New Games With No Manuals.. Stingy

[Rayne]

The price of a retail game from a store is £40 new, but the price of the digital download, which has no case, booklet or disk....IS THE SAME BLOODY PRICE!!!

Because retailers have threatened not to stock physical copies of the game if online services under-cut them, so I've been told anyway.

I'm really starting to hate this generation of gaming. £8-£10 for online passes to play online content that you have to buy if you purchase a game second hand FOR EACH GAME

What's wrong with that? If you're buying a game second hand then the publisher/developer sees 0% return on a title they made. Imo, online passes are a brilliant idea, seeing as how I buy my games new, they sure don't bother me.

I think the worse offender at the moment in Skylanders. It's £40 for 'Starter Pak', but then you have to buy figures to add new characters at around £15-£20 for 3 characters. So buy the time you've added 6 new characters to your 'Starter Pak', you've paid £80. THAT'S A JOKE, but it works because it's aimed at kids, and kids get there parents to buy it for them. The same goes for all other games, because a big part of the market is played by kids.

Skylanders makes no attempt to hide that extra characters are available, however they are NOT required to complete the game. You can see all the content on disc quite happily by using only what you get in the starter pack. It's no different to the model Pokemon, Yu Gi Oh, Eye of Judgement and countless other kid-centric things have used before.

[RetroBob]

I like physical media as much as anyone else here, but lets face it, games teach you in game these days - other than a cursory glance (if any glance at all), has anyone really used a manual at all in this generation?

[Megamixer]

I like physical media as much as anyone else here, but lets face it, games teach you in game these days - other than a cursory glance (if any glance at all), has anyone really used a manual at all in this generation?

I have. There are still plenty of games that do a bad job of explaining simple mechanics and even menus. Can't name any specific examples right now but I know I've had to use instructions for silly things.

I think I'm more bothered by buying a pre-owned game that has a missing manual than buying a brand-new release that isn't supposed to have a manual. It's just something that's nice to have and I would have thought us retro-minded folk would miss them a bit more.

[ToxieDogg]

Skylanders makes no attempt to hide that extra characters are available, however they are NOT required to complete the game. You can see all the content on disc quite happily by using only what you get in the starter pack. It's no different to the model Pokemon, Yu Gi Oh, Eye of Judgement and countless other kid-centric things have used before.

Really? I think you've been misinformed. I was under the impression that certain areas of the game were closed off to you unless you had certain toys/characters. Check this page out.:

http://xbox.about.com/od/xbox360reviews ... w-X360.htm

You don't actually have to use any extra characters besides the three the game comes with to beat Skylanders, but you won't see everything the game has to offer, which is the real evil genius of the whole product line. The characters have elemental associations, so to open a water door or magic door or tech door or some other element, you have to have a Skylander with that element. Which means you'll have to buy more toys if you want to see everything.

In that regard, it's nothing like Pokemon at all, there wasn't anything on Pokemon you couldn't do with just one copy of the game cart asides from quite fully complete your Pokedex.

[IronMaidenRule]

I was going through some old boxed Championship Manager games, that came with posters and all sorts of other goodies....tweeted a few pictures to Miles Jacobson who is the Studio Director at SI Games, who do the current Football Manager series, we both agree'd, they were awesome but unlikely to happen again due it taking up so much in packaging...its not environmentally friendly , wasnt expecting the response at all, I thought he would have came out with something about costs.

[Megamixer]

Not so long ago, I sold a copy of Madden Football on the 3DO and it had a manual as well as two huge fold-out posters detailing the teams, different formations, possible tactics etc. Environmental concerns are undeniably more important but I miss games like this that went beyond just having a manual.

[IronMaidenRule]

Not so long ago, I sold a copy of Madden Football on the 3DO and it had a manual as well as two huge fold-out posters detailing the teams, different formations, possible tactics etc. Environmental concerns are undeniably more important but I miss games like this that went beyond just having a manual.

Agree, it is nice to feel you are getting your monies worth from a product, it is almost like they are trying to make the desire for a physical copy totally redundant.

[crusto]

Back in the day the manual was just as well though out as the game itself! I used to love pawing over them when I wasnt hammering away at my joypad. The artwork, the tips and actually being given a backstory and told what the aim of the game is was a nice touch too. Nowadays you are expected to know what its all about before you buy the damn thing. You might as well wipe your arse on whats on offer with todays games, probably more use.

[Megamixer]

Not so long ago, I sold a copy of Madden Football on the 3DO and it had a manual as well as two huge fold-out posters detailing the teams, different formations, possible tactics etc. Environmental concerns are undeniably more important but I miss games like this that went beyond just having a manual.

Agree, it is nice to feel you are getting your monies worth from a product, it is almost like they are trying to make the desire for a physical copy totally redundant.

But maybe they are! I mean, I was under the impression that companies are pushing for a digital future?

[IronMaidenRule]

Not so long ago, I sold a copy of Madden Football on the 3DO and it had a manual as well as two huge fold-out posters detailing the teams, different formations, possible tactics etc. Environmental concerns are undeniably more important but I miss games like this that went beyond just having a manual.

Agree, it is nice to feel you are getting your monies worth from a product, it is almost like they are trying to make the desire for a physical copy totally redundant.

But maybe they are! I mean, I was under the impression that companies are pushing for a digital future?

That is the theory I have had for a while now, it certainly is profitable for them to do so, no printing and distribution costs, no second hand market at all.

[ChipTune]

reads all above posts..

takes deep breath..

BUT I JUST WANT A DAMN MANUAL WITH THE GAMES I BUY.. IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK??


ahem.. excuse me

I buy all my games new as they are always so cheap on rainforest.com so I expect to get a damn manual.

Online passes I was dubious about, but I think it's a good idea. I bought battlefield 3 secondhand on a whim as I was hungover and at my mates house near gamestation and they didn't have any new copies (or so they said), so I was happy to pay 800 points to get an oline pass.

What I do object to is bloody DLC that you pay a tenner + for and it just unlocks something already on the game disc, nothing is downloaded.. now THAT is taking the p1ss in a big way.

Street Fighter X Tekken .. paying real money for gems .. f()ck off.. paying money for a slightly different coloured character .. again.. f()ck off.

Capcom are becoming the worst offenders for this, and someone above mentioned that it doesnt come with a manual?? That's a bloody disgrace.. A Fighter should always have a manual or at least a card or something with the moves for each character. I'd rather have that to reference between stages loading than having to trawl through a menu looking for lists of moves in game. I won't be buying this game so Capcom can suck my danglies.