April 17, 2016

Nintendo 64 Anthology - The Ultimate Book (Kickstarter)


This Kickstarter caught my eye the other day. It boasts almost 400 pages, 388 game reviews, interviews, a complete history, and various odds and ends. It seems pretty legit, especially since it's already been published in France. This Kickstarter seems to be a means to get it printed and sold in English.

When I read "already published in France," I initially feared the worst: was this a Pix'n Love Publishing book? Thankfully, the answer is no. It is translated from the Geeks-Line version of the book, which is another company that publishes video game-related books in France.

HOWEVER!

The current director of Geeks-Line is Jean-Marc Demoly. This is not good! He is the one who jumped ship from Pix'n Love Publishing a few years ago after the shit hit the fan, the international side of the company was left in ruins, and people had their money stolen. You can read about that in this post.


So should you back this book? I'm on the fence. Geeks-Line has backed zero projects, and this is their first created project. But I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. Though, this Kickstarter of the Another World book didn't even come close to their goal, partly because of the negative feelings people had towards Pix'n Love Publishing. Is this just the same scam under a different name? That really seems to be Demoly's game.

There is a little bit of credibility here though, because Geeks-Line is supported by retrogamescollector for this project, and they seem to be a good group of folks. I hope they hold Geeks-Line accountable if this project succeeds. As of now, it still has 26 days to go and is already half funded. Things are looking pretty good on the funding front. Let's just hope backers don't get a bunch of empty promises/wallets once the campaign is over.

So it's really up to you whether or not you take the risk. That's true of any Kickstarter. People get burned now and again, but there are plenty of projects that have no issues whatsoever. You look at the creator's pitch, their background, and make your own decision. I would think that reprinting a book that's already done, just in a different language, wouldn't be so hard compared to creating it from scratch. But with Demoly's track record, we'll see.

If you want to check out the actual physical book, albeit in French, you can see this unboxing video.

Kickstarter Link: Nintendo 64 Anthology - The Ultimate Book

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