Konami's MSX Legacy: the unofficial story now available

Guardian (1798)

06-01-2019, 16:59

While I appreciate the hard work, a huge book full of screenshots is sold for 50 Euros? I would better buy a PDF version directly from the author (but for half the price).

By valkyre

Champion (380)

06-01-2019, 17:38

I suppose it's a matter of preference, l would always choose the hard copy

By Samor

Paragon (2005)

06-01-2019, 18:39

Seems strange it's not available in the Netherlands...

By Thom

Champion (495)

06-01-2019, 18:45

I ordered my copy on January 04th and Today I got an e-mail from Amazon:

Quote:

Please be advised that we have a revised delivery date for the items you ordered on January 04 2019

Dewijngaert, Wim "Konami's MSX Legacy: the unofficial story"
Estimated arrival date: January 30 2019 - March 04 2019

You have not yet been charged for this item. We do not debit money from your payment card until just before your items are dispatched. We will send you a dispatch confirmation email on the date of dispatch.

By Samor

Paragon (2005)

06-01-2019, 18:48

Through amazon uk? Uh well ok, inconvenient but I'll have a look....

By Tamagozawari

Supporter (9)

06-01-2019, 19:25

I'll wait until it's available through Amazon Spain or Germany and we have reviews from the people who actually received it. At the moment only the UK site seems to accept orders, and if the system is gonna be 'print on demand', I can't understand why it can't even be 'demanded' from the others.

By turbor

Champion (399)

06-01-2019, 20:09

wh&*%t?!
After shipping costs and pound->euro conversion the total would be EUR 56,90?
That is the most expensive book I have ever ordered.

By wimpie3

Master (196)

06-01-2019, 20:42

Yes guys it's expensive. But my profit on this book is literally 0,0 euro. I'm giving it away for free after three years of hard work. 50 euro is simply the price you have to pay for such a huge book. If anyone can give me a better option, feel free. Most of you guys wanted a hardcopy book and not a PDF version (on which I probably make profit and get something in return). You should be realistic here guys, the price is as low as it can go and only covers the printing costs.

By hamlet

Scribe (2015)

06-01-2019, 20:50

50 Euro is of course not peanuts but cheap in the world of printed books.
We are used to pay 100 of euros for hardware, aren't we?
And this is hard- not software. It's a book.
The price is a-ok and thank you wim for this masterpiece.

By Samor

Paragon (2005)

06-01-2019, 20:54

The price isn't a problem for me, just a bit surprised I have to go via a UK retailer for this.

If you can make more money off a pdf, by all means go for it.

By wolf_

Ambassador_ (9718)

06-01-2019, 21:06

Perhaps there can be a reasonable price reduction when ordering in batches of, say, ten?

By wimpie3

Master (196)

06-01-2019, 21:19

I have zero influence on where the book can be bought. It has an official ISBN number so in theory you could even order it from your local book store.

By Edevaldo

Expert (113)

06-01-2019, 22:02

Quote:

Yes guys it's expensive. But my profit on this book is literally 0,0 euro. I'm giving it away for free after three years of hard work. 50 euro is simply the price you have to pay for such a huge book. If anyone can give me a better option, feel free. Most of you guys wanted a hardcopy book and not a PDF version (on which I probably make profit and get something in return). You should be realistic here guys, the price is as low as it can go and only covers the printing costs.

Considering it is a print on demand book it is really cheap.

Thanks a lot for making that possible!

By the way, if I wanted to order it and make sure you get more than zero for it, is there a way?

Thank you!

By Edevaldo

Expert (113)

06-01-2019, 22:08

Quote:

While I appreciate the hard work, a huge book full of screenshots is sold for 50 Euros? I would better buy a PDF version directly from the author (but for half the price).

If I took 840 pages of screenshots it would cost way more than that...
But you can always take yours for free.

By Wolverine_nl

Paladin (999)

06-01-2019, 22:50

Great work!
Small question, will there be any copies for sale on the fair in february, or only online?

By Manuel

Ascended (14899)

06-01-2019, 23:56

Alexey wrote:

While I appreciate the hard work, a huge book full of screenshots is sold for 50 Euros? I would better buy a PDF version directly from the author (but for half the price).

Calling this a book full of screenshots is not fair... There's much more in it than screenshots, I can promise you.

By santiontanon

Hero (629)

07-01-2019, 02:26

woah!! That's a huge book!!!! working remote for the whole of this year, so not going to order it just yet. But as soon as I get back home in July, a copy of this is going to be on my bookshelf for sure!

