The Death of Game Manuals.....

Well not dead yet, it has started. Give it 2 more years IMO or when the new consoles come out and there will be no more game manuals.

Of course there is going to some company(ies) that will prove me wrong, but the majority of games will not come with one. IMO

How does this affect you?

http://kotaku.com/#!5783650/no-more-manuals-as-ea-sports-goes-green

The day GTA doesn't come with the game manual is the day Im a sad panda.

i miss the day, when manuals were full of usefull info. Not just Contoller layout.

Really, a 5 page manual? 2 pages of warnings, 1 page of basic button layout and 3 pages of legal stuff and credits? soooo lame

They're not the most important thing in the world but I like them, good ones anyway.

I remember an old PC combat flight sim called EF 2000. The instruction book was basically a great big, full blown full flight manual with a metal spine. I also really liked Killzone's because it was laid out like a newspaper in full colour, with some nice pics of the guns.

God I'm tired, typo's galore

Not that I read the manuals but the case just feels like it's empty or missing something without it... I don't like it. It's got have *something* there. Like just a little one page insert. with some info about the game on it, I don't know... I need something there.Not-A-Stalker

i miss the day, when manuals were full of usefull info. Not just Contoller layout.

Really, a 5 page manual? 2 pages of warnings, 1 page of basic button layout and 3 pages of legal stuff and credits? soooo lame

Chogyam

They're not the most important thing in the world but I like them, good ones anyway. I remember an an old PC combat flight sim called EF 2000, the instruction book was basically a great big, full blown flight manual. I also really liked Killzone's becuase it was layed out like a newspaper in full colour, which some nice pics of the guns.tomarlyn

[QUOTE="tomarlyn"]They're not the most important thing in the world but I like them, good ones anyway. I remember an an old PC combat flight sim called EF 2000, the instruction book was basically a great big, full blown flight manual. I also really liked Killzone's becuase it was layed out like a newspaper in full colour, which some nice pics of the guns.Michael0134567

[QUOTE="tomarlyn"]They're not the most important thing in the world but I like them, good ones anyway. I remember an an old PC combat flight sim called EF 2000, the instruction book was basically a great big, full blown flight manual. I also really liked Killzone's becuase it was layed out like a newspaper in full colour, which some nice pics of the guns.Michael0134567

Pretty sure its KZ1.

Also the GTAmanuals are worth a mention, they are good acompany booklets.Same goes for the MGS ones like 2,3,4 with the little cartoons explaining what to do and some basic gameplay mechanics that was neat imo and pretty intuitve.

I love video game manuals, but not the ones that just explain the controls; I like the game manuals that are an extension of the game by offering more background knowledge, hidden secrets, coded messages, lore, and all the atmosphere and artistic design of the game. For example what if a video game set in World War II came with a manual that looked like a basic training manual with information relating to the games story, weapons, and tactics in a serious way rather than a manual with the games cover on it and "Press RT to shoot".

I only read the manual when they botch the design of the in-game tutorial and miss something key :(

I like well-written manuals, but they are a rarity these days.

And BS on doing it to go green. They're doing it because it saves money.

For the most part nowadays and for most genres, game manuals are a waste of resources.

[QUOTE="Not-A-Stalker"]Not that I read the manuals but the case just feels like it's empty or missing something without it... I don't like it. It's got have *something* there. Like just a little one page insert. with some info about the game on it, I don't know... I need something there.Michael0134567

Agreed- the thicker the manual, the better. I always look forward to Nintendo's first-party games- they're always thick.

If it's less than ten or twenty pages, though, it's a crappy manual.

the Gamecube manuals were always the best. Nice and thick, and great cases too.

Game manuals are totally pointless, most of them now adays, say super obvious things you would know by playing the game for 30 seconds. It tells you the controls even though the game already does this before you play etc etc. Its just a waste. They dont even print half of them in color anymore.

Am I the only one who likes the smell of that brand new manual when opening a new game? :P It wouldn't surprise me if I was. millerlight89

[QUOTE="millerlight89"]Am I the only one who likes the smell of that brand new manual when opening a new game? :P It wouldn't surprise me if I was. Cheesehead9099

I love game manuals, but not the recent ones. I want game manuals (at least for the games that need them, e.g. Mass Effect should have one but not CoD) to be much longer with more info about the universe of the game and in-game items, weapons... they used to be such great bathroom reads! :cry:

[QUOTE="Cheesehead9099"][QUOTE="millerlight89"]Am I the only one who likes the smell of that brand new manual when opening a new game? :P It wouldn't surprise me if I was. millerlight89

i will never buy a game without the manual if this becomes standard ill pirate.vitonemesis

Nintendo's Game Manuals are THICK!

i Voted I dont care, but I do, I just dont REALLY want them as your next option said :P. I care a bit.

When I couldn't drive, I'd read the manual on the ride home from gamestop.

Now that I can drive, I pop the game in, and read the manual while it installs.

Thankyou Playstation, for keeping the Manual relevant.

Manuals aren't going anywhere in PCgames, even if more and more games just include the in PDF format instead of printed one.

eh i dont care..when i was younger i used to read them and stuff but now ill just use the internet.. i dont even bother taking a quick glance at them.campzor

[QUOTE="campzor"]eh i dont care..when i was younger i used to read them and stuff but now ill just use the internet.. i dont even bother taking a quick glance at them.millerlight89

THIS!!

seriously though, i love thick game manuals. sadly nowadays they're a rarity, fallout: NV had a decent sized one as did fable 3 but just as an example i picked up nba 2k11 and mafia 2 today and both of their manuals were a measly 5 pages long (coincidently they're both 2k games). such a sad trend to see...

They'll always have manuals because they always need to inform us we may experience seizures, because someone whose epileptic would play videogames.

The day GTA doesn't come with the game manual is the day Im a sad panda.

xXCombatWombat

I liked when the manuals gave you an entire backstory of the game.