No more instruction booklets in future?

[MattyD]

I used to love games manuals as a kid because back then they were an important, if not the only, source of backstory for the game. Some of them were actually very well written too, with plenty of humour and extraneous content that added to the package as a whole. I especially used to love when you got stuff like the maps in the first Zelda or the letter from the director of Black Mesa that came with Half Life.

These days you're lucky if the button layout and game features are described adequately, and they're written as blandly and matter-of-factly as possible. They have become, gasp, instruction manuals.

Ubisoft are by far the worst company for manuals IMO - they're always black and white, extremely cheaply made and nearly always full of factual / textual errors. The move list in the Senko No Ronde manual is all completely wrong for instance.

What's with the pages of empty 'Notes' at the end of manuals? Does anyone ever actually use these?

They're just there to make the numbers up so they can bind the whole thing with staples instead of having odd loose pages in the middle like you get in the broadsheet papers.

[prinnysquad]

The number of companies who take a low-value, can't be arsed approach to manuals is infuriating. There's been some terrible manuals in recent years, real perfunctory black and white cheapo efforts. It's just not very professional and ruins the overall package. If I spend big bucks on a game, I want a well-written, relevant, polished, attractive product. I DON'T want an 8-page xerox that looks like it's been knocked up by Dodgy Tam down the booty.

Companies like Rockstar make a real effort with their manuals, they seem to see them as part of an overall professional package. Just getting a colour manual for your 40 quid, and maybe a map, or maybe a manual written with style and imagination (like Bully with its comic strip), makes it feel like money well spent.

When I think of acorn games and stuff from years ago, when you bought an rpg and got maps, full guides, even little tokens and stuff; it really felt like you were getting your money's worth. It's just like cds when you want a lyric book and get a load of lousy photography or abstract bollocks instead.

[Profit]

I think it's one of those things that if one publisher decides not to include manuals, the rest will come to sense and follow on.

The collector types just seem to want colored manuals though, regardless of whether the info in the manual is useful or not.

There's something to learn and compare from the manuals included with CDs and DVDs though. With CDs, people tend to want useful info i.e. lyrics and not creative stuff; obvious as the CD audio format cannot give out that info easily.With DVD movies, the amount of extras included makes even a single sheet insert pointless - as seen by many companies not including those useless chapter lists.

If game publishers want to give out more creative extras, most buyers would probably prefer DVD movie style on-disc extras. This method could also open up the market a bit more to charge the collector-types for limited edition sets.

[Ouenben]

I read the instruction booklet of a new game if i am not in the situation to play it (Ie on way back from town after buying it)

Learn some useful stuff like extra pitches in Wii baseball. How to reset the cube with the controller (X + B + Start) etc

[toythatkills]

There's something to learn and compare from the manuals included with CDs and DVDs though. With CDs, people tend to want useful info i.e. lyrics and not creative stuff; obvious as the CD audio format cannot give out that info easily.With DVD movies, the amount of extras included makes even a single sheet insert pointless - as seen by many companies not including those useless chapter lists.

I don't know why you're comparing DVD/CD inserts to instruction books. Music and films are both mostly passive activities, so an insert of artwork or something is OK. A game isn't really comparable.

[Profit]

Because the priority of people who want manuals in game seem to want colored ones as opposed to functional ones.

[toythatkills]

Because the priority of people who want manuals in game seem to want colored ones as opposed to functional ones.

I don't think there's anything wrong with expecting, when you've paid ?40 for a game, for that game to be in as perfect a condition as the makers could get it. To have a manual printed in black and white that was clearly designed in colour looks cheap, and is something that should only be allowed in budget releases.

Would I rather have an informative manual in b/w than a crap one in colour? Yes. But it makes it bloody hard to read when, as I say, it's been designed in colour so it's often black text on a grey background. There's no reason why manuals can't be informative and in colour, is there?

I certainly don't think they should go anywhere, anyway.

[Profit]

The manual's never going to be as informative as an ingame tutorial or on screen guide, which goes back to the Q of if a manual is needed at all.

There's the flip side which you partially alluded to with reference about B&W manuals for budget games. If people accept a cheaper game to have B&W, would they want all their games to be even cheaper and released 1 month quicker if they included no manual? Most buyers would probably take that option.

[toythatkills]

I find manuals are a lot more informative than tutorials, to be honest. To the point where I'll hold off reading them until I've played through the tutorials so that I can get a better understanding of what they're saying. Tutorials often just cover the absolute basics to get the player into the game as quickly as possible, whereas manuals contain a lot of extra information.

As for the budget releases, I was talking about platinum re-releases and the like. They look cheap, so if the manual looks cheap it's no problem. The game won't be cheaper as a result of the book, the book will be cheaper as a result of the game. I don't know where you've got the weird idea that it takes a month after a game is finished to print a book but, Ok.

[RoughOutline]

I very rarely read through the manuals now since most games seem to provide controls and/or tutorials in-game. I would miss them, though, as the game wouldn't feel "complete". And I would miss the nice smell too!

[Profit]

The game won't be cheaper as a result of the book, the book will be cheaper as a result of the game. I don't know where you've got the weird idea that it takes a month after a game is finished to print a book but, Ok.

Nope; booklet cost and print quality is quite independent of the game or publisher budget. Some publishers have found good/better deals to print color booklets or persist with their costs while others continue with B&W.

You have to understand how the booklet is produced to see their full impact. Most publishers or devs higher a 3rd party to design the booklet - they don't exactly come back the following week(or even reply the following week!). Even if done inhouse, it's a full days work just to do a few pages. And when you have the average 4-6 EU languages to translate to, it adds to several months of designing and mainly waiting around.

[toythatkills]

You've missed my point about the cost. I was talking about how a consumer would see it, in response to your previous point about how they'd want all their games cheaper.

Rather than the actual costs involved.

[Gaol]

One sign of a well designed game is not needing to look at a manual.

Take Phantom Hourglass as a perfect example. All new touch controls, explained brilliantly as you play, and feels like second nature.

I still want a pretty booklet if I'm paying retail price however

[prinnysquad]

There's absolutely nothing wrong with wanting a colour manual as part of a 40 quid purchase that's well written, useful and informative.

I've come across a few Japanese budget games where the manual is in colour and has useful content, and the PAL equivalent has been nothing short of a disgrace. It's all about professionalism. If people don't give a monkeys, fine, but for those that do I think it's a bit rich to say that companies may soon see sense and get rid en masse. Consumer choice ftw!

[Profit]

I was talking about how a consumer would see it

Yes, it's unlikely consumers would care if booklets were omitted.

The irony is that booklets were designed initially when a short intro page and design works provided a better backstory or introduction than the game itself was capable of. Most buyers now expect the presentation to be done in-game and to a certain degree also want some bonus material on the disc, both of which devs have generally obliged to.

I think the retailers can play a big part. They pushed for the demise of the big PC boxes and they would prefer to store (especially 2nd hand) games without booklets. They would certainly stop placing the discs inside the manuals, and instead use a sleeve or folder system reducing scratches.