Before I left Japan, the folks at Kotobukiya were kind enough to send me a copy of OTACOOL, a book project spearheaded by Danny Choo of dannychoo.com. The idea for the book is fantastic and works on the same principal as our desk feature — people's personal spaces shed telling light into their lives.

Countries represented include places like Japan, France, the UK, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland, Denmark, Bulgaria, Spain, China, Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia, Israel and the U.S.

The rooms run the gamut of anime and manga otakudom. (Hopefully future editions will expand to other types of otaku! Such as train, airsoft gun, video game, etc.) Still, it is interesting. The pictures were all submitted by users and do vary in quality — something that actually gives the book charm and a hint of realism instead of a slick, commercial feel.

Text is in both English and Japanese, making it good for those interested in practicing either language. And the book has been tearing up the sales charts in Japan. You can learn more about OTACOOL in the link below. Hooray!

OTACOOL [Official Site]

THQ announced the 2010 game this morning, posting this trailer on the game's official site to introduce prospective players to the setting. The game is based on Dmitry Glukhovsky's popular Eastern European novel, the synopsis for which gives you a pretty good idea of where the game is going.

The book is currently available in Russian and German, though Amazon has a listing for an English language version being released in February of next year, which should give you plenty of time to bone up before diving into post-apocalyptic Moscow.

Simon & Schuster imprint Atria Books has inked a three-book deal with Realtime Associates' F.J. Lennon for a series of novels based on his his iPhone title Soul Trapper: Episode 1.

In the three-hour game, reports game site GameSetWatch, players are a drifter who carries an Soul Trap device to trap, interrogate and free ghosts across Los Angeles via Choose Your Own Adventure style play.

Soul Trapper sold around 25,000 copies since its release last fall. Talent agency CAA has even been pitching a Soul Trapper script to the major studios — it's apparently a "darker, edgier Ghostbusters." So... it's not funny?

Soul Trapper [Publishers Weekly via GameSetWatch]

Photographers Peter Lumby and Rob Dunlop will be displaying photos from the book at an open exhibition on Oct. 20 at Hi sushi Salsa in London.

Here's a taste:

Says a Chronicle rep:

Unfortunately this book will not be published, but we are coming out with a Street Fighter book. I let the person who worked on this book know and she is going to make sure that the information gets taken off the website. Thank you for your concern.

Welp, guess there was only room for one Capcom franchise in this arrangement. Go Nintendo notes that this applies to "Complete History." There's something called "Complete Works" that still should hit the shelves next month.

Mega Man Complete History Book Cancelled [Go Nintendo]

More than just an art book, this large, hard-bound special edition tome is filled from cover-to-cover with the history of the EverQuest franchise, from the original release to the coming of EverQuest 2. You'll find developer interviews, box art, concept art, and developer commentary that will have a lapsed player itching to get back into the fray.

Or at least it had this lapsed player itching. SOE delivered a copy of the book to me late last week, and I've had a hard time putting it down. It's been years since I traveled Norrath, but half a decade of my life is contained in those pages, and the reminiscing is fine.

You can purchase the book for $34.99 directly from SOE by clicking the link I cleverly hid in this sentence.

Then, this March, the first of two God of War Novels arrive from Del Rey.

Sounds like someone went a little marketing crazy. Here's the break down of the books, the comics and, yes, that fancy set of knives.

God of War Comic Book Series (October 2009): Published by DC/Wildstorm Comics, the series will be written by Marv Wolfman (The New Teen Titans, Crisis on Infinite Earths). The six-issue series will be released on a monthly schedule, leading into the March 2010 release of God of War III for the Playstation 3.

United Cutlery's Blades of Chaos (October 2009): United Cutlery , manufacturer of licensed edged and adult collectibles for the entertainment industry since 1981, will create a scaled replica of Kratos Blades of Chaos. The weapon will be a total of 20-13/16 inches long and have a 12 7/16-inch blade constructed from solid-cast zinc aluminum with a custom-etched mold texture, and unique fantasy grindings that mirror the piece used in the game. The handle grip is injection-molded and surrounded by an intricate, detailed cast-metal guard and pommel. The Blades of Chaos replica includes a custom display stand with the God of War logo.

