UbiSoft:No more paper manuals

[maxy]

UBISOFT® LAUNCHES ENVIRONMENT-FRIENDLY PACKAGING FOR ITS PC, XBOX 360 AND PLAYSTATION®3 SYSTEM VIDEO GAMES

Today Ubisoft announced an environmental initiative to eliminate paper game manuals, replacing them with an in-game digital manual for all titles on PlayStation 3 (PS3) system and Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. The program, the first initiative of its kind in the video game industry, launches worldwide with Shaun White Skateboarding this holiday 2010.

Ubisoft's digital game manuals will provide multiple benefits for the player and the environment. Including the game manual directly in the game will offer the player easier and more intuitive access to game information, as well as allow Ubisoft to provide gamers with a more robust manual. Ubisoft internal data shows that producing one ton of paper used in Ubisoft's game manuals consumes an average of two tons of wood from 13 trees, with a net energy of 28 million BTU's (equivalent to average heating and energy for one home/year), greenhouse gases equivalent of over 6,000 lbs of CO2, and wastewater of almost 15,000 gallons.

"It's pretty cool that Ubisoft is making a conscious effort to go green with its new video game packaging," commented Olympic Gold Medalist Shaun White. "I'm excited for my new skateboarding game to come out and stoked that it will be the very first Ubisoft game to be part of their green packaging initiatives."

In addition to Ubisoft's efforts to decrease paper usage in its game packaging, Ubisoft has partnered with Technimark, Inc. to release the entertainment industry's most environmentally-responsible DVD case for all of its future PC titles in North America. The 100 percent-recycled polypropylene "ecoTech" DVD case will make its debut with Ubisoft's Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction PC video game on April 27, 2010. Ubisoft has featured digital game manuals in its PC titles distributed in North America since March 2010.

"Ubisoft is often recognized for making great games, but it's a special privilege to be the industry leader at saving trees," said Laurent Detoc, president of Ubisoft North America. "Eco-friendly initiatives are important to the global community and introducing in-game digital manuals on Xbox 360 and PS3 is just the latest example of Ubisoft's ongoing commitment to being a more environmentally conscious company."

I don't care much about that.

 

[Third]

People read manuals?

[demi]

I dont read them but they lend value to collecting. This is why I havent bothered maintaining a 360 collection.

[OptimoPeach]

Those mother fuckers

People read manuals?

On the toilet

[TripleA]

Dumb move, a digital manual should be offered in addition to a paper manual.

[Great Rumbler]

Videogame manuals used to be absolutely massive, now they're little more than a few sheets of black-and-white instructions on basic controls and a story synopsis.

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

I'm pretty sure this is more a cost-cutting measure then an environmental one.

like, 98% sure.

[Bebpo]

who cares?  Western manuals suck.  2-5 pages.  Black & White.  If you just went by one of these manuals you'd have no idea how to play the game you just bought.

Japanese full-color 50 page manuals in every game

I'm pretty sure this is more a cost-cutting measure then an environmental one.

like, 98% sure.

Yep.  I'm sure Activision will "go green" any day now

[Smooth Groove]

Old school PC games had awesome packaging though, especially for RPGs.  Have you ever seen those, Bebpo?

[Bebpo]

Old school PC games had awesome packaging though, especially for RPGs.  Have you ever seen those, Bebpo?

seen them, I own a bunch of them

I grew up on PC gaming and have mucho respect for it.  Great manuals, great boxes, great games.


I'm just -ing on modern game packaging from stuff like Activision/EA/Ubisoft.
In these companies, when they actually put effort into the packaging, they call it an "LE" and charge you $100

[Smooth Groove]

In these companies, when they actually put effort into the packaging, they call it an "LE" and charge you $100

QFT 

[Eel O'Brian]

"It's pretty cool that Ubisoft whatever," commented Olympic Gold Medalist Shaun White. "I'm excited for my new skateboarding game to come out, and stoned."

[Tieno]

Ubisoft caring about the environment

What a company

Gonna buy more ubisoft games

[Cravis]

I'm pretty sure this is more a cost-cutting measure then an environmental one.

like, 98% sure.

Yep just like those nasty new cases with the holes in them. I've never understood that. They're not like the little rings that hold cans of soda together. I would hope very few people throw away the cases. I mean you're not going to go to the park and find dozens of 360 cases half buried.

[MCD]

i bought a psp go because i care about the environment.

