BLIZZARD: Please make the manual worthwhile

[Terra]

I still remember cracking open my WC3 Battlechest and seeing this huge ass manual for RoC with lore and useful tips. Storyline behind all the units and heroes. I miss that feeling. Most games nowadays are like 3 page inserts with a "how to put the game in your console/how to open the CD drive" page, the controls, and an epilepsy warning.

Let my inner child live again? If not for me (let's face facts, I'm damaged goods), then for the children of today, who have to deal with things like Modern Warfare's 2 manual. For every game.

/waves folded sheet of paper that is attempting to pass off as a manual

[Terra]

Come to think of it, this may be the reason children today can't read or type as well.

They never had anything to read while installing the game. Or on the way home.

[Buildmoar]

I still remember cracking open my WC3 Battlechest and seeing this huge ass manual for RoC with lore and useful tips. Storyline behind all the units and heroes. I miss that feeling. Most games nowadays are like 3 page inserts with a "how to put the game in your console/how to open the CD drive" page, the controls, and an epilepsy warning.

Let my inner child live again? If not for me (let's face facts, I'm damaged goods), then for the children of today, who have to deal with things like Modern Warfare's 2 manual. For every game.

/waves folded sheet of paper that is attempting to pass off as a manual

if you don't get a collectors edition, don't expect printed material of any kind. the publisher of MW2 isn't gonna spring for the cost of a good manual for a title that will probably only sell 2-3M copies

[Terra]

if you don't get a collectors edition, don't expect printed material of any kind. the publisher of MW2 isn't gonna spring for the cost of a good manual for a title that will probably only sell 2-3M copies

I know.

And this is why it's so tragic.

One of the few good remaining companies, engulfed by... that.

[Lghtningwolf]

this is the price we pay for online DLing of games

[Kagato]

Actually, don't take my word on this go have a look for yourself, but the video game industry is doing this whole download online, CD keys, ect. To try and out a crimp on places like Gamestop and EB games. These companys make roughly 2 billion a year off used games and the developers see none of it. So by simply moving the game to online download, you can limit how many copys the person is allowed. Or by cd keys, you can make the person buy another copy if they want to play both.

Here is the kicker, when they make you buy cd keys online XD>

Seriously though, wanna see this stuff change, talk to the CEO of Gamestop, work something out so that developers get a cut of the used game profit, and you will find many more game company's many more titles, and a lot more goodies included.

[Azile]

this is the price we pay for online DLing of games

^

I for one won't be buying a box copy, Steam has changed the way I game.

[Terra]

Actually, don't take my word on this go have a look for yourself, but the video game industry is doing this whole download online, CD keys, ect. To try and out a crimp on places like Gamestop and EB games. These companys make roughly 2 billion a year off used games and the developers see none of it. So by simply moving the game to online download, you can limit how many copys the person is allowed. Or by cd keys, you can make the person buy another copy if they want to play both.

Here is the kicker, when they make you buy cd keys online XD>

Seriously though, wanna see this stuff change, talk to the CEO of Gamestop, work something out so that developers get a cut of the used game profit, and you will find many more game company's many more titles, and a lot more goodies included.

That explains console games.

However, this is a PC game. Unless there's a horribly ported console vers-

...

Point is, the CD key can only be used ONCE. They CANNOT resell Starcraft 2, since it's bound to your Battle.net account. So there's really no reason to NOT include a good manual, since it's a one-time purchase. And, if WotLK's launch is to be believed, they have deals worked out where they won't allow a digital download for a brief period of time, in order to move physical copies. So there's no reason to not put it in the case.

Outside of relentless, soul-crushing, money-grubbing evil.

[Luso]

The battlechests always come with larger game guides.

That said blizzard has never given us "folded sheets of paper" as a manual. The standard wc3 manual was probably about 50-80 pages (guessing) and did include sections on lore. Whether they will invest the same in this economy is another question though.

[Terra]

The battlechests always come with larger game guides.

That said blizzard has never given us "folded sheets of paper" as a manual. The standard wc3 manual was probably about 50-80 pages (guessing) and did include sections on lore. Whether they will invest the same in this economy is another question though.

They also come with the manuals. I know the difference between a manual and a Brady guide.

And, while that is true, their last FULL game came out in 2004. It is 2010. A lot has changed in 6 years (mostly who owns their souls). And since expansions have never come with manuals, we have no way to gauge what exactly has changed in that time. Their philosophy and whatnot.

[Buris]

I still remember cracking open my WC3 Battlechest and seeing this huge ass manual for RoC with lore and useful tips. Storyline behind all the units and heroes. I miss that feeling. Most games nowadays are like 3 page inserts with a "how to put the game in your console/how to open the CD drive" page, the controls, and an epilepsy warning.

Let my inner child live again? If not for me (let's face facts, I'm damaged goods), then for the children of today, who have to deal with things like Modern Warfare's 2 manual. For every game.

/waves folded sheet of paper that is attempting to pass off as a manual

Blizzard will definitely have a good manual , with some nice things to read. such as character bios and maybe like a small story from the 1st one or something. They always do, and that should be enough.

