Jedi_Templar
06-07-2006, 6:23 PM
Today, I was digging around and I found some old game manuals. Heroes of Might and Magic 2&3, Age of Empires, Outpost, Homeworld... and it reminded me of the decline of game manuals.
When you pick up one of these, and read it, there's a lot in it. For the Starcraft manual, for example, there's at least 30 pages devoted to each race that describes the race history, units, etc. Now, you'd be lucky to get a manual that's more than 15 pages, especially if you buy an EA game (my suggestion- don't buy EA games. Except maybe Spore when it comes out).
I think it stems from 1) smaller box design (when they transitioned from those huge ass boxes to the current small boxes, while it saves space, it does eliminate huge manuals) and 2) cheap production values. Since more and more money is being funneled into graphics and sound design, there's less space for storyline and writers. So, with a game like Starcraft, you have a five page short story on why the Terrans are 3000 light years from Earth and why they are fighting the Protoss and the Zerg. With Dawn of War (which is a great game, don't get me wrong) you have a brief paragraph describing the whole of the Imperium. Thank God I read a lot of WH40k fluff, or I wouldn't understand any of it.
Especially with EA games, which I've noticed are heavily steeped in graphical design and sound production, but are lacking in story and proper AI. So naturally, they ship they game with a weak manual that's a waste of paper. Or sometimes they just send a PDF or a Readme and don't even include a manual.
As for older systems- I don't really miss the Atari 2600 (my grandparents had one in their basements and I and my brother would play on it). Sure, it was fun, but give me a PC and a copy of The Journeyman Project or HOMM2 and I'd enjoy that shit for hours. And I completely skipped all the console generations until the last one, when my brother got a PS2 and I got an Xbox. So I'm looking forward to the Wii ^_^
When you pick up one of these, and read it, there's a lot in it. For the Starcraft manual, for example, there's at least 30 pages devoted to each race that describes the race history, units, etc. Now, you'd be lucky to get a manual that's more than 15 pages, especially if you buy an EA game (my suggestion- don't buy EA games. Except maybe Spore when it comes out).
I think it stems from 1) smaller box design (when they transitioned from those huge ass boxes to the current small boxes, while it saves space, it does eliminate huge manuals) and 2) cheap production values. Since more and more money is being funneled into graphics and sound design, there's less space for storyline and writers. So, with a game like Starcraft, you have a five page short story on why the Terrans are 3000 light years from Earth and why they are fighting the Protoss and the Zerg. With Dawn of War (which is a great game, don't get me wrong) you have a brief paragraph describing the whole of the Imperium. Thank God I read a lot of WH40k fluff, or I wouldn't understand any of it.
Especially with EA games, which I've noticed are heavily steeped in graphical design and sound production, but are lacking in story and proper AI. So naturally, they ship they game with a weak manual that's a waste of paper. Or sometimes they just send a PDF or a Readme and don't even include a manual.
As for older systems- I don't really miss the Atari 2600 (my grandparents had one in their basements and I and my brother would play on it). Sure, it was fun, but give me a PC and a copy of The Journeyman Project or HOMM2 and I'd enjoy that shit for hours. And I completely skipped all the console generations until the last one, when my brother got a PS2 and I got an Xbox. So I'm looking forward to the Wii ^_^