Since we're talking stuff.

[Pope Viper]

I remember when I first opened my Fallout back when it first came out, and seeing that cool little spiral bound manual, reminding me of the cool "stuff" that Origin put out whenever they released an Ultima game.

Since a person pointed this out, I thought it would be good to have Bethesda consider doing a REAL manual, rather then some PDF on a CD.

 

[Fatty Lumpkin]

Don't most games have a manual these days? I thought the PDF crap was left for old re-releases and compilations. At least, every game I have bought came with a manual....maybe not a nice spiral bound one, but a manual nonetheless. Though I will say the "art" of the manual leaves something to be desired in most games.

 

[Pope Viper]

Don't most games have a manual these days? I thought the PDF crap was left for old re-releases and compilations. At least, every game I have bought came with a manual....maybe not a nice spiral bound one, but a manual nonetheless. Though I will say the "art" of the manual leaves something to be desired in most games.

I dunno, I've seen some companies go to a "quick reference" card, with a "Full manual on your CD!!"

Great for me.

 

[SuAside]

all games i ever bought came with full manuals. there were occasions where the "box" was some of those shitty dvd thingies, so there was only a really small manual, but there always was one.

of course only few manuals get the work that was put into it like the FO1 & 2 manual. thats really a pitty.

little extras are nice too. keychains, small posters and the like. of course those are rare and mostly part of a pre-order packet or something like that.

 

[Macaco]

Manuals are really great, wonderful bathroom reading... My favourites are probably Warcraft 2 and for the swat games (lovely gun info, the one that came with a sniping handbook was simply adorable). The Fallout 2 manual was pretty great too, i never had the manual for the first fallout, since i only bought it After Fallout 2, and in a "Value" thingy at that.

 

[Roshambo]

/me beats his head onto the desk, since it would hurt too much to punch the wall.

Argh...more I have to add to the articles and catch up on. It doesn't help that some of the pain meds are making me a bit nauseous.

I jest about the griping, but this I will have to include as well and I'm surprised I didn't think of this aspect when I was drafting up the summary. Of course, the pain meds.

On that note, I completely agree with how some games have tried to make the universe feel a bit more in-depth by adding something that doesn't make the game feel like a CD-ROM or floppy. People liked having something that helps to draw them into the world, and I would have to say that yet again that Fallout had good marks for presentation. There's many who throw around cheap trinkets, backpacks, kaychains, etc. as promotional pieces; but none are so beloved as something people really would use, a good manual combined with something like Ultima's cloth maps. The manuals for Ultima and Fallout were well done, and I would have to note that they might become something of a collector's item in a few years, simply because few others in the industry have put that much creative effort forth in their work.

They add depth to the game, instead of giving you useless cards with character bios, a t-shirt that is nothing more than extra advertising for the game (which is an insult if the game sucks ass or if you don't like it), and other items that aren't worth the hype of including them nor the 25c the publisher paid for the item out of a junk vending machine at a supermarket.

The players are already expecting a manual included in the game's box, so it's best if it's a good one. There are countless manuals around that suck ass (*coughFOTcough*) for various reasons. We need more to inspire others to do the same and make the game industry a little less of a cash whore industry like the music industry, but that's a rant for a different time.

 

[Ashmo]

Spiral bound? Could someone lead me to a photo of that?

As European I'm used to being treated as a second class customer by American game producers. For a couple of years now we don't get the nice cardbox packs anymore and instead only get the crappy DVD boxes which usually only come with a short booklet rather than a real manual.
When I opened my Arcanum box and found a manual about the size of one of those DVD boxes the first thing that came into my mind was "Yay!".
Fallout did come in a cardbox, but the German manual was a regular softcover pocketbook (same material as a normal CD booklet tho).
Fallout 2 came with a booklet of the same dimensions.
Fallout Tactics' booklet was even shorter.

Not like there was any REAL reason not to make the international versions come with the same swag as the American ones. In most cases the EU English version has the exact same content as the American one anyway.

..

Damn I miss those large boxes. They may not be as hip as the new ones, but at least you can tell them apart from console games and DVD movies. That and they are more to look at.

 

[SuAside]

There's many who throw around cheap trinkets, backpacks, kaychains, etc. as promotional pieces; but none are so beloved as something people really would use, a good manual combined with something like Ultima's cloth maps.
*snip*
They add depth to the game, instead of giving you useless cards with character bios, a t-shirt that is nothing more than extra advertising for the game (which is an insult if the game sucks ass or if you don't like it), and other items that aren't worth the hype of including them nor the 25c the publisher paid for the item out of a junk vending machine at a supermarket.

i agree that 2many games come with crap trinkets. but those cheap trinkets often serve a purpose, like you said: marketing. latest example is of course Doom3. most places where you could preorder you would get a keychain or a T-shirt.

it would be a shame to have to trade off for a cheap trinket like that, instead of getting something useful & neat like that cloth map you mentioned. however, what useful thing could you get for Doom3? a UAC PDA that you have to connect by usb to read the other PDAs you found ingame? for obvious reasons that cant be done, nor should it be done.

i still have my HL Tshirt from way back and i like it (does that make me a nerd? guess so), although i dont wear it. for RPGs or even RTS games it's often easy to give meaningful things, but for most "shoot first ask questions later"-FPS games? sometimes i'm glad to get a free Tshirt or a stupid keychain rather than nothing at all, even if it is just for marketing.

The players are already expecting a manual included in the game's box, so it's best if it's a good one. There are countless manuals around that suck ass (*coughFOTcough*) for various reasons.

i'm afraid the game industry believes it's not worth the money to make a cool manual. i suppose they also think nobody reads it anymore, except for some basic keybind information... (of course there are exceptions, thank god for that)

i often think of the fallout 1&2 manuals (whoho, cooking tips) and arcanum manual (nice stories & descriptions) when i'm confronted with another one of those 6 pages cheapass manuals containing no more than: intro, installation procedure, keybinds, menu, HUD, gamemodes and credits.

it's a shame really, but it's another sign on the wall, pointing out the state of our beloved game industry.