By TheKid

Paladin (724)

07-01-2019, 08:11

I tried to use the amazon and amazon uk links, but they seem not to be correct. I try to seach for it but can't find it. Who has the correct link.

By Pencioner

Paladin (767)

07-01-2019, 08:42

Spain
UK

By wimpie3

Master (196)

07-01-2019, 09:11

Proud to announce the book reached position 32 in Amazon's Best Sellers in PC & Video Games, which is quite amazing for a book on MSX games. Thank you all for ordering!

For this who can't find the book, use Amazon's search engine and search for the ISBN number: 1644673525

By bobby

Supporter (4)

07-01-2019, 09:57

Thank you for creating this book, it looks like the ultimate coffee table book that reflects a big part of my youth. Looking forward to receiving it

By Alexey

Guardian (1798)

07-01-2019, 11:48

Manuel wrote:

Alexey wrote:

While I appreciate the hard work, a huge book full of screenshots is sold for 50 Euros? I would better buy a PDF version directly from the author (but for half the price).

Calling this a book full of screenshots is not fair... There's much more in it than screenshots, I can promise you.

In the video showing the book there was very little text and a lot of full page screenshots. I am pretty sure that there are some useful hints and maps inside the book. I am in no way trying to criticize the author's hard work. But I think he would get more profit if he would be selling the PDF directly to those who wanted to have it. I would be one of them. But now all the profit goes to the publishing house.

Personally I dislike having any books in my hands because they are bulky and don't have the search function, so I always prefer a PDF or another electronic format.

Btw, this book is not available on the German Amazon for some reason...

By TheKid

Paladin (724)

07-01-2019, 12:03

Thanx for the links

By Arom77

Resident (62)

07-01-2019, 12:56

Not available either on French Amazon but I hope it will be soon
Thanks a lot for this masterpiece!

By wimpie3

Master (196)

07-01-2019, 13:36

I can assure you there is a LOT of text in the book.

For those who have ordered the books through Amazon, I see their orders have arrived at the printing company. So rest assured, you WILL get the book.

By Bert2011

Rookie (23)

07-01-2019, 14:27

I cannot find the book on amazon uk, spain, germany.
I wait for germany, i order always there.
I prefer pdf......

By hamlet

Scribe (2015)

07-01-2019, 14:38

Me is waiting for Germany, too.

By Thom

Champion (495)

07-01-2019, 14:41

Search for "Konami's Legacy".

I can't wait to get my hands on it. I don't buy real books anymore these days (only e-books for my Kobo), unless they're special and loaded with pictures. I don't think I would be very excited about a pdf-version of this book.

By wimpie3

Master (196)

07-01-2019, 14:57

Just put 1644673525 in the search field on amazon.co.uk and you'll find the book. For now, it's not available on .DE (don't ask me why, I don't see the logic behind this).

By uberjack

Master (149)

07-01-2019, 16:36

I love the idea (and will most likely order it at some point), but a preview PDF would work much better to give us an idea of what the book is like. The YT video is way too zoomed in, and the pages are flipped way too quickly for it to be useful.

Please consider a preview PDF with a sample of 10 or more pages.

By wimpie3

Master (196)

07-01-2019, 17:40

I've already shown plenty of preview pages in other threads here on the forum, but if there is a special need I can indeed create a preview PDF. Some people on the forum have already read the book, you can ask them if it's worth the money or not.

By MichelM

Expert (72)

07-01-2019, 18:14

I agree with uberjack; a preview PDF, or being able to view inside the book through Amazon, would definitely be very nice to get a better idea of the book.

By Thom

Champion (495)

07-01-2019, 19:21

These are the preview pages made by wimpie3 I could find on the forum:

By MsxIsAlive

Supporter (6)

08-01-2019, 02:33

I saw some images from MSX Magazine. Are they for grabs?

By MsxIsAlive

Supporter (6)

08-01-2019, 02:39

I'm interested in the PDF version too. Let me know!

By Lazzeri

Master (251)

08-01-2019, 09:30

Tried to ordem on Amazon Brazil and it shows as “unavailable”.

I’ll try later this week. Worst case scenario, I’ll get it from Amazon UK later on.

By bas.alicante

Rookie (27)

08-01-2019, 10:38

Said "unavailable" earlier this week, but it's working now on the Spanish Amazon site too.

