High Dynamic Range Lying

Back in October of 2006, I posted photos of Kazuma Kaneko’s second artbook in a set of three, and to myself, quietly cursed his name for delaying the third artbook, which was set to include some of his best art: that of Shin Megami Tensei III. The book was set to release December 2006, but December came and went, winter turned to spring, yet no artbook revealed itself.

Over this past Golden Week, while in Fukuoka with Josh of Prolefeed, I came across the elusive third book. It had apparently released secretly and quite covertly, yet not secretively enough to evade my capture. The book itself is surprisingly thin in comparison to the second book in the collection, especially considering the mish mash of content it boasts.

Continue reading ‘Design Works: Kazuma Kaneko III’

Capcom is probably one of the most consistent companies when it comes to releasing artbooks for their titles. Even newer, western centric titles like Lost Planet and Dead Rising have seen their share of artbook releases. Rockman (Mega Man in the US) alone has had its fair share of artbook releases, including a cameo in Capcom Design Works, and an artbook dedicated to the Rockman Zero series.

Continue reading ‘Design Works: R20th - Rockman And Rockman X Complete Works’

After the pleasantly surprising release of Enterbrain’s Final Fantasy 20th Anniversary commemorative book, It seems that Square Enix has finally decided to release an official compendium to mark the occasion, in the form of a book series.

The Ultimania series is largely strategy guides for Square Enix produced games, usually thick and full of content. For the 20th Anniversary, the Ultimania series is being used as a one stop encyclopedia series that covers virtually everything in the main Final Fantasy series.

Continue reading ‘Design Works: Final Fantasy 20th Anniversary Ultimania File 1: Character’

The last couple years has been filled with anniversary announcements, releases and gifts for Square-Enix. 2006 saw the 20th anniversary of Dragon Quest, which prompted the release of special collectable figures, the announcement of DQIX, and the release of Dungeon R, the Dragon Quest limited edition board game.

2007 was Final Fantasy’s turn. With the spotlight on the Fabula Nova Crystalis compilation as well as the release of the Final Fantasy IV remake for DS, it seemed like there would be no better time than now to realize a retrospective book of the series’ history; its successes and failures. Reminiscence really is the book you didn’t know you wanted until right now.

Continue reading ‘Design Works: Final Fantasy 20th Anniversary Reminiscence’

During a lull at work today, I decided to head to the bookstore in the mall across the street to take a gander not only at this week’s Weekly ファミ通 (Famitsu), but at the latest artbooks on sale, as it had been a while. Usually I find artbooks of various games I either have a mild investment in, or horribly detest.

On occasion I find an artbook that I really love, and that’s when a Design Works post is born. This week was one of those special weeks, as after finding piece meal compendiums for the Gyakuten Saiban (逆転裁判, Ace Attorney in North America) series, I finally found a proper artbook collection chronicling not only the original trilogy, but also the DS only entry, Gyakuten Saiban 4.

Continue reading ‘Design Works: The Art of Gyakuten Saiban’

Today I got my hands on a brand new artbook that I’ve been hoping to see on shelves for quite some time. The artbook, “Artwork of Guilty Gear X 2002-2007″, covers art from the last iterations of the game, leaving out the original Guilty Gear from the mix. The book itself is of regular artbook size, roughly the same dimensions as an A4 sheet of paper.

Continue reading ‘Design Works: Artwork of Guilty Gear X 2002-2007′

June 28th marks the release of the Playstation 2 remake compilation of the Super Robot Taisen OG (スーパーロボット対戦OG) series, and with it, a new artbook! The Super Robot Wars OG Perfect File is a glossy DVD box sized artbook that ships only with SRW OGs preorders, and is available nowhere else. The book itself contains not only design sketches for all characters and mecha included in the game, but even offers production notes (in Japanese naturally) at the back of the booklet, for those interested.

Continue reading ‘Design Works: Super Robot Wars OG Perfect File’

There’s no end to my love for Nintendo of Japan’s points club, Club Nintendo. Those who know me know well of my addiction to the traditional Japanese card game, Hanafuda (花札), going so far as forming and running a full club for the game. What better way to satiate my love for both than with Mario Hanafuda cards?

Continue reading ‘Design Works Special: Super Mario Hanafuda from Club Nintendo’

I’ve always been of two minds concerning volume based artbook collections. Part of me loves the episodic nature, being able to pick up each successive issue, and getting something new out of it. The other half of me despises it, because of the sheer impossibility of collecting every issue.

This week’s artbook showcase is spread between two books. Kingdom Hearts, by virtue of its being, is full of characters from different Disney and Square-Enix universes. The Kingdom Hearts Character’s Reports are thin and inexpensive, but detail characters from each universe, information about them, and even small sidebars describing their first appearances in their respective universes.

Volume 1 covers characters from Kingdom Hearts, Chain of Memories, and Kingdom Hearts 2, while Volume 2 apparently covers those three, plus the two Final Mix releases. Those interested in reading about Organization XIII should probably stick to picking up the Volume 2, though completists will probably want to collect the entire thing.

Continue reading ‘Design Works: Kingdom Hearts Character’s Report Volumes 1 and 2′

It is no secret that I am a huge Front Mission fan. The series has become somewhat of a ghost in the US, only releasing the third and fourth installments. I talked about the fifth title some months back, and bathed it with plenty of well deserved praise. After heading to the Japanese government offices in Kobe (神戸) to renew my work visa, I checked out the book store near my apartment on the way home.

Expecting nothing of interest to be available, I was floored to find a brand new artbook I had never actually seen in stock: Front Mission World Historica. The book details character profiles, relationships between characters in each game, wanzer statistics, and even detailed rundowns of each games’ individual stages.

Continue reading ‘Design Works: Front Mission World Historica - Report of Conflicts 1970-2121′