1. A collection of logos of the 30 studios that contributed to the title somehow, skippable or not.
2. A bunch of EULAs that you have to click through at least on the first run.
3. An epilepsy warning that you always have to click through. I'm looking at you, Paradox and Vampire: Bloodlines 2. (For the record, I bought it extremely cheap, not at the launch price.)
4. On Playstation at least, the silly "press any button" screen. Why can't you give me the menu directly?
5. Another silly warning "this game has an autosave function". You may have to click through it or not.
6. If Rockstar, try to trick the user into launching the online component every time.
The Press Any Button screen is there so the game knows which input device is being used, and therefore (one way or another) which user, so it can apply any parental control/accessibility/etc. options required.
I've seen computer games where any input device is accepted, and on-screen instructions refer to the last type of device used. Seemed like a good idea. And how does input-based parental control work? Do you hide the adult's controller?
On first use of the controller after a reboot, you're prompted to select which user is playing. Saved games and achievements and whatnot are per-user.
If you've got a child in the household, you're expected to tag their user as such, which imposes some restrictions on their account. Then set up an access code on your user, so the child can't log in as you.
Feedback regarding the ins and outs of the UX would be better directed at Sony rather than me. But it accommodates the case where you haven't connected the controller yet.
I can't remember if it's Playstation or Xbox that does this, but the game can start out in a sandboxed state, and explicit user input is required for the system to grant it access to the gamepad and the associated user.
The console knows all that, but does the game know all of that too? I'm not a console developer but perhaps the game doesn't have permissions to know which devices are on, only which devices are sending key presses right now.
I would argue it's also just a tradition of the medium at this point. And tbh most games I play would feel weird without it. It's like a spiritual carry-over from the Attract-Mode games used to have in arcades, and without even needing to put in a quarter. (Don't tell the game companies about that)
You're right about the reqs. A lot of the menu screen behaviors were traditions borrowed from arcade games and big box demo kiosks. The idea is that your game must do "something" if idle for a long period of time without someone officially "starting" it.
I assume the thinking is that there's a non-zero chance that the first input event will pop up some kind of user selection thingy. And that it's mildly cleaner to have this happen in response to a prompt such as PRESS TO START, where the user is clearly being directed to press a button to start, than it would be to be have it happen in response to them pressing (say) the down button when hoping to get to the second option of the apparently useable menu they'd just been presented with.
As a bonus, this does also simplify handling any user-specific options that may affect the display of the initial menu.
Games having a title screen where you “Press Start Button” is a slightly odd convention going back to the arcades, even on games where there’s only one set of controls.
It's not the game. You just press the PS button and then you can turn off the controller that is running out of battery from a system menu, turn on another and go back to the game. At least on the PS4 and 5.
I’m not trying to be difficult but this is very easy to search and the combative tone is unnecessary. I can tell you firsthand my Xbox does it, but that doesn’t really do anything for you because you already doubt me for some reason. You should still look it up to confirm it for yourself. You can tie users to controllers and set that for login. It’s a documented, widely used feature. I get that may sound ridiculous to you but it’s been standard for years.
I don't mean to be combative, I've just genuinely never used a console with that. The perils of mostly using PCs and Nintendo ones, I guess? If it's standard with both Xbox and Sony that does cleanly explain the press any button screen, although I wonder why they leave it in for the PC ports.
The settings are a lot more intricate than they used to be, especially video settings. So I'm guessing a lot of the intent is to present the information as clearly as possible and call it a day. Direct users towards big pictures for the games and for the store and hopefully have a wizard for the user to get on the internet.
What truly made Wii/DS and Wii U/3DS era Nintendo OSes great are the built in games and mechanics that extend into other games as well. Loved collecting houses in ACNL and receiving Wii Mails from a Toad.
I miss when you turned on your console and booted directly into the game. Sony's XMB is a terrible UI. Things are unintuitive to find and take forever to get there even when you do know where you're going. Something like the NDS UI is at least fast and easy to use, aided by the touch interface. However, I bought a console to play games, not to click through a bunch of settings (that's what a PC is for!).
