Artbooks & Gaming books |OT| A new era, a new shelf

[Zonic]

They also have the NES compendium in stock, but it's a bit different as stated in an email:

"Small edits made to the Nintendo feature to reflect the demise of the Wii U, introduction of the Switch and of course the NES Classic Edition. Typographically, we have updated the contributor entries to now include their role in the game or profession, to be in-line with more recent visual compendiums. We have also removed the gatefold pages."

Won't lie, part of me feels a bit annoyed when I learn there's an "updated" version of a book I own because it makes my copy feel incomplete or out of date, but I get why they do it.

 

[UnluckyKate]

Just had the GRIS signature edition come through and the art book is beautiful.

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just recieved this. My god its huge. Its beautiful

 

[Cooking]

I don't remember who it was that originally posted about it in this thread, but I just got my copy of Liam Wong's book and it's gorgeous. Thanks again for bringing it to our attention.

 

[show me your skeleton]

I don't remember who it was that originally posted about it in this thread, but I just got my copy of Liam Wong's book and it's gorgeous. Thanks again for bringing it to our attention.

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ha, funny story about that.
mine arrived when my work teammate, who usually works in a completely different office across the country, was visiting. i open it up and go 'hey look, a cool book i funded ages ago'
turns out he went to uni with liam and is still good friends with him.

we then spent the rest of the day cursing his incredible career.

 

[m_anger]

No surprises:

The Art of The Last of Us Part 2 gets new release date
June, 2, 2020, in the U.S. region

https://gameidealist.com/news/the-art-of-the-last-of-us-part-2-gets-new-release-date/

 

[Rlan]

I do a lot of art extraction for my blog, the Video Game Art Archive. This is going to be a great one to go through!

 

[ValKiryuSonicEX]

I do a lot of art extraction for my blog, the Video Game Art Archive. This is going to be a great one to go through!

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Wow, I love PSO, can't wait to see what you put up for it, awesome job overall with your archival.

 

[Villori]

Gift from me to me from the Amazon B2G3 promo a couple of weeks ago :D (+ the Witcher Book Collection for a friend)

I haven't had the chance to look at them yet, they are tempting me in my bookshelf but I'm excited!

 

[Zonic]

Cool, getting the Splatoon 2 artbook for Xmas. Now hopefully, I can get some more Amazon credit earned & get a decent amount via work bonus to get that SNES Anthology book ordered for a cheaper price.

Quick question about the Soejima books, since I seem to see the 2nd one be on sale on Amazon. Is it just flat-out "look at this artwork Soejima did that can be viewed online easily" aka promo art, or is it more than that, like has commentary from him about said artwork or has stuff not previously seen before?

 

[Freezasaurus]

Quick question about the Soejima books, since I seem to see the 2nd one be on sale on Amazon. Is it just flat-out "look at this artwork Soejima did that can be viewed online easily" aka promo art, or is it more than that, like has commentary from him about said artwork or has stuff not previously seen before?

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It's mostly promo art, but there are interviews in the back of both books. If I'm looking at an artbook but not sure about it, I'll usually look up flip-through videos from Parka Blogs or something.

 

[Zonic]

Probably not for me, then. I like his artwork, but it's not the type of book I'm looking for.

Keep forgetting pre-orders for that Atari Compendium go up next month...& that I should get the ZX Spectrum book just to have all of Bitmap Books' compendiums.

 

[UnluckyKate]

Probably not for me, then. I like his artwork, but it's not the type of book I'm looking for.

Keep forgetting pre-orders for that Atari Compendium go up next month...& that I should get the ZX Spectrum book just to have all of Bitmap Books' compendiums.

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if you are more into his sketches and commentary, the persona 3, 4 & 5 books are great for these

 

[castaction]

Gift from me to me from the Amazon B2G3 promo a couple of weeks ago :D (+ the Witcher Book Collection for a friend)

I haven't had the chance to look at them yet, they are tempting me in my bookshelf but I'm excited!

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How the marios art book? Im thinking of getting it with borderlands 3 art book too

 

[Zonic]

if you are more into his sketches and commentary, the persona 3, 4 & 5 books are great for these

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Gotcha. I have the P4 book & been meaning to get 3 & 5's artbooks eventually. Those seem more up my alley. I also wanted to get P4 Arena's book but then held off on account of Ultimax being announced & figuring they'd have an "updated" version of the artbook, but I'm guessing that's its own book.

