At least playstation uses a visually distinct set of symbols so you can’t confuse them with the other two. I think it’s really annoying that Xbox and Nintendo both use ABXY, but swapped for some reason. I grew up with Nintendo, so that layout makes “more sense” to me than the unfamiliar Xbox layout, but yeah, I would prefer either a universal layout (maybe neither ABXY or the shapes, perhaps something different that everyone could agree on? Because if you chose the Xbox layout, fans of the Nintendo layout would get mad and vice versa)
What should that universal layout be though? Maybe the cardinal directions, ESNW? Or perhaps something unique like IJKL? Or maybe the starting letters of colours (RGBA? Transparent button would be cool. CMYK? Printer ink buttons!) Or perhaps not letters, maybe symbols? Like mountain (jagged teeth), sea (wavy line), wind (swirly line), and stone (filled in circle)? Or punch, kick, special move (maybe energy blast), and different special move (maybe healing)?
I always assumed Nintendo’s buttons are that way round because Japanese is read right-to-left.
You’ve got to admit it’s pretty funny that we’ve whittled the field down to three console manufacturers and they all put the ‘X’ button in a different place.
well if you make the playstation layout the universal layout both Xbox and Nintendo layout fans will hate you. Interesting the PS symbols had actual meanings rather than being somewhat arbitrary like with ABXY (though you could argue A means accept/action and B means back)
I think the nintendo layout looks like it makes more sense since it’s AB XY when you read top to bottom, whereas with Xbox layout it’s left-to-right but also bottom-to-top. Idk, I guess it’s all just preference (+ the fact I grew up with nintendo so there is certainly a bias towards that layout)
That’s right, circle was accept because drawing a circle in Japanese is their equivalent to a tick, x is cancel like a cross, I think the square was supposed to look like a piece of paper, I can’t remember what the triangle symbolised.
someone said that triangle used to mean FOV (switching between first person and third person, for example))
CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
Just a picture of 3 of the 4 buttons with one highlighted (e.g. left/right with bottom highlighted) would be simple enough.
Fondots@lemmy.world 1 day ago
That’s basically what I had in mind. Steam has this as an option for the big picture mode UI and I like it a lot.