News Ubisoft abandons paper manuals

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/gaming/2010/04/20/ubisoft-abandons-paper-manuals/1

 

Bit: Dude! Ubisoft is actually doing something right!
Me: Duuuuuuuuuude...

 

I miss flight sim manuals, enough detail fly the actual plane irl. Not that i really read them i generally just trundled off down the tarmac.

 

what's the betting they don't lower the cost down however.

Game manuals haven't been any good in years. My favourites were the ones for games like baldurs gate, proper heavy things you could plot a murder with

 

^ bludgeoning manuals?

 

I like being able to read the controls while playing, not having to pause to see them.

 

What the hell will I read whilst its installing?

 

+1

 

I suppose when they move this over to their PC games (unless they've done it already) the attitude will be "print it if you want it". For console peeps I suppose it's an unwelcome export from budget PC gaming when the title fell to a fiver - but it's good to move to recycled boxes, can't argue with that since I've got over 150 of the damn things...

 

:/ I work on a paper mill, better go on search for another job... I think that there are things that shouldn't change. If I buy a game in Steam, of course I'll have everything in a digital way.
But I have friends that buy games physically just to have the box, the dvd, and the manual with the game art or the controls/ troubleshooting guide...
I understand that we have to save the world and save trees, but to me there are these small things like these manuals that are more of a loss to the product than a win situation.

(I'm not British, please excuse if I didn't explain myself well enough)

 

Your English is better than some I've read on BT from natives

I was just noting the fact that there were already no manuals for £1-£5 2nd/3rd release budget titles, on the PC (in the UK). If Ubi wants up to 40 quid for a console game and I can't have a manual, do I need to bother with that title? It also sounds like they want to sell more strategy guides if that's the case.

Mind you this is Ubi Soft we're talking about, they will impose any new idea guaranteed to hack off as many people as possible. You only need to start looking for a new job when the RPG and historical strategy makers decide to follow suit, as that's one sector of gaming that I couldn't see settling for less than a printed manual (unless buying from Steam as you say).

 

Strategy guides must be printed on paper, so that the defeated user can have it open in front of them as they try the rising-water puzzle in HL2 for the fourteenth time. Game manuals, on the other hand, I find to be a waste of space. Good on Ubi for saving the planet one glossy booklet at a time. Now, if only they could make a start on the rest of their business practice...

 

Personally - I usually find a good porno mag will suffice....

in any case not shipping with manuals is not much of a loss - most games already have it in PDF format on the CD/DVD itself anyway.

 

The .pdf manual off the install disc lol.

 

alt tab and read the pdf?

 

They will just include the manual on the disc, most likely in pdf. Like practically every game of the last 10 years. On console games it'll likely just mean adding another button on the main screen. Really i cant imagine not having a physical copy of the manual will be a deal breaker for more than a handful of people.

 

I like manuals..and I like boxes..and I like Games on discs that I can keep...and dig out years later to peruse at my leisure.

 

I wonder if they will also remove the multiple pieces of marketing literature packed into every game in their efforts to go green. Somehow I doubt they will.

 

I've always liked paper manuals. I just find them easier to use. Just as I find paper books easier to read than ebooks.