[tiesto]

Old school PC games had awesome packaging though, especially for RPGs.  Have you ever seen those, Bebpo?

Fuck yeah, those were awesome. That's why I bought Planescape the big box version instead of the small DVD one (that came with some other random game)... was looking for complete, big box Fallout games but they were too expensive, so I went for the trilogy on a single DVD. I miss that shit - the cloth maps, big full color booklets/guides, soundtrack CDs, etc.

[Joe Molotov]

Just think how much more of the environment Ubisoft could save if they did away with all of their DRM verification servers!

[Bocsius]

Just think how much more of the environment Ubisoft could save if they did away with themselves.

[TakingBackSunday]

The shit you can get on Xbox Live and PSN (themes, screens, game descriptions) serve the purpose of game manuals.  I won't miss them.

[Ichirou]

Ubisoft manuals suck anyway.  Won't miss them.  I'd be more upset if it was Square doing this, since their manuals tend to be full-color.

[cool breeze]

yeah, manuals are really bad now.  Just using the Assassin's Creed 2 manual as an example, nowhere in it does it mention that you can find how many feathers you have collected.  I read the manual and still didn't know about it until I saw it posted online.  To get that menu in the game you need to go through text menus of seemingly unrelated text.  Also, it's not mention in the game through a pop up or anything.

I mean, that's bad design, but still it is information you'd expect to find in the manual.

[Ichirou]

The Assassin's Creed 2 manual is utterly worthless. At least with the manual in the first game it was written in a sort of half-clever way.

[tiesto]

Well, I haven't bought a single Ubisoft game since the Sands of Time on PS1, so this news doesn't really concern me...

[demi]

BG&E2 with no manual 

[Bebpo]

Just think how much more of the environment Ubisoft could save if they did away with all of their DRM verification servers!

 

[chronovore]

This is definitely about cost-cutting more than tree-cutting. The discussions about manual costs and perceived value are always heated and end in favor of the stingier aligned columns on the RoI estimates. Devs usually want to commemorate their years of effort and months of crunchtime with an extra 0.5~1.0USD per unit in the form of a four-color manual Marketing/Sales consistently push for saving every possible penny, not seeing it as something which can sell more units because, well, consumers only see the manual after they've already committed to a purchase.

Just think how much more of the environment Ubisoft could save if they did away with all of their DRM verification servers!

Nicely done.

[GilloD]

I love the people on GAF who are like OMG FUCK THIS I AM PIRATING EVERYTHING FUCK THIS IS TERRIBLE I AM GOING TO CIOMMITT SUICIDIEDIE.

When was the kast time you read a manual? A game is not a collectible item. They make millions of them.

[trippingmartian]

No more throwing French manuals in the garbage.

[demi]

A game is not a collectible item.

Yeah they are

[chronovore]

This "green" plan is only going to result in substandard presentation. The new DVD cases with the chintzy cut-outs, are already flimsy and lame, and we're going to open up that hole-riddled box to find no manual and an avalanche deciduous leaflets for crap we don't want. It's clever that they're claiming a green initiative to get the manuals, with a side effect of eliminating the per-unit cost of even a black-and-white manual and staples, but what about the larger issue of the plastic case? What about the printed insert for the cover?

What about the metric ass-ton of coupons that seem to come in high profile license-related releases:

• $5 off the DVD!
• $2 off Energizer batteries!
• Here's a code for downloading extra outfits!
• Extra content on the official site: come see us on the web at biglicense-movie.com!
• Text IMGREEN to 23456 for ringtones!

If they want to please the collectors while being ecologically and economically responsible, there are other packaging solutions they can investigate. Just look at the solutions for the same 5" ROM the music industry has come up with. How cool would it be to have those matte finish thick stock paper sleeves for games? Somewhere I've got an OKAMI demo disc that actually came in one of those. It's sweet.

[GilloD]

A game is not a collectible item.

Yeah they are

In the same way that LIMITED EDITION BRONZE OBAMA COINS are a collectible.

[maxy]

How come that nobody thought of this before?
Just include few extra MB on disc...problem solved,$$$ saved
Ubi

This "green" plan is only going to result in substandard presentation.

Yeah,but i think that 99.99% gamers don't care about that.

Btw,CliffyB supports that...it will be interesting to see if others will join

[demi]

A game is not a collectible item.

Yeah they are

In the same way that LIMITED EDITION BRONZE OBAMA COINS are a collectible.

Not at all.