The 'select' Button

[craigix]

Hello everyone,

The talk of button standards reminded me of something, as you know in the middle of the console between the analogue pads we have 'Start' 'Select' and 'Menu'.

I've never been a fan of the 'Select' button as I fear it won't be used for anything outside of a SNES emu (and even then how many games used it?), and I think it could be put to better use labelled something else, of course it can still be used as select in an emu, but I'd like to maximise the button usage.

I thought of maybe having it as 'OK' or something media player related, but it's up to you guys, maybe you just want it to stay as select or have another idea. What do you think?

Thanks,

Craig

 

[plopperz]

You could leave it blank and let people map it to whatever they want.

 

[greendots]

Ok and select mean pretty much the same thing to me, I would prefer it to be select as its used in NES SNES GBA and maybe more.

PS: what material are the buttons made out of? I think a solid plastic would be best and and will not ware out the painted symbols on the buttons, but from the blog post it looked like rubber.

 

[gaterooze]

Home
Exit
Cancel / Close
Cheezburger
Back
Help / [?]

 

[efegea]

I vote for cheezburger

 

[crazedover]

Ok and select mean pretty much the same thing to me. I would prefer it to be select as its used in NES SNES GBA and maybe others.

Ok and select don't always mean the same thing. In SMB for NES, you use select to switch between 1 and 2 players modes, then use start to choose the one you want. Then in Pokémon for GB, you use select to reorder your items in your inventory. We need select!!!

 

[Alex.]

Call it Home, and when hit the program would either exit or get minimized (if multitasking is active). Then the Menu button would be free to call the running program's own menu.

 

[chad78]

hi Craig!

I am so glad to know that you are actually reading the button threads. To me, that means that the final decision has not been made. And that you are listening to us. Thanks so much for that!

In order of preference for the Select Button:

Home > Help > Play/Pause > Select > Escape

 

[greendots]

Cant the MENU button be used as a different control? In most games start brings up a menu.

 

[atomicthumbs]

Systems I know of that have a select button:

NES
SNES
Game Boy (all renditions)
Playstation
???
Profit

I recommend keeping it as "select".

 

[Yrx]

I think that when you press Select, it should reverse the stereo output, as an homage to the GP2X. :lol:

 

[Squidge]

If you want to maximise usage, it really can't have a name as such.

Therefore how about "F1", "F2" and "F3", and let the user decide what they want to map them to? F1 then could be "Select" in a emu, "Play/Pause" in a media player, etc.

 

[BaDToaD]

Just call it the Pandora button.

 

[Esn]

Just call it the Pandora button.

That's not a bad idea, actually. It would be the signature button of the console.

I say either that, or keep it as "Select" because many systems have that button. I'm not sure either way about "Home", as I've never owned anything that had such a button.

I don't like the "F1" idea too much, because there are already number buttons along the top of the console. And it sounds boring.

Quick question, btw: are those buttons in the middle easy to reach? It seems to me that they're in a bit of an awkward place, so maybe it would make sense for some emulators to use some of the keyboard buttons (like O and P) for Start/Select, since they're in a more convenient location.

 

[.Gogeta§§J4BR.]

PS: what material are the buttons made out of? I think a solid plastic would be best and and will not ware out the painted symbols on the buttons, but from the blog post it looked like rubber.

same question and opinions here.

I think start select and menu is ok... the problem is that people often forget the select button (and it's not a name that is gonna change it )

but if you wanna be cool, follow 3DO's symbols: play/pause( >| ), stop( [] ) and Menu
what do you guys think? play/pause is obviously the start button on emulators. plus, it would mean lots of stuff in the pandora usage in general (media player, "yes/no" questions, etc)

Pandora button sounds nice too, but it would be weird to map an emulator "select" to such an important button

Quick question, btw: are those buttons in the middle easy to reach? It seems to me that they're in a bit of an awkward place, so maybe it would make sense for some emulators to use some of the keyboard buttons (like O and P) for Start/Select, since they're in a more convenient location.

exactly why I always map start/select to the remaining action buttons if I play nes, gba, sms... I don't care about what button I'm pressing
that's why I think the middle buttons are gonna be used as menu buttons way more, like a savestate one

 

[Chip]

If Pandora is going to have a truly multitasking OS, then there needs to be a button that switches between tasks. Call it whatever you want, but one of those three buttons needs to either cycle through active programs or bring up a program switcher window.

 

[gaterooze]

Chip: I started thinking make it into the Tab button, but then realized the two functions could overlap... I like the switching idea -- the 'Select' label could work for that too.

 

[Arialia]

Chip: good idea

Menu button is for what ? Main Menu of Pandora or Menu of program ?

if is Menu of program so we don't need select button

 

[icurafu]

I prefer select, but think home is a poor name for the other button.

Unless it is like nintendo Wii and allows me to terminate to Menu at any time.

 

[Chip]

Chip: I started thinking make it into the Tab button, but then realized the two functions could overlap... I like the switching idea -- the 'Select' label could work for that too.

Nah, the switching button can't overlap with anything. If you write a program in which the switching button does something else, how would you switch out of that program?