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MLG Strikes Razer Onza Controller With Banhammer
In the Major League Gaming rulebook, the principles governing which controllers can be used are clear cut – if your gamepad has programmable buttons, it's disqualified. That didn't stop Razer from adding them to the Onza Tournament Edition Professional Gaming Controller for Xbox 360. You can see where this is going.
Much to the chagrin of Onza owners, MLG has banned the controller from competitions. MLG’s Senior Game Tester and Tournament Director (who goes by the name Killa KC) addressed the ban in the MLG forums, saying "Sorry to burst everyone’s bubble, but the Onza controller will be illegal simply because of the two programmable buttons. We spoke to Razer about this and told them that it would be illegal if they kept the extra buttons. I guess it wasn’t worth it for them to make a version without the extra buttons.
"The big issue with extra buttons is how easy it is to mod the controller without us being able to monitor it. Modders will be able to turn the extra buttons into rapid fire buttons or a macro like RRX. We cannot simply check every player’s Onza controller to make sure they have not modded it. Sure, someone could do that now with a Microsoft controller, but by doing that they are removing a default button on their controller. People pay a lot of money now for modded controllers with extra buttons that will rapid fire or macro."
The ban has pissed off the Razer faithful, with many pointing out the Onza's button mapping merely relocates features of the controller – swapping reload from X to the right bumper, for instance – rather than allowing gamers to create macros that disrupt the level playing field. The 9/11 Truther conspiracy theorists of the bunch are even going as far to say that MLG banned the Onza at the behest of sponsor Mad Catz.
What do you think? Should all of these controllers be banned outright, or should the league institute some sort of controller testing to catch cheaters?
[Source: Gizmodo]
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