I recently started playing some old games on my ps2 again but I have this weird problem where the buttons don't register button presses very well. I have to press the buttons down to about 60% for it to even register that I pressed it at all. In comparison while playing on the ps3 just a little pressure on a button registers. I thought my controller might be the problem so I went out and bought a new one but it didn't fix it.Maybe the error is with the console itself? Anyone else had the same problem? Or is supposed to be like this and I just forgot about it?

try cleaning out the controller ports with some canned air, sometimes lint and dust can get in there and break the connections.

I tried cleaning the controller ports and the controllers with canned air but it didn't fix the problem. I then tried a friends dual shock 2 and it was exactly the same. I thought something might have been wrong with my console so I bought a ps2 slim on craigslist but I had the same exact problem. I then tried connecting a ps2 controller to my pc and it was the same. So now I have tried a brand new controller and an older one on 2 different playstation 2 consoles and on my computer and the problem is the same no matter what I do.

The buttons don't register half the time I press them if I press them as softly as I do on every other controller. Even if I press them over the "threshold" and the button is pressed down it still doesn't register. I have to press even harder than that. In comparison on my ps3 as soon as the button physically gets pushed into the controller it registers. On the ps2 I have to push the buttons down very deep before it even registers anything.

I can't believe this is how it's supposed to be? Maybe people don't realize or just get used to pressing very hard? Maybe it's like with framerate drops or mouse deceleration, some people just plain don't notice it...