Link to the book on amazon.es

It costs €48,36 with Prime, printing and delivery takes 1 - 3 months apparently.

Looks great. Might get me a copy! Cheers Wim.

By Alexey

Guardian (1798)

09-01-2019, 11:55

I've seen that a few people were interested in the PDF version. I am not sure the author can sell it directly because usually the publishing house gets all the rights to distribute the content.

I would still like to buy the PDF version of the book if that is possible.

By Uninteresting

Resident (64)

08-01-2019, 20:56

Ordered my copy; that'll be my third coffee table book after a Megadrive one and the Art of Point & Click Adventure Games. Maybe a bit too big for the purpose actually, but I think my couch table can handle it.

By QBee Sam

Master (165)

09-01-2019, 10:21

wimpie3 wrote:

Yes guys it's expensive. But my profit on this book is literally 0,0 euro. I'm giving it away for free after three years of hard work. 50 euro is simply the price you have to pay for such a huge book. If anyone can give me a better option, feel free. Most of you guys wanted a hardcopy book and not a PDF version (on which I probably make profit and get something in return). You should be realistic here guys, the price is as low as it can go and only covers the printing costs.

I've just ordered my copy, thank you very much for your fantastic job!!!

By journey

Champion (297)

09-01-2019, 14:19

Ordered on December 19th
From Amazon Italy

Just received an email from amazon:
Estimated delivery between 14 and 16 january

Yeah!

By Meits

Scribe (5227)

09-01-2019, 14:57

I'm not much of a bookshelve person and quite much in favour of a PDF with its zoom and ctrl+f advantages. When(if)ever that's possible (watermarks are no problem) I'd surely buy one... For now I think it's too much hassle for a format (paper) I don't value. Learning that the author does not get a cent for the hard work makes me want to buy a PDF straight from the author even more so he at least can take the wive out for diner.
If amazon does not allow the author to do so, I can image. I could respect the choice not to sell "grey" PDFs. But then again, how would amazon ever find out.

I've not yet seen a reply (here) of Wim concerning this. I'd like to know for my, an a couple of others, sake. I wouldn't mind throwing € 30 euros at the (watermarked) PDF.

By wimpie3

Master (196)

09-01-2019, 15:37

A PDF won't happen in the near future. The majority of all readers here wanted a printed version... and thinking of it, a PDF file will also be copied in a matter of seconds, people will be able to copy texts and republish them elsewhere... nah... perhaps later. First enjoy the "real deal".

By ren

Paragon (1179)

09-01-2019, 16:45

First of: congrats on realizing the book.

So how does this work, does the printing company periodically print a number of books, or does it wait until a certain no. of orders are received, or a combination of those 2 perhaps?

Wolverine_nl wrote:

Small question, will there be any copies for sale on the fair in February, or only online?

Yeah, would be great to have some (well, I think you could go for at least 20?) copies @ Nijmegen fair. I'm pretty confident (talking a bit on his behalf now.. ) hamlet, as stand holder, would be happy to play middleman(?)

Another thing I was wondering about: is it just okay to use all these images / Konami copyrighted material? ('Fair use'?) (I assume you don't have official clearance/approval from Konami, right?) (Simply interested )

By Manuel

Ascended (14899)

09-01-2019, 16:51

Anyone who would go for 20 copies to bring to the fair would have to pay them first, so this is a 900 euro investment...

By wimpie3

Master (196)

09-01-2019, 17:43

@ren Good point. Entire magazines are filled these days with info on old eighties games and none of them have licenses. The book is an unofficial work of journalism, which is clearly mentioned in the book. There are of course screenshots and box shots of the game in the book, and if Konami really wants, I suppose they can ask me to stop selling the book. So be it. It's a possibility. But then again, they didn't do that with the Mantra Konami book.

By Ivan

Ascended (9019)

09-01-2019, 19:20

Quote:

hat with the Mantra Konami book.

They are called Matra

By wolf_

Ambassador_ (9718)

09-01-2019, 22:05

I can certainly understand the kick of releasing a real book. That's about every writers' big wet dream, a real paper book.

By fernando.collazo.5682

Master (236)

10-01-2019, 03:38

https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/9781644673522

By PhilipsMSX

Supporter (8)

12-01-2019, 09:26

Ordered from Amazon.uk from Jan 6. Not ship yet for Switzerland.
Not available in Amazon.fr.
So Happy because obviously these times not so many books about MSX.
The Konami book from Spain "Matra" now sold out, was great then I can imagine this one excellent with maybe few informations about games not released (Tentochito, Break-Shot)

By MichelM

Expert (72)

12-01-2019, 18:48

The price for the book has suddenly gone up to $92.67 on Amazon USA. Very weird.

