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VCS Encyclopedia "Coming Soon"


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My copy just arrived, and it's very cool, but I do have a question? Several of the pages are off center, and the text at the top of some of the pages is cut short. Did I get a bad print, or is this normal in all issues? For 20 dollars, I wouldn't really care, but at $50, this should be a little bit better quality overall. Good book in general though, thanks for the efforts.

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My copy just arrived, and it's very cool, but I do have a question? Several of the pages are off center, and the text at the top of some of the pages is cut short. Did I get a bad print, or is this normal in all issues? For 20 dollars, I wouldn't really care, but at $50, this should be a little bit better quality overall. Good book in general though, thanks for the efforts.

Can you list some examples?

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My copy just arrived, and it's very cool, but I do have a question? Several of the pages are off center, and the text at the top of some of the pages is cut short. Did I get a bad print, or is this normal in all issues? For 20 dollars, I wouldn't really care, but at $50, this should be a little bit better quality overall. Good book in general though, thanks for the efforts.

 

All of the pages in my copy are curiously cropped. At first, I thought my copy was a misprint, but now I am thinking it is the layout. Seems to me there should have been a bit more "bleed" around the edges as every page has lost about 1/8" at the top, but then the outermost edge is trimming off part of the page number once we get into the triple digit pages. If it was only the top, I would say it was an alignment issue; however, as it is two edges of each page, I recommend the layout allow for more of a bleed margin in further editions.

 

Not to knock the project, as it is clearly a labor of love, but what surprised me the most about the printed version is it is on matte paper instead of glossy. The images of the book on the homepage of AtariAge make it appear to be glossy, but the actual matte paper used results in low-contrast images--a washed out look where some similar colors close together are at times nearly indistinguishable from each other. The paper is soaking up so much ink, in fact, that I find the text is blurred just a hair and I find it tiring to read at length. Another recommendation for the additional volumes in the series.

 

Once again, I am trying to provide constructive criticism here. It is not as if I regret buying volume 1. I think this is a great idea and these are only my observations and changes I would recommend for volumes 2 - 4.

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All of the pages in my copy are curiously cropped. At first, I thought my copy was a misprint, but now I am thinking it is the layout. Seems to me there should have been a bit more "bleed" around the edges as every page has lost about 1/8" at the top, but then the outermost edge is trimming off part of the page number once we get into the triple digit pages. If it was only the top, I would say it was an alignment issue; however, as it is two edges of each page, I recommend the layout allow for more of a bleed margin in further editions.

 

Not to knock the project, as it is clearly a labor of love, but what surprised me the most about the printed version is it is on matte paper instead of glossy. The images of the book on the homepage of AtariAge make it appear to be glossy, but the actual matte paper used results in low-contrast images--a washed out look where some similar colors close together are at times nearly indistinguishable from each other. The paper is soaking up so much ink, in fact, that I find the text is blurred just a hair and I find it tiring to read at length. Another recommendation for the additional volumes in the series.

 

Once again, I am trying to provide constructive criticism here. It is not as if I regret buying volume 1. I think this is a great idea and these are only my observations and changes I would recommend for volumes 2 - 4.

I agree^

 

My left to right, isn't to bad, as I don't have any clipped issues there. Although a few pages come close, all my cropping is top to bottom. I also have an issue where some pages seem to be printed off when the ink was low, or some other issue as there is white faded bars down several pages(see pics).

 

Yeah, I thought the pages would be glossy as well, but I don't mind the matte finish, as it tends to lend it's self more to the nostalgia of the subject matter. A book this size with glossy pages would cost loads, so I understand the reason for a lesser quality of paper.

 

Sadly, my copy seems to have some serious "printing" issues, and I'm going to have to return this copy and reorder once these issues are sorted out. I also have the Master System Encyclopedia and it has none of the issues I see here.

 

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/uwa7bz71yp40r81/AACpmLgeXsC9DemNRkVYgobwa?dl=0

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Hey everybody, sorry for my lack of responses lately. I've been on the road for work so my time has been short. Plus internet service in rural Kansas leaves a LOT to be desired.

