I spent the better part of the day clearing out some old boxes of junk in the garage, and coming across some of my older gaming stuff I noticed something that often isn't associated with modern gaming any more: paper manuals that are almost as interesting as the games themselves.
The two best examples in my collection were for Homeworld: GOTY Edition and Mechcommander. Both manuals feature material told in a biographical or historical perspective, with Homeworld opening up not with the standard Installation Notes, but a full 39 page tale of the History of Kharak, it's religious wars and clan interactions leading up to and beyond the discovery of the hyperspace module, and the outfall this would have--not only for the world, but for common everyday people who made great strides in the planet's history. Mechcommander's in-guide tutorial to the game's control systems is told from the point of view of a PO'd ex-pilot who wants to help you not because he likes you at all, but because he doesn't want to see you screw up and kill his comrades. Plus, it features that old classic: the full 108 button keyboard map and historical and weaponry documents detailing every last mech you'll encounter on either side in the game. The Wing Commander windows 95 edition (WC's 1 2 and 3) came with a paperback-style manual that chronicles the history of the war not only in a nice synopsis, but also by tossing tons of little bits and pieces at you like obituaries, personal ads, transfer papers, and other items that serve to flesh out the story of Maverick (played delightfully in the third through fifth games by Star Wars protagonist Mark Hamill) and the Terran Navy.
What I'm getting at is this: these games weren't in collector's editions or art books, these were standard features of the game (or at least, some later iterations of the game) purchase. But now, we're lucky to get saddled with readme notes printed on real paper or even genuine keyboard maps.
I know that the games market is more financally important than ever before to studios; and they work on often thin margins. But would it take them a fortune to add some cool items that reward players casual and hardcore alike?
People read game manuals? Usually when I get a game, I'm so excited to play it that I just toss the manual aside. I guess manuals are getting worse these days to cut down on costs. Besides, they won't make any money if the manual is so good no one buys the guidebook.
Well the Halo series and Oblivion manual are like 50 pages and have a crapload of info in them.
I keep the ones that are interesting and for games I particularly ilke/liked. Sadly not all of them have been found, and I'm sure that if I realy wanted to hunt the rest down not ll of them will have survived the ravages of time.
Oblivion had a map, which was nice, but I didn't see any major manual stuff that woul lead me to believe it was erally cool.
steel battalion!! that wasnt a manual it was hell with pages.. dont think i could of turned the xbox on without reading every page
i loved it tho :D
Oh louise, I'm exactly the opposite. I *LOVE* good manuals, my personal favorite being the 50 page behemoth that was myth II.... Nothing better for bathroom/class reading to get you hyped up to go home and play a game than re-reading the flavor text....
I guess thats the question though, when did people start skimmping on manuals in favor of selling more strat guides or special editions?
I dunno, its seems kinda sad and unappologetically money-grubbing
I do wish game manuals were bigger than they used to be. Hell, for most things I seem to get a slip of card paper that reminds me what the default keys are. There have been a few times where I've needed to check something in the manual, I can't remember what but all I got was one of those slips of cardboard.
On the bus home from the centre of town, there is nothing better than reading a manual to get you into the game. Most 360 games (not including Oblivion, obviously) have barely a few pages, Dead Rising being the most notable example.
I think it shows more of a lack of thought for the player than anything else - you could still sella game for £40 and have a 300 page manual, just look at Civ IV.
Wing Commander or Origin for that matter always had the most detailed and fun manuals. Strike Commander came with a handbook for the base, personal agendas for your co-pilots and ads for weapons like: "Sidewinder - your air to air missile your enemies will hate. Buy today and get 4 for the price of 3" :).
Rockstar's GTA manuals are fun too, ads and radio schedules for every wired company and station they came up with. Not 50 pages plus but still a blast to read.
Other than that you'll be lucky nowadays if you find a piece of paper with the basic controlls in it :P.
I'm totally with you Andy. I used to love reading the manuals for games. I remember reading the mechcommander book as well. I also loved the SimCity booklets as well. The Halo booklets are pretty good as well.
Ultima 3 and 4. Wing Commander. Red Baron. I remember when game boxes had bulk because of the manuals. Mind you, a manual doesn't make a game, but back in the day you could pretty much judge a game by the size of the manual.
Kalroy
I have that same PONG manual!! I was playin my pong machine on my 50" Plasma HDTV!! Those were the days.
remember when manuals "defeated" piracy... eg "what is the fifth word in the second paragraph on the third page of the manual?" that was like so impossible to get around.
also im reminded of something I heard about american airlines saving $40K a year by putting 1 less olive in each salad served in first class... the manual on a cd is just the best way to cut costs I guess, since they're already having game cds pressed, so just tack on another cd instead of involving a printing company with a mass order
Needs more 579 page Falcon 4.0 manuals.
I just recently found some old RPG's of mine including Baldur's Gate I and II. The manuals for those are so increadibly comprehensive with historical notes on the towns you can visit, stat charts for all the different races, notes on all the spells etc. It made the whole experience so much more fullfilling if you read the manual while the game was installing and then got to play in that world.
I got a PS2 very late and have been buying games almost exclusively for it recently and find the manuals to be increadibly disappointing and not what I am used to. Your lucky to get 10 pages of press this button to do that etc but no background on the game world or anything. :(
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