Skip to main content

Alienware finally improved PC gaming controllers, but this one’s still not perfect

The CES 2025 logo.
Read and watch our complete CES coverage here

Dell is expanding its Concept Nyx efforts with a vital piece of kit: an Alienware-branded controller. A controller isn’t something I’d normally write about; they’re a dime a dozen. But this concept has some unique ideas, even if it still needs some work before it’s ready for prime time.

First, let’s discuss Concept Nyx. Alienware debuted this idea at last year’s CES, and it’s expanding on the idea this year. Nyx is a whole-house server, and the idea is that you can carry your gameplay to any screen you have. Move from the desktop onto the couch and pick up immediately — and I do mean immediately — where you left off. If someone else is playing a game or using the server for anything else, you can even split the screen and enjoy Cyberpunk 2077 while someone else is ranking up in Overwatch 2 or chatting on a video call.

Dell Concept Nyx controller in hand.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

Adding a controller to this setup is more significant than it might seem at first. Dell designed this gamepad specifically with Concept Nyx in mind. At first glance, it’s derivative of PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X controllers. You get the general shape of an Xbox controller, but Dell positioned the thumb sticks at the bottom, like on Sony’s DualSense.

Recommended Videos

On top, the most significant change is the D-pad, which isn’t a D-pad at all. It’s a circular touchpad that Dell calls the Omnipad, and it’s not dissimilar from the touchpads you find on Valve’s Steam Controller (thoughit’s  a whole lot smaller). This dial allows you to use an on-screen overlay to access a variety of commands that are customized to the game you’re playing.

You can load up the dial with eight (or more) abilities in Guild Wars 2 and simply swipe in the direction to execute them. If that’s not enough, use one of the two back paddles as a Shift key to bring up a rotary menu of your items, allowing you access to dozens of inputs that normally wouldn’t be possible on a controller.

 

That’s not even the most futuristic tech in the controller either. A fingerprint sensor is built into the Alienware logo. Imagine if signing onto Steam from your couch was as simple signing into an app on your phone. This is just a concept, but it’s a damn compelling one if you’ve ever struggled through PC gaming in the living room.

There’s also a microphone allowing for voice commands — “Alexa, load Destiny 2” — and Wi-Fi built in, allowing you to simply point at the screen you want to play on and connect with the press of a trigger.

My personal favorite feature has to be the dual scroll wheels positioned on the bottom edge of the controller. You can use them to adjust your volume with a handy LED readout at the bottom of the gamepad, but also adjust the resistance of the sticks and triggers on the fly. Dell is even including the idea of Adaptive Triggers from Sony’s DualSense, and in a way that you can adjust right on the controller.

Scroll wheels on the Concept Nyx controller.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

This is just a concept right now, though, and Dell needs to go through a lot of iterations before this controller is ready. For starters, it’s definitely a B-movie gamepad experience. It’s not the perfectly refined feel of an Xbox or PlayStation controller that effortlessly fits in your hand. It feels more like a controller from SteelSeries or Razer or PowerA — just a little off. That’s mainly because the controller is flat on top, rather than having the smooth curves on Microsoft and Sony designs.

The Omnipad needs a lot of work, too. It’s stationary, so you don’t get the eight directions of input that you find on the Steam Deck’s touchpads. The haptics included in some of the controller models helps, but there isn’t any way to physically press like you could on an eight-way D-pad. That’s a killer for platformers and the frequent double presses you need in fighting games.

Dell’s demo didn’t fully work when I saw the controller, and instead relied on a short video to show the overlays and software. That’s a critical aspect of this controller that would need to work, and I imagine the design team has a long way to go on that front.

Omnipad on the Alienware Concept Nyx controller.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

This is a concept not dissimilar from Dell’s oddly prophetic Concept UFO we saw a few years back. That means we might not ever see the Concept Nyx controller on the market, and if we do, it won’t be for several years. That would be a shame, though.

The design clearly needs some work, but it also holds some promising features that could make the future of couch PC gaming much more practical — with or without Concept Nyx at the helm.

Jacob Roach
Former Lead Reporter, PC Hardware
Jacob Roach is the lead reporter for PC hardware at Digital Trends. In addition to covering the latest PC components, from…
I broke HyperX’s new gaming mouse — on purpose
The HyperX Saga Pro with its components taken apart.

I've already gotten my hands on a lot of new tech at CES 2025, and I'm always careful. You never want to break a precious prototype that needs to be handled by hundreds of hands during the course of the week. So, you can imagine my surprise when HyperX put a broken gaming mouse into my hands and told me that it was broken on purpose -- in fact, it was designed that way.

Of course, the HyperX Pulsefire Saga and Saga Pro aren't broken -- though, I understand if the image above gives you pause. This is HyperX's bid at a customizable gaming mouse, providing you a solid foundation to build off of with your own buttons and heel. This is far from the first customizable gaming mouse, but it might be the first one that actually catches on.

Read more
Samsung’s pair of new gaming monitors includes a 500Hz OLED
Fortnite running on the Samsung Odyssey OLED G6 at CES 2024.

If you thought CES 2025 wouldn't be exciting for OLED gaming monitors, you're wrong. Samsung is already setting the stage for the show with a pair of new OLED gaming monitors under its Odyssey brand, one of which takes the display tech to places it's never gone before with a blistering 500Hz refresh rate.

The Odyssey OLED G6 is a new 27-inch 1440p QD-OLED offering from Samsung that can reach 500Hz, which is a massive leap forward for OLED displays. Last year, we saw monitors like the Alienware 27 QD-OLED that could clear 360Hz at 1440p, as well as dual refresh rate displays like the LG UltraGear Dual Mode OLED that could reach 480Hz at 1080p. With Samsung's new display, you have can have your cake and eat it, too -- you get a full 1440p resolution and that insane 500Hz refresh rate.

Read more
Samsung blew me away with its 3D gaming monitor prototype last year — now, it’s a real product
Lies of P on Samsung's glasses-free 3D gaming monitor at CES 2024.

Flash back almost exactly a year to the day. I was sitting in a half-built demo area playing on a Samsung prototype gaming monitor. The company had loaded up Lies of P -- one of my favorite games of last year -- and I was proceeding through a midgame Mad Clown Puppet mini-boss. It wasn't just standard gameplay, though. It was glasses-free 3D, and it worked well enough that I was able to play a game as difficult as Lies of P amid construction noise and blinding lights without breaking a sweat.

At CES 2025, Samsung is turning that prototype into a real product with the Odyssey 3D.

Read more