makes the transition slightly harder to grasp but not by much, you can tweak the settings, but it can be a chore, but that's where the user made configs come in handy. your game resolution may differ from the user so take that into consideration and tweak accordingly.

Racing: If you can race with a controller, you can race with this controller, there is barely any difference other then he addition of using gyro if you want to.

RTS: No idea yet, Havent been brave enough to attempt yet, but if its as awkward as using the desktop, It won't be pretty until vast amount of more experience and learning has been done.

FPS: This is a mixed bag, If I was to say that a controller was a 2/10 and a mouse was a 10/10 I'll say that the steam controller is a 5/10. you'll spend a lot of time tweaking the controller to get the satisfactory results you want, and then there is the learning curve, do you keep the trackball effect, do you combine the gyro aiming (Got to admit, that is pretty awesome for precise movements) do you assign aiming and shooting to the trigger and the "second trigger click"? That's all down to you, I went with attempting to combine them all and found the trackball to be quite annoying so had to tweak that a bit. The trigger aiming and shooting is a mixed bag, If there was more travel distance between the trigger and second trigger click I think it would of been fine but in its current state you have to be actively aware of how far you are pressing on the trigger which just takes away from the experience.

Right, that's a wrap for now. Will update this more and then in a month or quarter of a year will add upon this.

[h1]TLDR: Build quality is second rate, technology is interesting, software is a mixed bag. you can and will have fun with this controller after extensive tweaking and learning. I would not recommend the controller in it's current build quality state, BUT, if you have some disposable income and want to go explore, go ahead.[/h1] [h1][u][b]Very early Initial Impression as of 11 March 2016[/b][/u][/h1] [b]Delivery[/b]: Ordered on the 2nd March 2016 - Recieved: 8th March 2016 - Expected delivery between 4/8 days so great delivery overall. [b]Build Quality[/b] The controller just feels like it could break easily. It's like a choice between an official xbox controller to some third party controller where the steam controller is the third party quality, It's lacking that human quality to ensure that every piece of the product is the best it can be. the shell doesn't feel like it's connected properly or screwed in tight enough, there is a gap that I feel between the top and bottom shell around the whole controller that doesn't feel flush, honestly, with a little effort you could probably cut yourself on it. The pads feel nice to the touch but again, the quality of them just look dodgy. On my controller there is a embelishment of the left pad on the top where it looks like the pads coating hasn't been applied correctly e.g. [url=]http://www.technodabbler.com/content/images/2015/12/DPP_0008.JPG]Picture Example [/url] Look at the right at the top left of it. These kind of defects seem to be common. The buttons feel okay, they aren't anything special but not bad either, maybe on the slightly small side and placement questionable. especially the Y and B button being to close to the right pad but I'll get to that later. The triggers feel great but I feel they are slightly small, like the travel distance just isn't enough, the "second trigger click" is sublime, brilliant feature. The analogue stick again feels slightly on the shallow side, so sensitivity isn't quite as fine tuned as you'll want it to be. The back paddles are great, but the build and placement of them directly onto the removable cover is a bit awkward, the plastic feels rigid enough but the whole back plate doesn't ooze confidence. I won't complain about the battery compartment, That's just some weird over engineering going on there, but hey, it works and feels sturdy. The haptic feedback, This is one part I expected it to shine over my cheap huawei phones haptics, but for some reason, they just don't feel right in some instances they work great and others fall flat. you could compare it to what an audiophole would say about flat tinny cans over a quality set of cans. It does the job for the time being. Right that's enough of the build quality for now, add amendments if I feel I missed anything important. [b]Gaming[/b] Any game built with controllers first in mind: Pretty much any controller based game will feel right at home with the additional influence of gyro if you'll like to use it the lack of a second analogue stick makes the transition slightly harder to grasp but not by much, you can tweak the settings, but it can be a chore, but that's where the user made configs come in handy. your game resolution may differ from the user so take that into consideration and tweak accordingly. [u]Racing[/u]: If you can race with a controller, you can race with this controller, there is barely any difference other then he addition of using gyro if you want to. [u]RTS[/u]: No idea yet, Havent been brave enough to attempt yet, but if its as awkward as using the desktop, It won't be pretty until vast amount of more experience and learning has been done. [u]FPS[/u]: This is a mixed bag, If I was to say that a controller was a 2/10 and a mouse was a 10/10 I'll say that the steam controller is a 5/10. you'll spend a lot of time tweaking the controller to get the satisfactory results you want, and then there is the learning curve, do you keep the trackball effect, do you combine the gyro aiming (Got to admit, that is pretty awesome for precise movements) do you assign aiming and shooting to the trigger and the "second trigger click"? That's all down to you, I went with attempting to combine them all and found the trackball to be quite annoying so had to tweak that a bit. The trigger aiming and shooting is a mixed bag, If there was more travel distance between the trigger and second trigger click I think it would of been fine but in its current state you have to be actively aware of how far you are pressing on the trigger which just takes away from the experience. Right, that's a wrap for now. Will update this more and then in a month or quarter of a year will add upon this.