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lapetino

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Posts posted by lapetino

  2. Posted

    According to Amazon, the Art of Atari Poster Collection book is still scheduled for release tomorrow, June 20th. :)

    An here's the final list for the Poster Collection, out today:

     

    Millipede 2600 - Hiro Kimura
    Star Raiders 5200 - Robert Hunt
    RealSports Baseball 5200 - D. Smith
    Missile Command 2600 - George Opperman
    Centipede 2600 - Burrell Dickey
    3D Tic-Tac-Toe - Susan Jaekel
    Asteroids 2600 - Chris Kenyon
    Basketball 2600 - Cliff Spohn
    Asteroids 5200 - Terry Hoff
    Centipede 5200 - Hiro Kimura
    Asteroids 7800 - Greg Winters
    Combat Two - Michel Allaire
    Demons To Diamonds
    Crystal Castles - Judy Richter
    Football 2600 - Cliff Spohn
    Haunted House - Steve Hendricks
    Haunted House Unused - Steve Hendricks
    Home Run - Cliff Spohn
    Missile Command 5200 - Chris Kenyon
    SwordQuest Fireworld - Warren Chang
    RealSports Tennis - Terry Hoff
    RealSports Baseball - Michel Allaire
    Surround - Cliff Spohn
    RealSports Basketball 2600 - D. Smith
    Video Checkers - Steve Hendricks
    RealSports Soccer 5200 - Chris Kenyon
    RealSports Volleyball - Terry Hoff
    SwordQuest Airworld - Warren Chang
    AtariAge SwordQuest Cover - George Pérez
    Video Pinball
    SwordQuest Waterworld - Warren Chang
    RealSports Basketball 5200 - Terry Hoff
    RealSports Football 2600 - Michel Allaire
    Star Raiders 2600 - Terry Hoff
    Super Breakout 2600 - Cliff Spohn
    Tempest 2600
    Warlords - Steve Hendricks
    Yars’ Revenge - Hiro Kimura
    Warlords Family - Steve Hendricks
    Atari Wizard - Cliff Spohn
    • Like 6

  3. Posted

    It would also be a shame if the manual didn't include a link to the AA store as a source of NEW games, not just originals, so that anyone buying this can see what we already do.

    That would be cool, but it's also a tricky thing because some of the games sold on AA aren't totally licensed versions of their respective intellectual property. I would understand if a company like Hyperkin might not want to step into that gray and muddy IP area.

  4. Posted

    Thanks for connecting with the community, Andrew.

    This all sounds very promising and we appreciate the lengths you're going through to make this happen. I'm not a tech guy, but I hope you're also considering Trak-Ball controller support, and maybe the 2600/7800 Atari DPads too: https://i.warosu.org/data/vr/img/0015/79/1398689880452.jpg

    The proposed price point is solid and I think this will be a great thing for the community too, if people can get in and tinker with it.

    Thanks!

  6. Posted · Edited by lapetino

    Very cool find! Are the overlays the same size and shape as the 2600 ones? Here are the 2600 games that used the Kid's Controller. You can click on the title of each game and then click the "Overlays' link to see the overlays for each game:

     

    https://atariage.com/controller_page.php?SystemID=2600&ControllerID=6

     

    Here's Alpha Beam with Ernie:

     

    o_AlphaBeamWithErnie_1.jpg

     

    ..Al

    It looks like Alpha Beam is the same as the 2600 overlay, but this Cookie Monster one says Cookie Monster's Garden, which is different than the final release. I believe that was its original title.

     

     

     

    post-8796-0-93590800-1488815559_thumb.jpg

  7. Posted

    So, in my research for Art of Atari, I was able to acquire this prototype Atari 5200 Kids Controller from a former Atari employee who had it stored away. It even has some of the overlays, as you can see. I don't think anyone else actually has the 5200 KC overlays that I'm aware of.

    I know the one seen at CGE (supposedly the only one at that point) was reportedly non-functional. I'm not sure about this one, as I haven't yet opened it up, and also have my 5200 in storage for the moment, so I can't test it at the moment. But I will take a look at some point soon.

