PSX: The Guide to the Sony Playstation IS RELEASED! [Archive]

kevincure

12-26-2005, 03:08 PM

Hey guys,

At long last, PSX: The Guide to the Sony Playstation, produced in association with Digital Press, has been released! Thanks to the great research of PSX uber-collectors here, especially Dangerboy, PapaStu and PS1Expert, this ultimate PS1 collector resource was completed.

142 full-color pages. Rarity/Price guide three years in the making, including publisher, developer, genre, GH, longbox, and variant information. Intensive writeups for 60 games. Interviews with the former head of R&D at Sony, the developer of Crash Bandicoot and the editor of Next Generation magazine. Never before seen "inside images". A 10-page history of the system. Demo, Lightspan and Boxset listings. This book has everything you want if you hope to become a serious PS1 collector.

The cost? Absolutely free in pdf version. $28.99 in printed version (believe me, this was the lowest cost possible for a print-as-you-go full color 8.5x11" book). Check out the order page at http://www.digitpress.com/products/psxbook.htm

I would be grateful if any of the game media writers here wanted to write the book up. I'm happy to provide any help: contact me at kevincure AT yahoo DOT com.

Kevin Bryan

Phosphor Dot Fossils

12-26-2005, 04:20 PM

Looks outstanding.

dbiersdorf

12-26-2005, 04:24 PM

I'm reading it in PDF and it's great.

Its just kind of odd you wrote a whole book on the system yet call it the Playstation the entire time when the correct spelling is PlayStation.

PapaStu

12-26-2005, 04:26 PM

Wow, those PS people must be insane to have all that crap and to just let it freely float around in their heads like that. :D

I'll be placing an order shortly I can proudly say.

dbiersdorf

12-26-2005, 04:35 PM

Heh, the screen next to Oddworld Abe's Oddessy is from Abe's Exoddus as well.

Man this thing is great though, I'll probably lay down some cash for it soon.

Zing

12-26-2005, 04:36 PM

Its just kind of odd you wrote a whole book on the system yet call it the Playstation the entire time when the correct spelling is PlayStation.

Yes, this bothers me as well. I guess this was PS1Expert's contribution to the project.

kevincure

12-26-2005, 04:36 PM

qbertandernie

12-26-2005, 04:53 PM

i think its awesome that you guys are willing to offer the book for free to anyone who cares! im sure this wasnt a two day project and was likely a lot of hard earned information.

i got a lot of cash for xmas, so i think someone will have bought this book for me, though indirectly.

Haoie

12-26-2005, 05:19 PM

As a PS exclusive collector, this should prove to me an interesting read.

Hope I'll learn something new.

Haoie

12-26-2005, 05:24 PM

Incidentally, do you need to sign up for the site in order to get the download?

norkusa

12-26-2005, 05:32 PM

I see some photos I took of my Elemental Gearbolt Assassins Case are included in your book but I don't remember anyone asking me if they could be used. :hmm:

youruglyclone

12-26-2005, 05:41 PM

I see some photos I took of my Elemental Gearbolt Assassins Case are included in your book but I don't remember anyone asking me if they could be used. :hmm:

and what fine pictures they are...makes me want this item now

and ahem...YAY LAWSUITS!

Austin

12-26-2005, 06:51 PM

Call me daft, but where is this available for download? I'm very excited to check it out. :)

youruglyclone

12-26-2005, 07:05 PM

http://www.lulu.com/content/199472

gotta make an account though

petewhitley

12-26-2005, 09:29 PM

Some of the text seems to be missing from the .pdf file. I've downloaded it twice; same effect. Can this be fixed? I'd love to read the interviews (not to get out of a purchase, but I'd like a full preview ...).

rolenta

12-26-2005, 09:33 PM

CYRiX

12-26-2005, 09:54 PM

looks like 4 minutes to me :D.

