The Art of the Video Game [Hardcover]

Josh Jenisch (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2008

The Art of the Video Game is the first book to celebrate an exciting new visual medium—complete with stunning digital artwork from the biggest design studios and game publishers in the business, including Electronic Arts, Activision, Sega, Sony, Midway, Eidos, and Konami. Every page features gorgeously rendered images (plus never-before-published sketches, models, and works-in-progress) from dozens of beloved games—everything from old school favorites like Tomb Raider and Sonic the Hedgehog to contemporary hits like Beautiful Katamari, Call of Duty, Half-Life 2, Kane & Lynch, and more. Along the way, readers will discover the history of video game art and an exciting glimpse of its future. Full of exclusive interviews and images, The Art of the Video Game is a must-have gift for gamers of all ages.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Josh Jenisch is a writer and editor in Special Sections at the Los Angeles Times; his love affair with video games began way back in 1985 with Excitebike. He lives in Los Angeles, California, with his wife, Liz.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Quirk Books (September 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594742774
• ISBN-13: 978-1594742774
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 0.8 x 11.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #79,255 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Nostalgic Collection, April 9, 2009

By 

Parka (Singapore) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Art of the Video Game (Hardcover)

Length:: 0:22 Mins

I have no idea what this book was going to be. The Art of the Video Game. Video gaming has come such a long way and there must be a million things and games that can be written about it.

The Art of the Video Game starts off with a very nice brief history into the evolution of video game. It goes through every possible gaming platform from the room-size mainframes, to the death of Sega Dreamcast, to today's current fight between Wii, Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3. It's like a blast from the past, something nostalgia for gamers to read about.

26 games are featured in the book, namely:

* Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation
* Age of Conan
* Battlestations: Midway
* Beautiful Katamari
* Blacksite: Area 51
* Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
* FIFA '08
* Hellboy
* Hellgate: London
* Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
* Killzone 2
* Lara Croft: Tomb Raider: Anniversary
* Medieval 2: Total War
* Mortal Kombat: Deception
* NBA Live '08
* Rampage: Total Destruction
* Reservoir Dogs
* Ridge Racer 7
* The Sims
* Sonic the Hedgehog: Next Generation
* Stranglehold
* Team Fortress 2
* Universe at War: Earth Assault
* Viking: Battle for Asgard
* Warmonger: Operation Downtown Destruction

Of course not every game can be included. The writeup for each game talks about the background development of these games. There are plenty of interesting things to read like how Lara Croft ridiculous proportions have to be scaled back, or making sure that churches are not modeled after real life ones if you're planning of letting gamers blow them up.

The art for each games consists of screenshots and some concept art, both with equal weightage. While I can't say there are a lot for each game, for the whole book, there are plenty.

My favourite game art is Team Fortress 2. I just love the stylized characters and the colour palette. I hope they will release a dedicated art book for that game one day.

This book is recommended for game and concept artists.

(More pictures are available on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars International Arcade Museum's Top Gift Idea for Christmas 2008, December 3, 2008

By 

Greg McLemore "Entrepreneur and Arcadeologist" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Art of the Video Game (Hardcover)

The Art of the Video Game tops the International Arcade Museum's "Top 10 Non-Game Gifts for Gamers 2008." Of the countless videogame books in the museum's library, this one is clearly the most visually stunning. It's an art book hiding in a video game book's body.

The book begins with a nice ten-page overview of videogame history throughout the last several decades, then quickly dives into twenty-six chapters, each about a particular videogame released in the last few years. As computer processing power expands exponentially, artists are increasingly free to create the images they visualize. Each year their digital work becomes more and more engaging, and Josh's book shows us the current state of the art.

Even if you haven't played videogames since the days of Pong, Missile Command, or Castle Wolfenstein, you will enjoy reading about the creation of the art of each game while viewing the eye candy.

The images are amazing. The text, while sparse, adds meaningful insight to the art and to how the gaming experience is developed and delivered. Exclusive interviews provide insight into the development process and the artists' intent to imbibe emotion into their creations.

Joyful small bites fill the book. Did you know that Tomb Raider was originally imagined as a clone of Indiana Jones and that its lead character was reconceived as a woman due to copyright infringement concerns? Or that Laura Croft, who began life as a spicy South American native named Laura Cruz, became an English noble-woman in an attempt to make the game more commercially viable? Or that internal struggle led to a marketing of Lara's sexuality and her ridiculous proportions in Tomb Raider II, and then to her subsequent downsizing towards a more authentic female form in the following two game releases?

The book is worthy to earn a space on the bookshelf of anyone interested in videogames or art in general.

The International Arcade Museum (http://www.arcade-museum.com/ ) is the world's largest museum of the art, inventions, and history of the amusement and coin-operated machine industries. It's popular "Killer List of Videogames," is the premier online encyclopedia on coin-operated videogames (http://www.klov.com/ ).

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing. Who knew?, January 22, 2009

By 

David Osterman (NH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Art of the Video Game (Hardcover)

Not being a gamer, I had no idea that the art was so rich and complex. I picked this book up during an idle moment with the expectation that it would be pretty, but not particularly interesting to me. I was wrong. The art is exceptional and the text is well written and comprehensive. I ended up reading the book from cover to cover. I am impressed.