Does Ea have a new policy regarding game manuals?

[gepeto]

Hello
Sorry for this rant but I picked up fight night round 2 yesterday and I was looking for the instruction manual it was turned around in the case what I thought was a ad insert turned out to be the manual. When I got home I pulled the last few releases by Ea and checked the manuals out and with exception of madden most were small 10 -12 pages and without real substance. Am I the only one who noticed this? Some will say it is the game that counts but I just feel that these Ea manuals are really cheap and created without consumer input. What's next manuals on the disk? I just think EA is being way to cheap and greedy. They charge $49.99 for most games they should at least include decent instruction manual. I must say that for the most part I always have taken instruction manuals for granted but I will be wacthing closer. I hope that other companies don't become this cheap. Once again sorry for the rant.

[Captain Wrong]

I think this is an industry trend, not just EA. I bought GT4 recently and the manual was pretty small and lacking in substance. In fact, there's a lot in the game that isn't explained in the manual (what are the A-spec points? what are these driving assistance settings?) Compare that to the massive two part manual GT2 had a few years ago.

I think it's just another way companies are trying to squeeze a few more pennies profit out of each release. Either that or they've been noticing that people don't seem to have that much of a problem buying used games at EB/Gamestop without the manuals and figure gamers don't care about that kind of stuff anymore.

That and it doesn't hurt that damn near every game released these days has it's own "official" strategy guide. I'm sure they wouldn't mind if people started buying more of those.

[FantasiaWHT]

Yeah, you need to buy a strategy guide to get a print copy of what you can do in a game nowadays... Soooo many manuals are missing a very large chunk of what's needed.

But from another point of view.... the large majority of games feature some type of tutorial in the beginning (skippable or not) that introduces you to most, if not all of the features.

[bargora]

Either that or they've been noticing that people don't seem to have that much of a problem buying used games at EB/Gamestop without the manuals and figure gamers don't care about that kind of stuff anymore.

I just had a hideous vision of a future where all new games are sold pre-scratched in empty generic CD jewelcases. Well, not entirely empty--there's a scrap of paper included with the name of the game scrawled on it in black marker...

[digitalpress]

I think this is an industry trend, not just EA.

Seconded.

Check this thread for similar experiences with many current gen games:
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=55927

[alexkidd2000]

haha, people actually read instructions?

[Kid Ice]

haha, people actually read instructions?

I haven't read them in years, but I used to enjoy poring over the manual before I started a new game (I get new games at too fast a clip to do that now).

Actually, I'm surprised they bother with manuals at all now. They could just put them into PDF type files and put them on the discs.

[alexkidd2000]

Reading the instructions on the way home from renting a game used to make me more happy then playing games do now. Ahh, to be a kid again.

[le geek]

That and it doesn't hurt that damn near every game released these days has it's own "official" strategy guide. I'm sure they wouldn't mind if people started buying more of those.

Ding Ding Ding!

Other than Fighting games, I think strategy guides are a waste of money. Hopefully kind samaritans will keep writing FAQs for free, or I'll need to change my tune...

Cheers,
Ben

[Neil Koch]

haha, people actually read instructions?

I usually don't, but I got FIFA 2005 the other day and it also had a very small manual. Problem is that there's no place in it which explains the abbreviations used in the stat screens.

Thing that's odd/maddening is that they have full credit listings and ads, but can't even put in gameplay -related stuff.

[joshnickerson]

I've always adored Nintendo's own game manuals, always bright and full of color. I don't think I've ever seen a Nintendo game manual less than 30 pages long either.

[jdc]

So....I wasn't imagining things!

I've also noticed that the instruction manuals these days are rather scant regarding information. Several times I've wondered about something regarding an Xbox game and the info is nowhere to be found in the pack in manuals.

And yeah....that GT4 manual was particularly bad......but then, I found that the game wasn't that great either.

[Sylentwulf]

I can see why they don't do it though, as has been stated, noone actually reads the game manual usually, and all of the controls, setup, info, and tutorials are in game now.

[portnoyd]

Slightly aged bump.

But I just had to say God of War has one of the nicest manuals I've seen in a while. Glossy, glossy paper, nice art, very thorough, and thick.

dave

[Bluteg]

I think packaged in general gets worse toward the end of a console's lifetime.

Genesis started with nice color instructions in clamshell cases and turned to crappy newspaper-esque instructions in shitty paper boxes.

N64 instructions started with full color covers and slowly went almost entirely to plain yellow with game title covers.

Recently while browsing through my PS2 collection, I realised that launch - 2002 instuctions are in general color while many of my newer game instructions and B&W. I think I remember PSX games following the same cycle.