Well anyways I decided this needs a mirror cuz no one wants to sign up for things.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=QBL79TBO

PS: I love gaming books and I'll buy this when I gets money in my paypal

AKay

12-26-2005, 10:04 PM

cool let me check this out!
AKay

s1lence

12-26-2005, 10:32 PM

Sweet, I'm going to have to pick up a hard copy of these. Nice work guys. :D

roushimsx

12-26-2005, 10:33 PM

Just skimmed it and loved it to pieces. I'll be ordering a physical copy at somepoint to support its sheer awesomeness.

p.s.

another direct download mirror (http://roushimsx.shackspace.com/psbookpdf.pdf)

Dangerboy

12-26-2005, 10:55 PM

"....and the input of the top Sony collectors in the world..."

That makes me warm like apple cider on the inside.

Nice work Kevin, now you have me wanting to make mine :)

Jason

Buyatari

12-26-2005, 11:17 PM

Looking good. I'll have to run to the store and buy a cartridge for my printer. Lots of good stuff here.

kevincure

12-26-2005, 11:56 PM

Hey guys,

Concerning the missing text: I assume you mean the more 'databasey' portions of the pdf? I'm absolutely sure they're there, so perhaps you have an older version of Acrobat? The only other thing I can think of is that you have a slower computer; the PDF is quite large, and the 'databasey' stuff takes a sec to load even on my computer.

Thanks to the guy who posted the MegaUpload mirror. Feel free to mirror the pdf anywhere you want. The whole point is for people to read it, right?

Also, if you know any other board (aside from DP and Assembler) whose readers would be interested, feel free to link to the digitpress.com/products/psxbook.htm page.

Lastly, concerning the Elemental Gearbolt photos - I'm sure I'd asked permission as the photos in the book are all taken by me or sent to me by email. It looks like I misattributed them, however, to Zach instead of Anthony. I'll post a correction on the order page once I get back to Boston.

Enjoy!
Kev

Buyatari

12-27-2005, 12:04 AM

Lastly, concerning the Elemental Gearbolt photos - I'm sure I'd asked permission as the photos in the book are all taken by me or sent to me by email. It looks like I misattributed them, however, to Zach instead of Anthony. I'll post a correction on the order page once I get back to Boston.

How many of these suitcases were given away?

rolenta

12-27-2005, 12:10 AM

I opened it with Acrobat 6 and now it looks great.

In the Further Reading section, under Phoenix, it says:
"An authoritative history of videogames by the genre’s oldest biographer"

That's true. I'm turning 90 next month!
:bday:

hydr0x

12-27-2005, 01:10 AM

amazing, great read so far :)

noticed a small fault though

GaiaSeed in the expensive imports section says "Europe" while the text says "not brought to Europe or the US". I guess the later is correct....

vahn401

12-27-2005, 02:21 AM

I'm going to transfer some money to my debit card account before i purchase this, but I'm definately getting one of these, you guys really deserve the money for all the hard work. I'm staying away from looking at the pdf or whatever file, trying not to spoil it so i can absorb the real thing when it comes in. One question, does it go into great detail for every U.S. playstation game? Or is it just a brief basic facts. I didn't know if there was like a synopsis for every individual game or something. Thanks

lendelin

12-27-2005, 02:29 AM

Congrats, guys!

I read through the pdf version, and asked myself what your book delivers beyond the already existing lists in the DP Advance guide. In other words: is it really worthwhile a purchase?

You delivered. The book is well written, the intro about the history of the PS is not only descriptive, but moreover is a good analysis about the economics behind the system and the software over time.

Needless to say, the listings of the games are great; moreover, the lsitings according to publisher and genre at the end of the book are very helpful and informative for gameplayers and collectors alike.

The games chosen in more detail with full-color pics are a nice variety between hits, influential games, and niche successes and breath life into the game lists, the same goes for the interviews; the latter contain aditionally useful information and some interesting insights.

Great information, great comments, gerat analysis beyond description, in sum: Great job! I'll buy the print version.