 

Thegame, I'm sorry that your copy turned out like that. it does indeed look like you got a bad printing on it. The copies I have received so far has been good, but it looks like the printers dropped the ball on that one. Hopefully Amazon will be able to get that resolved for you.

 

As far as the Matte vs Glossy paper, believe me I would have loved to have gone glossy but the printer I use doesn't have that capability and I didn't have the tens of thousands of dollars to be able to do a print run on my own (nor have the infrastructure in place to handle all the orders myself). Before going to print I researched every company I could find and while the current printer does have a few issues, at the end of the day it was the only one that could deliver a good quality product for an affordable price and have it available via printers in the USA, UK and Australia.

 

I do appreciate everyone's feedback on the project and I will be making some tweaks for the remaining volumes to address some of the issues that have been found in Volume 1.

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Very sorry to hear of the issues people are having with the cropping etc, it really does sound like an error on the Printers part and no matter who you use, sadly your always going to encounter issues with the suppliers, i work for a big, USA owned company here in the UK and the amount of 'raw materials' we reject on a daily basis die to products not being within spec is unbelivable.

Sadly in cases like this it just causes headaches for people like Derek and frustrations with the good people purchasing the books themselves, but at least with folks taking time to highlight this in a constructive manner, Derek has even more of a solid case to take up with the printers and hopefully get the matter resolved swiftly and replacement copies out to all those that need them ASAP.
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Regarding the issue of Paper Quality, i can see why it's a frustration for all here, Derek and team, plus the punters, but can totally understand the pricing issue.

 

It's been flagged up that even the 'Big Guns' like Imagine Publishing have been forced it seems, to use a lower quality grade of paper in past few months on certain publications in order to keep costs down and keep prices where they are.

 

I'd assume as more and more publications turn to digital means these days, let alone there being far less physical magazines avaiable in certain areas, prices are rising and tough choices have to be made.

 

Still, having read the horror story of what happened to guy doing the Artcade book and thinking on the amazing turn-around time from concept to publication by Derek+Team on this one, i'm just bloody delighted it's arrived and is in the hands of folks already.

 

It's something i'll be ordering at start of June for certain.

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Wow you guys rock, I was coming on here to make the announcement that it was live and y'all beat me to it! Thank you all for ordering I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the book!

 

As for the autographs I'm sure we can figure something out. I'm hoping to start doing conventions later this year (I'm down here in Texas) but will hopefully be branching out next year. if anyone has any other ideas I'm all for it.

 

Also there are digital versions available, PDF and for iBooks (which includes gameplay footage). The links to all of that are here

 

http://www.thevgatv.com/Game_Books/

 

Thank you all again!

 

Is there any possibility you'll be at Austin's Classic Game Fest in July? I'd definitely buy an autographed book from you there. :)

 

 

- Steve

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Hey everybody, sorry for my lack of responses lately. I've been on the road for work so my time has been short. Plus internet service in rural Kansas leaves a LOT to be desired.

 

Thegame, I'm sorry that your copy turned out like that. it does indeed look like you got a bad printing on it. The copies I have received so far has been good, but it looks like the printers dropped the ball on that one. Hopefully Amazon will be able to get that resolved for you.

I'll for sure try and get another one through Amazon, as I really do like the book, but the printer should really pay closer attention to the books and the quality being put out. I've had fanzines where the page layouts where printed and cut better than what my current copy shows. The faded stripes on my pages is hopefully an isolated issue that I'm looking forward to not have in my replacement(fingers crossed).

 

I'll wait a little bit before I put in for a replacement, so maybe the printer can take notice of these current issues and address them. I would really hate to get another copy with the exact same problems(or worse), as my current copy.

 

Thanks again for offering this book, even with the flaws, I'm glad to see fans not giving up on physical publications of this nature. Sadly, not everyone takes the time and effort to put forth the quality such books deserve, but it's all about one book at a time I suppose. Hopefully the printer will step up and fix some of these basic issues.

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West, there aren't any plans to release a softcover at the moment. The main reason is that going through the printer I go through it would only be a price difference of a few dollars, so it's not worth all the backend work that would be necessary to get it ready to go.