Del Rey Books' God of War Novels (March 2010): Del Rey will publish two novels based on the God of War series. The first novel, God of War, will be written by author Matthew Stover. In the novel God of War, Kratos, the game's protagonist, is a great warrior who seeks revenge on the God of War Ares for the deaths of his wife and child. On his journey to Olympus, Kratos must battle great monsters of legend—and fight his own inner demons. Kratos' quest will take him through a world of Greek mythology transformed, in which the familiar legends take on a terrifying new life—from the Aegean, where Kratos will grapple with the Great Hydra, to the depths of Hades, where Kratos will face death itself, to the heights of Mount Olympus.

Great.

Walk-thru book Dragon Quest IX: Defenders of the Starry Sky NDS Version Big Adventure Player Guide is the number one selling book on the Japanese Oricon charts. In its first two days on sale, the book moved 198,127 copies, making it the first game book to hit number one since Pocket Monster Platinum Official Complete Clear Guide dropped last October.

『ドラゴンクエストIX 星空の守り人』、攻略本もオリコン首位を獲得 [INSIDE]

The Japanese-language book has concept art, developer interviews and promotional materials. Even if you are not into Monster Hunter, this does look to be a beautiful book. It's over 300 pages long with 1,700 plus images.

モンスターハンターＣＧアートワークス　「この１冊　まぶしすぎる！」 [Akiba Blog]

This year's edition is being touted over on the official site for Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition. If you hit the site you can check out eight spreads from the upcoming book.

Here's a sample.

Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition

It's easy to forget the creativity involved in crafting something so involved and so immersive. Fortunately, a new book by one of the industry's most influential group of concept artists will be hitting in mid January to remind us that art is an integral part of video game development.

I just got my hands on an early copy of Massive Black Volume One. The 190-page art book is packed with oil paintings, 3D renderings, sketches and hand drawn concept art from the folks at Massive Black. The book will sell for $60 to $120, depending on whether you want it signed or to get a free piece of original art with it.

Inside my copy of the book I found art for a number of video games titles including Golden Axe : Beast Rider, Hellgate London, Dragon Age: Origins, Ironman, Maelstrom, Red Faction: Guerrilla, Ride to Hell, Dead Head Fred, Saboteur and Area 51. There are even a few bits of art from unreleased projects and some movie and graphic novel concept art.

But the art, as glorious and illuminated as it is, isn't the greatest thing about this book. What really makes this a must have is that it offers gamers a tantalizing glimpse into the world of what could have been.

You see, concept art, no matter how good, doesn't guarantee a successful game. Developers may ignore the art, may take a different direction, or maybe they follow it to a T, but the game itself, because of poor mechanics or bad design or uninspired writing, plain out sucks.

This book offers you a chance to visit a place free of commercial concerns. You can look at that first piece of art found between the black covers of this book and see a world of talking Polar Bears, of a sisterhood of witches, a frozen land of religious battles, and not even realize that it must surely be art used for Activision's take on Golden Compass, a game that was eventually developed by Shiny and published by Sega.

This book delivers to readers the gift of dreaming, imagining the games that could have been had they only relied solely on the vision of artists and never were waylaid by bean counters and schedule keepers.

Massive Black: Volume 1 Our Art Book is Done

Also, Otaku USA editor-in-chief Patrick Macias cornered me at the book launch a week or so before TGS for his podcast. Keep in mind, my nonsensical slurring and giddy schoolgirl voice only appears after I've had seven beers. That, or several plates of rum cake. Mmm, rum cake.

Game on! [Metropolis]

Turns out it reads really well.

