At the risk of hijacking the thread, I think that has to do with a lot more than lack of a DVD player.
Well, it’s either a horrible engineering flaw, or it means that you’re not supposed to use it all the time, and instead leave the PS2 on standby by holding the reset button for a couple of seconds.
If you’re that worried about leaving the system on standby, you could buy one of those ridiculous third party power switch relocators like this.
What’s that supposed to mean? Out of the three current consoles, Gamecube was the first one I bought. Why? I can’t stand to be without the games that Nintendo makes.
That I think there are reasons other than a lack of a DVD player that contribute to Gamecube not being the dominant console.
But what about those of us who wanted to leave GTA Vice City in our PS2s for the last 6 months? Two buttons equals instant (well, faster) GTA goodness. 
Such as what, the instinctive dislike most consumers have for quality merchandise? PS2 has a lot more games than any other platform, but pound for pound, Gamecube has vastly superior games. Between Metroid, Zelda, and Eternal Darkness, I’ve barely turned on my other two consoles in months.
That’s easy, just do what I did with the original GTAIII: never stop playing. School or work, friends or family, sleep or food. All of these pale in comparison to finding that 83rd hidden package.
Hey guys! Remember that selet button? What a crazy button…
Miller - I only have a GC. My only reason for getting a PS2 would be for playing GTA. But I hear it’s coming for PC, so I won’t.
The reasons are simple. I got N64, when my ex got PS1. We both ended up playing N64 games a lot more, and I found the PS to be clumsy and plain… wrong, maybe from being so used to Nintendo’s stuff.
So when PS2 came out, I had a DVD-player and not much confidence in the PS -system. No reason to get a PS2. So I waited for metroid to come out and the GC to drop in price. It’s 2.30AM and the reason I’m up this late is Metroid, damn it.
There are so many more games for PS2. But I remember back in the 80’s, when I bought everything released for NES. So many crappy games. I refuse to believe that all games for PS2 are good.
BAck to the OP - I like select and miss it on my GC. With all the buttons to chose from, it still makes moving around in menues a bit akward, without it.
Rad Racer for the NES used the Select button to turn on its immediate headache inducing 3-D mode. You definitely wanted to stay far away from the Select button during that game.
LISTEN GODDAMMIT, IT’S UP UP DOWN DOWN LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT B A START AND THAT’S ALL THERE IS TO IT. THERE IS NO SELECT. DO YOU HEAR ME?
NOOOOOOOOOOOO SELEEEEEEEEECT!!!
Uhhh, it varied between games. With some games -and I’m 99.9% sure that Contra was one of them- you indeed did have to hit select.
That would be incredibly annoying.
You would have to wait for it to power up, then read, then open, then close, then read again every single time you turn it on.
What about those people who only have one game, or are addicted to Halo, or are playing a game like Morrowind that takes the average person a few months to beat? Do you think they want to go through all of this every time they power on?
FWIW the Xbox will power on when you hit the eject button, and this is handy sometimes, especially with DVDs, but I like having a power button too.
Wait. I just remembered. Select was if you wanted to play two players in Contra. The logic is that START wasn’t actually part of the code. It just started the game after the code was in.