PlayStation tried to pin a name on the 'X' button and it didn't go so well
It's the X button. It's always been the X button. And until PlayStation controllers fundamentally change, it will always be the X button.
That wasn't the message PlayStation UK's Twitter account put out into the world on Thursday. The four "face" buttons on the PlayStation's DualShock controllers are Triangle, Circle, Square, and... Cross, according to PlayStation.
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(Let's be clear: no one should actually be getting angry here. There's enough toxic BS in games these days. PlayStation might be entirely wrong about the X button's true name, but this is fun drama, not rage-filled drama.)
As it turns out, there's a fair argument to be made that the X button is actually the Cross button. Sony designated it as such going back to at least the launch of the PlayStation 4 and its accompanying DualShock 4 controllers, as one fan pointed out.
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But let's be real: fans aren't reading the press release to find out the names of buttons. They're picking up the controller and going by what's in front of them. No one looks at that "X" button and thinks "Hmm, that's clearly a cross."
Sony ended up putting the question to fans. A Saturday afternoon Twitter poll asked people to just go ahead and vote for their preferred nomenclature. There's X. There's Cross. And there's "+rotated 45°" for some reason.
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At the time of this writing, X has a commanding lead of 81 percent. The "rotated +" response actually comes it an number two -- way to go, trolls and Cross haters! -- with 12 percent. And Cross? That's at a paltry 8 percent. Enough to qualify for Democratic debates, maybe, but a clear rebuke from the community.
As you would probably expect, fans have had a field day with Sony's outrageous "it's Cross, actually" claim.
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All in all, it's been a stellar weekend on social media for PlayStation fans.
Topics Gaming PlayStation
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
