high voltage Posted November 17, 2016 Share Posted November 17, 2016 (edited) Got mine today, it looks awesome. Work well done indeed. Reading it at work, everyone there who had a look at it loves it. Since I work at a museum, my co-workers can appreciate the art, of course. And here it is on my DP page: http://www.videogamecollectors.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=192054 . Edited November 17, 2016 by high voltage Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted November 17, 2016 Share Posted November 17, 2016 For the still undecided, there is a preview at Scribd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karokoenig Posted November 17, 2016 Share Posted November 17, 2016 Received the book last week. It's great, and you can see how much effort went into it. Text is also very readable. Good stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fadest Posted November 18, 2016 Share Posted November 18, 2016 I was not aware of this topic. I saw the french edition of the book in a shop on wednesday and bought it in the same minute. I have just looked a bit through the book right now, but this is really superb. Thanks you for your work, it is amazing !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Level42 Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 Well this was weird. It took way longer for the book to arrive than indicated by amazon but it didn't matter anyway as it was my birthday gift this year which I traditionally never open/use before my actual birthday (yes, stupid I know...but what the heck ) So last saturday I could finally open up the box and I must say.....this kinda felt a bit like opening the box of my 2600 BITD I decided to get the Deluxe edition and I can say I really don't regret it !!!! I have long wanted a book like this. I have always been a huge fan of Atari and the artwork played a very big role in that story ! From the day I saw the first arcade games, the logo and of course later the 2600 artwork and even later the 8-bit computer stuff...... I always thought Atari set itself apart as THE videogame brand because of the artwork too... Anyway......I LOVE the book !!!! I'm restraining myself to going through it page by page...I really want to enjoy every second of it Tim....what a fantastic job you did, I can't thank you enough and you can be very very proud of your work !!!! The only thing is .....this creates hunger for more There is still the world of Atari's arcade artwork which totally deserves a book like this :D 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
high voltage Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 Yes, as mentioned, a third party book, Parker, Imagic, Activision, Spectravision, M-Network and the rest..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nebulon Posted November 22, 2016 Share Posted November 22, 2016 Now that I've had a chance to go through this book, I have to say that I really like the cover, page layout, paper quality, size, and the quality of writing. All are excellent. This is a model of how a video gaming book should look and feel. 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... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lapetino Posted November 22, 2016 Author Share Posted November 22, 2016 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... 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nathan Strum Posted November 22, 2016 Share Posted November 22, 2016 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. I would love to see such a book. But as you said - the logistics would be phenomenally difficult. I've tried taking decent photos of arcade cabinets before, and it's not easy to do well. I do hope someday such a task is taken on by someone, while enough of those machines still exist. It'd be great to see it go beyond Atari as well, and include Bally/Midway, Cinematronics, Williams, Stern, and other arcade manufacturers of the 70's - early 80's. There are some events where a decent dent could be made in it - such as California Extreme. One could set up a photo area adjacent to the main arcade with cameras, a backdrop and multiple light setups already in place, then as the games are being set up, wheel a game over, plop it on a turntable, spin it, shoot it, move the next game in, repeat. 300 times. How hard could it be? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atarian63 Posted November 22, 2016 Share Posted November 22, 2016 Thanks for the link, Just ordered,will look great on the coffee table in the game room! order from target a month ago, still nothing... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Tarzilla Posted November 22, 2016 Share Posted November 22, 2016 I would love to see such a book. But as you said - the logistics would be phenomenally difficult. I've tried taking decent photos of arcade cabinets before, and it's not easy to do well. I do hope someday such a task is taken on by someone, while enough of those machines still exist. It'd be great to see it go beyond Atari as well, and include Bally/Midway, Cinematronics, Williams, Stern, and other arcade manufacturers of the 70's - early 80's. There are some events where a decent dent could be made in it - such as California Extreme. One could set up a photo area adjacent to the main arcade with cameras, a backdrop and multiple light setups already in place, then as the games are being set up, wheel a game over, plop it on a turntable, spin it, shoot it, move the next game in, repeat. 300 times. How hard could it be? And visit Arcade Expo in Banning, Ca http://www.arcadeexpo.com/collection/ I'm sure someone could coordinate something with them since they are a permanent facility. Between these two spots and one or two of the large arcades a large dent could be made. