EA eliminates printed manuals

by Garnett Lee, Mar 22, 2011 5:30pm PDT

Printed game manuals have become a thing of the past for all Electronic Arts games. As part of a worldwide environmental initiative, the publisher today announced that digital manuals would replace the old paper ones in all titles shipping around the world. The move reportedly will result in a 40 percent reduction in printed materials in its packaged goods.

The new digital manuals will be on the game disc and be accessible both from the main menu and pause screens. One benefit to the new system is that players will be able to pull these manuals up on the screen without leaving the game, making it easy to get help. Full digital versions of the manuals, in multiple languages, will also be made available through a game manuals section on EA's support site.

While we can all appreciate the need to spare the environment, it's hard not to have at least a pang of nostalgia for the days of detailed manuals and the rest of the loot like cloth maps that came in the box. On the other hand, each of those Falcon 4.0 ring bound flight manuals probably took a birch or two to make.

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Comment on EA eliminates printed manuals, by Garnett Lee.

Mar 22, 2011 5:30pm PDT

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  I'd rather see an in-game accessible manual than having the entire "game manual" printed in front of you ... : the archvile
  - i only ever use that front page with the controls mapped on the 360 controller and even then i barely use... : dantastic
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    Shogun 2 has a really awesome wiki style encyclopedia that you can open within the game and has contextua... : midgetherder
    - this is how it should be for every game : dirge23
    - the Metal Gear Database for MGS4 is super badass and so much better than an included book ever could have... : roushimsx
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  This is great news! It is sure to help keep game prices lower, much in the same manner that digital distr... : watcherxp
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    and fuck EA for claiming that this is based off of some environmental impact decision. : watcherxp
    - yeah, more like "printing costs". : the archvile
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      there's clearly a financial impact but paper isn't the large cost of a game. also, the environmental chan... : dahanese
      
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      I use to love manuals before they turned into pamphlets that poorly describe menu options and a place for... : Modulus
      
      #21
      
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      By: dahanese x Show Full Post
      
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      yeah, they are fun, but i'd much prefer something searchable on the computer. :(
      
      Mar 22, 2011 6:13pm PDT
      
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      yeah, they are fun, but i'd much prefer something searchable on the computer. :( : dahanese
      
      Both is better. I don't want to alt-tab out of a game to look at the manual. Lots of games don't like the... : Modulus
      
      Not I. See my post below for more info on why this isn't necessarily such an obvious "Slam-dunk!" decisi... : wytefang
      
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      Sure, unnecessary paper is unnecessary, but for them to be calling this some sort of "environmental green... : watcherxp
      
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      but it's not pure horseshit because there is a tangible impact on the reduction of paper waste. it's okay... : dahanese
      
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      *sigh* You are reading a lot into my words that i didn't say. My ONLY point is that it is 100% bull... : watcherxp
      
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      the "green initiative" that has become vogue lately is the perfect excuse for them to do this, is what it... : vitek r
      
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      yep, and I ain't buying it. : watcherxp
      
      Same here. : wytefang
      
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      the green initiative thing has happened before with manuals, too, and i honestly disagree with you that i... : dahanese
      
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      A few thoughts Just because many developers have let the manual degrade to "nothing of real value" as : watcherxp
      
      i definitely disagree on the dumbing down thing - but i think using that phrase as a generalization usual... : dahanese
      
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      The environmental impact is a benefit of their decision, not their reasoning behind it as they are claimi... : Thund3rball
      
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      I had an abortion last week, you know, because I'm green and stuff. Plus I hate babies. : MagicWishMonkey
      
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      why are you so terrible at logic : dahanese
      
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      Logic? This is a cost cutting measure. A room full of MBA's put together a CBA model and decided it ma... : MagicWishMonkey
      
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      i have no idea how it actually went down at EA so maybe your idea of suits actually happened but chances ... : dahanese
      
      I work in the business world, and suits make all of the big decisions at a company the size of EA. : MagicWishMonkey
      
      I wouldn't say it's "pure" horseshit, just mostly horseshit. : datoo
      
      It still doesn't bring back all of those poor, dead PDFs that we senselessly slaughter every year. : steauengeglase
    - Yeah, that made me laugh. : Ride-My-Rocket
    - Its horrible how they try to make points with that in lieu of just saying that it is to make all games re... : Lukiopimp
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      haha, agreed. This saves them thousands of dollars in production costs and no one will really notice i... : MagicWishMonkey
      
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      It's still a green initiative whether you like that they say it or not. Bravo to them. : razlebol
      
