How long until videogames no longer come with manuals?

[logan82]

I got a Fossil watch over Christmas and they no longer come with instruction booklets. You have to go online to get the instructions, which I think is a good idea. It got me to thinking, how long until video games no longer have books? It isn't like they really need to have books anyway. Most games hold your hand for a level or have in game tutorials for new moves. Almost all games also let you adjust how your controls are setup somewhere under options as well. On the same note, why do games and movies come in such ridiculously large cases as well.(At least Wii and 360 games do) Do we really need anything bigger than a CD slim line case? In my opinion the answer is no. There is quite a bit of waste in packaging. Reminds me of all the packaging that CDs used to come with when they first came out.

 

Of course this might all just go away as soon as digital distribution becomes the norm. I really don't like digital distribution with the current console systems. Games take up a lot of space on the hard drive. I think around 6GB if you load a game to the hard drive on the 360. Until they get around the 200 GB+ as a normal hard drive for consoles, it will take up to much space to keep your whole library on it. Not to mention the time it will take to download a game. Actually doesn't seem to far off now that I think about it.

[T B0NE 10]

Madden has pretty limited manual and it really sucks I think. Nothing like being down 4 with 27 seconds left and forgetting the no huddle button. (Which isn't in the manual)

[endaround]

Actually many PC games don't have printed manuals.

[bjkrautk]

Probably around the same time games stop coming out on disc. Digital distribution is very much the future of games distribution.