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The new Game Informer magazine has a excellent article called In Defense of the Game Manual". Which talks about Ubisoft's terrible decision to get rid of paper game manuals
When I buy a new game. The first thing I do when I get back in my car is to open the game, and start browsing through the instruction manual. Sometimes I will even do some reading of the game manual while driving back home.
I will also take the instruction manual in the bathtub with me, and read through. In fact if it is a good meaty game manual I will be taking to the bathtub with me for several days or even more, and study it while I take a bath.
The paper game manual has always been very important to me. It is the reason I usually buy games instead of just Gameflying them. Anytime I Gameflyed a game I always mised not having a paper manual. So the paper manual was extra motivation for me to buy a game.
I know sometime in the fall Ubisoft is suppose to be removing paper game manuals from there games.
Just wondering if you guys had plans to put a include a paper instruction manual with R.U.S.E. or not?
I seriously hope Ubisoft reverses this dumb decision. It will feel like I am being ripped off not having a instruction manual included with the game.
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Think back to the good old days.
When you bought a game you got a nice big glossy box, reference cards, a BIG manual....
The homeworld box. Manual so thick you could beat somebody to death with, full of storyline, units, pictures....
The Fallout 2 box. Half nuclear survival guide, half game manual - with some tasty recipes for making wasteland food at the end.
Baldurs Gate came with a huge cloth map and a massive wallet for the 6 cd's.
The dont make em like that anymore.
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Yes,though I think theres a perception that well made software is so user friendly that you don't need a manual.Originally posted by dennis580:
We all know that is false though. That is just Ubisoft's excuse so they can rip off customers, and make a little more profit.
Of course, this betrays the true purpose of the manual; to place the game in a larger context than that on the screen alone.
Could and did...wait,what?!Originally posted by senortoot:
The homeworld box. Manual so thick you could beat somebody to death with, full of storyline, units, pictures....
The manual for Alpha Centauri was perhaps the most telling example of the era. It's the only manual I've ever read that had a 'recommended further reading' section at the back!
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I never really found anything helpful in the manuals, everything could be learned from in game. Most games now even have tutorials or help boxes that appear in the middle of game.
The only think that manual could be useful would be to have detailed statistics and numbers about stats, but manuals were always very simple with a small description of a unit that was never accurate 100%
And its also a waste of paper and trees imo, and it also eats some real space in your room. Its a lot better to have it at hard drive space.
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That is a complete, and total lie, and you know it. I have found tons, and tons of things in the paper instruction manuals that I either never would have found or it would have taken me a long time to find in the game itself.Originally posted by Wolf2449:
I never really found anything helpful in the manuals, everything could be learned from in game.
In fact a great example of the importance of the Instruction Manual was a Ubisoft game I played just last year. I Gameflyed Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood.
I was having great difficulty with the duels, and since I had Gameflyed it I didn't have a instruction manual.
Anyway I got on the GameFAQS Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood Message Board, and asked for help.
You want to know what the first couple of replys I got was? Yes that is right they told me to READ THE INSTRUCTION MANUAL as it shows, and tells you excately what you need to do, and I told them I didn't have the instruction manual because I rented it from Gamefly.
Anyway long story short. They were never able to properly explain excately how to the duels, and finally I just ended up sending the game back to Gamefly as I simply got frustrated with the duels.
If I had a instruction manual I might have finished the game. It is very ironic this was a Ubisoft game. The same company that now wants to get rid of instruction manuals.
