Press Start to start... Why?

[Canadamus Prime]

Presumably because in most of these menus there's an option to start a new game, load a previous game, configure the games options, and something else. If it was just a matter of starting the game, you'd have a point, but it isn't.

 

[vrbtny]

To quote Captain Montgomery from Castle

"There ain't no good in messing with things you don't understand."

The Start prompt has always been there, it always will be. Stop screwing with "The Word of God!!"

 

[Kahunaburger]

Although as video game traditions go, it's relatively inoffensive.

 

[PBMcNair]

As mentioned before it was used as as point to loop something to prevent screen damage, now its just used from habit. But sometimes it is used as a jumpoff for the title screen eg. Space Marine, where the push start screen is just a view of Titus, but when you press it it starts a looped combat sequence. Always thought that was a nice way to handle it.