We all love trees - they both provide us with Oxygen, apples and are fun to climb - But how is that going to remind you of the health warnings of playing video games and button layouts?
I'm all for saving the environment and all that, but manuals have been a big part of my gaming life. I enjoy at least glancing through them just to see if there's any interesting background information, and I like to read up on characters if there's a section for some of the main characters in the game. Music is the same way for me, when I open the case up, I immediately glance through the booklet and see what kind of interesting photos and information on the album. Heck, I even read the "Band/Member would like to thank so and so sections".
This isn't about the environment. Don't listen to EA's and Ubisoft's lies. They don't give a crap about the environment. They're just using a "popular" trend to hide the fact that they're trying to save money.
Manuals have lost their significance in the past decade. Back in the day, the instruction book was like an extension of the game. It offered both tips and interesting back story. Now, everything can be found online and has rendered the manual useless. It's sad because I would love for the manual to be relevant again, but sadly, I dont think that is going to be a reality... With reluctance, I vote trees.
I'm fine with being rid of manuals. I used to really enjoy them in the age of the NES, where many of them were full color, informative, and great art throughout. These days they're B&W, and redundant in an age with in-game warnings, tutorials. The only instance I would care for manuals with my games is if there was like a Criterion equivalent for video games.
" Manuals. This isn't about the environment. Don't listen to EA's and Ubisoft's lies. They don't give a crap about the environment. They're just using a "popular" trend to hide the fact that they're trying to save money. "
So they're doing the right thing for the wrong reason, does that make the right thing wrong?
I'm fine with manuals going away. They haven't contained anything resembling useful information for years. But this whole "green" thing that publishers are trying to use as an excuse is nonsense. I'm fine with doing things for the environment, but that isn't why they're doing it. They're still going to put pages and pages of marketing material in the boxes advertising their other recently released games, or their upcoming games. They should get rid of those too if they want to be green. It's just a way to save money.
" @Undeadpool: Right thing my ass. Most manuals don't use much paper in the first place. Nowhere near as much as the average newspaper or book. "
On their own, you're right, but when you're printing millions of copies, that shit adds up. Manuals became completely useless with the advent of in-game tutorials which 90% of mainstream games now have. And most games that don't have them? The manuals are completely useless and tell you almost nothing of substance ANYway. Even if it isn't a huge impact, they're essentially eliminating something useless, which will save them money and ultimately do some good for the environment. I don't subscribe to the notion that doing little things is pointless because they're little.
@Undeadpool: It still makes me angry. That all makes sense, but I still wish they'd at least be honest about it being about saving money, and that they'd then pass those savings onto the consumer.
I'm not gonna lie. I don't really care that much about the environment. Well, that's not true so much as I think it's too late at this point, and saving a little paper here and there isn't going to help much. I'd rather have a few forests and all the critters in there die than lose the manuals.
I REFUSE TO STOP CLINGING TO THE PAST! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
@MooseyMcMan: Agreed, a bit of honesty would be nice (We're doing it to save money, with the side-effect of it helping the environment), but c'mooooon, that's asking a bit much.
" @Undeadpool: It still makes me angry. That all makes sense, but I still wish they'd at least be honest about it being about saving money, and that they'd then pass those savings onto the consumer. I'm not gonna lie. I don't really care that much about the environment. Well, that's not true so much as I think it's too late at this point, and saving a little paper here and there isn't going to help much. I'd rather have a few forests and all the critters in there die than lose the manuals. I REFUSE TO STOP CLINGING TO THE PAST! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! "
I don't really see why manuals should be kept around nowadays. I'm vegan and even I admit that "being green" is just an excuse companies use to save money in the production of the game, but whatever. They save money, we all save paper. I just can't see who is hurt by this trend. It's not that manuals have anything resemble important, or even relevant, information anymore...
For most games the only thing you need for a manual is maybe a thin cardboard sheet that has the control setup & if it's a pc game, cd key on the back. Unless it's something excessively elaborate like what some fantasy rpgs used to do, the manual should do well being condensed down.
" @Undeadpool: Right thing my ass. Most manuals don't use much paper in the first place. Nowhere near as much as the average newspaper or book. "
Everything makes a difference. Hopefully they'll stop printing books soon too, I've been on e-books for the last year or so, and I'm loving it.
Also when was the last time anyone even read a manual? They stopped putting in backstory and character descriptions in most of them, and the games controls are almost always explained in the first level of the game.
" Hopefully they'll stop printing books soon too, I've been on e-books for the last year or so, and I'm loving it. "
That might actually become a reality sooner rather than later. I was in a class last night and the teacher said our university is considering moving from print text books to e-books. She also told us she was going to do that for another class next year no matter what the school decided on.
@SMTDante89: So crazy. Thinkin back to when I was in university it probably would've been cheaper to buy an iPad type of device and e-books for it than it was to buy all those books.
manuals are the way to go. don't forget that they could use recycled paper to make manuals. i think that we should just keep on using recycled paper for things. they should also replace the cut down trees with new trees.
" Hopefully they'll stop printing books soon too, I've been on e-books for the last year or so, and I'm loving it. "
That might actually become a reality sooner rather than later. I was in a class last night and the teacher said our university is considering moving from print text books to e-books. She also told us she was going to do that for another class next year no matter what the school decided on. "
Plus maybe text-book companies won't charge so damn much for the books online. But my problem with e-books right now is that the price isn't any different than physical books. I mean CDs are like 15-20$, but when you buy the album on iTunes it's usually around 10$. Why I'm paying 25$ for some e-books is a bit baffling.
@MooseyMcMan: Still movelists are all online, and there's gobs of videos demonstrating them. That's much more useful than any manual. Fable III's manual didn't really stick out in my memory, so I don't know. But look at the case of EA or Ubisoft, neither of them really had interesting manuals for their releases. EA's manuals were like 3 pages long, had a controller diagram and legal information. They were really pointless.
I've noticed trees are winning. Let me just say that for every game I buy from now on that doesn't contain a manual - I'm gonna stamp on a flower and cut a tree! Not cut DOWN a tree - CUT a tree! Like full on hoods up, knives out, stab yo face, tree!
@XII_Sniper: I'd still rather have a manual. Yeah, most are pretty crappy nowadays, but I'd rather be able to read through it quickly before putting the game in, and be able to jump straight in without going through menus in the game.
id like to keep my manuals but i see your point. manual quality has certainly gone down hill as well. i recently looked at the manual from God of War 1; it was amazing. it had color maps of all the locations in the game, and color pictures of many if not all of the enemy types and weapons. then i looked at GOW2 GOW3 and the 2 psp games' manuals. they were pretty lame. there was some cool art here and there but overall it paled in comparison to the first one. and thats kind of how manuals have gone recently.
Log in to comment