Ubisoft ditching instruction manuals

[Mr Mort]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6258998.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=newstop&tag=newstop%3Btitle%3B3

Ubisoft has announced they won't be including traditional instruction manuals in their games. Instead, the manuals will be in-game.

They've done this under the guise of environmental conscience, but the bottom line is that it saves them money. I'm all fine an dandy with that, but as usual, let's not fool ourselves into thinking any of those savings will be passed onto the consumer.

Seems Ubisoft has been rocking the boat a little bit lately with this, and the DRM shenanigans in the PC version of Assassin's Creed II.

Evolution of gaming, or cut-throat business tactics?

Discuss.

[Enigmus]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6258998.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=newstop&tag=newstop%3Btitle%3B3

Ubisoft has announced they won't be including traditional instruction manuals in their games. Instead, the manuals will be in-game.

They've done this under the guise of environmental conscience, but the bottom line is that it saves them money. I'm all fine an dandy with that, but as usual, let's not fool ourselves into thinking any of those savings will be passed onto the consumer.

Seems Ubisoft has been rocking the boat a little bit lately with this, and the DRM shenanigans in the PC version of Assassin's Creed II.

Evolution of gaming, or cut-throat business tactics?

Discuss.

...A-a-a-and let the facepalming commence. :roll:[SIZE[

[joshnickerson]

Considering that Ubi's manuals as of late have been flimsy 8 page black and white text only pieces of shit, barely containing even the most basic information, it's not THAT much of a loss. Still, this is a rather annoying and blatant excuse to maximize profits at the expense of the consumer.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b235/joshnickerson/messageboard/epicfacepalm.jpg

[Voliko]

Hopefully this doesn't cause a chain reaction...

[Gameguy]

It's been years since PC games came with decent manuals, why is this new? There's plenty of other games that only came in jewel cases and the disc itself. Even when I bought a Dragon's Lair compilation brand new for Windows 95 that came in a huge oversized box, the only thing inside the box were the discs in a single jewel case with a single sheet printed cover in the case(no text or any instructions were written on it).

[Leo_A]

Not exactly much of a loss as others have said.

It's probably wishful thinking, but perhaps this economy change will mean they will devote a few more resources to their electronic manuals so they'd actually be a useful resource again like they haven't been in years.

[Jorpho]

Even when I bought a Dragon's Lair compilation brand new for Windows 95 that came in a huge oversized box, the only thing inside the box were the discs in a single jewel case with a single sheet printed cover in the case(no text or any instructions were written on it).Wow, a jewel case and not a paper sleeve?

[Dr. Dib]

Well if it does change things, I for one will be sad that I can no longer tell people to check out the enclosed instruction booklet.

I'm sorry, but that joke needed to be made.

In all seriousness I doubt this is that big of a deal. I'm guessing few people actually read the instruction booklet, although I'm one of those few people... It will make the left side of the case all the more empty though

[jb143]

Growing up, reading the "story" in the manual was always one of my favorite parts of a opening a new game...even though it was usually just a paragraph or two. But do modern game manuals even have that anymore? I was a just a bit disappointed when New Super Mario Brothers didn't and most other modern games I've played don't either, it's all in-game now. Manuals all seem boring nowadays so really, what's the point?

[Gameguy]

Wow, a jewel case and not a paper sleeve?
There were two discs in the case and this was back around a decade ago. The quality of the discs weren't that great as I remember one looked like it had a different colour ring around the middle of the data. I do remember that patches were made for this version of the game because they screwed up the scene order and the death regeneration scenes, so that's pretty much on par for PC games in general. It still was over $30 back then, I won't pay anywhere near that much for PC games now.

[Rogue]

Someone should throw a ton of toilet paper on the Ubisoft building...

u.u

[kupomogli]

I usually never read instruction manuals unless they're something nice to actually read.

Anyone remember when buying Super Mario Bros. 3. Full color instruction manual showing a picture of everything Mario could do. Sure it was worthless, but it was just nice to look at.

Gurumin has an instruction manual that I've never read, but there's also an in game instruction manual when opening up your menu. Just like the Super Mario Bros. 3 manual, it shows pictures after explaining certain stuff etc. Also another book for each of the special attacks and a book of art that is unlocked the further you get in the game, both which look nice.

[jb143]

Anyone remember when buying Super Mario Bros. 3. Full color instruction manual showing a picture of everything Mario could do. Sure it was worthless, but it was just nice to look at.

That's the kind of thing I'm talking about. Now they're just technical manuals.

[PapaStu]

EA's manuals have been no more than 4 pages (8 with the folds) now for years. Tons of games have the in game tutorial now since so few people really pick up the manuals and read them. More gamers 'learn' how to do whatever via controlling it and not by reading it in the manual.

[maxlords]

Bah...I still don't like it. I also don't like it when DVDs and Blu-Rays don't come with chapter listing inserts. And I don't like how candy bars have gotten smaller but more expensive. And I don't like how women have rights and you can't own people...

[DigitalSpace]

In-game tutorials, strategy guides, FAQs, and companies being cheap have all combined to make the instruction manual all but obsolete. Most newer manuals aren't even worth reading while sitting on the john.

