Death of Game Manuals & Inserts

[ctophil]

Hi everyone,

I talked about how publishers are gearing towards taking away instruction manuals from our game boxes these days. And then, I read an article on retrocollect.com about the same thing. Apparently, I'm not alone, but still in the tiny minority.

I miss the days when you open up a brand new, shrink wrapped game, you have all these cool inserts and advertisements for upcoming games, soundtracks, prizes, and magazines. There were even beautiful posters and maps with incredible artwork. I make it a ritual to go through all of those things and soak in the great packaging. Then, I would read the manual from the beginning to end to get my feet wet with the game's fantasy world--all this before the game goes into the console. The recent game that I bought, Dark Souls II, only had a disc with a transparent box so you can see the Warranties and Warnings written on the backside of the box cover. I have to reiterate that it is cheaply made. They didn't even print a SEPARATE piece of paper for the Warranty information like in Mass Effect 3 (another game that didn't have a manual). But they made use of the BACK of the box cover insert to save paper.

After reading the article below, I am further disgusted that Nintendo, of all people, didn't include an actual manual for the new Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. They are old-school publishers that are also getting away from their roots.

I tell my gaming friends about these things. But they hear it and forget about it. If I don't bring this topic up, it seems nobody really cares about what they get in the game box anymore. It's all about download this, download that. Fill up the hard drive with digital stuff. It's "convenient, saves space, and I just want to play the game." What happened to the appreciation of beautiful artwork, enjoying the backstory of the characters and levels, maybe a map or walkthrough to get you started, and a poster to hang on your wall? Does a painting look better on a wall or as a wallpaper on your computer? Do they have museums for digital paintings worth millions of dollars?

Here's the article about the same subject with a similar perspective: http://www.retrocollect.com/Articles/video-game-manuals-a-inserts-a-thing-of-the-past.html

[Necromancer]

It's a slow death of everything physical; they're slowly weaning you off of nice packaging, manuals, etc. so you won't care as much when you get nothing but a download.

But the tricks on them, as I'm sticking to OBEY!

[Digi.k]

I think this has already happened on Wii U and XBone physical games.

[SuperGrafx]

I believe the trend these days is to provide a manual only with a premium or limited edition release.

Apart from that, it's definitely heading down the path of non-physical releases in the near future.

[ctophil]

I believe the trend these days is to provide a manual only with a premium or limited edition release.

Apart from that, it's definitely heading down the path of non-physical releases in the near future.

Yeah, but the problem with that is not all games come out with premium or limited edition copies.  In fact, it's a very small amount of games that do.  Like my friend said, game publishers these days put money on making fancy graphics & sound with super large development teams writing "hollywood-style" scripts with high-paying voice actors instead of on the packaging.  I choose simplistic gameplay with awesome packaging over the above stuff.  But I'm the minority on this choice.  So publishers would rather move to digital-only and make AAA titles anyway.  I'm thinking of stop playing modern games altogether if it comes to that. 

[ClodBuster]

Even the collectors edition of Forza Horizon didn't came with a manual. Forza 4 CE only had a sheet with the basic controls explained.

I miss the times when Sim City on the SNES came with almost a whole book explaining the game mechanics and providing funny sidestories of fictious towns.

[esteban]

I, too, would read the manual, even if it sucked.

Sadly, only 2% of manuals in existence were created by someone who cared.

So, I wonder what is better: having print manuals or having higher quality digital manuals.

Trick question!

There is very little incentive to create a quality manual for most games. This is simply a matter of time & budget & priorities.


I wonder if we would be better off with fans of a game creating their own DIY manuals and distributing them via USPS.

ASIDE: My favorite part of a manual is the page labeled "notes" where I get to jot down my thoughts.

[lukester]

Even discs aren't really the same anymore, except that you can sell them. PS4 and Xbox One discs force you to download the game.

[Digi.k]

I am also sure all the 3DS games I have purchased the manuals are just 1 sheet with some info of the game and in some cases no manual

[Medic_wheat]

In a way get what you are saying. But you have to remember the juicy manuals with all of the art and story existed for a reason   

That being limited graphical power and memory limited how much kf the games story world and characterization could be fit in the game and needed to be included elsewere.

Now the more immersive things I do miss

Full color pages
maps
art books
hints that allow you to pass thr game using thibgs outside thr game (star tropics letter) 

But yes.  I see what you are talking about but at the same time partly why we are getting gimp manuals or non is because it is redundant information that the game already provided.

[SuperGrafx]

In a way, with the advent of e-readers and the internet, manuals and printed material are superfluous in this day and age.

Back when games came with nicely prepared documentation and thoughtful packaging, the internet really didn't exist like it does now.  Game companies did have an obligation to provide instructions to buyers of their $50+ games in order to take full advantage of them.

The more that users become accustomed to downloading 'how to play' guides off the internet, the less of a need there is to go through the added expense of providing paper documentation.
Not something I agree with 100%, but I do see the rationale that game companies are utilizing.

