Videogames have come a long way since the original PlayStation became available, and Darren Hupke aims to create a snapshot of gaming history. His Kickstarter campaign is set to assemble a book of game screenshots, titled Sony's PlayStation: A Chronological Visual Retrospective of Titles SCEA Published from 1995-2005.
The list of featured videogames is massive, from 2Xtreme to Wild Arms. This is the kind of thing a student of videogame history may look at someday if they want to get a feel for the original PlayStation console, but most PlayStation fans might end up leaving the book on their coffee table or in their bathroom to flip through in moments of introspection.
These types of publications are valuable for those wanting to know more about PlayStation's history, because in the digital age where any number of these games could be scattered to the wind and lost in the sands of time, gamers may only be able to indulge in such nostalgia through screenshots. Paper, while not perfect, is often more resilient than any digital file could ever be.
The Kickstarter campaign started on June 10th, and two days later it met the $2,300 goal. Since then it has acquired 49 backers and counting, and has more than doubled the initial goal amount. Stretch goals have upgraded the final product from a paperback to a cloth hardcover with foil stamping and a dust jacket. Featured games to look for in the final version include Spyro the Dragon, Final Fantasy VII, Mortal Kombat 3, and Crash Bandicoot.
The 8x6" picture book will have 730 pages, featuring hundreds of screenshots from 150 SCEA-published games over a 10 year span organized by release date. There will be over one thousand full-color glossy pictures to flip through. "There are plenty of other excellent people and publishers producing quality retro gaming content with interviews, developer stories, history and more," Hupke writes. "This isn't one of them."
The PlayStation book campaign isn't scheduled to end until July 11th, so interested parties can still chip in $35 to get the PDF version of the book, or $99 for a physical copy and stretch goals which have been unlocked by backers, such as bookmarks, postcards, and an enamel pin. The stickers haven't been unlocked yet, but considering as of this writing there's only $544 to go with 8 days left, they probably will be soon.
Source: Kickstarter