Art of Atari Capsule Edition Review
This is the Art of Atari Capsule Edition published by Dynamite in 2017. It is sort of the companion book, more of a compact stripped-down version of it’s older brother, the Art of Atari by Tim Lapetino, weighing in at 1.1 pounds as opposed to 4.2 pounds and 119 pages as opposed to 351 pages. It was a Loot Crate DX exclusive. If you’re not familiar with Loot Crate, they provide a monthly subscription-based service that delivers random pop culture goodies in a box. Anyhow that’s not where I purchased the book, there are a few other options. More on that later.
This is a hardcover book with the Atari logo printed on the cover which is decorated in complementary shades of blue. The binding seems to be strong and sturdy and seems like it was built to last. High-quality printing, the paper, and pages are nice and glossy. It feels smooth and silky. The book has a beautiful design, from the moment you open the cover to the very last page. The images contained within mostly depict video game shots from various Atari consoles, with a few shots of old advertising sprinkled in. Nearly every photo has an interesting write up covering the history of the game or some tidbits of how it’s played. The first and last pages are covered with screenshots of games. You can sort of play a quick game of trying to see how many of the games you can recognize in the front and back covers. The book measures 9.3″ H x 8.1″ W x .5″ D.
Written by Tim Lapetino, it is well-researched and full of the history of the games and some artist features.
All of this artwork was done long before software tools such as Adobe Photoshop, which is remarkable. If you look closely you’ll notice many of the images look like multiple layers blended together.
I counted a total of 4 two page covers which are sort of like centerfolds, in this book. There are at least 20 full page shots with no writing of on them of which 5 are actually images that span a page and a half.
Although primarily covering the Atari 2600, there are also many images from the Atari 8 bits, the Atari 5200 & 7800.
Reviewers on Amazon bemoaned the fact that there are very few if any images from arcade cabinets, which would probably make a good book on its own.
This book has terrific shots and artwork from cover to cover. I find there is so much detail in nearly every photograph that I can just stare at them one at a time as they take my imagination to various places. The other thing I like about the Art of Atari Capsule Edition is how lightweight and compact it is. It sort of reminds me of the old Dungeons and Dragons style of books, like the player’s handbook, only a little bit shorter. It’s easier to travel around with and gives you a great introduction that may make you yearn to break out the full version of the original Art of Atari Book.
You do not have to be a Loot Crate subscriber to purchase this book. I’ve seen it on eBay as well as on Amazon.com for sale at reasonable prices ranging from around $8 to $20. I mean it’s not as good a book as it’s big brother, but I still like and recommend it.
Youtube Original Post Date: 09/13/2017