EricRyan34

12-27-2005, 03:14 AM

Oh wow, I have been looking for one of these for quite some time now. This thing is awesome and I will definitly be buying a physical copy sometime soon! sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeT!!! :D :D :D

Sardius

12-27-2005, 05:03 AM

Eh, don't think I'll be buying this one. The hardware section at the beginning is a good read, but the rest is really disappointing. The rarity guide doesn't look to contain much information beyond the DP Advance guide I already have, and the "Playstation's Best" pages look rushed as hell. The screenshots are what gets me -- for a full-color book of that price, I'd expect screenshots that didn't just look like someone played a game for five minutes in an emulator and took shots of the first level. Look at Symphony of the Night for example: three of the five shots are from the first Dracula fight! Nearly every game has this problem, and it takes a lot away from the book's overall quality.

The rarity info is interesting and potentially useful, but in the end it just doesn't make a good bathroom read like the DP guides are. It's not just because of length, either...who REALLY wants to read pages and pages of SCUS numbers, and was the genre data section necessary? You could've devoted those pages to covering more rare and import games, but those sections feel incomplete as they are now.

It's obvious a lot of work went into this and it could be useful to collectors, but as actual reading material, it doesn't quite cut it. Maybe if it was cheaper?

EDIT in case I sounded too negative: Don't get me wrong, it's a really nice piece of work and thanks much for releasing it in pdf format! It's just that in comparison to cheaper and bigger guides, I personally wouldn't buy this one.

Phosphor Dot Fossils

12-27-2005, 07:38 AM

the PDF is quite large
Yes. Yes, I am. It was all those Christmas cookies, I'm telling ya.

Lenny, I'm sure he meant one of the industry's most experienced historians. LOL

zmweasel

12-27-2005, 08:04 AM

dbiersdorf...Joe actually mentioned the PlayStation vs. Playstation to me as well. I prefer "Playstation" and I think that the all lower-case spelling is generally used by most mainstream journalists. If anything should be noted, it's that the name of the book is "PSX: The..." No one at Sony has ever called the system the PSX, nor was it ever used in advertisements. Again, though, it's a very common usage outside of Sony and so I've chosen to use it nonetheless.

You indisputably should have used the official spelling: PlayStation. It doesn't matter if most mainstream journos get it wrong; it's your job as the publisher of a PlayStation book to get it right.

The PSX thing is much less of a concern, as I doubt many people realize there was an actual Sony PSX in Japan, but "Playstation" is simply a bad call.

-- Z.

dbiersdorf

12-27-2005, 09:32 AM

zmweasel

12-27-2005, 10:11 AM

It's not like it matters per se, just kind of weird I guess, especially when you read the interviews because it's obvious they were done through email or some form of that because all of the interviewed spell PlayStation the correct way, while the questions contain the wrong spelling.

Sure it matters. Can you imagine a biography in which the author misspells the subject's name on the cover? You'd be immediately and justifiably skeptical about the accuracy of everything in the book.

I bear no ill will toward Kevin or anyone else who worked on PSX, but "Playstation" is an egregious mistake.

(Which reminds me that the third edition of Phoenix is filled with misspellings of console names--not just "Playstation," but also "Playstation2," "Gameboy," and "X-Box." Ugh.)

-- Z.

PS1Expert

12-27-2005, 11:18 AM

kevincure

12-27-2005, 03:09 PM

Last note on "Playstation" vs "PlayStation" - I'll confess it must be my graphic design background that leads me to avoid the strange capitalization that companies insist upon. I did use the "corporate" spelling in game names, or for titles that were only mentioned once or twice (WipEout, for instance), but a book filled with "PlayStation"? It looks forced to me.

As for cost...I wish it could be cheaper too! There's really no profit involved in this book; it's simply that expensive to print full-color, on-demand books. My only goal to have a readership as large as possible.

(Edit: And I agree with PS1Expert...the comment he mentions in the post above this was uncalled for)

segagamer4life

12-27-2005, 03:26 PM

zmweasel

12-27-2005, 03:45 PM

Last note on "Playstation" vs "PlayStation" - I'll confess it must be my graphic design background that leads me to avoid the strange capitalization that companies insist upon. I did use the "corporate" spelling in game names, or for titles that were only mentioned once or twice (WipEout, for instance), but a book filled with "PlayStation"? It looks forced to me.