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+bfstats Posted November 22, 2016 Share Posted November 22, 2016 For those who hesitated or just missed out on the Deluxe Edition, I was able to acquire it rather quickly (it arrived one week after ordering) from WalMart.com: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Art-of-Atari-Deluxe-Edition/54489889 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+sramirez2008 Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 The Deluxe Edition is available at the Digital Press Videogames store in Clifton NJ. I stopped by last week and they said they had several copies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Tarzilla Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 Anyone else stumble upon this spring 2017 release? https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/atari-poster-book/9781524103026-item.html?ikwid=art+of+atari&ikwsec=Home&ikwidx=1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ultrasteve Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 (edited) Anyone else stumble upon this spring 2017 release? https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/atari-poster-book/9781524103026-item.html?ikwid=art+of+atari&ikwsec=Home&ikwidx=1 Woah! Nice find. Just pre-ordered it at Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Atari-Poster-Book-None/dp/1524103020/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479918207&sr=8-1&keywords=art+of+atari+poster+book Edited November 23, 2016 by ultrasteve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lapetino Posted November 23, 2016 Author Share Posted November 23, 2016 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 Woah! Nice find. Just pre-ordered it at Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Atari-Poster-Book-None/dp/1524103020/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479918207&sr=8-1&keywords=art+of+atari+poster+book 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hyperboy Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 Pre-ordered! Sent from my non beer holding hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Tarzilla Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 I think a lot of people will be buying two of these. I have a DC Comics cover poster book that I bought 2 of, one to use as posters and one to keep intact https://www.amazon.com/DC-Comics-75th-Anniversary-Poster/dp/1594744629//ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ll1&tag=atariage&linkId=d894f5dfaaaed17cde2dfb821a33beb5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+sramirez2008 Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 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 Niiiiice. Pre-orderd! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
high voltage Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 Wow, AtariAge is full of goodies at the mo, I need more money...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ledzep Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 I realized the book was mainly about 2600 from the start and there's little wrong with that but.............even before seeing one page of it.......there should be a sequel covering Atari's origins as complete as possible: Arcade. This is where it all started and there is SOOOOOO much awesomeness in the art of Atari's arcade machines..... Agreed! I just got the Deluxe Edition off of barnesandnoble.com since I started noticing that some places said they were sold out and others had eBay-type prices ($176?!). It's a wonderful book, a beautiful book, I so love the Atari boxed cart look of the Deluxe version. But I, too, would love to see a book on the arcade side of Atari, there is some amazing artwork there. Not just the cabinets/control panels but the operator's manuals, too! I have some for my own arcade games (and a few I hope to one day get) and they're wonderful for technical info on the games but they also are just cool to look at. I think the closest thing I have to a cool coffee table book on that subject would be "Supercade" https://www.amazon.com/Supercade-Visual-History-Videogame-1971-1984/dp/0262024926/ref=as_li_ss_tl?_encoding=UTF8&me=&linkCode=ll1&tag=atariage&linkId=2a7d9b22a8e0a8447fb2acfb6e7840f9 I understand that some people have issues with the content inside it but it's an example of "better than nothing", meaning there's a market out there for the arcade side that is a photo coffee table book more than a collector's price guide with small shitty pictures with little detail (I have that, too, but only because there's nothing better out there). I would be great to see a book on Atari's side of that era, their artwork and concept art for games that never got made or got severely altered before hitting the arcades. Not complaining, though, this book is great and I can only hope for a future edition that maybe covers 3rd party games (Activision, Parker Bros., Data Age, Imagic, etc.), if that's even an option (who knows how much of that artwork survives today). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+HatNJ Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 Wow glad I saw this I will preorder too When time comes will this just be paperback or will Hardcover become and option? of course I am willing to pay extra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Level42 Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 There are some folks who own the original Atari artwork films.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nathan Strum Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 I think the closest thing I have to a cool coffee table book on that subject would be "Supercade" https://www.amazon.com/Supercade-Visual-History-Videogame-1971-1984/dp/0262024926/ref=mt_hardcover?_encoding=UTF8&me= I understand that some people have issues with the content inside it but it's an example of "better than nothing" Actually, "nothing" is better, because you don't have to waste any money buying "nothing". To put it mildly, I was incredibly disappointed with Supercade. I don't know if there was anything original photographed for it. Just a lot of stuff lifted from the internet - MAME screenshots, arcade flyers - most of it in poor quality. The whole book felt lazily researched, sloppily assembled, poorly designed, and it was an utter and complete waste of an opportunity to make a proper book about classic arcade games. It's so far from being a "cool coffee table" book, I wouldn't recommend it to anybody for any reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nathan Strum Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 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#immersive-view_1479918504132 You're after all of my money, aren't you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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