63 replies to this topic

[videogamesbook]

As some of you may recall earlier in the year, Jason Brassard (Trade-N-Games) announced a book here that he and I had been working on. Our hope was to have the book available by Christmas. However, due to a number of issues at the publisher, this was not possible. These issues have now been resolved, and our publisher is putting the finishing touches on our book: Classic 80s Home Video Games. Jason and I expect the book to be in our hands in late February or early March. As soon as we have a firm shipping date, we'll be sure to update everyone here. In the mean time, we are finally ready to begin taking orders. As a thank you for everyone who orders from us, we will be offering free shipping for all United States orders.

Here are more details on the book, a link for ordering, two sample pages and a shot of the front and back cover:

... Nearly 3 years in development
... Over 2000 high-quality, full-color photos
... THE seven classic consoles, their accessories and related merchandise - listed by console and manufacturer for easy reference (Atari 2600 VCS, Atari 5200 SuperSystem, Atari 7800 ProSystem, Coleco Vision, Intellivision, Odyssey2, Vectrex)
... Collector checklist format
... Easy to use, readable index
... 1000+ cartridges, and more variations than most thought possible … listed and priced by – Cartridge, Manual, Included extras, and Boxed, complete
... 400 jam-packed pages of information on THE consoles of the Classic Video Game era (1977-1984)
... written by 15 year veteran video game collector Jason W. Brassard, and 10 year price guide author and collector Robert P. Wicker
... designed and priced for every collector! - $24.95 (softbound)

The authors thank you in advance for your support.

Order Here!

Edited by videogamesbook, Fri Mar 14, 2008 8:17 PM.

[phuzzed]

Looks cool, and something I would consider have on my coffee table. Is the entire book in color, or just select sections?

[videogamesbook]

The entire book is in color. (Except for the material that was black & white to begin with.)

[Albert]

Looks great, glad to hear the book is on-track to be published. I'd be glad to put up a blurb on the front page of AtariAge about the book--if you want to write up a paragraph describing it I can do that for you pretty quickly.

I like how you've taken pictures/scans of the games and the fact that the book is full-color throughout. Will be fun just flipping through all 400 pages. Can't wait to see it!!

..Al

[videogamesbook]

Thanks Albert! We helped the publisher come up with some ad copy, so I'll send that to you shortly.

We really hope everyone enjoys the book. We worked pages and descriptions over and over to until we were satisfied with them so that the book was something we would like if we picked it up off the shelf. Hopefully others will feel the same way.

[atarimind]

It's seems a lot of material to cover in 400 pages. What % is Atari2600 related? How many carts are you listing?

Also could you give some idea on the dimensions (Lenght, Width). And the cover is it soft/hard?


I agree that this is more a coffee table book.

[koolbrick]

i'm sold! i think i'll order one...

[Trade-N-Games]

The book is soft back and is a standard size of 11" high and little over 8" wide. As for thickness the Final book is not done, I would think around 1 inch thick or maybe a little more. Our final color edit copy was almost 2 inches thick.
We are listing Every NTSC 2600, 5200, 7800, Coleco Vision, Intellivision, Vectrex and Odyssey 2 cart. 99.9% are pictured with box and cart and many overlays and all the different systems and many accessories for each of those systems are displayed and listed. Each chapter is very thorough, label and box variations for each title are clearly listed in an easy to read format and we pictured at least one picture of box and cart for each title and may variations are shown also.
We worked very hard on prices for each cart, instruction, and boxed complete for each variation listed by tracking data from Ebay sales, private sales and stores that sell to the community on a regular basis over the last few years. I have been actively been collecting and selling vintage games for over 15 years and my collection is for the most part complete now.
We wanted to release a book that everyone could use. Atari 2600 is a huge part of the book since the size of that library with so many publishers and variations never seems to end. It would be a great Coffee table book. Many people who really have forgot about the older games should really get a kick out of the old pictures and have a blast just looking around the book and at the same time all the information is there to help out collectors track their collection and hunt for missing items they did not have.

[wogihao]

Trade-N-Games, on Mon Jan 14, 2008 6:35 PM, said:

The book is soft back and is a standard size of 11" high and little over 8" wide. As for thickness the Final book is not done, I would think around 1 inch thick or maybe a little more. Our final color edit copy was almost 2 inches thick.
We are listing Every NTSC 2600, 5200, 7800, Coleco Vision, Intellivision, Vectrex and Odyssey 2 cart. 99.9% are pictured with box and cart and many overlays and all the different systems and many accessories for each of those systems are displayed and listed. Each chapter is very thorough, label and box variations for each title are clearly listed in an easy to read format and we pictured at least one picture of box and cart for each title and may variations are shown also.
We worked very hard on prices for each cart, instruction, and boxed complete for each variation listed by tracking data from Ebay sales, private sales and stores that sell to the community on a regular basis over the last few years. I have been actively been collecting and selling vintage games for over 15 years and my collection is for the most part complete now.
We wanted to release a book that everyone could use. Atari 2600 is a huge part of the book since the size of that library with so many publishers and variations never seems to end. It would be a great Coffee table book. Many people who really have forgot about the older games should really get a kick out of the old pictures and have a blast just looking around the book and at the same time all the information is there to help out collectors track their collection and hunt for missing items they did not have.

Its a pitty that the PAL titles are left out what was the reasion behind that?

[Trade-N-Games]

A few reasons.
I dont really own any
It could fill another entire book
I have not tracked prices or even have a complete list
I have not joined the PAL side
Our publisher mainly wanted to focus on the US market and if it sells well we will work on other books in the future.