You could've used an abbreviation for PlayStation in most instances to avoid a "forced" appearance. PS, PS1, or PSX all would've worked (though I would personally veto the latter); "Playstation" doesn't.

I understand and share your dismay with corporate capitalization, but to intentionally avoid using the proper name of a game console in a book about that console is unfortunate hubris.

-- Z.

fishsandwich

12-27-2005, 05:55 PM

Hey... this book is awesome. Quite an event, quite a lot of work, and quite an achievement. I believe I shall order one myself. I am REALLY impressed and amazed by what must have been a huge amount of work!

@_@

And for ZING's comment... uncool, man. Very uncool.

:roll:

Haoie

12-27-2005, 07:28 PM

I wish it was zipped, that 15MB size is murder on dialup.

PS1Expert

12-27-2005, 07:29 PM

BTW, this book was no small feat for Kevincure. He did a stupendous job that literally took years (he contacted me over a year ago for help). He and everyone who contributed put their heart into it and I'm proud to be a small part of it. Now I'm torn about ordering it or printing it out at work (on a color laser printer). My work might even be able to print it and bind it at cost. (but I'm sure it'll cost similar to what lulu is offering it)

The interviews are great reading. The variant information is great as well (I assume Dangerboy helped there...great job!). If there is a version 2 in the future, I will be there to help with more import games, gadgets, and prototypes.

roushimsx

12-27-2005, 07:42 PM

The screenshots are what gets me -- for a full-color book of that price, I'd expect screenshots that didn't just look like someone played a game for five minutes in an emulator and took shots of the first level. Look at Symphony of the Night for example: three of the five shots are from the first Dracula fight! Nearly every game has this problem, and it takes a lot away from the book's overall quality.

Damn, good point, man. I had noticed that some of the shots weren't properly stretched, but I didn't notice that damn near all of the shots for those games were from the first few minutes of gameplay.

I really like pretty much everything else, but that is a pretty noticable sore thumb now that it's been pointed out.

Spartacus

12-30-2005, 08:42 AM

Just bought the book. Thank goodness for the free super saver shipping!

I can see this book is aimed squarely at collectors and provides the kind of information they would most be interested in and even though I'm merely a fan of PlayStation games, I'm sure it will, none the less, come in very handy to me. I didn't think I would ever have any use for SLUS/SCUS numbers, but just by reading the pdf version I began to understand that those numbers correlate to the order in which games were released. I never realized that before, so I guess I'm learning things I didn't know already and I haven't even got the book yet!

Groupings by publishers and genre were very nice to see, but it would have been REALLY nice to see groupings by developers too. I think many of us have a fondness for certain developers more than we do for publishers and I would have enjoyed a section noting some of the more significant ones.

I'd like to thank Kevin and all those who contributed! I'm sure I'll enjoy having it. I noted that Steve Wilcox was also a contributor. I feel personally indebted to him for opening my eye's to so many imports and considering the expense this has begun to incur, I'd always hoped I'd be able to thank him someday in a dark alley somewhere. LOL

P.S. It must be a Sisyphean task for writer's to avoid the temptation of using words like... Sisyphean.

Qixmaster

12-30-2005, 01:43 PM

great book! i will be ordering one shortly.

and people.... be nice to kevin. this is a ginormous feat and i stand in awe of all those who helped make it possible. not only that, this is FREE! so stop your bitchin' about errors and what is right and wrong for "playstation". Thanks for making this availble to everyone kevin!
-Josh

graboid9

12-30-2005, 01:54 PM

Great job guys...now you can start on the complete Sega guide for us segacd/32x/saturn/dreamcast lovin collectors ;)

PapaStu

12-30-2005, 05:54 PM

The variant information is great as well (I assume Dangerboy helped there...great job!). If there is a version 2 in the future, I will be there to help with more import games, gadgets, and prototypes.

Heh.... DB brought me to this board purely for that reason. My first posts were all about PS variants. I was the one that got DB into the variants ;)

Great job guys...now you can start on the complete Sega guide for us segacd/32x/saturn/dreamcast lovin collectors

I'm workin on the DC and most of the other ones have already been broken down pretty well. ;)

Push Upstairs

12-30-2005, 10:40 PM

Still have a ways to go on the Sega one?

