Tag Archives: UDON

Preview: Ys: The Art Book (UDON)

One of the latest books from UDON Entertainment is Ys: The Art Book! UDON Entertainment has provided us with a review copy and we will be posting the full review on March 26th on www.gamerlogic.net!

ys_the_art_bookCelebrating over 25 years of Ys, the flagship series of Japanese RPG publisher Nihon Falcom! Ys: The Art Book collects the fantastic artwork of more than a dozen titles in the Ys franchise, from the original game all the way up to the brand new Ys: Memories of Celceta. Includes pinups, character designs, rare concept art, and more!

With an expansive world, intricate history and gorgeous anime-influenced design, the world of Ys is made to be explored! Ys: The Art Bookdoes just that, bringing fans of the game detailed illustrations of the characters, story, setting and more, as developed during the lifetime of this iconic RPG franchise. UDON has worked closely with North American Ys Publisher/Distributor XSEED to create a thorough and accurate tribute to this magnificent series. No fan of Japanese video games or the RPG genre should be without this stellar collection!

Of particular interest to series fans will be rare, little-known illustrations which were created for the Japanese retail market. These amazing pin-up pieces really capture the energy and personality of Ys’ vivid cast of characters… Fans and artists alike will love the retrospective nature of this collection, which showcases the evolution of the Ys art style across 25 years of Japanese RPG innovation!

The Ys RPG series has been released on various gaming platforms including PC, Super Nintendo, Playstations 2, PSP, Nintendo DS, Steam, and more… It has legions of devoted fans from around the world, and UDON is thrilled to help bring them this fantastic tome.

Release date: March 19th (Comic stores) Late March/April (Book Stores)
Price (U.S.): $44.99
ISBN: 1-927925-01-0
ISBN-13: 978-1-927925-01-0
Format: Softcover
Page Count: 280, Color
Size: 8.25″ x 11.75″

Find a comic store near you | Buy at Amazon.com | Buy at Barnes & Noble

Persona 4 Official Design Works Review (UDON Entertainment)

As much acclaim as the entire series has received, my first real dealings with the Persona series was with the 4th installment on the Playstation 2. The concept of the game seemed a little strange to me at first, but the beautiful artwork and design of the game grabbed my attention immediately. After becoming addicted to the game and spending over 60 hours with it to get the true ending, I ranked Persona 4 as one of my favorite JRPG games of all time and it’s an experience I will never forget.

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Now UDON Entertainment has brought us Persona 4 Official Design Works from overseas and inside this book is a well rounded amount of content that any Persona fan will love. Those looking for concept art, final production artwork and a look at almost every character in the game will certainly want to pick this book up. One thing I enjoyed about this book is that it’s very light on spoilers, so if you’ve never played or finished P4 you can read the book without ruining the important parts of the story.

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The comments from the design team are also quite interesting as they discuss some of drastic changes that occurred to certain characters as development of the game progressed. Usually, these comments are followed by the appropriate artwork progression of the concepts from start to finish.

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With release of Persona 4: The Animation, Persona 4: Arena and the upcoming Persona 4: The Golden, readers may be disappointed that this book does not contain any art from those releases. While the disappointment is understandable, one must realize that UDON translated this book from the original Japanese release of P4 Official Design Works. Perhaps in the future, we may see an additional release with that content. I would have loved to see that content as an exclusive to the translated release though.

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By the time I reached the end of this book, I was bum rushed with the same great experience I had with the actual game. For anyone else who has had that feeling, picking up this book is a no brainer.

Rating: 9 out of 10.

Retail Price: $39.99

Get it here: http://www.udonentertainment.com

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Street Fighter X Tekken Artworks Review

Capcom’s Street Fighter X Tekken was a colossal hit when it was released. Combining two great fighting game universes is no easy task, but the design team behind the game got the job done with great results. With the release of UDON’s SFXT Artworks, fans can now see some of the brainstorming that was done during the development of the game.

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Fabulous illustrations like this one are plentiful in this art book.

The book itself spans over 192 pages and features a variety of sections including concept art and development materials as well as comments from the design team. For those looking for some verbal insight on the Street Fighter and Tekken games, extended interviews are featured as well. The interview with Akiman (A designer who has provided designs for the Street Fighter series for some time.) provides one of the most interesting interviews as he talks about his involvement with Final Fight, Poison and more. The variety of concept art featured will be very interesting to both Street Fighter and Tekken fans alike as some of the alternate costumes that never came to light would of been quite intriguing to see. (Especially the Poison alternate costumes!)

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From concept art to promotional art, this book has it all.

 

For those looking for something past concept art, a variety of things are pulled straight from the game. Each trailer, cut scene and ending are made available to the reader; along with the individual character backgrounds for each character. For those of you who didn’t get to see certain characters due to one being available on a different console platform, you can now check them out; which is a welcome addition.

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Every trailer, introduction and ending is featured.

With all of these features and then some, the SFXT Artworks is a must have pick up for any Tekken or Street Fighter fan. The well rounded amount of content definitely left me satisfied! Those wanting to add this art book to their collection can expect to find it in comic shops in October or online for a suggested retail price of $39.99.

Rating: 10 out of 10

Where to buy: http://www.udonentertainment.com