[Boni]

Oooohh man, I do remember the manual for the original StarCraft. I was pretty damn young, but when I read about Korhal getting hit with thousands of nukes from space, or how the Terran actually came about from the combined mutant, criminal, cloned, and all-around freaks of Earth’s population… so very cool for a 12-ish year old who had never read sci-fi before then.

Oh wow. Video games and the literature that goes with them had a very profound effect on me.

[Sonanko]

^

I for one won't be buying a box copy, Steam has changed the way I game.

I am pretty sure Pardo has stated that they aren't going to have SC2 be digital on day 1. It is going to be a week or 2 after retail.

[Calnos]

I still have the manual in a nice convenient place in case I ever feel like reading it again, which I have done recently. I like how Blizzard threw in a big backstory for all the races and even a paragraph of lore for each unit and some of the various factions.

The single player campaign is the whole reason they're splitting it into three games. They want people to care about the lore. I'm sure they'll be some nice reading material in the SC2 manual, even if half of it would be a recap of the first game.

[Zerospacepup]

I for one support this, one of my favorite thing about both Starcraft and Warcraft was the massive manual that I could read in my free time, it was really great and I hope it rolls over into Starcraft 2.

[Terra]

I am pretty sure Pardo has stated that they aren't going to have SC2 be digital on day 1. It is going to be a week or 2 after retail.

WotLK did this too. It's so they can move physical copies.

[Wretched]

Come to think of it, this may be the reason children today can't read or type as well.

They never had anything to read while installing the game. Or on the way home.

So, you blaming the lack of a printed manual in a video game box on the fact children cannot read or 'type'

Interesting theory

I do agree though, i used to love going down to the local shopping center on the bus, getting a new game and reading the manual on the 1.5 hours bus trip home (by car it would take about 25-30 mins, public transport in melbourne is bad)

I'm sure blizzard will give us something awesome to look through as a manual, the last game they released had a massive manual--World of Warcraft--however the expansions did not have a great deal, but they where only expansions, and patch notes pretty much sum up most of the new stuff coming to that game anyway.

I'm sure blizzard will keep with providing a large manual with not only "useful" technical information on installing the game, but some awesome interesting lore to read as well.

[Chung]

If you've played MW you'd know that the children of today are *@#%ing %*@#*@#s and don't deserve !#!#. But I agree, I remember that the WarCraft II manual was able to hold my attention whenever I took a dump.

[Endureth]

Let's be honest.

Give me a manual worthy of sitting on the back of the toilet for us older gamers.

[CryoS]

Game manuals are disappearing for the same reason liner notes on records are gone. The world's gone digital, and some things just don't translate well into new media.

[Seam]

Blizzard will definitely have a good manual , with some nice things to read. such as character bios and maybe like a small story from the 1st one or something. They always do, and that should be enough.

This.

They did in WC, WCII, WC3, SC, WoW, WoW:BC, WoW:Wotlk, Diablo, and Diablo 2.

It's safe to assume SC2 will aswell :P

Let's be honest.

Give me a manual worthy of sitting on the back of the toilet for us older gamers.



:3

[Thoraxe]

They will, because Blizzard makes their games because they love them, not because they know they can make a crap ton of money.

[Nezdragon]

Definitely /signing on this one. I'm a lore person, and I love the feeling that there's an entire world behind the game. A good story goes a very long way to drawing me into a game.

[Colrath]

Blizzard Lore has always kept me an avid reader, but that's about all I read. But I own every Starcraft and Warcraft book on the Blizzard store.

[Fuse]

I learned most of my world history from the age of empires manuals >_>

true story

[Winobot]

Blizzard always has great manuals with tons of lore and art (I still have my Warcraft: Orcs and Humans, and Warcraft 2 manuals in good condition on my bookshelf), and I hope they keep up this tradition. If I have to pay $80 for some "collector's edition" in order to get more in my game box than a DVD and ads for other games, I'll be pretty disillusioned with Blizz . . .

[Jrix]

I still read WC and SC manuals like once a year.

[Aseenus]

I reckon.. Less lore, more important info.

[Requisition]

This video illustrates the plight well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzPuXXUbrPM

[Wolfe]

I used to bring the sc1 manual and the 3-paned tech-tree pamphlet to school every day in fourth-fifth grade and study it.

I studied starcraft harder than math.

[Terra]

I reckon.. Less lore, more important info.

...what? They're not mutually exclusive. You can have both.

And that's what I miss. So much.

[Reginkunnr]

I used to bring the sc1 manual and the 3-paned tech-tree pamphlet to school every day in fourth-fifth grade and study it.

I studied starcraft harder than math.

Hell yeah! My friend had SC and he brought his strategy guide and the tech-tree in every day. We were all about Starcraft. It took me a couple months I think to actually get it for myself, but man that was so awesome.

[Ownos]

I haven't read a game manual since I was 12. Even then I only read them when I was bored. I do liked the bios in Blizzard's manuals. Still it'd be better if that kind of information was just in game... like an in-game Starcraft-pedia. My trips to the bathroom are too brief nowadays to bother bringing in reading material. :P