AtariBuff

12-31-2005, 07:23 AM

Kevin - GREAT work @_@

I came home yesterday from a short vacation only to find your work ready for download for all of us - you're my personal hero!

Many thanks for mentioning my name in the contributors list but you should have put Raymond on top of mine ;)

As I will have more time at hand in the next months I can provide you with info about limited and/or special editions of PAL PS1 games and other info you may need maybe for the next printing of the book.

Again, great work - please keep it up :D

pixelsnpolygons

12-31-2005, 07:31 PM

Wow fantastic work. I've been hunting down PlayStation games for my website for about as many years and my project is only just starting to see the light of day, so I know what a mammoth undertaking this book must have been and what a relief and joy it must be to be able to display your efforts to the masses.

I'll definitely be interested in picking up a copy. I haven't regretted the two DP books I own and it looks like a must own, too.

Again awesome job to everyone involved!

Spartacus

01-08-2006, 06:19 PM

Kevin, now that I have your book in my hands I thought you might like to know that I think both you and your publisher have done a very nice job indeed! The abundant use of color make's for a very pleasant experience simply thumbing through it. I really like the layout with a picture and summary of a game at the bottom of each page, then with a full page dedicated to a notable PlayStation game coming up every few pages. That really worked well and the experience is a thousand times better than using the pdf version. The colors in the screen shots are sharp and vivid and you can't help but want to go play the game just looking at them! About the only picture I didn't understand was the one of the slightly blurred yellow and red PlayStation console. Am I just ignorant about something here? What is the significance of that picture?

ManciGames

01-08-2006, 09:07 PM

Sure it matters. Can you imagine a biography in which the author misspells the subject's name on the cover? You'd be immediately and justifiably skeptical about the accuracy of everything in the book.

I bear no ill will toward Kevin or anyone else who worked on PSX, but "Playstation" is an egregious mistake.

(Which reminds me that the third edition of Phoenix is filled with misspellings of console names--not just "Playstation," but also "Playstation2," "Gameboy," and "X-Box." Ugh.)

-- Z.

Ah, just ignore it. "PSX..." and "Phoenix" are labors of love written, published, and distributed by those who love the hobby. Until Ziff, Del Rey, or some other major publisher wants to help us out by publishing and distributing works such as these, I think we can live with the occasional editing error, especially if it's something as simple as one letter not being capitalized. At least they didn't name it "The Guide to the Nintendo PSX" or some such nonsense.

ManciGames

01-08-2006, 09:13 PM

Damn, good point, man. I had noticed that some of the shots weren't properly stretched, but I didn't notice that damn near all of the shots for those games were from the first few minutes of gameplay.

I really like pretty much everything else, but that is a pretty noticable sore thumb now that it's been pointed out.

Why does it matter? If you are into the game that much, you probably don't even need a screenshot. I think they are there to give people who have never played that particular game an idea of what the game was like.

You guys are really asking for a lot from a project like this. I'm sure the guys didn't have the time available that would allow them to play 10 hours into each game just so they could get screenshots.

ManciGames

01-08-2006, 09:16 PM

Great job guys...now you can start on the complete Sega guide for us segacd/32x/saturn/dreamcast lovin collectors ;)

I will be ordering the PSX book, but I'll tell you what: If you put out the Sega book, I'll pre-order 2. :)

roushimsx

01-08-2006, 10:19 PM

Why does it matter? If you are into the game that much, you probably don't even need a screenshot. I think they are there to give people who have never played that particular game an idea of what the game was like.

You guys are really asking for a lot from a project like this. I'm sure the guys didn't have the time available that would allow them to play 10 hours into each game just so they could get screenshots.

It matters because the screenshots don't really do an accurate job of representing the full quality of the games. While I agree it's silly to expect them to spend 10 hours playing a game just to snap a dozen or so screenshots to sift through, it doesn't mean they couldn't ask other people to help out with a predefined configuration / standard (such as, only use P.E.Op.S. GPU plugin, no filtering, keep aspect ratio, etc) for the handful of titles.