[wogihao]

Trade-N-Games, on Mon Jan 14, 2008 10:12 PM, said:

A few reasons.
I dont really own any
It could fill another entire book
I have not tracked prices or even have a complete list
I have not joined the PAL side
Our publisher mainly wanted to focus on the US market and if it sells well we will work on other books in the future.

ahh thats fair enough! can i ask what software you used to track the ebay prices?

[jaw970]

Edited by jaw970, Mon Jan 14, 2008 6:50 PM.

[videogamesbook]

If I remember right, when I did the draft of the cartridge index, the count came in at 1043 (cartridges, not variations). The book is so full, that this is the only index we could include (at last count, its 16 pages). The way the book is organized though, I doubt the index will see much use.

The sections are all color coded by console, with banners down the side so you can flip to the console, cartridge or merchandise. (The sample pages show white along the outer edge due to printer limitations, but the printed book will have the banner printed to the outer edge of the page.) The sections have an introduction for each console, followed by an alphabetical cartridge listing by manufacturer, followed by a merchandise section.

As shown on the sample pages, the console's name appears along the outer edge of the book in section's color banner throughout the entire section. When a new cartridge manufacturer begins, the new company's listings are identified by a wide title bar. On additional pages, the manufacturer's name is listed in each upper corner. There are slight differences in design between the introductions, cartridge listings and merchandise so you always know where you are in the section. We designed this book to be flipped through a lot!

Based on a similar book I have, the dimensions of the book when printed will be: 8 1/4" x 11", and about 1" thick.

Edited by videogamesbook, Mon Jan 14, 2008 9:28 PM.

[Crazy Climber]

Hey Jason
I will take one of these books, it looks awesome. Do we pre-order through your store or here? Thanks man

[videogamesbook]

We are tracking all of our orders through Jason's online store, Trade-N-Games. All orders placed through his store will be shipped free as soon as the book is available.

Please order the book without any other merchandise so the free shipping is properly applied to the order.

If you have any other questions, post them here and we'll answer them as quick as we can.

Thanks in advance for your support!

[videogamesbook]

BTW - Crazy Climber... just checked out the link to your basement arcade. Very cool! I wish I had enough room to do all that - takes me back to the local arcade!

[deathtrappomegranate]

Good luck with the book, guys!

[HARMIK]

Looks cool i think i'll order one right now

[HARMIK]

Ok just put an order in cant wait.

But rather than have price infomation as that can change rapidly or even day to day.

For your next book i'd like to see the front cover of the box,back cover and mabe 2 or three screen shots,and instructions of the game,description can be handled by the back of the box,or a reprint of it to make it easier to read i would be happy to pay extra for the extra pages it would take.

Would anyone els like the same ?

[rolenta]

I noticed that the Collector Bookstore ( http://www.collector...sid/0/SFV/25130 ) is selling this book for only $19.99. Then when I applied the postage, I said yikes! They're charging $12.10 for shipping Priority Mail Flat box. That only costs $8.15 and the boxes are free!

[PingvinBlueJeans]

HARMIK, on Tue Jan 15, 2008 9:37 PM, said:

For your next book i'd like to see the front cover of the box,back cover and mabe 2 or three screen shots,and instructions of the game,description can be handled by the back of the box,or a reprint of it to make it easier to read i would be happy to pay extra for the extra pages it would take.

Huh? Do you know how much work the "extra pages" would be and how much it would cost? This is strictly a collector's guide.
If you want a software guide with screenshots and descriptions, buy 'ABC to the VCS' by Leonard Herman (rolenta). You know...that guy who posted just after you.

[HARMIK]

PingvinBlueJeans, on Wed Jan 16, 2008 2:26 AM, said:

HARMIK, on Tue Jan 15, 2008 9:37 PM, said:

For your next book i'd like to see the front cover of the box,back cover and mabe 2 or three screen shots,and instructions of the game,description can be handled by the back of the box,or a reprint of it to make it easier to read i would be happy to pay extra for the extra pages it would take.

Huh? Do you know how much work the "extra pages" would be and how much it would cost? This is strictly a collector's guide.
If you want a software guide with screenshots and descriptions, buy 'ABC to the VCS' by Leonard Herman (rolenta). You know...that guy who posted just after you.

Thanks just ordered it from Good Deal Games but i would still like the kind of book i described,front cover,back cover, screen shots,description and instructions.The Ultimate Guide if you will,it could even be done in volumes 2600,5200,7800,Colecovision,Intellivision i know its a lot to ask for but i think it would be realy cool

[videogamesbook]

My guess is a book that size would run over 1200 pages. I always add new material with each new edition, but that might be too much for our editor to take in one shot. We'll definitely keep everyone's suggestions in mind though and add as much material as we can from edition to edition. Pretty cool idea.

Edited by videogamesbook, Wed Jan 16, 2008 8:51 PM.

[vespertillio]

Ok, count me in. Order placed. It looks very polished and well done. Kudos gentlemen.

Fred

Edited by vespertillio, Thu Jan 17, 2008 2:11 PM.

[cvga]

Trade-N-Games, on Mon Jan 14, 2008 6:35 PM, said:

We are listing Every NTSC 2600, 5200, 7800, Coleco Vision, Intellivision, Vectrex and Odyssey 2 cart. 99.9% are pictured with box and cart and many overlays and all the different systems and many accessories for each of those systems are displayed and listed.

videogamesbook, on Tue Jan 15, 2008 1:30 AM, said:

If I remember right, when I did the draft of the cartridge index, the count came in at 1043 (cartridges, not variations).

Hmm, 1043 cartridges and 99.9% are pictured. That would mean that there's a picture of every cart but one! I'm wondering which cart didn't make the cut