    It's a super cool piece of Atari history, and I'm excited to share it now with all of you!

    post-8796-0-70421800-1488814093_thumb.jpg

    post-8796-0-88581800-1488814108_thumb.jpg

    post-8796-0-67587100-1488814120_thumb.jpg

    post-8796-0-87796700-1488814135_thumb.jpg

    • Like 9

  8. Posted

    No updates just yet. We are finalizing everything so I should be able to talk more about it at the end of the month, I think. Release date had to be moved to June 20.

    Hi Tim,

     

    I apologize if this is not the correct thread to ask, but are there any updates concerning the Art of Atari Poster Collection book?

     

    Thanks again for the Art of Atari.

     

    - Another satisfied customer! :thumbsup:

    • Like 1

  9. Posted

    Thanks, everyone. So glad it's hitting home for you all. That's why I wanted this book to happen. And the blue book version is a super short loot create exclusive we did. It's really short and cuts out all of the history and background and just includes a portion of the art in the book. Smaller size and proportions but a fun little thing.

  12. Posted

    I see you're in Chicago; any chance you'll be attending Midwest Gaming Classic this year? I'd love the chance to hit you up for an autograph. :-D

    Yes, I'm planning on it. Just have to work out the details with Marty and the MGC crew. But I will certainly be there to sign books at the very least. Will see you there!

    • Like 1

  13. Posted

    or shots of early heavy sixer/cartridge/joystick designs that almost made it.

     

     

    Yeah, those were some of the most fun for me to discover. The original 2600 console proto images have NEVER been seen outside of Atari, I believe. They were stored in Fred Thompson's shed. He was the industrial designer of the VCS.

    • Like 5

  17. Posted

    Thanks so much, moycon.

    I totally understand what folks are saying about expectations. In retro gaming, I feel like many times we have had to be happy with whatever books come down the line, quality be damned, and we were just glad to get *something*. I think that is slowly changing, and I tried hard to raise the bar and kudos to my publisher, Dynamite, and to the book's designer, Jason Adam, for going along with me on the ride.

    And I really appreciate the kind words. If you all want to send a message that we want more books like this (and not just from me!), please leave a review on Amazon.com and pass the word around about Art of Atari. People -- including my publisher -- are watching, and that kind of feedback goes a long way. I'm hoping we can get even more great content and info about the games and systems we love from many different places. Along those lines, I'm in talks about some additional video game related book projects beyond the Atari Poster Collection, and that will add fuel to the fire.

    Thanks!

    Also, for those of you who haven't gotten a chance to buy or see the Deluxe Edition of Art of Atari, we were able to commission Atari artist Cliff Spohn to create a new Atari-related piece after decades away from the property. Cliff did 19 of the first 2600 game illustrations and was instrumental in defining the look of that art. It was a surreal privilege to be able to art direct one of my creative heroes, someone who was a huge inspiration to me, and no doubt to many of us. Here's a decent version of the piece for you to see:

    http://www.playmova.org/downloads/cliff-spohn-artofatari.jpgEnjoy!

    • Like 1

  18. Posted · Edited by lapetino

    I totally get everyone's opinions on Supercade. And since it was brought up, I'll add a hopefully not-divisive $.02. Van Burnham (the author) is a friend of a friend, and I appreciate the book for what it is -- it's more of a meditation and survey of video games visually, and the scene -- both video games and books about them -- is really different now than it was 15 years ago.

    Her book isn't the book I would have written, but I like a lot of it and appreciate what she did, and MIT Press for putting it out. That's a bold step for an academic publisher, especially at the time. It inspired me a bit, and got me thinking about what I would eventually want Art of Atari to be -- both in the positive and negative. It's not for everyone, but she broke some real ground.

    Also, she has an unbelievable collection of arcade games in the Supercade, and is a champion for game preservation. For that alone, she is awesome. :)

    • Like 3

  19. Posted

    Haha you guys are good! Yes this is a real thing, and we just finalized the agreements to make it happen. Working on it right now. But I know that people have been asking For something like this for quite some time (myself included) so I really pushed to help make this happen. It's ip for pre-order on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Atari-Poster-Book-None/dp/1524103020/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ll1&tag=atariage&linkId=af32681e6fa055a91c3b8056c1458360

    • Like 4

  20. Posted

    I've heard this criticism a couple times now of my book, and this probably is the best place to address it.