Afterall, they did work 3 years on it. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a little more attention to detail in the screenshot area (especially since there's so few of the games that use multiple shots). Also, you can download savestates and savegames from the internet, further negating the need to play extended periods of time for the money shot.

But hey, I do agree that the Playstation vs PLayStation vs PlayStation argument is fucking retarded, though. You know damn well even if it was spelled PlayStation, someone would bitch because it's not in the exact same font as it was on the Playstation box.

Screenshots, ment to offer a fair representation of the gameplay, are another beast entirely. Symphony of the Night really could have used a better variety of screenshots, in particular.

SamuraiSmurfette

01-08-2006, 11:36 PM

Pink Panther had an NTSC release? I thought it was a PAL exclusive... :hmm:

Dangerboy

01-09-2006, 12:33 AM

Yup, Pink Panther is out. I have it, had to acquire it off of ebay because I never saw it in stores.

PapaStu

01-09-2006, 12:39 AM

Pink Panther had an NTSC release? I thought it was a PAL exclusive... :hmm:

Yeap. I got mine in a store, and new at that for 10 bucks. I've only seen it a few times though.

kevincure

01-09-2006, 01:32 AM

Dangerboy

01-09-2006, 01:51 AM

Same as the Panther...I don't ever recall it being in a store...at least a real store (I don't shop at Costco...;) )

Kevin, how's the book selling / downloading?

Lothars

01-09-2006, 03:19 AM

that's awesome

I definitly want to pick it up,

Thanks alot for the book it looks amazing from what I can see

I am really glad to see that they support paypal :D

Satac

01-09-2006, 04:53 AM

Same as the Panther...I don't ever recall it being in a store...at least a real store (I don't shop at Costco...;) )

Kevin, how's the book selling / downloading?

I'm not Kevin but I had 152 downloads from my little mirror (http://schmalenstroer.net/uploads/psbookpdf.pdf).

neuropolitique

01-09-2006, 01:20 PM

That's pretty impressive. Tons of interesting material to look through. If I were a PSX collector I would definately be picking up the book.

Ignore the naysayers who can't be bothered to create anything of their own, the book is a great achievement.

kevincure

01-09-2006, 04:46 PM

DB...from the direct link, there have been almost a thousand downloads (this is actual d/ls, not just hits), and quite a few sold copies. Because the pdf is mirrored all over, it's tough to say exactly how many copies are out there.

I'm still getting around to putting the word out to media - Kotaku is really the only major place to cover the book yet. I know a couple magazines are planning to mention it.

roushimsx

01-09-2006, 04:52 PM

I'm still getting around to putting the word out to media - Kotaku is really the only major place to cover the book yet. I know a couple magazines are planning to mention it.

I've sent word out to various sites as well but it seems like it's too niche for most places to cover :(

PapaStu

01-09-2006, 06:01 PM

AFAIK, tons of them were sold through Costco.

Dangerboy & Papastu, I'm still of the opinion that Easter Bunny is the rarest (regular) U-C release. Now that it's been quite a bit since the last games have come out, what do you guys think?

Easter Bunny is right up there, but as are most of the truly RARE PS games, its really not worth all that much. GrandAmChandler scored one off ebay for like 5 shipped or something like that a week or two back.

Give it and the rest of these end run odditys and the early harder to get titles to build some demand and then watch the prices move on up. To bad it wont be for a few more years.

s1lence

01-09-2006, 06:37 PM

I actuallly got my hardcopy last week but never posted. Its really a nice book regardless if its PlayStatiion or Playstation. :D

JPeeples

01-09-2006, 08:02 PM

Thanks for the mirror download, I'll read through it tomorrow and maybe do a writeup on it as well. As far as taking screens goes, it's a lot more efficient to take screens early in a game when you're taking a bunch. If I'm focusing on a particular game, then I'll take more throughout the game, but I'm taking screens from a lot of games in very little time, I'm going to go with the most dynamic images I can get with as little game progress as possible.