I'm Madder Than Alice!

What is the point in this?

A Useless Article.

This manual is absolutely generic.  The only way in which it is at all unique to the game it came with is that it has the name on the cover, as shown here.  I imagine most people reading this have encountered such booklets.

I know for sure that a similar manual comes with Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12 and with Sims 3 Pets for the PS3 and I assume there are others.  I don't know if the XBOX 360 versions of these games are similarly afflicted but in the case of Sims 3 Pets I strongly suspect so (I have some new and sealed versions which I'm selling on ebay and they feel very lightweight).

It is worth noting that all the games named here are EA productions.  Perhaps they have done the maths and decided to try to phase out boxed games by making them less desirable.  Let's face it, they are not as profitable and EA cannot control pricing so rigidly when there is a physical product being sold by numerous retailers.

If there was just a game available for a set price from PSN or XBOX Live then EA could keep the price above £20 indefinitely and if we wanted to play we would cough-up.  Let's face it, EA have the widest range of quality games and are in the best position to dictate like this.

But I like boxed games!  It's not just that I try to make a living from selling them.  They are desirable and collectible and I covet them but I've got to admit that I covet Alice: Madness Returns slightly less because of it's shoddy manual.

Let's be honest.  My speculations about EA are unfounded.  They are not a struggling company and don't need to change the playing field one bit.  But the reason they are not struggling is that gamers have made them very wealthy.  Couldn't they throw us a bone by including a decent manual with our games?