Gears of War man, Cliff Bleszinski has backed Ubisoft's "green" campaign to ditch paper game manuals.
"I fully support losing paper manuals," the designer wrote on his Twitter. That's all.
Yesterday Ubisoft announced that starting with the launch of Shaun White Skateboarding this autumn, it will replace all physical game manuals with in-game digital equivalents on PS3 and 360.
Ubisoft reckons that producing one ton of paper used in its game manuals consumes an average of two tons of wood from 13 trees, with a net energy of 28 million BTU's, greenhouse gases equivalent of over 6,000 lbs of CO2, and wastewater of almost 15,000 gallons.
The reception's been mixed so far, with one CVG reader posting "NO! GIVE ME MANUALS! F**K TREES!"
We haven't read a game manual since 1997, so we don't really care.
I think manuals should be kept for flight sims (not that you see many these days), but most other games don't need them as it's all pretty self explanatory.
I would like to see a nice big manual/novella for Elite 4 (IF IF IF it ever gets released/developed before the next millenium)
I doubt that not having paper manuals is gonna make a difference, its not like its gonna prevent the earth from wobbling on its axis in 2 years time or prevent the north and south poles from shifting positions.....
Joke.
Last manual i read was xcom back in the mid 90's anyhow lol.
We haven't read a game manual since 1997, so we don't really care.
wait a minute,wait a minute...when you buy a new game,get back indoors from the shops and you want everything done so that your gaming isn't interrupted for the next few hours...so you go for a s**t...what do you read on the s**tter?,for me the manuals are the best s**tter material
and i will be f**ked if a game like Sacred 2 came out and it had no manual
so be it for pieces of s**t manuals like most EA games have(Lord of the Rings Conquest manual i am looking at you)...but games like Oblivion,i want a manual!!
The fact that so few people read manuals any more proves that there is little, to no imagination going into them.
They used to be part of the overall package, to set the tone and draw you into the game.
GTA manuals are a prime example. What about the Fallout 3 manual too?
It also proves that games are so obvious in how they work these days, that manuals are useless anyway. For instance, why have instructions for Modern Warfare? All you do is point and shoot...
Therefore, I agree, but for different reasons. And I'm pretty sure that their reasons aren't to save trees.
We haven't read a game manual since 1997, so we don't really care.
wait a minute,wait a minute...when you buy a new game,get back indoors from the shops and you want everything done so that your gaming isn't interrupted for the next few hours...so you go for a s**t...what do you read on the s**tter?,for me the manuals are the best s**tter material
and i will be f**ked if a game like Sacred 2 came out and it had no manual
so be it for pieces of s**t manuals like most EA games have(Lord of the Rings Conquest manual i am looking at you)...but games like Oblivion,i want a manual!!
They're too shiny. No where near absorbant enough for me.
so be it for pieces of s**t manuals like most EA games have(Lord of the Rings Conquest manual i am looking at you)...but games like Oblivion,i want a manual!!
You needed a manual for Oblivion???? Did you play it on Easy too?
I cannot think of a manual in the last 10 years of gaming that I have felt that I needed to read!
We haven't read a game manual since 1997, so we don't really care.
wait a minute,wait a minute...when you buy a new game,get back indoors from the shops and you want everything done so that your gaming isn't interrupted for the next few hours...so you go for a s**t...what do you read on the s**tter?,for me the manuals are the best s**tter material
and i will be f**ked if a game like Sacred 2 came out and it had no manual
so be it for pieces of s**t manuals like most EA games have(Lord of the Rings Conquest manual i am looking at you)...but games like Oblivion,i want a manual!!
I am waiting a Facebook group to be created called SAVE OUR MANUALS!! - Join this group if you oppose the abolishion of videogame manuals. How else will pass the time while taking a dump!
Yeah, that was me......I said that.....sorry, I support the environment, I just think that it would feel incomplete........Although saying that I also never understood what Paul McCartney saw in Heather Mills..............
I'm for ditching the manual ONLY if they make sure to accomodate gamers that don't have huge HD tvs. Half the time I can't read the directions on my television because it's an older 42" tube tv. Developers now seem to assume we all have the money for high end electronics. I know I don't, and if I get one game every few months I'd damn sure better be able to read the screen prompts.
I'm with the move for no paper manuals in game boxes they are a waste. What I would also want to see though is the packaging reduced alongside this move and that the savings are passed on to us gamers.
It will never happen though as game prices are only ever going to go up.
I haven't read a manual in ages, but agree some games like Oblivion do need them.
Plus I'm sure that Ubisoft are planning to pass on the savings of not spending millions getting them printed onto us gamers. Right Ubisoft? Helloooooooo, anyone home?
Sod the manuals, Microsoft and Sony should stop selling their points cards in full size DVD/Blu Ray cases. What a waste of packaging. But genereally, yeah, replace paper manuals. Who reads them? Except for something like, say, Civ IV for example where a manual is really handy.
Who's the idiot banging on about game prices only ever going up?? I'm paying the same price or less now for 360 games 'new' than I did 17 years ago for the megadrive. And as for saving the planet by stopping paper manuals.......It's a bit late for that don't you think? Take a look at all the city lights (at 400watts each) or the miles and miles of needless motorway lights at the same wattage. And don't even get me started on Las Vegas
meh don't mind only manuals i have read is mass effect one oblivion one and total war ones when i first came into those series now i just don't need them for any of their sequals
Well it's hardly like Mr. B's games need any kind of complex understanding - not a bad thing in itself.
But I suppose this fits in with the mainstream angle the industry is taking - most people don't have the patience to sit down, read and actually understand the game's mechanics. I admit I've plunged straight into games before; but I invariably refer to the manual and come away full of game knowledge.
Take, for instance, Fallout 3. In the manual there is a hint, detailing how the player - by holding RB - can survey the battlefield in V.A.T.S. Would you know that simply by playing the game?
I vote on the side of manuals. Maybe we can get the Government to do something about it?
As I said in another post on the topic I will not buy an old retro secondhand game if it dosn't have the booklet/manual as it does not feel complete. So, by the same token why the f&*% would I want a brand new game that dosn't have a paper manual? Its part of the whole package as far as I'm concerned. I understand some people don't read it and thats their choice, but at least give the person paying for the game the option.
Oh, it's on the disc? So as someone else pointed out in said thread you use up even more electricity accessing the digital version on the disc. And where do you think that electricity comes from? Nuclear powerstations are the future you say? The same nuclear power stations that dump toxic, radioactive waste into the ocean and various landfill sites after they've finished with it? Very green.
Good one Ubi. You're becoming the new Activision with this, coupled with your recent Drm debacle.
noo! the case isnt complete without the manual what happens when i step on a game and theres no cushy manual to ease the strain on the disc..also if i need to have a few discs in the one case for whatever reason where am i gonna safely store the other disc if i dont have a manual .f**k YOU SLUTS keep the manuals who wants a s**ty box with just a disc in ,sounds pretty cheap to me
Let's just stop playing video games. They're all the f**king same anyway. You've pretty much been playing the same game over and over just with better graphics.
I agree with the above poster, GTA is the only games where something useful actually comes with the game like a map, useful for ticking off Flying rats.
And as for saving the planet by stopping paper manuals.......It's a bit late for that don't you think? Take a look at all the city lights (at 400watts each) or the miles and miles of needless motorway lights at the same wattage. And don't even get me started on Las Vegas
How are the lights in the city or on the motorway needless? You'd happily drive along a street at night with no lighting but your own headlights?
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