Instruction manuals
 

Does anyone actually use these? I mean, with tutorials in the first level, there is really no point. And did anyone ever write in the "Notes"?

Most (PC) games don't even have them any more, which is understandable as you rarely need them for anything beyond the CD key on the back. Last one I read was the manual for Battlefield 2 - thought I think I was the only person (including the developers) that bothered as it talked about things like "bullets ricochet on tanks and can injure nearby enemies" which isn't actually in the game.

As for the notes section - yeah I never used it.

I think I wrote cheat codes in a notes section once.

& level passwords in the aladin game

I never use them, but I almost never buy a game without one. I'm a completionist. :(

i read them in the toilet and my favorite is the conker one for xbox but ea i think they should be made into art books or back storys it would be cooler

I used to have a pretty good collection from blockbuster back in the day. Other than that I only used notes for Mega Man X2 and Suikoden1.

So you're that asshole that keeps taking those.

When I was a kid I didn't like renting a game unless there was a manual with it.

And I always kept the manuals for Rollercoaster Tycoon and the Sims because they were actually kinda fun to read :(

I thought the manuals were fun to read, too. I mostly liked reading about the monsters in them, like in Diablo and whatnot.

The only time I read them is on the car ride back from getting a game as a kid. Sometimes there was some useful information, but this was back in the NES days.

Like Emu, I prefer to have the manual and box. I used to enjoy reading the manuals for Genesis and SNES games, although not so much anymore.

Didn't you have to in metalgear solid? to get the girls number. Or was that on the CD case?
Also in some really old games that was were they put the story. If you even cared to know why you had to move to the right and kill everything that moved.

It was on the back of the case.

They used to have game information and some hints on the backside of the Blockbuster boxes. They forgot Meryl's codec number. We decided to make a fake cover for Banjo Tooie.

I read em all the time for my genesis and n64 games. They were kind of fun to read back then and there was always a lot of pictures and info on enemies, etc, which was really cool at the time. Now I just get into the game and don't really give a fuck about anything that comes with it unless it's a poster, map or something.

i know when i rented mgs meryl's number was on the back, but i think it was labeled as something else. i forget

some of the manuals from rented games had cheat codes in the back. god, makes me miss the time when the internet was either really expensive and/or really slow, so this kind of stuff + strategy guides actually made a difference

Like a lot of you, I used to read them with every game back in the NES and SNES days. My head would've exploded with anticipation on the ride back from the store if it weren't for them. Now, I typically go to the manual if the tutorial isn't comprehensive or if I'm on the john, like someone else said. I only used the notes sections a couple of times for passwords and the like. People keeping the manuals to rental games drove me insane when I was a kid. I think they still serve an important purpose, and I'm sure kids today still tear open the package to read the manual to their new games while they're riding home.

i still get the urge to read the manual when i just got a new game, sometimes i'll even try to sneak a peek on the way home when i'm stopped at a red light if i'm really excited to play it :(

I mainly read them to figure out the controls, because at the time, every time I bought a game I was in the backseat of a car, going home.

What else can I do to build my excitement for a new game?

I usually glance through them just prior to playing the game, and then again after I've been in the game for a few hours just to make sure I didn't forget about something. The GTA IV manual is a recent exception though. Rockstar knew to have fun with it, which was nice.

If you played either half life game, the manual pretty much says nothing other than the basic ways to navigate the menu, a read out of the hev suit's HUD layout and button layouts. They might as well have just had one insert card saying "this is all you need:" and proceed to show default button functions. So, in this case, there is no need for a manual, unless your talking x-box/ps3 and are somehow required to have that epileptic seizure warning. If you bought Opposing Force, the manual would have extra things like Marshall's diary entries and military tips like proper bowel movement cycles and Murphy's Law.

i hope fallout 3's manual is as good as the manuals for 1 and 2 were :(

What, you've never forgotten any of the controls in a game? Never needed to figure out how to find a certain feature or do something specific?

Besides, instruction manuals can be pretty interesting when they actually put a little effort into them. For example, the Manhunt manual. Even run-of-the-mill booklets can be kinda sweet; if you're lucky, you might even get a weapons rundown or some character/plot background and exposition that wasn't mentioned in the game itself.

Of course, but I'm far too proud to admit that to a game manual.