lapetino

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.

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.

Thanks so much for the nice review. Glad you dug it!

Thanks for the review and everyone for the kind words.

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!

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.

Thanks to you all for the great feedback!

Very nice! It's like papa and baby! And thanks again for sharing your collection with the world via the book, my friend!

Not yet. We are still finalizing what will go in the set.

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!

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.

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

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!

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.

There is a little bit on the console itself, some 7800 art, and a bit on the industrial design. But the 2600 is generally the focus of the book.

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.

Thanks again, all! I am honestly blown away by the response here. Again, this was a book I wanted as a fan and as a creative, so it's heartening to know that our AtariAge community digs the book this much.

The Steam code should be on a black and white card either in the back of the book or in the middle. If it's not, please contact Dynamite and they can help you out. And if people can leave Amazon reviews, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

Thanks so much for the kind words, Nathan. I am so glad that you and many others in our community are digging on the book. It means a ton to me! We wanted this to be a book that would satisfy our crowd here, while still appealing to folks who only have a passing familiarity to Atari. Hopefully we succeeded at both. And I too wish we could have done more with Coin-Op and ID, but those were the limits of time and space, and we pushed the boundaries of page count as it is. I appreciate all of you and the support and encouragement and help that came my way during the odyssey it took to make this book.

Not yet. I didn't get a chance to share a pic of it yet. Will try and do it some time later today after I land in Portland. It looks amazing. For those of you who will be at PRGE, I'll see you there!

I think there will be limited quantities of the DE at PRGE sold at the signings I'm doing. I'm not sure how many.

Thanks, Nathan! I'm very excited for you all to have this in your hands. I believe it will be worth the wait.

Wow that is amazing! Thanks for helping to make this happen, Nathan! What a gift to the community -- can't wait to dig in deeper to all of this.

Would love to! That sounds fun. A lot depends on my publisher, but will see what we can make happen! Thanks, Darrell!

Awesome! And for those of you who have any interest in me defacing your personal copies with my John Hancock, I'll be at the following places coming up soon: Portland: Portland Retro Gaming Expo Oct 21-23 http://www.retrogamingexpo.com/panel_descriptions.php Chicago: Graham Crackers Comics October 26, 11a-2p https://www.facebook.com/events/559540664246829/ Chicago: Logan Arcade, October 27, 730p http://loganarcade.com/ Chicago: AIGA Chicago signing and talk, Nov 3 Chicago: Old Orchard Barnes and Noble talk and signing, Nov 5 San Fran and LA: More events and signings coming soon the week of Nov 14. I'll post more links and details on these as soon as I get them!