Coming Soon: Digital + Analogue: The Art and Science of Rockstar Games

Update: This book may still be coming out (rockstargames.com)

Rockstar Games is coming up with an art book, well, three actually.

Digital + Analogue will be a three volume set featuring art, photographs, and other exclusive goodies on the accompanying discs.

It's scheduled to be released on Rockstar's tenth anniversary, around August 2010.

Price

According to the publisher's website (update: they removed the page), this book is going to be sold at UK £310, US $450.00 or EC €352.00. Not sure why it cost so much though.

But I've found it on Amazon UK for only £75.65. I'm not sure if it's a pricing error but compared to the official retail price, it's very attractive. By the way, Amazon Canada is listing it at CDN$ 257.

I've already pre-ordered mine from Amazon UK. You know they have a pre-order price guarantee and you can cancel anytime you like. Three books for that price is not too bad.

It's not listed on Amazon US, strangely, but here are the other links:
Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.ca | Amazon.fr | Amazon.de | Amazon.co.jp

Details

  • Book design by Rockstar Games
  • 34.3 cm x 29.2 cm
  • Three hardcover books housed in a slipcase
  • Edition 7L
  • ISBN: 978-3-86521-934-3
  • Publication date: August 2010

Product description from the publisher:

Rockstar Games creates some of pop culture’s most provocative icons. The Rockstar Games label, founded in 1998, is known for the creation of groundbreaking video games with unprecedented production values, style and depth with a dizzying range of techniques and media. Rockstar’s dedication to making the most extraordinary free-form game play captured the enthusiasm of millions of fans around the world and continues to shock those too afraid to take control.

This ultimate slip-cased Rockstar Games monograph checks in at 13.5” x 11.5” in three volumes, featuring original illustrations, wireframes, production stills, product shots, ads, inspiration and candids of the company’s games plus exclusive content on a CD/DVD. The hundreds of color photographs and never-before published video-scapes all culled from the archives of the creators will acquaint readers with the vast areas within the games that allow unparalleled freedom, and a unique experience every play.

This enormous compendium celebrates a decade of Rockstar Games with spectacular artwork and detail drawings of stunning environments (the hoods, grand canyons, asylums), death-defying tasks (races, executions, carjacks, drug runs), colorful subjects (bullies, smugglers, prisoners, hit men), and passersby with whom your characters interact, so that even a non-player may understand how exhilarating a Rockstar experience can be. Characters switch perspectives and radio stations, navigate through real time day-to-night changes and weather cycles, and participate in society with total moral freedom – actions that the company’s founder and executive producer describes as an “experiment in narrative.”

Published to coincide with Rockstar’s tenth anniversary, this timecapsule has been created with the company’s designers, and every page reflects their spectacular aesthetic. It is the ultimate Rockstar testament to the company’s history of singular moments reinventing the boundaries of style and mischief in entertainment, and setting a new standard for what is possible in interactive arts.

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20 Comments

This sounds very intriguing.

This sounds very intriguing. I've never ordered from Amazon UK, but I'm content to wait and see when it shows up on the Amazon US. Besides if it really does get priced at several hundred dollars, I definitely want to see what's inside. Thanks for posting this Parka.

@Parka Yea, they're really

@Parka
Yea, they're really gonna need to justify that price. Do you know why there are three books? Are they primarily artbooks? It almost sounds like an in depth history of Rockstar series. I'd rather have individual making of books for some of their nicer looking games, like Red Dead Redemption.

Well, you have to take into

Well, you have to take into account that Steidl is a small publisher that focuses mainly on fine art and photography books. I would assume the print run of this to be fairly limited and quality quite a bit above your typical off-the-shelf artbook, since it seems to be treated as a premium item by all accounts. Quite an interesting publisher choice from Rockstar in any case.

Still a hefty price tag though. I have it preordered from Amazon UK in case they decide to honor their price and the book is actually sold for $450 elsewhere.

Also, Steidl has removed the book from their site. Not sure what it means - maybe the information there was wrong, or maybe it wasn't supposed to be announced yet, who knows.

I think I can clear up the

I think I can clear up the reason for the price differences above. Basically, almost all the above info is out of date.

The amazon.co.uk site has the correct product description, "This ultimate slip-cased Rockstar Games monograph checks in at 33.3 x 28.3". It is now a single volume with a MSRP of £89.00 and has a clothbound hardcover.

For proof download the following two older catalogues from the Steidl website -
Fall/Winter 2009/10 Catalogue
Spring/Summer 2010 Catalogue
Page 147 of the Fall/Winter catalogue shows the old, never released triple volume set with ISBN 978-3-86521-934-3.
Page 99 of the Spring/Summer catalogue shows the new single volume 544 page version also with ISBN 978-3-86521-934-3 and the £89.00 MSRP. Note the new version is slightly smaller as well.
The current catalogue is for Fall/Winter 2010/2011 and does not have the book listed.

Amazon UK lists 10th August as the release date, however Borders list the book for release on September 30, I hope thats wrong but I don't know for sure.

hey colin you have put my

hey colin

you have put my mind at ease, i have been searching through the internet looking for any bit of info i could find that would suggest that amazon had the listing wrong before i got my hopes up.

ill provide you with more links i found from uk retailers if you want a cheaper copy.

https://www.tesco.com/books/product.aspx?R=9783865219343&bci=255|Computing*23|Coming%20Soon*4294967098|Hardback
https://www.whsmith.co.uk/CatalogAndSearch/ProductDetails.aspx?productID...
https://www.play.com/Books/Books/4-/14863659/Digital-Analogue/Product.html they have it listed as 900 pages ? that seems wrong.

i have read on borders that the release date is 30th september, but most websites say it will be release in august, do you have any info on this. would appreciate it alot thanks.

contact me at jamiem321@aol.com

im not sure nick, i was

im not sure nick, i was thinking that the press has got wind that the 3 volume project has been scrapped, and that the book that colin posted from the catalog is the "new project" they mention.

seeing as it was still open

seeing as it was still open for pre-order on amazon, I did so and of course it wasn't released on the date stated ^_~

so, I contacted Steidl (sp) and asked if this project had been cancelled or not and their reply was that they still plan on releasing such a book, but couldn't say when.
Also, I inquired about a vague release date (like 2011 or 2012), but they really couldn't (or wouldn't) say ... <_<

but at least I got a reply at all and for the time being, I'll 'pre-order' it. Can't hurt, right?!

for what it's worth

for what it's worth amazon.co.uk just emailed me, happily announcing that this is available sooner and the estimated delivery date is now end of July (until they change it back again I guess XD )

I know after the original

I know after the original announcement there had been the info floating around that it was cancelled, but as I said, I contacted them to inquire about this and got this reply on 26th May 2011:
"This book has been delayed and we have no set pub date at this point, it has not, however, been cancelled."

hope the person was right and at some point it will be released, or do you have never information about a definate cancellation of the project?

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