 

[UnluckyKate]

Hope everybody is having a lovely time.
Hope you all got beautiful books for xmas !

 

[Wulfric]

A belated Merry Christmas to all! It seems like everyone got themselves some nice presents lol

I splurged on another signed book for myself, hopefully I can share photos this weekend.

 

[Vespa]

Hope you're all having a nice holiday!

I got the art of Klaus, seems appropriate for the time of year.

 

[1upsuper]

Within the vast ocean of Shin Megami Tensei art books, has there ever been one that covers the designs from the two Digital Devil Monogatari Famicom games that predate the "Shin" reboot? The SMT wiki has some images from a seemingingly black and white art book for the Telenet-developed MT game that predates the Atlus Famicom titles but I can't find any hint of an art book for those latter titles. Was Kaneko involved in those? Presumably he was involved with the Kyuuyaku remake of the two on Super Famicom. Is there a book that covers those designs specifically?

I realize this is a real shot in the dark.

 

[Wulfric]

Does anyone want a copy of Shinjuku signed by Mink?

It was sold to me as signed by both of them and that turned out not to be the case. :(

 

[--R]

 

[J_Viper]

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Damn these look good, but I ran out of space on my shelf : (

 

[Zonic]

Oh man, more books to add to my wish list. Though I imagine it'll be a while before I get them.

Meanwhile, got $40 Amazon credit from work & finally was able to order that SNES Anthology from Geeksline along with the latest HG101 digest about Namco arcade classics. Paid only like $11 out of pocket after using all the credit I saved up via Microsoft Rewards & all the change & cans/bottles I find while at work to exchange them for an Amazon gift card.

REALLY need to figure out my shelving space. Might have to look into a new bookshelf or maybe get something to hold my games or manga so then I can use that space for more books. Already had to move my gaming OSTs/CDs & that space is already used up by my HG101 books & a few others. Otherwise, either need to find something cheap via garage sales or some place.

 

[Freezasaurus]

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Son of a bitch. I'm not re-buying the first two volumes in hardcover. I'll grab vol. 3, though.

 

[UnluckyKate]

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that's low Udon... I'm tempted

 

[Zonic]

Bit of old news, but HG101 posted an update last month about their book plans for 2020:

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/hg...panese-video-game-obscurities-vol-2-and-more/

Bit of a summary:

- Unofficial Guide to SMT & Persona is about 85% done, needs some smaller features done, cover should be done soon.

- Wrestling with Pixels to be released in March in paperback, digital version to be available Feb. 15th. 230+ pages covering 250+ games involving wrestling/wrestler cameos.

- Might be a 2nd volume of Japanese Video Game Obscurities if the first volume does well, would feature games that were cut from the first book.

- Working on Shoot-em-ups Vol. 2 ("almost complete" & Beat-em-ups Vol. 1 ("much is complete", but also needs to rewrite a bunch of Kunio stuff due to being older)

 

[1upsuper]

Been waiting for what feels like years for shmups volume 2.

 

[Zonic]

That's one of the few HG101 books I still need to get, probably will make that my next book since I should be getting another gift card from work later this month. It'll feel nice to have a complete collection, or at least up to date for the most part (I still gotta read Japanese Developers Vol. 1 along with buying volumes 2 & 3).

There'll be one based on Silent Hill & Metal Gear, but that's much later down the line, probably next year.

Should also keep an eye on pre-orders for Bitmap's Atari compendium since that's suppose to be starting this month.

 

[RandomDazed]

Does anyone want a copy of Shinjuku signed by Mink?

It was sold to me as signed by both of them and that turned out not to be the case. :(

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You mean it wasn't signed by both or the signature is fake?

 

[Zonic]

UUUGGGGHHHHHHH

I finally got the SNES Anthology book yesterday & brought it with me to read while doing stuff in town, only to drop it when I got home on the wet road so now the edges have dirt & some pages are wrinkly from being wet.

It's not completely ruined/unreadable but freakin hell, for this to happen on the book that costs $80....