[ctophil]

I guess the majority of people don't see it the way I do.  I see everything in style and art.  I like my house in a certain way that is soothing and artistic to me.  I like the beauty of architecture, as well as decorations such as statues & figurines, paintings, lighting, plants & flowers, and so forth.  The same applies to video games.  I like the game to be both artistic on the inside (what's on the TV screen) and on the outside just the same (packaging).  I like to have something tangible in reality to put on a shelf to take pride and decorate the walls of something I enjoy having.  What I don't want is a bland-looking box with no instructions, no inserts, no maps, no nothing.  Might as well not release a game at all if I don't have nice packaging to go with the game.  I don't want to print out an online instruction manual on standard paper.  It's ugly and look like junk. 

Life is not all about the money, meaning how much more profit I can make today.  The Internet is fine for fast information at your fingertips.  But don't make it so important that we are deprived of our artistic nature with thoughtless packaging, whereby we download everything. 

Additional content: It seems video games are not the only problem we have in society these days.  Everything seems cheaper.  My local newspaper is a shocking 40% smaller than it used to be.  They cut the newspaper so they use less paper.  Even my bar of soap is smaller than before.  You pay higher prices for something less. 

[Digi.k]

I guess the majority of people don't see it the way I do.  I see everything in style and art.  I like my house in a certain way that is soothing and artistic to me.  I like the beauty of architecture, as well as decorations such as statues & figurines, paintings, lighting, plants & flowers, and so forth.  The same applies to video games.  I like the game to be both artistic on the inside (what's on the TV screen) and on the outside just the same (packaging).  I like to have something tangible in reality to put on a shelf to take pride and decorate the walls of something I enjoy having.  What I don't want is a bland-looking box with no instructions, no inserts, no maps, no nothing.  Might as well not release a game at all if I don't have nice packaging to go with the game.  I don't want to print out an online instruction manual on standard paper.  It's ugly and look like junk. 

Life is not all about the money, meaning how much more profit I can make today.  The Internet is fine for fast information at your fingertips.  But don't make it so important that we are deprived of our artistic nature with thoughtless packaging, whereby we download everything. 

Additional content: It seems video games are not the only problem we have in society these days.  Everything seems cheaper.  My local newspaper is a shocking 40% smaller than it used to be.  They cut the newspaper so they use less paper.  Even my bar of soap is smaller than before.  You pay higher prices for something less. 

oh that's nothing new. the coke cans here in the UK have gotten smaller and so too have the chocolate bars but the prices have either remained the same or increased.

[Otaking]

I guess the majority of people don't see it the way I do.  I see everything in style and art.  I like my house in a certain way that is soothing and artistic to me.  I like the beauty of architecture, as well as decorations such as statues & figurines, paintings, lighting, plants & flowers, and so forth.  The same applies to video games.  I like the game to be both artistic on the inside (what's on the TV screen) and on the outside just the same (packaging).  I like to have something tangible in reality to put on a shelf to take pride and decorate the walls of something I enjoy having.  What I don't want is a bland-looking box with no instructions, no inserts, no maps, no nothing.  Might as well not release a game at all if I don't have nice packaging to go with the game.  I don't want to print out an online instruction manual on standard paper.  It's ugly and look like junk. 

Life is not all about the money, meaning how much more profit I can make today.  The Internet is fine for fast information at your fingertips.  But don't make it so important that we are deprived of our artistic nature with thoughtless packaging, whereby we download everything. 

Additional content: It seems video games are not the only problem we have in society these days.  Everything seems cheaper.  My local newspaper is a shocking 40% smaller than it used to be.  They cut the newspaper so they use less paper.  Even my bar of soap is smaller than before.  You pay higher prices for something less. 

oh that's nothing new. the coke cans here in the UK have gotten smaller and so too have the chocolate bars but the prices have either remained the same or increased.

yeh I noticed chocolate bars have shrunk and also bags of crisps too.

[esteban]

I guess the majority of people don't see it the way I do.  I see everything in style and art.  I like my house in a certain way that is soothing and artistic to me.  I like the beauty of architecture, as well as decorations such as statues & figurines, paintings, lighting, plants & flowers, and so forth.  The same applies to video games.  I like the game to be both artistic on the inside (what's on the TV screen) and on the outside just the same (packaging).  I like to have something tangible in reality to put on a shelf to take pride and decorate the walls of something I enjoy having.  What I don't want is a bland-looking box with no instructions, no inserts, no maps, no nothing.  Might as well not release a game at all if I don't have nice packaging to go with the game.  I don't want to print out an online instruction manual on standard paper.  It's ugly and look like junk. 

Life is not all about the money, meaning how much more profit I can make today.  The Internet is fine for fast information at your fingertips.  But don't make it so important that we are deprived of our artistic nature with thoughtless packaging, whereby we download everything. 

Additional content: It seems video games are not the only problem we have in society these days.  Everything seems cheaper.  My local newspaper is a shocking 40% smaller than it used to be.  They cut the newspaper so they use less paper.  Even my bar of soap is smaller than before.  You pay higher prices for something less.

Oh, I wish nicely designed print guides/manuals/inserts would remain with us, believe me.

I love physical stuff (I'm very tactile).