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Badger, My target tentative date is the end of next year to have all four volumes completed. These are massive undertakings and take time (and money) to complete. My day job has me on the road for the next few months, and I'm moving in that time span as well, but I should have a good 3-4 month window this winter where work is slow and I can sit and focus on the project full time.

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Well, as I was too focused on reading the content and focused primarily on the centers of the pages during my first look through, I didn't notice that, similar to others, the tops of a large number of pages have text that is of varying degrees of 'slightly being cropped'. It gets progressively worse as one goes from the beginning to the end of the book. What is also of interest is that on such pages, on the flip side of the page, the text is not identically cropped; i.e. it is though in the layout, the pages were not perfectly centered back to back with one another.

 

While it's kind of too bad that this is the case, I doubt I will bother with a return uless there is an announcement of some kind of recall/replacement. I still love this book!

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I have to say that finding reliable people is extremely difficult. My uncle is a paper cutter and has been for almost 40 years now. He takes pride in his work. He makes sure the stack of sheets he is cutting is set right and all paper is lined up correctly. He works the 2nd shift. He tells me the 1st shift cutter does not care what he does, and that when he gets to work in the middle of the afternoon, the amount of rejected cuttings sitting in the bin is extreme. The problem is that the supervisors don't even seem to care about all the lost money on the product itself along with paying this dope to screw up. Being in NJ, wages are rather high. So you can't fault companies wanting to use China/Mexico/India/Indonesia etc. to make product. If you're going to have bad results, at least make sure it doesn't cost you much.

 

Phil

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Just got mine, and I am EXTREMELY impressed. Beautifully done on all counts. The price is a bit steep, but you can see the quality on every page. I am looking forward to volumes 2-4, and would love to see this carried on to the Intellivision and ColecoVision platforms.

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If I could ever get the 2600 variations done to my satisfaction, I was going to continue to do the Intellivision which I barely started, and eventually Colecovision, which actually wouldn't have too many variations. If Derek ever ventured with those systems, I'd have a good amount of info for them too.

 

Phil

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Sounds like a plan, Phil, but with working on systems like this, how much information is actually available? The Atari 2600 Encyclopedia has over 500 screenshots, 600+ manual scans remastered and re-rendered and 100 box arts remastered found nowhere else other than in this book, to consider covering those machines these crtierias would have to be met along side somebody with a passion and skills to write about them and that's the easy part lol.

 

I'm sure Derek has an incredible amount to consider regarding the many formats out there that deserve the treatment the Atari 2600 is now getting, but logistics on all levels need to be worked out and concepts created to make and do justice to the machines in question and it's not cheap process to achieve. But for now I'm guessing he humbled and content with what he has created so far :)

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cjherr,

 

Thank you for picking the book up! I'm glad that you are enjoying it.

 

As far as doing Intellivision and Coleco books, while those systems are on my list of potential projects, they are admittedly far down the list. These books are not only time consuming to produce, but expensive. I'm not sure how large the Intv and Coleco fan bases are, so it's unlikely I would do a multi-volume series on them. That said, there is always the possibility of there being a one volume book on them.

 

Grey, humbled doesn't even begin to describe it. The response to the book has been overwhelming, as I have hit refresh on Amazon every twenty minutes to see where the current ranking is. Just this morning you guys helped put the book back on the top 100 video game books chart, which is just mind boggling given that it's a $50 on a nearly 4 decade old system. I can't thank y'all enough for making this a success. That said, I'm not content yet since there is still room on my bookshelf for the other 3 volumes ;-)

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That said, I'm not content yet since there is still room on my bookshelf for the other 3 volumes ;-)

Remind me to update my signature when more volumes are available. :D

 

Until then, people can keep buying this volume:

 

The Atari 2600 Encyclopedia Volume 1 by Derek Slaton

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I got mine delivered today (Sunday) - I'm in one of those towns (Dallas) where the USPS delivers for Amazon on Sundays. Was there when I got home from church. As my kid was sick today (plus I had to work a bit), I didn't have a ton of time to plow into it, but from what I have seen it looks really nice! :)

 

Can't wait to see what you do for "Lost Luggage". That's one of those lesser known, not really great games that my brother and I got a kick out of growing up.

 

 

 

 

post-2072-0-56968800-1431923537_thumb.jpg

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