Anyone got some cleaning/drying tips? I don't have a hair dryer to dry the pages so best I can do is just leave it open.

 

[Wulfric]

You mean it wasn't signed by both or the signature is fake?

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No, it's signed by Mink (the author), sig looks real. Seller was just uninformed.

I sent it back for a refund.

 

[TAoVG]

AH! Rediscovering this thread and seeing "The Art of Journey" in the OP made me instantly happy. I was fortunate enough to have been asked to write the foreword for the book. And the book, as video game art books go, is extraordinary. If you liked the game, you owe it to yourself to seek out your own copy.

 

[Puck]

AH! Rediscovering this thread and seeing "The Art of Journey" in the OP made me instantly happy. I was fortunate enough to have been asked to write the foreword for the book. And the book, as video game art books go, is extraordinary. If you liked the game, you owe it to yourself to seek out your own copy.

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I've been looking for a reasonably priced copy of that book for a while now - second hand copies are above $500, new copies are over a thousand. I can mental-gymnastics justify a lot of spending for my art book collecting habit, but I can't rationalise my way past that. I was holding out for a reprint, but I don't think that's even possible now is it?

 

[Eleriu]

I've been looking for a reasonably priced copy of that book for a while now - second hand copies are above $500, new copies are over a thousand. I can mental-gymnastics justify a lot of spending for my art book collecting habit, but I can't rationalise my way past that. I was holding out for a reprint, but I don't think that's even possible now is it?

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As it says in the OP, the publisher Bluecanvas is gone so the book is super rare to find and if you do find it then the price is expensive.

Edit: So I don't double post. And speaking of art books that you can no longer buy, the Cook and Becker FFXV art book is now sold out for good.

 

[UnluckyKate]

AH! Rediscovering this thread and seeing "The Art of Journey" in the OP made me instantly happy. I was fortunate enough to have been asked to write the foreword for the book. And the book, as video game art books go, is extraordinary. If you liked the game, you owe it to yourself to seek out your own copy.

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Never realised you were Christopher Melissinos

Glad to have a legend like you among us !

Could you talk about how you were approach for the preface ? Any anecdotes for us ?

Is it okay to ask what are you up to now ? Pastpixels doesn't seem to work anymore ?

 

[RKasa]

- Might be a 2nd volume of Japanese Video Game Obscurities if the first volume does well, would feature games that were cut from the first book.

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Ooh, here's hoping. I really like the first book.

 

[TAoVG]

Never realised you were Christopher Melissinos

Glad to have a legend like you among us !

Could you talk about how you were approach for the preface ? Any anecdotes for us ?

Is it okay to ask what are you up to now ? Pastpixels doesn't seem to work anymore ?

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Legend? Well, I don't know about that but thank you for your kind words!

I was approached by Matt Nava to write the foreword due to my work on The Art of Video Games, my relationship with thatgamecompany, and writing my own book. It really was my absolute privilege to write that for the book and was honored that they thought so much of my perspective.

Today, I work at Verizon in the Corporate Strategy organization and have been working on video game tech with a team of folks who all hail from the video games industry. I also lead a team focused on work around future tech, innovation, and next generation applications. I am still involved with other video game preservation work as well.

As for PastPixels not working, it should redirect to chrismelissinos.com, but isn't for some reason. Will check!

 

[1upsuper]

If I may momentarily stretch the definition of gaming art books a bit, does anyone have any good recommendations for monster manual/bestiary type books? I am a big fan of illustrated books that describe creatures. I have some reproductions of medieval bestiaries as well as stuff like Kazuma Kaneko's SMT demon compendiums, as well as some Dungeons and Dragons monster manuals. I also recently picked up Dungeons & Drawings which is an absolute delight. But I need more. I know that a lot of video game art books inevitably include all the monster designs in the game, but what I'm looking for is something more like a monster manual, where the focus is on the creatures and descriptions of them.

 

[EvilRedEye]

They did a D&D one for kids recently that you may not have seen yet: Link

There are a couple of Fighting Fantasy bestiaries that have illustrations: Out of the Pit (you would want the original A4 version that includes some colour monster illustrations in the centre) and Beyond the Pit.

