DeanoBKN

http://kotaku.com/5520261/ubisoft-do...uction-manuals

So today Kotaku is reporting that Ubisoft plans on doing away with their manuals, instead focusing on in-game instructions. They claim it's to "save the tree's" but I think we all know the real reason: To save a few pennies per game sold.

So, do you care? As a DVD & video game collector, I am kinda upset if this trend catches on. While most manuals these days are shit, I still consider them a part of the game and my collection, and much like DVD inserts, they will be missed.

mndtrp

Nope, don't care. I'll usually look through a manual once, when I first pop in the game. After that, I have occasionally checked out a controller option, but usually never look at the manual again. I like the onscreen tutorials far more.

TheBigDave

I would need the instructions or tutorials available through the game menu. It can't just be "in-game instructions". Sometimes I'll come back to a game I haven't played in a while, and I can't remember the controller map or button combination for certain moves.

nickdawgy

I prefer manuals, but it's not like you couldn't see this coming. EA has what, 8-10 page manuals, and 3-4 pages are nothing.

Deftones

If a game has a decent in-game tutorial (FFXIII comes to mind) then I don't care. You know what would make them more money? Quality games that aren't just rehashed sequels to good selling properties.

maxfisher

I think the only time I've looked at manuals in the past couple years is if I pick up a game on my lunch break and I'm so jazzed for it that I want to read the manual while I eat. I can't recall a single game this generation that didn't have a suitable introduction to the controls and you can just about always bring all the info up in the pause menu. Of all the things various publishers do to amplify their bottom line, this is about as innocuous as it gets.

nickdawgy

Manuals = good bathroom reading material. If they take them away, it's back to reading the shampoo bottles.

fumanstan

Manuals are irrelevant to me.

fujishig

Between this and the newish "eco friendly" packaging, I wonder when they're going to just be discs in paper sleeves.

TheBigDave

If we're lucky. You know how much those things cost? Not to mention all the trees that are cut down.

MrX

meh, I hardly ever read a manual

DeanoBKN

If market research proved that the average consumer didn't care, they would be just as happy selling their games in those cardboard sleeves usually found on $1 DVDs at the checkout aisle of Wal-Mart. Anything to cut down expenses while showing good PR by "saving the planet"

edstein

Never read manuals. This is just the next step closer to digital downloads.

glassdragon

I don't read them, but I'm a completest when it comes to my games, but meh, if it didn't come with one anyways then technically it is complete.

boredsilly

I really don't think I've read a manual for a video game since 2000 on. I would be cool with a a digital version in the game, somewhere, just in case you need a refresher on controls. But even that's not all that necessary.

superfro

Where the fuck am I gonna write my notes and passwords?! Fucking bullshit!!!

I don't read the manuals, usually to my own determent in not understanding what to do in some games.

btbrossard

I couldn't care less about game manuals, but the whole "we're saving the environment" is bullshit.

Where are they going to put all the legal crap that takes up 75% of game manuals now?

Some poor kid is going to have a seizure playing his new Ubisoft game and his parents are going to claim they never knew a game could do that...

Giantrobo

I thought I was the only one!!

I won't miss paper manuals if the game has a decent tutorial. That said, when buying used, I WON'T BUY a game if the manual is missing. I ran into a few games with missing manuals and no in game tutorial and it sucked.

Giantrobo

But seriously, I've learned about things I didn't know I could do by going back to the manual midway through a game.

kgrogers1979

I don't mind not having paper manuals. I am mostly a PC gamer, and the vast majority of PC games haven't included paper manuals for many many years now. Almost all PC games in the last six or seven years have had .pdf manuals on the disc.

UncleGramps

Manuals used to have a lot of great info. Now it's usually a few pages of info, a bunch of warnings, some credits, and then they have everything copied over again in Spanish and French. For most games these days, I don't think we'd be losing a lot if they skip on the manual.

starman9000

Yeah, they are pretty worthless now. I will kind of miss them though. I hope games add a digital manual (since they already have the majority of the manual in the Control Layout)

I miss the good old days, I from a small town, so we'd have to drive about 2 hours to get to a city where we could buy cool things. I'd buy a PC game and spend the entire drive back absorbing the manual (which were usually books back then).

Michael Corvin

I'm all for less paper waste and being eco-friendly, but face it, how many games do you really need a manual for? I'd hazard a guess that personally the ratio is 1 out of every 20 games I buy.

Nintendo really needs to take a cue and stop printing 100pp manuals to cover every language on the planet.

Kedrix

I will honestly miss manuals in games if this comes to pass. I know I'm in the minority but I actually read my manuals mostly cover to cover before I play a game for the first time (unless it's like a sports game). I've been burned too many times when I don't and I have to go back and start flipping. There are some in-game tutorials that are awesome (Incredible Hulk-Ultimate Destruction for the original Xbox comes to mind), but many are very poor. This is honestly a cost cutting move for Ubisoft just so they can...make more money. I do agree with Corvin though, Nintendo could cut down on the 100pp dedicated to every language, that is overboard. But nothing is wrong with 8-10 pages.

Does anybody find it funny that Ubisoft, famous for their craptastic DRM are leading this charge? They really aren't winning people over with their policies are they?

Kedrix

Same here, the bathroom is usually populated with two things, Maxim and video game manuals.

I also buy a good volume of used, and I also will not buy a game if the manual is missing. It's one of the signs that I know the previous person took good care of the game. In probably about a year if this takes hold, we'll probably see a lot more used games without manuals, including ones that should have them but don't because store owners won't care anymore. *sigh*