    This book was a gigantic undertaking, with the collection and acquisition of artwork taking nearly 4 years alone. Interviews, my art direction, book design and writing were another year and a half.

    It was a conscious and practical decision on my part to not really address arcade artwork, and it's not for lack of love of those games, but for practical considerations:

    1. Logistics: As difficult and time-consuming as it was to acquire or borrow art for this book, arcade artwork has even more of its own challenges. First, it just doesn't make sense to show that artwork outside of the context of the cabinet, and to do them justice you need multiple angles, showing side, front, marquee, control panels, etc. So, that means you have to find someone who owns each game, move (or travel to them), set up, and photograph a whole suite of large Atari arcade cabinets in multiple ways, which is a huge undertaking. And then don't get me started on figuring out what condition side art or marquees are in, and figuring out which are originals or reproductions. The planning, travel, and practical considerations involved in that are immense and would have been as much work as another book.

    2. Page count: We had a limited resources (read dollars for pages) and couldn't do everything. As it was, 352 pages is a generous amount, and my publisher spared little expense. Most books don't have the luxury of that many pages, and I needed to get as much into those pages as possible. Arcade games would have meant a lot of other things -- like industrial design -- would have been cut.

    3. Audience: As much as I wanted to make a book to please the hard core fans like ourselves (if you're reading AtariAge, you are one, I think.), it was really important to me (and my publisher) that Art of Atari also appeal to those outside of the classic gaming circles. There are plenty of video game books that are not written to a general audience, but they have limited appeal outside of collectors. I wanted to create a book that would speak to both the casual audience who haven't thought about Atari in 30+ years, while also satisfying the serious fans and collectors like myself. It is a tough line to walk, but it also informed the decision to draw the line at the consumer products side of Atari, focusing on home consoles that reached a much larger audience.

    4. Archives: Everything in this book was sourced and found by me. Atari's current owners have NO archives, so if we wanted something, I had to track it down, including credits, art, interviews, and those involved at Atari. Very little was left on the cutting room floor -- so if it's not in there, it's because I couldn't acquire it, or couldn't find it in time. We did our best -- and there are some holes I'd have preferred to fill, but I could only do so much within our deadlines.

    So, hopefully that sheds more light on why I made those decisions. Maybe someone will try and tackle the above challenges and get a license from Atari and find a publisher who believes there is a market for such a book. Good luck, I say! If that book happens, I would certainly buy it!


     

    On the flip-side, I was disappointed with the sheer lack of coin-op coverage. There's only tiny bit of content on Atari coin-op design imagery. If it wasn't for the sliver of coin-op material and the tidbits covering the 8-bit home systems and other console offerings, this book could almost have been titled: The Art of the Atari 2600.

     

    For those looking for good coverage of the games that made many of the Atari VCS games possible in the first place, this is not really the book for it. For those who a good overview of VCS box and manual art, then this is the book.

     

    Now if only someone would compile extensive material on Atari's arcade contributions in a similar form-factor and to the same level of writing quality...

    • Like 8

  21. Posted

    How long will it be before you get in sales figures? I know you might not be able to pass along exact numbers, but maybe give us a general idea of how it's going. Either way good luck! Hopefully I will get my deluxe edition sooner rather than later.

    I have only seen a little bit of numbers and don't know if they are inclusive. I won't know real figures until much later -- as that's not really my area. But I can say that everyone at the publisher has been SUPER happy with the success of the book so far. More sales means communicating to them that there is value in video game history, design interest, etc. Hoping it will lead to future projects -- but that is hopefully a post for another time. :)

    • Like 7

  23. Posted

    Tim are you interested in any print errors we find?

    Yes please. In a book this size, despite our best efforts, we thought there might be some that creep through. But please pm me with edits as we will make corrections if there are subsequent editions.

     

    And thanks again to you all for the kind words. It means a ton to get the feedback from you all, especially those I've been interacting with and reading alongside for years in this great community.

    • Like 3
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