Attack of the Lackluster Game Manuals

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*These Covers don't represent the way I feel about each game

Ladies and gents, there is an epidemic invading games across all platforms. Nowadays, most games are released with sub-par manuals. There was a point in time where the game manual was one of the most important pieces included in a game’s packaging. They were an integral part in learning how to play the game, especially in a time where game studios didn’t put much stake into on-screen tutorials. Now games spend the first 15 to 30 minutes teaching the player how the game works while putting them immediately into action. In my personal experience, game guides were most important during the Super Nintendo/Sega Genesis era when consoles began using controllers with more buttons and better games were being released. (click on image for full size)

Every page of these books were dedicated to teaching you the barebones of games, and did it with style.



Nowadays, the games are much bigger and more complex. Most companies disregard their game manuals; completely ruining what once was an essential element of the game packaging. When looking at my xbox 360 and Wii collections, more often than not I am met with poorly produced, thin, boring, forgettable game manuals. To put it simply, they're extremely vanilla. It has gotten to the point where I don‘t even think to look at the book whatsoever. EA and Activision, two bigwig gaming companies, are particularly guilty of this. There isn’t a single game I’ve bought from them in the past 3 or 4 years which hasn’t provided a manual that's more than 30 plain, black & white pages of under-produced nonsense. (Click on the Image for full size)


Pages out of Call of Duty 4, one of the most played games on xbox live)

It’s really disheartening to see a lack of effort in order to save a few bucks. So much effort is put into making these games and then the studios cheap out on producing a decent book to complete the package.



That’s not to say all companies are slacking when it comes to producing a top notch book. Nintendo first-party games always include quality books which feature great design, tons of color and provide text written in English, Spanish and French. The effort Nintendo puts into their game manuals is admirable and to me help them a standout among modern game publishers.



Recently, Ubisoft has announced an attempt to be less wasteful by completely eliminating printed game manuals from all their releases;
“[…]replacing them with an in-game digital manual for all titles on PlayStation 3 (PS3) system and Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. The program, the first initiative of its kind in the video game industry, launches worldwide with Shaun White Skateboarding this holiday 2010” (full article can be read here).

I get the feeling the main objective of this move is to cut costs of game manual production; being eco-friendly becomes an excellent PR-friendly bonus. Some have said that it "just shows people how much trouble Ubisoft is in." Considering Just Dance is currently one of the best selling 3rd party Wii games, with over 2 million copies sold before the end of 2009, I'd have to disagree (http://wii.ign.com/articles/108/1081134p1.html). I think it's safe to say they’re doing pretty well for themselves.



In the end I believe most, if not all, companies will go the route of Ubisoft and stop producing printed manuals altogether. Even after everything I’ve said about the lack of effort from game companies and missing quality books, I’d rather have the companies that I pump hundreds of dollars into every year do something to help the environment. Especially if the books they bother to print are going to be complete bullshit. Go big or go home, folks. Better to go home than waste paper.