Customer Reviews

The Art of the Video Game

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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.)

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/ ).

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.

What a tall book. Who am I kidding? The author is tall, not the book, the book is disturbingly wide. Josh Kenisch takes a fantastic look at the world that people like Roger Ebert dismiss as never having the capacity for art and shows us in amazing taste the different styles of art that can be afforded from video games. A great read and view from a great author.

I used to while away many an hour playing Tetris or Bo Jackson's Baseball in my childhood bedroom. But since then, I've traded in second life for, you know, real life. That is until I stumbled across this little gem. For the coffee table, the bedside table or the john, this book is a great read! There are all sorts of pretty pictures and I dare say it's an even better way to spend your time than stacking those tetri. In short this book impressed me with its sheer awesometacity.

at first sight/perusal, this book is a very handsome collection of gorgeous art from the video game universe; and then you give it a closer look/read to discover the visuals are complemented by some extremely readable and clever/humorous writing by a guy who sounds like he really enjoys relating stories about games and the creative blood, sweat and tears that go into creating these game universes we love to get lost in. GREAT BUY/VALUE because of the combo of 1st class packaging- glossy pages, quality photos, etc- and the fun reading.

Stunning images - insightful text. Who would have thought I'd give up the game to sit for hours on end with this book? Makes me want to toss my flatscreen altogether!

At cocktail parties and other social gatherings, I invariably delighted friends and colleagues with my vast knowledge of politics, religion, literature and the folkways of certain pre-Hispanic cultures of Central America. But I was always rendered mute on one topic: video games.

That's why I recently picked up Josh Jenisch's splendid new work, The Art of the Video Game. Jenisch's colorful exploration of this exciting and still-emerging art form filled a yawning void in my understanding of popular culture -- and his book has found a place of honor on my bookshelves.

First of all, this book is visually stunning. And the concept of video games as art is truly compelling. The author knows his stuff. This makes for a great read/look -- I highly recommend it for gamers and creative-types alike.

This book is as well crafted as the video games it reveals as artfully constructed masterpieces. The author's presentation of his subject will no doubt affirm what gamers already feel and experience, but also offer a fresh and exiting perspective on how that experience is created and delivered. In addition non-gamers will enjoy and learn from the author's vibrant presentation of his fascinating subject in much the same way we enjoy the DVD extras and featurettes for a Peter Jackson, George Lucas or Stephen Speilberg film. I highly recommend it.