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[Aguirre]

Easier for everyone. Us people working in stores having big-ass DVD cases all over the stock room (and shelves), but also people sending games in letters etc.

On the other hand, movies have DVD cases with no manual in, so I guess not...

They're bad for falling out your hand and breaking into a million pieces.

 

[Diablohead]

Of course EA can afford to stick in a colour printed ad for mass effect 2's Arrival DLC in their Dragon Age 2 box, which is 1/6th of a manual but in colour!

 

[Ushojax]

Good, unless you're a manchild who has to have some little booklet to sniff when you open a new game you don't need a manual. You should be told how to play via the actual game. Obviously a full electronic manual should be accessible as well.

 

[ThirtyDegrees]

If I make a sarcastic joke on EA's forums will I be banned from reading the instruction manual of my games now too?

 

[JackEtc]

The ONE game I still look at the manual is Madden, when I play it (maybe) once a year at a friend's house.

 

[Chet Rippo]

Oh, shit, you guys. I've just thought of something that might really put this whole business in perspective. A problem that I hadn't even considered before but that's suddenly been thrust upon me like the unwanted child of a one-night-stand.

A problem so big that it could change the face of gaming forever.

WHERE AM I GOING TO WRITE NOTES?!

"Does anyone ever actually use these memo pages? Waste of paper if you ask me! "

CRANKY WAS RIGHT!

 

[-KRS-]

Aren't the manuals made out of recycled paper anyway? They can't blame the environment for this!

Spoiler

I don't care about EAs stupid sports games' manuals anyway

 

[Foffy]

So, should I expect the prices for EA Sports games to be lower than other products with actual manuals?

 

[beje]

I knew this stuff was going to go downhill the very same moment I opened an EA game and found an advertisement leaflet in full colour and with more pages than the b/w instruction manual.

If only they did a decent PDF manual... but we all know it's not going to be the case.

 

[ibu]

They will pass on the savings to customers in the form of better tutorials and in-depth and emotional sporting experiences. This will all combine and create wonderful value for money for you and I the gamer and the burgeoning strength of our industry.

Spoiler

I am a shit liar.

 

[-PXG-]

I love it when companies use the "save the environment" line. Give me a break. I wish they'd at least have the audacity to cut through the bullshit and say , "Yeah, we're doing this to save money."

Of course, the savings are not going to transfer over to consumers either.

 

[Massa]

Can't speak for all games but FIFA includes in-game video instructions that works much better than a written manual.

Aren't the manuals made out of recycled paper anyway? They can't blame the environment for this!

Spoiler

I don't care about EAs stupid sports games' manuals anyway

You should expect it with all their games within 6 months.

 

[balladofwindfishes]

I like the pictures Nintendo puts in its manuals. I hope they never change in that regard.

 

[Foliorum Viridum]

Manuals should die quickly. If you need to put something about your game in the manual rather than teach it to you naturally via the gameplay you're doing it wrong.

One step closer to a digital future. Love it.

 

[-KRS-]

Can't speak for all games but FIFA includes in-game video instructions that works much better than a written manual.



You should expect it with all their games within 6 months.

Alright then, I don't care about EA's stupid games' manuals period

Spoiler

Seriously, I boycott EA, Ubisoft and Activision...

I don't think all manuals should die. When it comes to old games, the instruction booklet is always a pretty big part of the nostalgia. You take the game from your shelf, take out the instructions and look at the drawn pictures and read the amusing little story, and you smile and remember. THEN you play the game. I would still like to do this with todays games in 20 years you know.

 

[Massa]

Alright then, I don't care about EA's stupid games' manuals period

Spoiler

Seriously, I boycott EA, Ubisoft and Activision...

I don't think all manuals should die. When it comes to old games, the instruction booklet is always a pretty big part of the nostalgia. You take the game from your shelf, take out the instructions and look at the drawn pictures and read the amusing little story, and you smile and remember. THEN you play the game. I would still like to do this with todays games in 20 years you know.

At least we still have Rockstar. :-/

 

[TheSeks]

I wonder how many trees this will save

Definitely not the ones that EA is going to be raking in with Madden.

 

[Nuclear Muffin]

I like the pictures Nintendo puts in its manuals. I hope they never change in that regard.

Agreed. Nintendo do the best manuals these days (except for maybe Rockstar)

A good manual really makes a game feel like a premium product.

 

[Kuran]

I wonder how many trees this will save

Trees are farmed.

 

[BIONIC-ARRRMMM!!]

EA Sports aims to support more environmentally friendly game production, the company said.

My ass, fucking cheap bastards, I love me a good COLORED manual ;(

 

[storybook77]

EA Sports manuals were useless anyway.

 

[alr1ght]

Paper based packaging coming soon due to high cost of oil.

 

[olimpia84]

Game manuals as DLC available for $0.99 confirmed

 

[gutter_trash]

them sports game have complex controls; manual should be required

 

[erpg]

I'm fine with this. Last game I used the manual on was Mass Effect 1 on 360 because the controls are shit and make no sense whatsoever.

 

[Fredescu]

Where's the manual?

It's in the game.

 

[tiff]

Manuals are only worth reading if the publisher put some actual effort into them.

Which EA Sports didn't. For years. So who cares?

