.:Loot Crate:.

I know my Books from a previous article arrived about a week ago I never had a chance to open them until now due to life and other articles.

Anyway, look at the lengths they go to to ensure you get a dent and scratch-free book! Presentation was my forte when I was an art director and I love their presentation and PROTECTION! We start with an outer box with some graphical pattern on it and let me stress EASY pull tabs to open the box both the outside and then the inside.

Next, we come across a tissue paper cover of the book for presentation and rubber corner bumpers to keep the edges straight and pointy! And finally, a typical plastic wrapping probably keeps it safe if it gets some water on it along the way.

Check out the photos below, they include covers for the three books I purchased, the packaging, and then my overloaded bookshelf with over a dozen Bitmap Books from over the years. Future posts will show some of their early books with some reviews based on how I stated I read them in a previous post.

I will grab one and flip through, or check the index / TOC find a game read it, and enjoy the photography. Below are my pictures.

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A quick break from my movie-watching. As I’ve said in the past my favorite book publisher is Bitmap Books. I have a LOT of their books going back I don’t know how far. But my shipment of 3 new ones that I ordered a little while ago came! 3 Hardcover (I’m a sucker for a designed hardcover book) OH AND NONE OF THAT dustcover garbage. They use actual cardboard sleeves if they use a cover at all. True graphic design has no boundaries!

I believe I mentioned before that the company is a British company which is even better I’ve loved British graphic design since my teen years. Visiting there was amazing! At the time I was a young Jr. Art Director. And constantly stopping to look at posters on the tube walls! I was blown away!

But, I digress. I picked up as I said a few that were on a huge markdown sale at the time. They ship fast I ordered and the next thing I knew before the week was out I had my books. I’ve been a bit busy with life issues that have caused me delays in some articles. I’ll be posting pics of the books as well as page layouts in detail. The books I picked up were:

Run ‘n’ Gun: A History of On-Foot Shooters

Go Straight: The Ultimate Guide to Side-Scrolling Beat-’Em-Ups

The Art Of The Box (WANTED SINCE IT PUBLISHED!)

With coffee table books like these Bitmaps authors make it so it’s easy to flip through, stop and look, and maybe pick up the article. That’s how I read these books. I’ll flip through till I find a game that interests me and then read about it and move on. I do NOT read these books linearly. Except for the Metal Slug one I got on pre-order being that Metal Slug is in my top 5 series of games!

Stay tuned…

So I ordered a new USB Hub with digital voltage monitors. I was all happy it was on sale and now I can confirm if things are charging. I’ve been an Amazon customer since ’98 and a Prime member since it launched. I wonder how many times people have drivers with this kind of attitude. Take a peek at what I saw when I watched my notice of a person at my door with my Ring. Needless to say, after I spoke to Amazon and was given a small % of my Prime fee back I’ve not seen this driver ever again.

So I’ve taken to getting involved in Kickstarter campaigns for art books. The first one I have supported at the 40-pound amount is:

Arcade Decades – 80s Edition
With my pledge level, I get the following:

As a backer of the Arcade Decades – 80’s Edition Book you get a Physical copy of the whole book PLUS your name in the book itself as an official backer of the campaign. You will also receive a PDF of the book with this reward.

I’d love to get my hands on some of their miniature arcade games. Specifically Ms. Pac-Man but they are a bit expensive despite being super cool!!!

Up next is: NES Endings Compendium: Volume 2
For this one, I went with the two books book 1 and book 2 hardcover. I had 1 in softcover but I’m a sucker for hardcover books and that crispy page and ink combination. (that’s the old Art Director in me) Nothing like seeing work fresh off a press. This one was $44 at my level. Worth every penny for 2 x hardcover books of content I love to read about or glance at.

And last but not least a book that is officially licensed by CAPCOM! It’s a hand-drawn level guide to Mega Man 1 complete with artwork hand-drawn everything!! I was able to get in on the $99 level the goal was like 19k and within a day they were at over 50k! I was so lucky to get in on the $99 level I pledged as soon as this one hit my inbox. I can’t resist a good Mega Man book plus an original art sheet from the book hand drawn and inked which will find its way into a frame. They had to jump through all the hoops with CAPCOM to get the license and with numbers like this I hope they continue to do more books like 2,3,4 etc..

So that’s what’s up not with my minimal extra funds. I’ll be posting reviews as they come in throughout the year. They will be posted in Books/Movie Reviews.

Got this beauty in from Sideshow Collectibles! The detail and fear it inspires are real! It’s a little over a foot tall and the sword is actually metal! Why they didn’t do the same with the mace is odd but perhaps they wanted the chain to sit as it does. Over all I’m super happy with this as the Nazgûl are my favorite species / race? In Lord of the Rings.