Like us:
No More Printed Manuals For EA Games
62
Heal the world.
Published: 8:30, 21/03/2011 by Dan Lee.
Related stories:
EA’s Peter Moore Talks About DLC Turning A $60 Game Into A $80 Game
90
Mass Effect 3 Exceeds $200 Million at Retail, EA Investing In Next-Gen 5
EA Gathers Some Of Its Games Into A Bundle, Calls It An “Indie Bundle” 9
EA Rumoured To Be Losing Over 500 Staff 5
EA Receiving ‘Thousands Of Anti-Gay Letters’ 79
EA’s Peter Moore Talks About DLC Turning A $60 Game Into A $80 Game
90Mass Effect 3 Exceeds $200 Million at Retail, EA Investing In Next-Gen
5EA Gathers Some Of Its Games Into A Bundle, Calls It An “Indie Bundle”
9EA Rumoured To Be Losing Over 500 Staff
5EA Receiving ‘Thousands Of Anti-Gay Letters’
79As mentioned in our Fight Night Champion review, it has been confirmed that EA, or at the very least EA Sports, have done away with printed manuals in an effort to produce games in a more environmentally friendly manner.
Instead of a printed manual we will get an in-game manual to browse, as well as any tutorial the game includes. EA join Ubisoft in abandoning the printed manual, and interestingly enough the retail copy of Top Spin 4 I received from 2K had a reduced sized manual with a link to a much more in-depth booklet online.
Source: Kotaku
Most Comments This Week
- Gaikai’s Streaming – Does This Mean No PS4? [65]
- PSN Store Update: 23/05/12 [55]
- First Party Vita Games Drop To £12 On PSN [52]
- PSN Store Hit With 80023163 Errors [51]
- Is Something Big Coming To PlayStation Plus Soon? [50]
- “Leap” Motion Controller Could Revolutionise Gaming [43]
- Ghost Recon: Future Soldier PS3 Install Is Huge [42]
- Australian & New Zealand D3 Players Suffer High Ping Rates [41]
- Sony Files Patent For Game-Interrupting Soda Adverts [40]
- Ghost Recon Future Soldier Review (PS3, Xbox 360) [39]
Latest Reader Comments
-
Meet the Reader: KAMIKAZE-UK
- 12:48 teflon: It’s the raw footage!
- 12:10 nofi: Hehe.
- 11:30 KAMIKAZE-UK: There’s no chance of a directors cut here, you’ve damn near included everything.
- 11:27 Rocket_345: That was so random it’s unreal. One of the funnies MtR ‘s yet.
- 10:44 Kronik76: ‘Can you get Drogba masks in Swindon?’. Bahahaaahaahahahaaah ahaaaahahahaaa!!! One of the...
- New Hardware, New Plus: All Eyes On Sony This E3
- TSA Speculates: Why You Might Not Need To Buy A PS4
-
Microsoft Job Offer Mentions “Next Generation” Of Xbox
- 11:27 rossthebassist: I also think that a 2012 or early 2013 release is possible. I think its smart of microsoft to be...
- 11:21 stage1: This is good news because the nearer MS are to releasing a new console, the closer Sony is to releasing the...
- 11:09 uncleniccius: That’s the problem, it’s near impossible to get comfy sofa gaming and the best quality...
TSAtv: Original Video Content
Batman book review
Kris Dancing, again
Joe Danger interview
Sonic Generations
21/03/2011 at 08:35
Member since: Jul 2009
Wankers! Sorry but I likes me manuals! Toilet reading!…and the case just feels empty with no manual.
21/03/2011 at 08:36
Member since: Jul 2009
no swear filter?? someone wanna filter that out? dan? anyone?
21/03/2011 at 08:52
Member since: Jun 2010
No, you live with what you’ve done. Filth monger.
21/03/2011 at 08:51
Member since: Dec 2009
Agreed. I like to read whilst having a number 2. There’s nothing better than getting to terms with a game by reading the manual whilst having a poo.
21/03/2011 at 09:48
Member since: Jul 2009
agree 100% I like to make sure I dont have to make any unexpected trips during the 1st hour or two when starting a new game. ;)
21/03/2011 at 10:10
Member since: Jul 2009
I can think of lots of things better than your reading/toilet combo. How about…
Sitting on a beach drinking a cocktail
Relaxing after a hard workout
Watching your favourite team win convincingly whilst sipping a pint
…and so on. All more pleasurable than the reading/toilet combo.