 

[B_Rik_Schitthaus]

Most manuals are nothing but legal shit and telling you how to put a disc in your system.
Manuals shouldn't be a prerequisite any more, unless a game director has a reason to have one I really don't see the need anymore.

 

[onQ123]

people that never even looked at the manuals will cry just to be crying about something! SMH

 

[-viper-]

Next up: Unbranded discs. In the name of going green!

Spoiler

Or more appropriately, saving money

 

[Big-E]

Manuals are only worth reading if the publisher put some actual effort into them.

Which EA Sports didn't. For years. So who cares?

Exactly. Manuals have been shit for about a decade now. We are never going to go back to the glory days of pc manuals so might as well not even bother anymore. EA Sports manuals have been shit for absolute years.

 

[dimb]

Easier for everyone. Us people working in stores having big-ass DVD cases all over the stock room (and shelves), but also people sending games in letters etc.

On the other hand, movies have DVD cases with no manual in, so I guess not...

Yeah, fuck this.

My Dreamcast jewel cases fell apart so fast.

 

[MC Safety]

Aren't the manuals made out of recycled paper anyway? They can't blame the environment for this!

Spoiler

I don't care about EAs stupid sports games' manuals anyway

The saving paper argument is nonsense. We've been harvesting from tree farms for many, many years.

This is probably just to save some money on printing, ink, binding, etc., costs. It's probably a substantial savings when you consider the amount of titles EA Sports puts out and the quantity in which they put them out.

Does this apply to all EA titles, by the way?

 

[Pachimari]

Didn't they already ditch it a bit with Fight Night Champion (review copy here) ?
There wasn't any info on those papers and I had to find all instructions in the game itself.

 

[Chemo]

Bunch of whiny children in this thread, I swear.

Anything that reduces the amount of resources wasted on physical merchandise is a GOOD thing. Please don't be the kind of people who are so uptight and anal about their "precious" video game collections that they'd rather sacrifice a bunch of trees just to get a fucking booklet they have no need of whatsoever. That kind of behavior is embarrassing.

 

[AbsoluteZero]

I'm sure most of the target audience for EA Sports games can't read anyway.

Spoiler

The above is a joke, people, lighten up.

 

[neorej]

Does this mean EA Sports games are going to be cheaper?

 

[Square Triangle]

They started this with the release of Mass Effect 2 on the PS3 two months ago.

 

[tiff]

Bunch of whiny children in this thread, I swear.

Anything that reduces the amount of resources wasted on physical merchandise is a GOOD thing. Please don't be the kind of people who are so uptight and anal about their "precious" video game collections that they'd rather sacrifice a bunch of trees just to get a fucking booklet they have no need of whatsoever. That kind of behavior is embarrassing.

Physical merchandise is cool when it's not just a black and white manual explaining things you can already find in the game.

 

[Magnus]

And in today's non-news...

I can't even picture a sports gamer realizing a game manual exists. It has to be the most useless part of the package to their experience.

 

[Steve Youngblood]

Sooo the price is going down, isn't it?

I was waiting for this. Now, I'm down with being cynical of the big publisher's intentions and motivations. We have plenty of fuel for the fire in this regard, in particular as it relates to these "community ban means you're banned from playing the game" debacles. So, I don't want to come across as someone leaping to the defense of their corporate heroes.

However, I remember when another company (Ubi, I think) announced they were ditching manuals, and it was the same snarky responses. This is a non-issue. There's no reason to snidely deride their motivation here. Of course they're going to argue that it's an environmental move, because arguing that they'll achieve token savings from this makes for bad PR. Incidentally, though, it will save a few trees, which is good. But more importantly, I never get the sarcastic "so they're going to pass the savings on to us, right?" I say that because you wouldn't even notice if they really were passing the savings on to you. Per copy, they're probably saving less than 10 cents. Would you really notice that your copy of Madden 2010 was $59.89?

 

[Horns]

Kind of sad to see this happening, I see the trend continuing.

What will I read on the toilet now?

 

[Plasmid]

I thought this was for all EA games?

 

[Guerrillas in the Mist]

To be extra environmentally friendly they should ditch the online pass slips as well.

 

[BGBW]

WHAT WILL I READ ON THE BUS JOURNEY HOME NOW!?!

 

[Diablohead]

like that colour image and log on your disc? in a few years we will have discs which look like ps1 platinum discs, aka silver with some black ink on it with a logo.

Blu-ray boxes are nice as they are slightly smaller then a regular dvd box which has a ton of wasted space inside, that is one genuine step forward.

 

[Gamecocks625]

I thought they did this already. A few years ago I remember looking at a NCAA or FIFA "manual" and it was only 3 pages (include the cover and back). Really it was only one page that showed you what the buttons look like on the controller..that's it.

I remember when Winning Eleven 6 came out...man...Konami had like a 60 page manual for that game.

 

[Drkirby]

WHAT WILL I READ ON THE BUS JOURNEY HOME NOW!?!

Back of the box.

 

[BGBW]

like that colour image and log on your disc? in a few years we will have discs which look like ps1 platinum discs, aka silver with some black ink on it with a logo.

Funnily enough, Wii game designs were mostly one colour to begin with, but are now multi-coloured high quality printed.

 

[neorej]

WHAT WILL I READ ON THE BUS JOURNEY HOME NOW!?!

Driving-instructionbook.