I've never been a huge fan of books about video games or gaming culture, mostly because most of them seem to forget about the people and instead focus on the technology. Not so with Arcade Mania! The Turbo-Charged World of Japan's Game Centers. In it, Ash walks you through a typical Japanese arcade game type by game type. But instead of focusing on the games he talks to the people to whom they matter most. From Japan's UFO Catcher Queen, to Street Fighter champion Daigo "The Beast" Umehara, to Shump champions and DDR dancers, Ash manages to put a face to every game and give us a glimpse into what makes people so fascinated with them.

My forward for the book on the jump.

Forward
A Word From a Gamer:
Growing up in the seventies, an Army brat of sorts, arcade games kept me company as my family ping-ponged across oceans and countries. It didn’t matter where we moved, everywhere from Thailand to Texas had arcades, making each new home feel welcoming. Reading through this book taps into those memories: days spent in an empty arcade in Korea playing shoot-em-ups; hours spent in an Officer’s Club playing Frogger; my first Street Fighter fireball at a Texas bowling alley.

It wasn’t until I was managing an arcade in college, years later, that I realized that the arcade cacophony, the flashing lights, the pocket full of quarters, were the hallmarks of a whole generation’s childhood memories. In Japan those memories are still being formed in places like Akihabara, the arcade-laden town of Shangri-La-like import for North American gamers, but the arcades of the West have long since fallen.
But don’t mourn the fall of America’s arcades, a place of pinball, not pachinko; of ticket games, not card games. Instead celebrate the confluence of culture and technology still thriving in Japan.

Brian Crecente
Managing Editor of Kotaku.com, gamer

This reminds me. I need to find an agent and get to work on my book.

Arcade Mania: The Turbo-charged World of Japan's Game Centers [Amazon]

Yokai Gaiden [Alt Japan]

The Art and Making of Star Wars The Force Unleashed is a chunky, 168 page book filled with more than 300 pieces of concept art, two packs of character cards and plenty of behind the scenes details of how the title went from concept to game.

I've only had a chance to flip through the book so far, but what I've seen impresses. The book is divided up into six chapters that tackle the concept behind the game and early pitches, the story approval process, the characters in the game, the environments, the technology and a run through of all of the game's milestones and how it progressed from greenlight, to alpha to launch.

I'm not typically a big fan of these over-sized art books but there seems to be enough meat to the book to make it worth picking up. I still might have a problem dropping $30 for it, but I'm sure bigger fans of the franchise wont.

The people who get married in Second Life, the idea there seems to be that love is purely a product of the mind, and that just seems insane to me. The body has such a central role in our sexual lives, in our physical lives, that you can't just leave it behind.

Q&A with author Tim Guest [Nerve]

Get Your Art in New UDON’s New Street Fighter Art Book!

[blog.capcom.com]

I was looking at Capcom's blog and noticed that Capcom and UDON were holding a contest to add fan art to UDON's new Street Fighter art book.  I remembered Kotaku showing some interesting in the art books earlier and thought it was pretty nifty.

VH1's Harold Goldberg unearthed a little gem today while nosing around some book sites: It appears Steven Kent will be writing a book based on Gears of War for Del Rey books.

The book, which he founded listed on BooksAMillion's site for an August release, doesn't yet have a proper name but will be released in both paperback and hardcover. Kent, who wrote The Ultimate History of Video Games, is probably now most famous for his Clone books, one of which, Goldberg points out, was up for a Philip K. Dick award.

This sounds look it could be a match made in heaven. Brian Crecente

Exclusive: Gears Of War Novel! [VH1]

Gaming is getting its own Guinness book. Titled Guinness World Records — Videogame Edition 2008, the book includes the 20 biggest titles of the year, highest paid pro players, fast times, record scores and technical achievements.

We reintroduced videogaming world records to our annual book a few years ago, and it's proved to be one of the most popular sections with our core readers. It makes sense, therefore, to dedicate an entire annual to the subject.

Future categories will hopefully include things like "Gamer with the longest finger nails." Brian Ashcraft

Guinness Gaming Book [Games Industry]