PS3 Wireless Pads Banned At Evo
Aris ON Tuesday, May 3, 2011 at 2:51PM 
I wasn't aware of this. Big thanks to TestYourMight.com for bringing it to my attention. Here is the original post by MrWizard.
Evolution 2011 is a Bring-Your-Own-Controller event. We provide the consoles, games, monitors and speakers for every game station, but it's up to the players to bring the controller they plan to play. This year we are restricting the controllers players are allowed to bring to ensure fair play and guarantee the integrity of the results.
How Wireless Controllers Work
All EVO games will be run on the Playstation 3. The Playstation 3 Dual Shock and Sixaxis controllers are both wireless devices. Plugging your controller into a PS3 for the first time pairs your controller to that Playstation. This pairing will be remembered by the Playstation until you sync your controller to another Playstation. We have found no reliable workaround to remove this pairing (1).
The Problem
Since there's no easy way to unpair a controller from a Playstation 3, any player who had previously played on a game console may accidently interfer with another game in progress. Consider the following scenario
1) Players A and B sync their controllers to the game station.
2) After they finish their game, Players A and B turn off their controllers.
3) Even though their controllers are turned off, the Playstation still remember that they are paired.
4) Players C and D sync their controllers and begin the next game.
5) Player A turns on his controller and hits the home button.
6) Since he hasn't yet synced his controller to the new station, hitting the home button will interrupt the game played by Players C and D.
There are a million different ways this can happen. For example:
1) A player eliminated from the tournament puts his controller in his backpack. While he's walking, some item in his backpack accidently bumps the home button, interrupting a game in progress.
2) A player finishes his semi-final match and turns off his controller. 15 minutes later he is called for his match in the finals of the winners bracket. While syncing his controller to the new Playstation, he accidently hits the home button while before his USB cord is plugged in, interrupting the semi-finals of the loser's bracket happening on the console he just left.
3) A sore loser eliminated from the tournament maliciously presses his home button to interrupt matches.
4) A player notices that is friend is about to lose a match on a console that he had just played on. He decides to "save" his friend by pressing the home button, forcing a replay of the round.
While some of these may sound far-fetched, each of these scenarios has happened at past EVO events. Some have occurred multiple times. In order to ensure the integrity of future events, we are not allowing players to use controllers which pair themselves with Playstations.
Allowed Controllers
1) Fight Sticks. To our knowledge, all fightsticks made by Hori and MadCatz use a wired connection and do not pair themselves to the PlayStation. They are all allowed.
2) MadCatz Fightpads. MadCatz Fightpad use a bluetooth USB dongle to pair the pad to the dongle. Since they do not create a paring between the pad and the Playstation 3, they are allowed.
3) All PS2 Controllers used with a PS2/PS3 convertor. Dualshock 2 or other PS2 controllers used with a converter box to convert them to PS3 controllers are allowed. For players accustomed to using a PS3 controller, this is your best option.
Specifically Banned Controllers
1) The Sixaxis and Dualshock 3 controllers designed for use on the Playstation 3 are specifically banned. These controllers have been the source of all of our problems in the past. We realize you can make these controllers "tournament friendly" by opening them and removing the batter, but we have no good way to enforce that rule at the scale EVO must operate on to finish on-time.
Reader Comments (44)
makes sense.
Good, no more crybabies who cry when they get DQ'd for not listening to the rules.
:( well...that's sorta gay. I understand why but i just don't have the money to pay for all these converters and stuff....
http://www.etokki.com/iNPiN%20PS2%20to%20PS3%20Converter
Problem solved.
nvm just checked prices. Wth was I thinking...
Sounds like a job for MarkMan (cheesy superhero music). But seriously, we need some fully wired fightpads that are as similar as they can be to DualShocks to please the fighting pad community. Some answer to converters, but those are annoying to use at casual meets when there are a mix of players with sticks and controllers all plugged to one PS3 and you are having to get up to press the home button to switch it to P1 or P2. Not to mention that not all converters have the home button so sometimes they are just unusable because they stay to whatever player number they are. Definitely a need to be filled there.
Pads should be banned. Gotta learn to play stick ppl. If you want to experience that authentic arcade feel for fighters like SSF4 and Tekken which are ment for the arcade.......Leave your pads at th door. That means lots of players using PDP MK sticks at Evo. Should be interesting.
Lmao, this is all precautions against Kor. Good shit, Evo.
Wireless is fucking ass anyway. As i play on stick I have had 3 ps3 control pads die so far because of them not being used. At least the 360 has battery packs. I support this because it's fucking annoying when pads die in a tournament and fuck up syncronisty
shit. this probably has something to do with homo hair KOR trying to sabotage everything when he gets butt pwned. all the while his GF is jockin other cockin'
Aw come on son! Well this makes sense though how come they just didn't ban the people who did it historically. I think this is a way to pass a blanket rule to nullify the favorable treatment of certain players, thus helping them. But I wanna use my pad so its time to break out the ol' PS2 joint.
P.S. shout outs to KOR for helping with an example used in the above post. Good job.
LOL @ Sony having their own controller banned from their own console!
I think taking away a ps3 controller from players would affect the outcome of their play, which is totally unfair (stick user opinion).
I know if you plug the controller into a usb device that doesnt read it or is not setup to read the controller, it will take away its sync with the system. Like for instance when I switch the controller over to my PC, It works with my pc (drivers). Then When I disconnect it, I have to re-sync it to my ps3, otherwise it just blinks and syncs to nothing.
Also, I don't think anything is KOR proof.
How about EVO provides DS3 controllers, without the battery?
As how it should be. The DS3 is ass anyway because the dpad wears to a pretty unusable state for fighters after a while, plus it works all wonky, like if you lean the left arrow a bit up, it registers up. Just get a Inpin converter and a PS1 dualshock and you're all set.
EVO should provide the consoles with the right stuff for players to play. It makes sense that ps3 controllers could mess up some games but you can't expect every participating pad player to go out and master using a stick or buy a converter and ps2 pad before the tournament comes around.
If they want a good turn out, they should make arrangements for the equipment themselves. Or alternatively, have a spare ps3, aside from the actual matches ones, where all participants link up their controllers to it after their match--just to make sure no one can interfere.
Stick has always been the way to go anyways
Learn to play with stick AMERICANS
also ban all those cheaters with shoulder buttons for easy execution!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm not 'murrican and I play with a pad mostly. Where is your argument now?