There is a Dragon Quest Monster Encyclopedia in Japanese but it hasn't been translated yet.

 

[1upsuper]

They did a D&D one for kids recently that you may not have seen yet: Link

There are a couple of Fighting Fantasy bestiaries that have illustrations: Out of the Pit (you would want the original A4 version that includes some colour monster illustrations in the centre) and Beyond the Pit.

There is a Dragon Quest Monster Encyclopedia in Japanese but it hasn't been translated yet.

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Thanks! I'm a fan of the Fighting Fantasy game books so I'll definitely check that out. I already have the Dragon Quest Monster Encyclopedia, but thanks for the recommendation.

 

[UnluckyKate]

If I may momentarily stretch the definition of gaming art books a bit, does anyone have any good recommendations for monster manual/bestiary type books? I am a big fan of illustrated books that describe creatures. I have some reproductions of medieval bestiaries as well as stuff like Kazuma Kaneko's SMT demon compendiums, as well as some Dungeons and Dragons monster manuals. I also recently picked up Dungeons & Drawings which is an absolute delight. But I need more. I know that a lot of video game art books inevitably include all the monster designs in the game, but what I'm looking for is something more like a monster manual, where the focus is on the creatures and descriptions of them.

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If you are familiar with Diablo games, check Diablo Bestiary : Book of Adria

 

[PersianPrince]

Managed to order the Dead Cells artbook from Fangamer just in time before they sold out. They just restocked a couple of days ago!

 

[UnluckyKate]

Japansoft just arrived, after a few minutes skimming through it, quality seems outstanding :

it also much bigger than I expected, clocking at 322 pages and with a nice thick hardcover.

more artbook related, I found this blog :

Halcyon Realms - Art Book Reviews - Anime, Manga, Film, Photography -

The top resource for anime and Japanese art book reviews.

halcyonrealms.com

his artbook review section is a goldmine. I filled up my amazon.co.jp wishlist within an evening reading his blog...

Maybe it was already posted here, but I just discovered it.

 

[Vespa]

^ love that blog. Helped me so many times to decide on whether it was worth buying a particular book.

His Twitter is great too: https://twitter.com/blauereiter

 

[KastuśKalinoŭski]

Yeah, love that blog too.

 

[Puck]

Omg that blog, so much goodness.

...What have you done? This is not information I can afford to be aware of right now.

 

[Wulfric]

If anyone still needs the Vogue Italia magazine with Amano's editorial, this ebay seller still has two for $30 each.

__________________________________________________________

I also collect the works of BROM. I love his beautiful, macabre works. He has such a wild imagination. He did quite a lot of work for TSR/Wizards of the Coast back in the day.

I just got his Dark Werks paperback (couldn't find good scans so this will have to do)

 

[--R]

 

[Freezasaurus]

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😂 😂 😂

🤦‍♂️

 

[Aumann]

Hey guys, maybe someone can help me out with this.

I am looking for some books on Metal Gear Solid (franchise) and Final Fantasy XI that are focused on game design, lore, history, art and pretty much anything relating to the game(s). I found one for MGS (MGS:Hideo Kojimas Magnum Opus) but that one is mostly text with no art I believe, and the ones I've found for FFXI are in Japanese (FFXI 10th Anniversary Official Memorial Book and Lightning Brigade 10 Year Encyclopedia).

Does anyone know of any books that fit the aforementioned criteria?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[UnluckyKate]

Hey guys, maybe someone can help me out with this.

I am looking for some books on Metal Gear Solid (franchise) and Final Fantasy XI that are focused on game design, lore, history, art and pretty much anything relating to the game(s). I found one for MGS (MGS:Hideo Kojimas Magnum Opus) but that one is mostly text with no art I believe, and the ones I've found for FFXI are in Japanese (FFXI 10th Anniversary Official Memorial Book and Lightning Brigade 10 Year Encyclopedia).

Does anyone know of any books that fit the aforementioned criteria?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

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Art of Mgs I - IV is 800 pages of art split in two books. Not much commentary but a lot of sketches and art of course.

For more text and analysis, gaming legends metal gear solid written by Burch siblings (award winning writer and voice actors work in games)

In French maybe in english, third edition's analysis of kojima's metal gear solid is a great read, like all their books