The days of the printed instruction manual may be numbered. EA Sports has joined the likes of Ubisoft in ditching printed manuals altogether, the publisher has confirmed.
The change started with the release of Fight Night Champion, which shipped only with a slip containing an online pass code (and a Crysis 2 ad on the flipside), along with small warranty pamphlet. A complete digital manual can be found on the game disc by selecting "Manual" from the game's main menu.
"Thank you for supporting our efforts to significantly reduce paper in our products," the pamphlet reads.
Considering how flimsy EA's instructions manuals have been for years, this probably won't impact consumers all that much. Of course, folks who yearn for the days of old and those thick, full-color instruction manuals (first-party Nintendo games were always tops back in the day), this is a sad sign. However, the trade off -- reduced waste -- seems worth it.
But really, when was the last time you actually read an instruction manual anyhow?
No More Manuals as EA Sports Goes Green [Kotaku]
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Contest:
1:00 PM on 03.20.2011 | 
But all of those are my own personal selfish likes, so if they want to save some papers/trees, more power to them.
It's true though, that EA's have sucked for as long as I can remember.
Why don't publishers do this for all games, but put together a really awesome, full-color manual that they release alongside it or in a special edition?
I love the tangibility of a manual as well. It bridges the wait before you buy and can play the game with some personal hype so you have an idea what to expect, and maybe catch some of those hints they hide around every now and then. Or at least to see some novel concept art.
This isn't really to "save the earth", it's just to save money. We have more than enough tree farms that get replanted over and over with fast growing saplings. Paper isn't like building materials, in that it needs to come from quality wood. Recycling non-renewable or environmentally damaging resources is much more important. I have no doubt that this is about saving money, made justifiable to the public with some "green" spin.
I feel like if saving paper is truly the goal, then Nintendo should start printing their manuals in one language. With English, French, AND Spanish, those things are beastly.
"Bring your own bags to the grocery store!" Yea, I love paying gouged prices for groceries, and walking around with your own name brand advertisement bags while I'm doing it.
Least Capcom won't do this.....Right?!
Not that I get any manuals anymore with the use of Steam, but eh.
Seeing as we are both apparently Lunar fans, I have to reminisce with you about the Silver Star Story Complete manual! It really added to the package, and I still go back and flip through it to this day!
RIP, effort put into packaging:
Also, my first thing I do with every game I buy is crack open the case, grab the manual, and read it word for word. Its something I have been doing since the late 80's.
Games with depth and complicated controls=manuals.
/hugs tree
I don't buy new games without manuals.
I don't buy EA games anyway.
Its not about going green, its just them saving cash.
We night as well just get just the disc and thats it
For sports games its incredibly annoying not to have a booklet nearby to look up what is becoming increasingly complex gameplay.
When trying to figure out things in NBA2K11 I was perturbed to find out not all the information was in the booklet and I'd have to go online to see the manual.
Its annoying, and it made me want to print out the manual, which saves how much paper? This isn't about the environment its about big companies trying to look favorable, but mostly looking for ways to cut cost.
NOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooo!!!
Also some games really do need manuals, esecially games that have lots of stats and are repeatedly used for reference. Been a PC gamer its fine quyickly browsing though the online manual before I start play, but when im actually playing the game I cant do this in many cases.
Devs need to create in game manuals that are well designed to replace it. Unfortunatly most ive seen are a pain to navigate
LOL CORPORATIONS PRETENDING TO CARE ABOUT ANYTHING OTHER THAN MAKING MONEY!
What Epic said FPS don't need manuals, but RPGS & Fighters etc. Still do
Whenever I get a new fighter I usually study the manual for a while cause most fighters don't really have good tutorials, and RPGS have lots of menu navigation so sometimes it's vital to read the manual to understand whats going on.
One thing that bothers me is when they do stuff like and they claim they're doing it for the environment. We all know they're doing it because it's cheaper
I love big, color manuals. A lot are lifeless even then, sure, but with a little creativity they can be totally awesome. I still pull out my manual from We <3 Katamari, which was totally hand-drawn down to the screenshots, to show people how awesome a manual can be.
What bugs me the most, though, is paying a premium price for nice packaging in a collector's or limited edition and getting a shitty black-and-white manual with ten pages at most. If I'm chipping in extra money, the least they can do is give me a cool manual. I hate this "green initiative" that is less about saving the green on trees and more about saving the green in manufacturers' pockets.
They should make it accessible at any time during gameplay though, for convenience, and I'm not sure they did ("from the main menu")