21/03/2011 at 10:15
Member since: Jul 2009
Amphlett, we can incorporate anything you’ve just listed into the daily “movement”. *digs hole in sand*
21/03/2011 at 11:06
Member since: Dec 2009
Amphlett you severely underestimate how much I enjoy my personal time. :P
It’s similar to how most of my interactions with women go, I tease the wrapper off, open it up, rip out the innards and peruse at my leisure whilst taking a dump. XD
21/03/2011 at 10:17
Member since: Mar 2010
This man speaks the truth. The manuals are one third of the experience involved with buying a game, along with an in depth study of the case, and the game itself of course.
21/03/2011 at 08:35
Member since: Jul 2009
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOkay then.
21/03/2011 at 08:44
Member since: Aug 2009
Meh a few games are too simple to understand now and er… manuals are pretty much useless
22/03/2011 at 12:46
Member since: Mar 2009
It’s still nice to have something though, perhaps they could put some of the concept art on postcards instead.
21/03/2011 at 08:44
Member since: Mar 2010
I think this is a good step in the right direction. Personally, I find that most of the information you need is in the game and very rarely look through the manual as it is. Agreed, it may take a little to get used to not having it there (the empty space in the case), but ultimately I do find them to be a complete waste.
I just hope that by the same token they will get rid of advert inserts (so long as they don’t think it gives them license to put it into the actual game).
21/03/2011 at 08:45
Member since: Oct 2008
Maybe they will bring the price of games down accordingly?
I didn’t think so either.
21/03/2011 at 10:42
Member since: May 2009
For all the pennies per game cheaper it would be without the manuals?
21/03/2011 at 10:52
Member since: Oct 2008
There is still a cost assosciated and a few pennies times 1000000 copies soon adds up.
My point is that they are making an issue about saving the planet when they will be hoping to absorb the profits of this as well.
21/03/2011 at 11:09
Member since: Nov 2008
True, but they still have to design the in game manual which they need to code. I imagine that would come pretty close to cancelling out the printing of a few bits of paper
21/03/2011 at 11:46
Member since: Feb 2009
more likely is that they’ll just have pictures of what have been in the manual viewable from in game.
21/03/2011 at 08:50
Member since: Apr 2010
I can’t remember the last time I read a manual, all publishers should take this on really.
21/03/2011 at 10:14
Member since: Jul 2009
Agreed. A complete waste of paper in my humble opinion. I appreciate it forms part of the “buying new” experience but it’s great to see manuals going online and the video game industry looking to a more environmentally sounds attitude.
21/03/2011 at 11:22
Member since: Feb 2010
It’s not so much the environment EA wanna save but they money it costs to buy the paper and the ink and any other costs involved in printing manuals. Paper is recyclable so is the plastic box every game comes in not sure about the discs but if not someone will find a way to strip it dwn and reuse it it’s only plastic with a picture printed on top and a layer of whatever that is read by the laser.
21/03/2011 at 11:27
Member since: Feb 2010
also manuals give you something to do while the inevitable 20 minute + install takes place
21/03/2011 at 08:53
Member since: Mar 2009
I’m still supprised by the manual in dragon age 2 especially after the size of a manual in mass effect 2, but I’m not too bothered as an ingame manual can be updated to reflect the current state of the post launch
21/03/2011 at 11:10
Member since: Jul 2009
That’s a very good point. Means the manual can be updated if required. Top mention.
21/03/2011 at 08:54
Member since: Jan 2009
Admittedly I don’t use manuals that often. However, RPG’s with indepth menu systems and different abilities/bars etc… which are all abbreviated I’ll often refer to the manual to check up on. As long as the manual can be accessed while playing the game, and you don’t have to exit it won’t be too bad. I do enjoy reading the manual on the bus home though, so lets just hope not all companies adopt this!
21/03/2011 at 08:54
Member since: Dec 2010
the only good manuals come from rockstar anyway, so it ain’t so bad…unless they follow suit…
21/03/2011 at 08:55
Member since: Sep 2008
Think of the poor manual writers. out of a job now. My dream as a child was to be a manual writer but now this will never come true. thanks EA for destroying my dream.