It's sad but true, but this may be the beginning of the end of an era. I wouldn't be surprised to see a few companies eventually follow suit.

[portnoyd]

One less thing to not get when you buy a game used. Works for me.

[ScourDX]

I'm not surprise by this move. In Europe, PC game by Xplosive don't come with manual. Instead their manual is PDF placed within the game disc.

[BetaWolf47]

Quick question: why does anyone even care? If anything, it'll make it that much easier for us to acquire games in CIB condition in the future.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

I haven't cracked an instruction manual for the sake of learning "what to do" and/or "how to do it" since the PS1 era.

Nearly every game has a built in hand-holding tutorial level/section ... or a bunch of them interspersed throughout the game, so I agree that it's a waste of paper at this point from a gaming perspective.

For completest collectors, yeah, another thing to be saddened about.

[skaar]

What do you expect? They're french! :D

[Oobgarm]

One less thing to not get when you buy a game used. Works for me.

THIS THIS THIS THIS

[Porksta]

But you are getting it.

[Enigmus]

Considering that Ubi's manuals as of late have been flimsy 8 page black and white text only pieces of shit, barely containing even the most basic information, it's not THAT much of a loss. Still, this is a rather annoying and blatant excuse to maximize profits at the expense of the consumer.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b235/joshnickerson/messageboard/epicfacepalm.jpg

Know what? Ubisoft has failed so much, it's more like this:
http://i580.photobucket.com/albums/ss246/JDalpha22/2313356652_f2b27826c4.jpg

This is how bad Ubisoft has become. They went from the first Rayman to... to... this horrible shit. Crap games, annoying codes, server dependancy, and now this? Well, now Ubisoft's just Yugoing itself, plain and simple.

[Solertia]

Pretty much every Ubisoft game manual I've ever had has only been a handful of pages, and printed in black and white. What money are they trying to save?!

[Nature Boy]

Pretty much every Ubisoft game manual I've ever had has only been a handful of pages, and printed in black and white. What money are they trying to save?!

The team of monkeys it took to make those 8 pages can now be freed! Plus think of how much money they'll save on bananas! Saving the environment *and* money.

(Actually I don't care one way or the other if there are manuals or not, only that I know if one is supposed to exist or not)

[jcalder8]

I am sad that they won't be putting manuals in anymore because...... actually I don't really know why, they've just always been there so they should always be there.

I don't remember the last time that I actually looked at a manual. I find that most games are too complicated to use the manual for.

The most surprising thing about this to me is the fact that EA was beaten to it. Like PapaStu said EA's manuals have only been a few pages for years and that's for sports games where you may actually need it.

[kupomogli]

The most surprising thing about this to me is the fact that EA was beaten to it. Like PapaStu said EA's manuals have only been a few pages for years and that's for sports games where you may actually need it.


Honestly, EA has pulled themselves back from being one of the worst publishers out there to one of the better ones. Sure they've been buying up a whole bunch of developers and the bs DLC but the games they've had their developers release are really good. Mirror's Edge and Dante's Inferno are just two examples of some of the better games in this generation(among others that I don't personally praise but others do.) It's not like we see Mirror's Edge 37 and Dante's Inferno 12 yet, either.

[jcalder8]

Honestly, EA has pulled themselves back from being one of the worst publishers out there to one of the better ones. Sure they've been buying up a whole bunch of developers and the bs DLC but the games they've had their developers release are really good. Mirror's Edge and Dante's Inferno are just two examples of some of the better games in this generation(among others that I don't personally praise but others do.) It's not like we see Mirror's Edge 37 and Dante's Inferno 12 yet, either.
I agree that EA isn't nearly as bad as they used to be(not that I ever had a problem with them) but from what I have heard about them it all comes down to the bottom line and since the manuals they currently ship are less than impressive, getting rid of them all together would be the next logical step.

[Therealqtip]

Could careless, i mean who the hell reads those things? and if anyone is worried about collecting values, well it's kinda hard to have a manual for a game when it was never made.

[Leo_A]

I agree that EA isn't nearly as bad as they used to be(not that I ever had a problem with them) but from what I have heard about them it all comes down to the bottom line

That's pretty much par for the course for any publically held corporation.

[The 1 2 P]

I'm in the minority of people who actually read my game manuals for most games. Granted, alot of them aren't very informative(Modern Warfare 2 comes to mind) but it's just something I'm use to. I agree that it will make getting used copies easier. I mean, for something that the majority of people don't use, why do most manuals of used games look like they have been ran over by an entire easter parade? But atleast for Ubisoft games that will no longer matter.

Anyway, between this and the new style game cases that use less plastic, eventually we are only going to be getting new games in nothing more than a recycled paper sleeve.....for the same $60 plus tax:shameful:

[Rickstilwell1]

Like others said, you can still collect the console games but collection database updaters will have to say "does not include instruction book"

[Cryomancer]

They should just have artbooks and free DLC codes instead then. Yeah that's not happening either.

I'd prefer it if the tutorials were in the manual and not the game too. It's starting to get old having to play games for literally hours before it stops holding your hand.

[zemmix]

Not a big deal for me. One step closer to them ditching physical media all together.