Game Industry Denizens – Not Immune to PS3 Controller Problems
My PS3 controller’s started to cause me problems lately. It’s the “random dpad button presses” problem. I’m putting along, just trying to destroy digital things in my little fantasy worlds, and suddenly my avatar is changing weapons like a dervish and insulting all of my teammates in Fat Princess. I went from “least likely to be remembered” (well, except when I capture the little tower in front of the enemy castle, hee hee) to “that guy who won’t shut up” in about 30 seconds.
Ah, but the savvy consumer knows that Youtube is the place to go with your PS3 controller woes. Thanks to playstation2bigs and a fair amount of noodling with a thin Phillips-head screwdriver, my controller’s back in action. Although there were a few cat hairs inexplicably trapped inside the casing, my PS3 controller was pretty clean. I think the main problem was just bad design. As shown in the video, the contact between the dpad and the controller’s motherboard is quite delicate: it’s made by two plastic strips with copper contacts, pressed against each other. I’m amazed that more people don’t have problems, especially in humid areas or in sweaty little hands.
I didn’t even bother with the sticky tape as depicted by playstation2bigs — I simply folded up a little piece of paper and shimmed that connection with it. Bingo.
Note that the final re-assembly is a little dodgy too. The shoulder buttons may not want to sit properly when you fit the case back together, and if you force it, your shoulder buttons won’t spring back like they should. Just jimmy with it, making sure that the buttons have full clearance before you screw it back together. Best of luck to ya!
