No manuals

[The Antagonist]

Well, actually this is old news, but I want to read your opinion about this topic.
As many of you noticed, the manuals in video game carcases don't exist anymore. My last game with a decent manual was Halo Wars, back in 2009.

Sure, in some games, the manual is in-game, but it's not the same. I mean, for example, I know people that went to the bathroom with a game manual to read. I used to love reading the characters that were in the game, the weapons, etc. But now? Just three pages explaining you how to connect to Xbox Live or PSN and the controls. It's better if they don't put nothing.

Anyways guys, what do you think about this?

[DHXIII]

It makes me sad. And to be honest I don't know why, I usually read the manuals but not for help just simply to have a glimpse into the game before playing.

I do think that manuals are pretty unnecessary yet I love them for some unexplainable reason - either way it doesn't really detract from my gaming experience so I can't really moan!

[Nicknclank]

What are you talking about? The last games I bought (Skyrim, Portal 2, L.A. Noire) ALL had a manual inside their containers! As far as I'm concerned, I don't see how they won't be there anymore!

[DHXIII]

(07-01-2012 10:01 PM)Nicknclank Wrote:  What are you talking about? The last games I bought (Skyrim, Portal 2, L.A. Noire) ALL had a manual inside their containers! As far as I'm concerned, I don't see how they won't be there anymore!

A lot of games have little fold out leaflets or in some cases none at all. Notice that Skyrim has a very small instruction booklet that tells you very little unlike ones from a few years ago.

[Nuudoru]

It's been more talk lately about companies stop making huge manual since they cost a lot of money to read and, to be frank, barely anyone reads them. Games nowaday has so much tutorials that you never need to look in the manual. So I can see why they would stop making them.

I got shocked when I looked into the box of Lollipop Chainsaw and didn't find a manual. All I found was a bunch of CD-keys for costumes and a two page folder about the mandatory X360 stuff.

[Nicknclank]

(07-01-2012 10:04 PM)DHXIII Wrote:  A lot of games have little fold out leaflets or in some cases none at all. Notice that Skyrim has a very small instruction booklet that tells you very little unlike ones from a few years ago.

Huh, guess you're right, I compared Oblivion with Skyrim... it DID get smaller.

But, as much as it is, I don't think it's THAT necessary to have manuals. Even thought it looks cool and all, it takes a lot of place. Plus, if I got a question, I look it up on the computer.

But I got to agree, it,s fun to watch old manuals. I got nostalgic after reading the one from Super Mario 64...

[The Antagonist]

(07-01-2012 10:09 PM)Nuudoru Wrote:  It's been more talk lately about companies stop making huge manual since they cost a lot of money

I forgot to mention that. If it cost so much money, why the price of a video game is the same? In some way, they are ripping us off.

And I don't think that nobody is reading them. Just look at the people that pay extra money for a collectors eddition for a soundtrack and a thicker manual with artworks.

[Zaliphone]

I kind of miss them, when I was a kid and got a new game I would read the manual until I could play it. And for older games in the NES era the manuals had the whole backstory and character descriptions and was less of a manual and more of a short book.

[Raven]

I love manuals. While I usually just skip through them, I love reading descriptions about the characters and the backstory. I agree that online/ingame manuals just aren't as good as actually holding something in your hands.

[Gatsby the Crab]

Manuals still exist. Games on Nintendo consoles pretty much always have manuals, so I'm not sure what you're talking about. P:

I can understand why games on PS3/360 dont have manuals, though. They walk you through the game every 5 seconds and always have button prompts when you're near an interactable object. :B

[Beardy]

It seems kind of weird, when you've been used to it for so long, but as people have pointed out, they're not really that necessary anymore. Controls and backstory are pretty much all covered in the games themselves.

I'm still always happy to see them though. It seems weird opening up a game box with those little clip thingies on the inside cover holding absolutely nothing in place. Personally I used to read them in the toilet.

[Mr.Katana]

(07-03-2012 05:32 AM)Beardy Wrote:  It seems kind of weird, when you've been used to it for so long, but as people have pointed out, they're not really that necessary anymore. Controls and backstory are pretty much all covered in the games themselves.

I'm still always happy to see them though. It seems weird opening up a game box with those little clip thingies on the inside cover holding absolutely nothing in place. Personally I used to read them in the toilet.

Yeah, its nice, but really not too necessary. I do miss manuals though. It just made the game box feel complete with it and the disc inside. The 1-3 page ones just felt so cheap.

[DHXIII]

(07-03-2012 05:29 AM)Gatsby the Crab Wrote:  Manuals still exist. Games on Nintendo consoles pretty much always have manuals, so I'm not sure what you're talking about. P:

I can understand why games on PS3/360 dont have manuals, though. They walk you through the game every 5 seconds and always have button prompts when you're near an interactable object. :B

Nope. 3DS games have started to lack manuals in favour of poster type things. Nintendo now put the manual on the actual game cart for the 3DS.

[retrolinkx]

Compare Halo CE manual, with Halo CEA.

I have both, and let me tell you something.

Halo CE Manual has 30 pages, whereas Halo CEA has 8 pages.

Manuals were a nice touch, they had artwork, backstories, weapon and character rundowns. Everything you needed.

Now all they tell you is check online for more, and sometimes what the HUD look like.

It's sad that something like this is dying, it was nice to read before you played a game, or in the toilet when you need to go and pause the game.

EA manuals are the worst. In the BF3 manual there are three pages: all but one (which tells you how to sign up for Origin) is health and safety information.

And let's not forget 'that fresh manual smell' that comes with it.

[Nuudoru]

I remember back in the NES days when you didn't understand anything because they didn't say ANYTHING in the game. Then one day you looked in the manual out of boredom and got this gigantic backstory, art of how things actually looked, name of the enemies and sometimes even items you never figured out how to use. Now that I think about it, I think this was more common on PC games.