Making A Video Game More Than Just A Video Game

I just watched the AVGN video of Swordquest for the Atari 2600, and my jaw was on the floor the entire time. I couldn't help but think; “How cool is this?!”. In the first Swordquest game you get clues which make you look through the comic book that came with the game. You flip to the right page and find hidden phrases. Eventually you get a few of them and have to discern the secret phrase with the words you've found. There was a huge ridiculously awesome contest attached to this. There were glorious crowns and treasure you could win. I still keep thinking, How! Cool! Is! That!
The only other game I can think of that had a type of on-cart contest was Vectorman. At the end of the game you had a chance to win money if your cartridge was the right one. This was actually fairly lame, but it still added a level of excitement to playing the game. Back in the day before serial keys, PC games often sent you looking through the manual for a phrase or code to “unlock” the game. This was an early copy protection technique. Essentially if you lost your manual you'd be screwed. This made it fun actually in my opinion. Instead of typing in a long-ass boring code you had to look through the manual, sort of a quest to be able to play the game. Sure it may have been annoying to some, but it made me feel more immersed in the game this way.
There haven't been too many games these days that give you a task to do outside of the game. The only one that really comes to mind at the moment is Metal Gear Solid. A hint in game tells you to look at the “back of the box”. Your wondering what box? Well it's on the back of the game case. I loved this, it was this “out of the box” thinking that made me love that game more.
Why don't more games do this? If we truly want a huge epic adventure of a game, why stop at something in-game? Why not go outside of the TV screen and add more to it. Having to look through the boxes contents of swordquest to continue your adventure made it feel more like an actual adventure! I know most of today's gamers just want to sit on their couch and fiddle with controls without thinking. They probably wouldn't have the patience to have to look through a manual, therefore calling the game boring. This truly is a shame. Just think how a simple gadget that came in the game box could add to a game? Such as a puzzle box, or some kind of decoder. Even that would instantly make a game that more epic. Think of Uncharted where instead of having Drake's diary in game, it was really in your hands. Think of something simple even like a guide to the world of any rpg; an encyclopedia that gave you details on everything in the world of the game. Not in game! No! IN YOUR HANDS.

The Wii has sort of tried to accomplish this by having you do the movements in the game, but it comes across as cheesy to me.

Would it really be so hard to pack something in the game that actually has relevance to playing the game? No I don't mean a damn master chief helmet. Something that adds to the real game play. No I don't mean damn night vision goggles either! If developers did this, I for one would happily actually pay that $70 for a game rather than waiting until they're cheaper. This would make a video game more than just a video game. It would make it what it is supposed to be; an adventure.