What exactly is the point of a 'Press Start' screen on games?

[BlumiereBleck]

to make you feel nice inside :]

 

[jamesworkshop]

They exist to remind me that im playing a console port on my PC

 

[reg42]

Why not have it?

 

[Mirrored Jigsaw]

I think it's mainly there because it just always has been. It would be weird to just through you at the main menu, because it's never happened before.

 

[Ghadente]

well for one thing, you could just put the game in and have it load up while you are busy with something else, and then its there ready for you. if it just went straight to the game without a press start screen, you would have the oportunity to pee before beginning the game.

it just wants tot make sure you are ready. just be glad it doesn't ask "are you sure?" after you press start!

 

[Aunel]

Apparently it's so that when they advertise them in shops, they can have the title screen up instead of the menu.

Or so I hear.

that might be the true /thread
a complete answer, without an opinion

GO WOODSEY, GO WOODSEY!

 

[WaywardHaymaker]

It's traditional. It's a safety net. It's not doing any harm.

 

[Captain Schpack]

Excellent question.

 

[Noone From Nowhere]

It is likely there for the benefit of inexperienced gamers who honestly do not know that they need to enter any form of additional input to begin the game if there actually is such a need in a particular game.

 

[DanielBoe]

It's so you still have time to open the bag of chips and the cola, and maybe make a sandwich. Without the game starting before you are ready..

 

[ItsAChiaotzu]

In lots of old games, it's where you would type in cheat codes, but they're not that common anymore.

 

[StigmataDiaboli]

They're like a front page of a novel to me. I do find it ironic though that on a start screen you often dont even need to press start but A or X.

 

[smudgey]

Don't know why it cant just go straight to the menu. Personally, i never press start. I always try and push another button just to see if it works, and when it does, it makes me wonder why the title screen says "Push start" and not "Push any button".

 

[Gildan Bladeborn]

As a primarily PC gamer, I can readily attest that most games on the PC don't do that, and the few that do tend to be console ports of some sort. It always feels really anachronistic whenever a "press a key or stare at this screen forever" message pops up.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

idk. But Brutal Legend had the best PRESS START screen ever.

And the GTA games don't have them, either.

 

[USSR]

I hate them so much.

..may I ask why?

 

[Takoto]

It is a mystery to all.

Nah, most likely a tradition sort of thing as Arcade's always had the Press Start screens.

 

[Elsarild]

As many pointed out, like the title of a book, with some pretty/cool picture to accompany it, but then again, most games have a weired fetish to make a cutscene play if you don't press start in the first 10 seconds 0.o

 

[Jory]

For the same reason that when you boot up your computer it shows you your desktop and it doesn't open My Documents for you.