The game manual has been shrinking over the last couple of years. Now,  Electronic Arts is going one step further by doing away with the bothersome paper contraptions entirely for all of its upcoming retail-based games.  

The reason has nothing to do with money, according to EA. No, the manual is getting canned for the fate of the world, as EA “goes green.” This is a similar excuse used by Ubisoft earlier in April 2010 when it announced that it was doing away with its own paper manuals.
 

The game manual has been shrinking over the last couple of years. Now,  Electronic Arts is going one step further by doing away with the bothersome paper contraptions entirely for all of its upcoming retail-based games.  

The reason has nothing to do with money, according to EA. No, the manual is getting canned for the fate of the world, as EA “goes green.” This is a similar excuse used by Ubisoft earlier in April 2010 when it announced that it was doing away with its own paper manuals.
 

WOO

Well, there's barely anything in them anyway, these days, so not much of a loss. Admittedly, though, DA2's was vital to get a better understanding of all the emoticons, even though most where self explanatory.

I love manuals. I read them cover to cover. Oh well...

I'm sure their savings will be passed on to the consumers!
 
...Right?

One step closer to an all digital future, I suppose.

I'm cool with this, though it is infuriating when you actually need a manual. On-disc ones aren't really as useful, because you can't refer to them while playing.
 
That could actually be a really useful system level feature. a manual-while-playing thing. Of course, that would probably turn into monetized walkthrough-while-playing thing.

they should just use a smartphone barcode so people can download a pdf directly to their mobiles.  Of course, I could see them monitizing it, and it would only be available to EA accounts that have activated their online pass. 
 
Maybe we shouldn't be giving them ideas.... 
 
"What does this green bar on the screen represent?  Better check the EA pass enabled manual..." 
 
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Greener, aka save the company money and using marketing bullshit to make it look like a positive move.

I never read the manuals, so whatever...

i only read em on the way home from buying the game

I'm fine with manuals disappearing altogether.

wolo

I love the smell of fresh manual in the morning.

I'm gonna love the stories of the old hard-headed folk who want their damn manuals and will go so far as to print out these online versions.

I'm sure a majority of people never even look at a game manual anyway so this is all for the better, really.

Meh whatever. I never really look at the manual anymore as games just tend to hold your hand the first few steps, so I'll just roll with that.
 
Now PC RPG's however, are not exempt from this. Their boxes and the contents within should take approximately seven trees and the contents within to create. I'm still in love with my Witcher retail box.

Whatever.

Finally, the ability to find manuals on eBay all you avid collectors out there! Colour manuals will now be worth a fortune.

Manuals on the disc? THE FUTURE!!!

Goddamn Eco cases are the worst!

No more instruction booklets? When will this madness end? Whats next? Shipping games in boxes with half the plastic missing!?... Oh wait they already do that.

What will fill the void inside my cases now?!
 
Oh, advertisements.

I approve of this.

Most of the paper used for printing comes from tree farms, where trees are planted explicitly for the purpose of making paper.  If you want more trees to be planted, use more paper.  Fuck ecohipsters.
 
When I pay for a goddamn game, I expect more in the box than just a disc and a case.  Not that I'd buy anything from EA, mind you, but still.

well...I guess I'm never taking a crap again.

Increased profits by making cuts to consumer products under the guise of "going green." GENIUS!!

I haven't read a manual since fucking Baldur's Gate.

If manuals today were anything like the short story, "you won't know what the hell is really going on if you don't read this" manuals of old I would be infuriated. Truth is that now manuals really aren't worth the paper they are printed on. 

JUST THINK!  
a paid ipad app where you can download  the manuals! 
  
since I rent games and download pc games via steam this doesn't concern me.

maaaan I like manuals.  But honestly I would rather them just not put them in instead of the stupid 2 page black and white bits of garbage they use now lol.

Might as well. They have gotten to the point where they are useless anyways.

So hypocritical to do away with a 10 page paper manual only to turn on a system that wastes 100s of watts of energy on big screen TVs with central heating on while boiling the kettle.

So long as the developers include decent in-game solutions, I'm fine with this.

I bet most people won't even notice. I don't really have a problem with this.

But what will I read before a game now? 
 
Also, this leads to more tutorials in games which sucks.

so if there going greener by paying less for paper and plastic how about they  drop the prices of there games a couple o quid ?

I'm all for it, but with all the pre-order code cards, ad inserts, signage, big box collector's editions, flyers and other marketing materials it feels like a pretty empty gesture to me.
 
Whatever tho, I'd kinda prefer they just not have them over them pretending that that folded piece of paper in the box is one.

-EA. If they can turn it into DLC...

does anyone have any doubt that, to EA, the Green initiative = Saving money? I wouldn't trust their press releases even if they had them authorized by the pope.

They will probably have same day DLC of the Manuel and charge $5 dollars for it.

I don't have a big problem with missing manuals, I do have a problem with those flimsy cases though. I don't trust that they'll survive the shipping through 3 countries. If my BF3 disc gets here with scratches because the case is broken I'm gonna rage.

most game present a manual structure in-game, (ie showing which buttons to press etc and how to use certain menu's) to the point that you don't need the manual at all. Hell, Steam games have been doing this since the beginning.

I like manuals. I used to love the feeling as a kid of buying a new game with my hard saved cash and pulling off the celephane on the way home on the bus and reading the manual. I still get a hit of nostalgia whenever I buy a game and I still read the manual before playing. I like them more than in-game tutorials somehow.
 
Incidentally, on the new boxes note, working a games retailer, I swear the plastic they're even using, especially for Xbox games now, is getting worse. It's got so little rigidity and feels so flimsy.

Games have good enough tutorials for the most part. I haven't looked at a manuel in years.

Game menuals have been useless for years. I don't even read them...

No paper manuals?! Cases that just... well.. hold games if you want?! 
WHERE DO I PUT MY MONEY FOR THIS?! EA! TAKE MY MONEY NOW!