Manuals for EA Sports Games Get K.O.'d

[vansau]

Manuals for EA Sports Games Get K.O.'d

Electronic Arts is no longer going to publish physical manuals for its sports videogames.

Game manuals are becoming increasingly irrelevant these days. A big reason for this is probably because the number of people who actually read game manuals has been consistently dwindling over the years. EA seems to have clued in on this, and it's decided to stop shipping manuals with its EA Sports titles.

The decision makes a fair amount of sense, as it reduces package weight, production costs, and shipping expenses (by reducing the weight of the game's package). That said, EA plans to include a digital version of of a manual directly onto the game's disc. According to Kotaku, the last EA Sports game that will ship with a manual will be NBA Jam, while Fight Night Champion will be the first title to sell without a manual.

EA isn't the first publisher to make a move like this. Back in April, <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/100091-Ubisoft-Eliminating-User-Manuals>Ubisoft announced it was getting rid of user manuals. It'll be interesting to see if other publishers jump on this manual-free bandwagon, now that two of the biggest names in the business have decided to do so.

Source: Geek

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[konor77]

i always liked reading well done manuals. then again i'm weird like that.

 

[frago roc]

And they're passing on the savings to youuu!!!

NOT!

 

[Monshroud]

Yeah, they will be saving money by less material printed and lower shipping costs. They will line their pockets with those savings though. They wouldn't actually lower their prices..

 

[Serenegoose]

I miss the glory days of the Homeworld manual. It always filled me with disappointment when I'd bring back a new game, open it up, and see this tiny, malnourished slip of a user guide alongside the DVD. Manuals were a great way to add superfluous fluff to a game without forcing it upon the user or anything!

Still, I mean, sports games manuals are no great loss, but the general trend is.

 

[Irridium]

So... does that mean the EULA's are even more void? Since now the only way to see it is to play the damn game?

 

[Veloxe]

I just bought MvC3 and I was all grins because it came with an actual manual! Like, the kind I would have taken from granted back when I was playing the N64. Full of colours and useful information and actually had a style to it; was great! I think it's rather sad that we seem to be moving towards the death of the manual, although if we are moving to digital distribution then it isn't all that surprising. Too bad there won't be any sort of passed on savings or anything like that.

 

[Verrenxnon]

With any luck, the rest of the industry won't follow suit, though we've already seen the decline from full-color in-depth manuals to black and white basic manuals.

The strength of a really good manual like that from Metroid Prime and Banjo-Kazooie was the ability to flesh out the game's world in ways that just weren't feasible or seemless with the game itself.

 

[rembrandtqeinstein]

I guess its fine for console games, but for pc games it is a bad idea. A well made manual is one of the small amenities that makes a purchased pc game superior to a pirated game.

Take a look at what a game box should include:

cloth map
coin
well formatted manual on heavy stock
adventurer journal for game world background and clues
tables and lists of game content

And that was in EVERY box, none of this collectors edition crap.

 

[WingedFortress]

I read the manual from cover to cover every time I buy a new game, and I'm not against this. Hell, at the very least it saves paper. If digital manuals are the way of the future, I'm not gonna stop it.

 

[Random Argument Man]

In that case, EA will need to ask their developpers to incorporate tutorials.

 

[gigastar]

Well i know i hardly ever read manuals. I really dont imagine suckers subscribers to EA Sports even noticing thier newest pickups case is slightly lighter.

Besides if i really do need to know something, an interwebs capable of GameFAQs is never too far from me.

 

[mjc0961]

Eh. I submit that the only reason people stopped reading manuals is because the manuals started being shit. Of course, I guess one of the reasons manuals started being shit is because of built in tutorials. So instead of an in-depth manual being required, they can just make you learn as you play, thus they can skimp an awful lot in the manuals. So I guess ultimately, we don't really need them so much anymore anyway.

And they're passing on the savings to youuu!!!

NOT!

The savings aren't likely to be large enough for them to pass them on to us. It'll probably be a small savings that ads up over a long period of time. But this isn't something so huge they can say "All EA games will now be $55 new instead of $60."

 

[Apollo45]

I still miss the days of massive 150+ page "manuals" that were really 20 pages of instruction and 130 pages of lore and short story, or strategy guide, or, like Homeworld, 100 pages of manual/lore and a separate Prima strategy guide of another 100ish pages all packed in to one box along with the soundtrack and the ridiculously awesome game itself.

 

[KwaggaDan]

Majority of their sports manuals was useless anyway considering that:
1) Rehash of the same sports game franchise. Seriously my little brother gets one every year and plays that thing with out ever looking at a manual.
2) Their manuals was never that impressive to read actually.
No one is really missing out on anything less they want to read a few pages of scrap while on the toilet. But you will probably be done several times before you made it to the quarter of your time is done pooping.

Depending on the game comment 1 might not apply, but comment 2 definitely does. I have never read an EA Sports manual that actually helped me understand and/or played the game better...

 

[Sixties Spidey]

Whatever. I'm surprised that they can't just compress the manuals into a sheet of paper that reads "SAME SHIT AS LAST YEAR."

 

[KwaggaDan]

Well i know i hardly ever read manuals. I really dont imagine suckers subscribers to EA Sports even noticing thier newest pickups case is slightly lighter.

Besides if i really do need to know something, an interwebs capable of GameFAQs is never too far from me.

Considering that the FIFA games and Madden games form an extensive parts of EA's overall profits thos suckers might be indirectly funding the other EA games.