Ubisoft Going Greener by Ditching Game Manuals

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amabhy

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Jeez, why cant you just like, turn the lights off in the studio at night or something?

I actually love manuals, they're interesting to read when they have little bits of story, and sometimes even small tips about the game that you might not get if you just pop in the game.
 

darkguset

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I do not own a game console so i can't really comment there. But for the PC it is usually a good thing to have, especially when there is a story behind. It is like a book and it gets you flamed up and ready to go into the game and play it. I almost never read or go through the options and menu descriptions as they are useless. You will come across them in the game menu anyway and they don't help at all in the manual with descriptions of: "GRAPHICS-From here you can change your graphics options of the game", REALLY???
One thing often missing from simulator games are details eg: from a flight simulation details of the aircrafts and their armament, or a space simulation power of lasers, phasers, shields, etc. Without those vital statistics you can't really enjoy the strategic side of a game.
 
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sorry, but I am one of those view that actually reads the manual. Loads more stuff in there than just how to play the game.
 

omnimodis78

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[citation][nom]sironomus[/nom]and by "greener" they mean they get to keep the extra green[/citation]
Of course, everything is about the bottom line, but this makes perfect sense to me, and more and more companies are taking this route. If it means less paper, the better - and while we all know why they're really doing it, it's still a very good thing! In my opinion, anything which doesn't need assembly should ditch the user manual - and if info must be given to the customer, put it on a CD, or better yet, just make them go online!
 

backin5

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If they ditch their stupid new DRM they'll be able to stop wasting electricity running all those DRM servers. But that would make life easier for their paying customers, so they probably won't...
 

DeltaEdge

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I must be one of those odd balls that almost always reads the instructions first before playing a game. They're great for the downtime while installing new games, or when playing multiplayer when there are always questions about the controls.

Now it's going to be a hassle to navigate to the information through the game itself. I hope it is not an online feature as that would be really irritating.
 

burnley14

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[citation][nom]sironomus[/nom]and by "greener" they mean they get to keep the extra green[/citation]

Yep. I'll believe the greener part when they drop the price of the game $3 because of this.
 

deadly4u

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I would actually read the god damn manual if they had anything decent in them. Remember when games used to come with COOL STUFF that wasn't just a shiny box or a useless in-game item?

What they're really saying (to me) is "No one bothers looking at our chicken scratch, so let's phase it out and call it 'Green' to increase our share value!!"
 

bogcotton

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I read only the comments here.

Not only because I read this on IGN a few days ago, but also because I now refuse to even aknowledge that Ubisoft exists.

Splinter Cell: Conviction being crippled by this new DRM is making me want to break down in tears over the dwindling of honest, small time - enthusiast game developers.

Oh yeh, and this is just a way for a company to save some money, whilst trying to piggy back on the halo affect of the whole 'green' thing [this isn't to say I'm not concerned about the destruction of our natural habitats, but the mass-media 'buzz-word' nature of the movement.].
 

masterjaw

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Nah, this is not really green. They're just cutting costs. And unless you put something substantial in the manuals, you can't really expect gamers to read that.
 

mayne92

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[citation][nom]bogcotton[/nom]I read only the comments here.Not only because I read this on IGN a few days ago, but also because I now refuse to even aknowledge that Ubisoft exists.Splinter Cell: Conviction being crippled by this new DRM is making me want to break down in tears over the dwindling of honest, small time - enthusiast game developers.Oh yeh, and this is just a way for a company to save some money, whilst trying to piggy back on the halo affect of the whole 'green' thing [this isn't to say I'm not concerned about the destruction of our natural habitats, but the mass-media 'buzz-word' nature of the movement.].[/citation]
Yeah my feelings exactly! I stopped buying Ubisoft games years ago...not worth the headaches...
 
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This isn't about money or the environment.

This is _only_ about chipping away at the value of ownership when you buy a physical copy of a game. Their ultimate goal is to sell you a license that they can control, that has no resell value. One of the ways they are facilitating this digital shift, is by giving you less and less ownership for your money so when the digital future is finally here it'll be harder to remember all the things your money used to buy and you'll be more inclined to embrace their new business model of no consumer ownership and no consumer control what_so_ever.

The fact that they can call themselves green while saving few pennies on each copy of the game by not having to print a manual is just icing on the cake, but it is by no means the cake.
 

asdf634

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[citation][nom]maigo[/nom]Then where to the CD keys go?[/citation]
There won't be CD keys because is they'll force you to connect to your server during your play.


Yeah, like that really worked...
 
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