Whatever happened to Game Manuals?

[Grecco]

Just opened by Batlefied game and saw an 8 page manual

Really? Has it become this shitty? I used to love Game Manuals back in the day but 8 pages? I know people barely read em these days but still. Sad sad


Sorry for the silly rant.

[Tigerriot]

Welcome to 5 years ago.  This is old news man.


But things do seem to be getting worse as of late.  Freaking MGS4 came with a b&w manual, but GRID came with a color manual.    Some publishers are just becoming cheap ass beyond words, while others with far more niche titles offer up all the goods.


As a fan of great game packaging it's hard to ignore how awesome some of the PS3 first party games are, with there great instruction manuals, and interior color pictures on the inside of the case.  Love that.

[AdmiralViscen]

I blame Sega

[MrAngryFace]

FFTA2 manual is stupid large

[AdmiralViscen]

So's Space Invaders Extreme

Square

[MCD]

working designs died.

[Smooth Groove]

Quake Wars Collectors' Edition has a nice manual so does Mass Effect PC.  

I don't read them but it's much nicer than having a piece of paper with the serial number like Orange Box.  

[cool breeze]

Boring in-game tutorials did.

I miss the days of big ass manuals.  However, MGS4 does have an awesome manual.

[homborg]

to be fair, every EA manual is shit. might as well just leave the registration card

[Bildi]

Yeah, EA manuals in particular are consistently shit.  Tiny little manuals that often miss many important points.

I actually quite like the manuals that come with many console games.  I did love the gigantic manuals that used to come with some PC games though.  I was reading my old SimCity 2000 manual just a couple of months ago - it's pretty much a novel.

[Mr. Gundam]

Where did they go? They went to Japan, and took color with them.

[Sho Nuff]

Manuals should:

-- Be in color
-- Have a credits section

The MGS4 one is pretty cool for its comic book vibe. The original House of the Dead (Saturn) manual has an awesome manual that includes tips into tricking your parents into buying a Sega Saturn lightgun.

[demi]

-- Have a credits section

This is my biggest complaint, how's a guy supposed to do his job if I cant even see who made the game

[CHOW CHOW]

When I saw the thread title, I was going to post about the Battlefield manual but you already did.  Yeah, it's the shortest manual I've ever had... and there's a bunch of stuff in the multi-player that is left unexplained like how many points the different rewards you get give you and some other stuff.

[Tigerriot]

Here are some fun facts about game manuals and game packaging that I've noticed.


A lot of companies will have a home country bias when it comes to nice packaging.  For instance, back in the Dreamcast days ALL of Sega's first party games would have full color manuals in Japan.  In the U.S we got shitty B&W.  That is bullshit. 


Recently GRID was released and in Europe the inside of the PS3 case had a color picture like many of Sony's first party games do.  In the U.S this was not the case.  Bullshit.  At least the rest of the world got the color manual though.


This one is my favorite though.  For the MGS4 pre-order program they had those discs they were giving away everywhere for people to get into the beta.  Well, the inside of that case had an actual printed graphic on it.  The inside of the actual retail game however did not.  So those dumbfucks at Konami actually went through the trouble of printing a graphic on the inside of the pre-order discs that were handed out all over the place, but didn't put the same effort or resources into the final $60 retail packaging.  Could this shit possibly get any dumber than that?

[MCD]

Manuals should:

-- Be in color
-- Have a credits section

The MGS4 one is pretty cool for its comic book vibe. The original House of the Dead (Saturn) manual has an awesome manual that includes tips into tricking your parents into buying a Sega Saturn lightgun.

The MGS4 manual was amazing.

black and white is not amazing.

[Tigerriot]

Manuals should:

-- Be in color
-- Have a credits section

The MGS4 one is pretty cool for its comic book vibe. The original House of the Dead (Saturn) manual has an awesome manual that includes tips into tricking your parents into buying a Sega Saturn lightgun.

The MGS4 manual was amazing.

black and white is not amazing.

Agreed.  It was a nice manual, but it was B&W, so that kinda blows regardless.

[Tigerriot]

Manuals should:

-- Be in color
-- Have a credits section

The MGS4 one is pretty cool for its comic book vibe. The original House of the Dead (Saturn) manual has an awesome manual that includes tips into tricking your parents into buying a Sega Saturn lightgun.

The MGS4 manual was amazing.

black and white is not amazing.

Agreed.  It was a nice manual, but it was B&W, so that kinda blows regardless.

I don't care. I'd rather have a black and white manual with lots of content than a 3 page full color manual.

Well, somehow, amazingly, many companies are capable of delivering both for their $60 game.

[Tigerriot]

Manuals should:

-- Be in color
-- Have a credits section

The MGS4 one is pretty cool for its comic book vibe. The original House of the Dead (Saturn) manual has an awesome manual that includes tips into tricking your parents into buying a Sega Saturn lightgun.

The MGS4 manual was amazing.

black and white is not amazing.

Agreed.  It was a nice manual, but it was B&W, so that kinda blows regardless.

I don't care. I'd rather have a black and white manual with lots of content than a 3 page full color manual.

Well, somehow, amazingly, many companies are capable of delivering both for their $60 game.

But it is extremely rare.

Yeah, but what gets me is that MGS4 has a B&W manual, while games like GRID ship with a very healthy sized color manual.  WTF does Konami got to be that cheap when we all know they're gonna make lots of money on that game?

Not to mention, within the same company you'll see stupid ass stuff like I pointed out earlier with Konami and the pre-order beta discs for MGS4.  The inside of the case has a printed graphic, while the retail package doesn't?  It's the inconsistancy of it all that boggles the mind.

[Tigerriot]

I hate the quoting system on this board.

Anyways, who published grid?

Yes, the quoting system does sucks balls on this board. 


Codemasters published GRID, and it seems they really do it up right with their game manuals.  DIRT was the same way, and they published that as well.

[Tigerriot]

I just found these two pics in the NeoGaf June pickups thread.  Another Codemasters published game, and look at the beautiful packaging.  Although I bet the U.S version doesn't that that color pic inside the case.

[Rman]

As an art and design cigarillo, domestic manuals have been a disappointment for years.  It was a revelation when I got into import gaming in the PSone days--all fun color manuals with great design.

[TakingBackSunday]

Sony in-house stuff has some pretty cool manuals, God of War especially.

And say what you will about Nintendo, but I think they consistently have the best quality manuals out there.

[Tigerriot]

Sony in-house stuff has some pretty cool manuals, God of War especially.

And say what you will about Nintendo, but I think they consistently have the best quality manuals out there.

Except for the fact that they've decided to stuff 3 languages into them for Wii games, and it makes them seem much thicker than they really should be.

[The Sceneman]

I just cracked open Etrian Odyssey 2, has a nice manual 

[CurseoftheGods]

I remember loving the N64's game manuals.