By MichelM

Expert (72)

12-01-2019, 18:57

To whoever wrote the initial article on the book: The links to the "The Big Peeks, Pokes and Tricks" book series (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) in the article are all referring to the first book only.

By wimpie3

Master (196)

12-01-2019, 19:41

The book is not for sale in the USA. The price you see there is from a UK bookstore shipping the book from England to the USA.

By Lazzeri

Master (251)

13-01-2019, 12:33

Ordered mine from Amazon UK. 9 pound postage to Brazil.

Amazon USA crossed the 100 dollars barrier; Amazon Brazil apparently won´t handle it.

Ordering from UK was the cheapest, most straightforward way.

By Thom

Champion (495)

13-01-2019, 14:24

My copy will arrive within a couple of days

Quote:

We are pleased to report that the following item will dispatch sooner than expected:

Dewijngaert, Wim "Konami's MSX Legacy: the unofficial story"
Previous estimated arrival date: January 30 2019 - March 04 2019
New estimated arrival date: January 16 2019

MichelM wrote:

To whoever wrote the initial article on the book: The links to the "The Big Peeks, Pokes and Tricks" book series (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) in the article are all referring to the first book only.

I'm afraid that's my fault. However, I cannot change it.

By hamlet

Scribe (2015)

13-01-2019, 14:47

I did. Thanks for the wink!

By MSXArnhem

Expert (81)

13-01-2019, 23:02

I like MSX. I like Konami games. (If only I had more time...) And I definitely like books, especially "old fashioned" hard copy books. So this 840 page hard cover "ultime" MSX Konami book immediately drew my attention.

I already have the Matra MSX Konami book which I really like. But this new book looks much more impressive. So no surprise I ordered a copy at Amazon.co.uk. It was GBP 41,65/EUR 45,40. Shipping to The Netherlands was GBP 4.52/EUR 4,93.

By TheKid

Paladin (724)

15-01-2019, 16:54

yup, ordered 3 copies for an uncle, nephew and myself. It's too bad none of that money goes to wim. Expected delivery date is 29 januari - 12 februari. So that is going to be stalking the mailman the couple of weeks

By bas.alicante

Rookie (27)

16-01-2019, 14:11

Just got this message from Amazon Spain. It translates to: We'll deliver the book next week - Hurray!

Quote:

Hola:

¡Tenemos buenas noticias! Podemos conseguir esta parte de tu pedido antes de lo prometido inicialmente:

Dewijngaert, Wim "Konami's MSX Legacy: the unofficial story"
Fecha de llegada estimada previa: 05 de febrero de 2019 - 19 de marzo de 2019
Nueva fecha de llegada estimada: 23 de enero de 2019 - 24 de enero de 2019

By raymond

Champion (343)

17-01-2019, 20:08

hamlet wrote:

Me is waiting for Germany, too.

Me too, but unfortunally it is still not there yet

By raymond

Champion (343)

18-01-2019, 09:47

I had contact with the Amazon support department and it is listed now on the German site

However, you cannot order it yet...

amazon.de

By hamlet

Scribe (2015)

18-01-2019, 11:14

Thanks man! Order complete!

By wimpie3

Master (196)

18-01-2019, 13:20

Available on Amazon France as well, and also on BOL.COM for those living in Belgium and The Netherlands.

For those ordering on Amazon, I haven't seen any reviews yet :-)

By raymond

Champion (343)

18-01-2019, 13:37

wimpie3 wrote:

Available on Amazon France as well, and also on BOL.COM for those living in Belgium and The Netherlands.

For those ordering on Amazon, I haven't seen any reviews yet :-)

Ordered via bol.com

By Pencioner

Paladin (767)

18-01-2019, 14:05

I'm still waiting for delivery. It has been dispatched but not arrived yet

By bobby

Supporter (4)

18-01-2019, 20:57

Received my copy of the book today (via Amazon UK). Paper, printing and binding are of good quality. Content-wise I am very impressed. The book is extremely detailed/thorough and of got tons of box art, screens, maps and textual descriptions. You can call it a magnum opus indeed Thanks for the great work Wim!

By svBEERs

Master (255)