      It's a business initiative that happens to result in saving paper. If they cancel an upcoming game doe... : MagicWishMonkey
  - lol. I have often wondered the same thing about DD. : DragonSire
  - Generally, reducing costs results in increased profits, not reduced prices. : dealie
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    it won't help keep game prices down, it will just help keep profits up. : jabuck
- I couldn't agree more. It's just more evidence of games moving from an interactive art model to a busine... : paulatreus
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  I'm all for finding new and innovative ways to integrate manuals into games. a) People never open the ma... : roushimsx
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    some manuals are a work of art though. i remember reading through the starcraft and dungeon keeper manual... : Unleashed
  - I think the best integration of manual into the game that I have experienced recently is Assassin's Creed... : Thund3rball
- If I had an iPad, I wouldn't have a problem with this. Would be neat to have the iPad serve as a compani... : Vantage
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  What the hell am I gonna read while I'm on the shitter now?? : u sir name
  - Cereal box : Modulus
  - subscribe to field and stream? : AMikaboshi
  - play angry birds like the rest of us : veras
  - Glad I'm not the only one who does this. : AgentPothead
  - the shack? : Turd Ferguson
  - Shacknews from your smartphone, duh! : AlexXdude
  - Don't drop your iphone into the toilet. : Dr_Cube
  - kindle : dantastic
  - MaximumPC, duh. : Ride-My-Rocket
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    NOTHING. : not work safe
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      Srsly how much time do people spend on the shitter? : DinK
      
      IBS : Dravenport
      
      Not long enough. : Mad Brahmin Disease
  - playboy! but just for the articles! : anbilow
  - The Shack on your phone. : Mad Brahmin Disease
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  What is the third word on the 4th page? : spazzium
  - Read paragraph 17. : dirge23
  - best copy protection ever! : coyoterys
- Weren't they already basically down to a two or three page insert? : Dr_Cube
- I still have my Diablo 2 printed Manual with pages of lore. : Malaketh
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  I don't know the last time I bought a physical copy of a game, but I like this move. : fuell
  - I don't. At the moment the industry is treating physical and digital as a black and white thing - Per... : ChromeBallz
- There will still be printed manuals....you'll just have to buy the $150 special collectors editions with ... : Johnsexyelder
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  WTF am I going to read on the shitter now? : Entity
  - I am original and innovative. I also fail at refreshing! : Entity
- What are manuals? : pun][sher
- Manuals are boring and useless these days anyways. They've been pared down to two pages of copyright info... : CrazyPants
- While I can't remember the last time I read a manual, there's a little part of me that remembers reading ... : PlayfulPuppy
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  I like a combination of the different views expressed here. In a manual I like all of the back story tha... : DragonSire
  - Ugh. I feel completely different. Most games that try to "teach it to me in the game" end up boring me ... : wytefang
- Not unexpected. I was surprised and pleased that (supposedly) we'll be able to pull the manual up during... : wytefang
- RTFPDFM : moe6
- Awesome! I await the impending flow of lower cost EA games! : pigvomit
- Kinda funny considering I haven't gotten a real manual with a game I've bought that actually explained th... : Bensam123
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  If EA was so concerned about environmental issues they could just kill themselves and that would really t... : rosewood
  - what. : node
  - NERD ANGER DURRRR. : NickDelios
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  I have one of those Falcon 4.0 binders. I especially like the Advanced Tactics section that goes over di... : LoneBoco
  - Yeah, holy shit, I had one of those. That thing was impressive. : code-e255
- sweet, no more tacked on french manuals clinging to my games : Dravenport
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  Great news. Manuals have been worthless for ages anyway. : node
  - http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/comment/12/2011/03/f8f7f8b30604aabb51ddc84a562299b7/original.jpg : Dravenport
- The only environmental initiative going on here is saving the green from leaving their pocket. : Rimali_225
- the game industry pretty much eliminated manuals years ago. I miss the manuals of games long passed! : Degenerate
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  I can't wait for them to pass the savings on to the customer. : Robotic Puppy Eater
  - hahahaha good one RPE good one. : RogerDandy
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  Manuals seem so unnecessary anymore since every game ever in the last 5 years has had a tutorial or the f... : pukerat
  - These days I would consider it bad design if I had to read the manual to play the game. : House
- sports games should still have manuals, it is ridiculous all the moves in those games (like madden, socce... : FrayLo
- What a joke. "One benefit to the new system is that players will be able to pull these manuals up on t... : Edges
- Of course these cost savings will be passed on to the consumer in the form of lower prices right? : txfeinbergs
- The days of Homeworld's Historical Technical Briefing and Starsiege's lore only manuals are sadly long go... : RaptorII

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