The O and the X button

I've been playing some classic games recently (mostly FF VII) and I've noticed how in a lot of the older games, O is "accept" and X is "go back".   In almost all recent games (only exception I've seen is MGS 3), this is the other way around.   When was this transition made?   I seem to remember some older games using the X and O the same as we do now, but there are obviously a lot of old games that use it the other way.   Was it a standardization choice by Sony?   This controller configuration confused me a first, so I was curious as to what happened to it in modern games.

yeah its strange huh

i got a *** ps2 and all three fighting games i got circle accepts and x goes back

i hate it when i play metal gear solid cuz they follow that same rule but all the other games mostly go in reverse

They got rid of it because it didn't make sense.  X clearly looks like an "accept/positive" button and O clearly looks like a "no/negative" button.  Also, the locations of the buttons are counter intuitive to having O as the accept button.  If you think about the location of the X button it makes sense that the lowest button of the 4 available (triangle, square, circle, X) it makes the most sense to have it be the accept button.  It is kind of the "Main" button of the 4.  It's probably the most used of the 4 too.  This makes it a prime candidate to be the accept button.

The old NES almost always had the left button as accept, and the right but as cancel etc.  This carried over to the follow up consoles with the familiar location of the buttons that do this.  I think this was why it was confusing for me to get used to them the other way around on other games.  The X and O buttons are practically the same as the A and B on the older controllers.

i thibk u play ps2 rom a long time and us hould realize that in a shorter period . enjoy Japanese games

Japaneses use the O to confirm and X to cancel. Americans usually use them the other way around.

It is ont of the things localization takes care of, and it is not important once you get used to it, but I personally prefers when games use X or O to confirm, and /\ to cancel... It feels more standard...

In Final Fantasies the transition was made in VIII. FF VII used the same scheme as japanese games do were O is accept and X is Go back/ Negative. If you play any import game from Japan it will have that very same scheme. Also, MGS games use that scheme too. I dont see any problems with it since in most of those games you can change the button config.

This cpnfig is also because they read in opposite direction than Europeans and Americans( as continents since America is not a country but a continent, just to inform missinformed people) so you need the Accept in the beggining of the text (Right for them, left for us) and the cancel on the opposite. 

X and O have some sort of cultural meaning in Japan.  the best link i can give is and old GS feature. WatchTheVideo

I can't remember for sure but i think Carrie explains it a little.