I always end up reading them on the way home from the store, if I'm buying a 'hard' copy of a game, and damn, Team Fortress 2 so could have used a manual.
yes, I know
1. Aim at people not your colour
2. Shoot
3. Repeat as necessary
But, it would have been nice to have learned earlier on about lots of little things, alt fires, other uses of weapons, etc, etc.
Just maybe a page on each class, a couple of pages to each map, all that kinda thing.
I know we're headed to digital distribution, and won't need any of this, but even a pdf on the disc would have been nice. I always feel a lil disappointed when I open a new game and nothing to read