Gamers have lamented the death of the quality game manual for years, but it seems that the PlayStation Vita hopes to truly hammer that final nail in. It appears that Vita games will ship without manuals at all, instead keeping its rules and tutorials strictly digital.
The Vita version of Marvel vs. Capcom was the first to do this, confirming that it would use a digital manual. Inside Games then obtained some other Vita game early and found that it, too, lacked a physical booklet. This would indicate that's a standard practice.
Sounds good to me. Manuals have steadily grown less useful over time, and I find that in-game tutorials are far better at teaching players than an exterior list of directions. Manuals, who needs 'em?
Vita Games Ship Without Instruction Manuals [andriasang]
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Contest:
10:00 AM on 12.16.2011 | 
Its a waste of paper, even as a completest who has to have a manual that doesn't look like someone cleaned up their dogs poo with it. We rarely truly need to look at them any more any way, its not like they're the content filled artbooks that they were in the 90's.
Where's the typical bitching and moaning from the gamer community about publishers/manufacturers taking something away that used to be free and not replacing it with either other content or a savings in cost... even if booklets are generally useless?
Nostalgia, mostly. Some of them used to feature some nice art.
I know I'll catch heat for saying so, but the sooner this industry goes download-only the better. Waste is waste.
I don't think you'll get much heat. If stats are any worth, most people agree with you.
The only issue that needs solving first is the digital rights thing.
THE HORROR
#SaveTheWorldOneManualAtATime
With a Stick!
STICK!!
http://youtu.be/8FpigqfcvlM
OK, in all reality, I wish more comments sections were like this one....but not all or else we'd never have "comments of the week".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pDnExAhiLq4 8:08
...godammit, where's my hanky...?
PTFT?
(Play the F***ing Tutorial)
Most manuals now adays are pointless, but nothing beats 80's-90's stuff. Such a solid package. Original art, characters designs and doodles just to fill it up, for the player to enjoy.
I hate to say this, but mainstream gaming is a business now more so than it has been. Luckily, you have indie developers who are filling that gap of awesome shit that made the 80's-90's era of gaming what it was.
I hope though, that with manuals gone, maybe they can make the cases smaller.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDnExAhiLq4
So now without them, we're still paying the same price, which either means a) it wasn't costing them much to print or b) we're now overpaying the difference directly to Sony for no reason. How can anyone defend that regardless of how much you use them? Especially when previous games, like EDF:IA, sold at a lower price (and even included a manual on the PS3 version).
How long before games have no cover art, no case, and are sold in a 2" x 2" biodegradable blister pack?
IMO this makes used purchases easier however for collector types like myself. Since a few times id pony up for new because the used copy had no manual.
i love manuals. when i buy new game in a box, i always inspect everything and read the manual. how come many PC games can come with manuals that are 30+ pages long, have exclusive pictures made by designers for less?
I do buy games just because I think they'll be worth something in the future, i.e. Xenoblade for Wii, that's looking like Suikoden 2 for PS1 in terms of collectivity.
1) That the box is too big now and they should shrink them.
2) That this is the beginning of cost reducing nonsense like no cover art.
Both of these comments deserve the same answer:
That's probably never going to happen.
The size of the box was never about the manual or the game disk/cart, it was about marketing. An attractive box catches the eye in a store. That's why some of the biggest PC games still use extremely large boxes than they need to; it's also the reason DVD cases are 25% taller than the disks inside.
You will never see them reducing or eliminating the case's real estate for art unless there is a tangible, economically justifiable reason to do so. They need the cover to be attractive to sell games at stores.
The only way this would change is if 100% digital distribution becomes the norm, and by then boxes would have become completely pointless.
Other than very rare situations like that, I won't be missing them.