PSVita games = no manuals... or, Dick Moves By Game Companies and why they're wrong

[Kriven]

Google's a contender in it all, yeah.

Honestly I'd be more worried about Facebook. Zuckerberg has some really strong opinions about making everyone's daily activities public knowledge.
(We've left the realm of games. Interested in continuing this via PM if you want to get into more company powertrip type stuff.)

......
Sorry rest of forum, you can talk about games again now.

[Kimahri-Ronso]

Actually I kinda enjoyed that. It's nice to see a heated debate once in a while, especially on an aspect not usually discussed.

While a one-console & one-handheld future would be ideal for consumers, it would not be ideal for the console makers.

[Vipershark]

I kind of glazed over looking at the last two pages but I don't feel that all consoles should be able to play the same games, because what's the point?

The PS3 and 360 offer a near-identical game experience, and aside from exclusives, they both already play the same exact games.
The PS3 might be more powerful, but there's no point in having the extra juice if it's not being used.

I kinda wish the consoles differed greatly like back in the days of the SNES and Genesis so there'd be legitimate competition and quality titles on both sides, and not just ENDLESS PORTS EVERYWHERE where two games of the same title on different consoles could offer wildly different experiences.

[SKELTON S. SKELETON]

basically the only reason anyone in this thread is mad has 100% to do with traditions when it comes to packaging
what was the last game you actually needed a manual for that provided pertinent information that wasn't
A) readily available in the game
B) in a manual longer than a few pages

[Gwen]

Like I said earlier, they should just package the games Soundtrack along with the game now.
Will they ever do that? In rare cases yeah, but how cool would it be if they included them with every game release?

[SKELTON S. SKELETON]

Like I said earlier, they should just package the games Soundtrack along with the game now.
Will they ever do that? In rare cases yeah, but how cool would it be if they included them with every game release?

that would be pretty unbelievably sweet yet but it costs a lot to produce a CD

[Gwen]

Pshaw I can get a cd for 1.25( yeah I can see how that adds up) It's unfortunate, that'd be a very radular thing to do if possible.

[Tellis]

The last time I found a manual useful was for Xenosaga, and before that Persona 3. Persona 3's manual has a great little chart for 2-way Persona Fusions and makes it a lot easier to figure out to get certain Fusions (and there's no easy way to figure out this info in-game). And Xenosaga's was helpful because it was very easy to forget exactly what all of the little pieces of the battle screen meant, especially because you don't actually do any fighting for 1-2 hours after you go through all of the battle tutorials, so it doesn't exactly stick very easily. If you could only check the manual for the game while outside of the game, or from the in-game menu (and not, you know, anytime), I would be completely lost in battles. . If they work like that, then that sucks. But if they work along the lines of something you can pull up like the PS3 menu in the middle of games then that would work just fine in most cases. It would be hard with Persona 3 because it helps to have all of the info in view at once when figuring out more complex fusions by yourself.

So I guess what I'm saying is that the use of a manual really depends on the game. There are some situations where a physical manual is truly the best option and a digital copy just won't do, like in some games with complex mechanics that might need to be checked from time to time.

[Kriven]

I agree with the idea of packaging a soundtrack with a game. It really wouldn't cost much more money than printing an instruction manual.

However, it would cost them money on a potential product. :-\

[Gwen]

Most don't ever release a soundtrack anyways.

[Cobalt Blue]

buying an artbook > relying on a manual.

[Gwen]

An artbook would be a cool alternative too. Although that brings back the paper issue :[

[Cobalt Blue]

the whole thing comes from having a physical element to increase the value of your game. it hardly doubt its about recycling or saving trees.

[Kriven]

Most don't ever release a soundtrack anyways.

In America.

[Gwen]

Most don't ever release a soundtrack anyways.

In America.

True, damn America.