When I got my Switch years ago my reaction to the UI was basically "This is it?" It felt like an un-styled working prototype. My thought was "Nintendo rushed this thing out the door to stay in business, surely they'll add some character over time" as they had done with the 3DS (the 3DS started out good but got better).
Nope? I'm still waiting. The only real big change they made was the introduction of their terrible virtual cartridge licensing system.
I genuinely hate the Switch home screen. I would rather be booted into the "More Games" UI instead of this dumb horizontal scroll of a handful of most recent games and then having to scroll over to pick "more games". If you want to be minimal, at least make it easy to pick the game I want. I've got a 65" TV, give me the grid, not 4 titles at a time!
Most of all, BRING BACK THE FUN. Colors, music, silly interactions. Sure, add the option to turn it off, because a vocal minority hate that stuff, but how many of us have the Wii store music burnt into our brains?
Sure, when these things were novel the friction was delightful. Now that the magic is gone, I want to finish configuring my device ASAP and get back to the games.
I was greatly disappointed to learn back in 2020 that PS5 didn't even support themes. The only customization it offers is disabling / enabling sound and changing a background to a screenshot for one of the menu items which is a dashboard (with customizable widgets at least) with your friends' activities, new store arrivals or whatever you choose.
Changing to an appropriate theme when there were holidays or when I beat a good game that stays in my mind was something that I didn't know I would miss once switching to a new generation.
67 comments
1. A collection of logos of the 30 studios that contributed to the title somehow, skippable or not.
2. A bunch of EULAs that you have to click through at least on the first run.
3. An epilepsy warning that you always have to click through. I'm looking at you, Paradox and Vampire: Bloodlines 2. (For the record, I bought it extremely cheap, not at the launch price.)
4. On Playstation at least, the silly "press any button" screen. Why can't you give me the menu directly?
5. Another silly warning "this game has an autosave function". You may have to click through it or not.
6. If Rockstar, try to trick the user into launching the online component every time.
> Do you hide the adult's controller?
the case for physical games: put the cartridge on the high shelf
If you've got a child in the household, you're expected to tag their user as such, which imposes some restrictions on their account. Then set up an access code on your user, so the child can't log in as you.
On a console that has already asked me who's playing when I turned it on?
I can't remember if it's Playstation or Xbox that does this, but the game can start out in a sandboxed state, and explicit user input is required for the system to grant it access to the gamepad and the associated user.
I had the impression this was on Sony's technical requirements list, so people have no choice.
As a bonus, this does also simplify handling any user-specific options that may affect the display of the initial menu.
Also for some games it’s just generally buggy.
At least on the switch you just have accounts in the upper left and switch between them regardless of controller. Is it a Sony implementation?
> An epilepsy warning that you always have to click through.
That sounds amazing. Yeah, it's annoying, but I'd imagine it's much safer for epileptics.
I have no idea what the current Xbox UI looks like, so while I appreciate the legacy console examples I would have liked the reference point.
I wasn't even thinking of the Xbox when I wrote that, just software in general in those days. Feels like everything had depth, character, texture...
But reading this article, man the Xbox sounds amazing! I need to buy one now.
(1) No accident (2) Ever see a Windows phone? That was the whole idea.
I don't think the two are mutually exclusive, but I've yet to find a great example of something that is both accessible and full of character.
Nope? I'm still waiting. The only real big change they made was the introduction of their terrible virtual cartridge licensing system.
I genuinely hate the Switch home screen. I would rather be booted into the "More Games" UI instead of this dumb horizontal scroll of a handful of most recent games and then having to scroll over to pick "more games". If you want to be minimal, at least make it easy to pick the game I want. I've got a 65" TV, give me the grid, not 4 titles at a time!
Most of all, BRING BACK THE FUN. Colors, music, silly interactions. Sure, add the option to turn it off, because a vocal minority hate that stuff, but how many of us have the Wii store music burnt into our brains?
You understand, right?
Changing to an appropriate theme when there were holidays or when I beat a good game that stays in my mind was something that I didn't know I would miss once switching to a new generation.
I mean, the menu's fine but its not that exciting