I'm sure it isn't cheap to print only 200 copies of a hard cover book with full color printing. $25,000 is probably right.
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Punch-Out!! Kickstarter (Book)
- Thread starter Anustart
- Start date
I'm sure it isn't cheap to print only 200 copies of a hard cover book with full color printing. $25,000 is probably right.
Flakster99
Member
Great idea. Loved the game and everything Nintendo during that time period. However, the asking price of $125 for a hard cover is WAY out of my price range. For $50 I would purchase a few copies as gifts for Christmas.
For a 240 page, full colour, hard cover, low production book printed in Australia? Sounds about right.
Edit: Pretty much beaten.
Flakster99
Member
Criminal Upper
Banned
Yeah, people should remember this guy is based in Australia, where everything costs an arm and a leg, so it works out.
It's not that it may not be a fair price under the circumstances, but when it all comes down I doubt most of us would consider spending 125 dollars on a single book an inexpensive affair.
I'm speaking strictly from a "customer's" POV.
Yea I can't see this really happening.
How is he asking for funding already when he still needs to ask nintendo?
Criminal Upper
Banned
Well, he's not going to print unless he gets permission. If he doesn't get permission, even if the kickstarter reaches his goal, all money will be returned. Basically no risk.
Well that's good to know
It's not being printed in Australia. The kickstarter says it's being printed via Blurb, which is a print-on-demand site. You can go to Blurb and see how much it would cost to print the books to the listed specs. They want to print 200 themselves in order to get the bulk discount because buying a single copy yourself would cost something like $165.
I do have some good news regardless if this kickstarter gets funded. During the next Awesome Games Done Quick on SDA (January), during the mtpo run one book will be given away at random to people who donate 5$ or more to the charity SDA chooses.
So if this isn't funded, everyone chip in 5$ during that run and pray
So if this isn't funded, everyone chip in 5$ during that run and pray
firehawk12
Subete no aware
Hrm, one thing is... how can he refund the money if Amazon/Kickstarter takes a cut? He's going to lose money on this if it doesn't work out for him.
Marty Chinn
Member
He really should have asked Nintendo for their permission BEFORE he did the Kickstarter.
Bobby Roberts
Banned
This is probably the sort of thing you just release as a .pdf on the internet, with a press release to a fair amount of gaming sites for publicity, and then wait for the c&d to pull it down and the downloaders to mirror/reshare it virally.
I have a hard time believing this will ever be an actual book even if the funding comes through. He's asking permission to profit off an intellectual property (and a celebrity character likeness) that he has no legal rights to. Yeah, the money will be refunded when/if Nintendo refuses permission, but if he was gonna directly contact Nintendo on this endeavor, he probably should have just pitched Nintendo directly (or a company that would pitch Nintendo for him), and if he didn't want to, this probably should have just been a "for free, for the people" type labor of love endeavor.
I really appreciate the dedication - but there's certain things you can't do when you're working with copyrighted material, and asking people for 25,000 to produce unauthorized published material to sell online is probably not one of those things - even IF you put the word "unofficial" on the cover.
I have a hard time believing this will ever be an actual book even if the funding comes through. He's asking permission to profit off an intellectual property (and a celebrity character likeness) that he has no legal rights to. Yeah, the money will be refunded when/if Nintendo refuses permission, but if he was gonna directly contact Nintendo on this endeavor, he probably should have just pitched Nintendo directly (or a company that would pitch Nintendo for him), and if he didn't want to, this probably should have just been a "for free, for the people" type labor of love endeavor.
I really appreciate the dedication - but there's certain things you can't do when you're working with copyrighted material, and asking people for 25,000 to produce unauthorized published material to sell online is probably not one of those things - even IF you put the word "unofficial" on the cover.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
Eh, as far as I know, that Summer of Samus book is done and being sent out, so it's not like this is anything new.
What's this "Summer of Samus" book?
Herbspiceguy
Member
How big is the chance Nintendo will do a new Punch Out for 3DS or maybe Wii U?
I love Punch Out on Wii.
I love Punch Out on Wii.
Noisepurge
Member
Permissions and "non profit" doesnt really work when they put this up on Kickstarter.
I mean, that 200 copies is not even a limited reward for 200 backers. They might end up having to print 100 copies and share 5000 PDF files? How is that in the realm of non profit?
If they know whats right, 100%. Else I'll burn them to the ground.
It isn't happening
This will never, ever, ever happen. Ever.
IrishNinja
Member
john just crushed my hopes, but may've saved me $125
The bigger, weirder thing is that it's already an actual book because he went through Blurb. He could put it online right this second and let people buy it, but the two goals of the Kickstarter are to get Nintendo's permission and to buy/print the books himself at a bulk discount for backers. The former is virtually impossible and the latter isn't really necessary.
SpacePirate Ridley
Member
I dont know if this is legal, but I need this. Punch-Out!! and P-O!! Wii are both some of my favourite games ever.
Too bad it doesnt talk much of Punch-Out!! wii. I would have killed for good interviews with Next level Games, a serious talk with the animators that worked in that game and never seen concept art.
Still, I think it too expensive for the contents of the book. I paid that price for a similar copy run done by one guy of Disneyland Paris, and that was ok'ed by Disney company themselves, with interviews with the imagineers, and more than 300 pages of content.
Too bad it doesnt talk much of Punch-Out!! wii. I would have killed for good interviews with Next level Games, a serious talk with the animators that worked in that game and never seen concept art.
Still, I think it too expensive for the contents of the book. I paid that price for a similar copy run done by one guy of Disneyland Paris, and that was ok'ed by Disney company themselves, with interviews with the imagineers, and more than 300 pages of content.
evilromero
Member
SpacePirate Ridley
Member
This things are usually done with other companies and those companies usually, if the work done is of really good quality, give their permission (like I mentioned theres hundreds of encyclopedias and not official artbooks of Disney that have disney's permission to be released, they also have lots of official of course).
But Nintendo is a very closed company for things like this. I dont like the stance they have with this type of things, same with not opening their fucking vault to release art and design books of their games.
Unauthorized guides are doable - even most recent times when it's been brought to court have ended favorably for the unauthorized guide maker.
The problem is that the only reason people are going to spend $125 for a coffee table book rather than going on GameFAQs for free is for the packaging and manual scans, sprite tables, comic and official guide reprints, and annotated PRG dump, and -those- are all no-nos without explicit permission. The book he's legally allowed to put out has strategies, the occasional screenshot for illustration, sample photos of merch, and a cover design that doesn't simultaneously rip off the boxart and Retro Gamer magazine. :lol
(And still doesn't mean he wouldn't get sued, just that he'd win if he hired a lawyer and fought it.)
firehawk12
Subete no aware
Ah, it was 31 Days of Zero Suit Samus:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/147551843/the-31-days-of-zero-suit-samus-hardcover-collectio
evilromero
Member
$125 per book is an outrageous number. He's trying to just cover the manufacturing costs but didn't factor in the costs with procuring the licensing rights.
NotoriousLynx
Banned
What in the world? The idea is cool and all, but I feel like Punch Out!! is the wrong game to do it with. If there was a Metal Gear book like this, I'd donate a lot.
sorijealut
Member
I think so. If anything, it should be a cheaper $30 book.
Noisepurge
Member
just get a couple of the official Art Books and a BradyGames Guide and you are set!
Hero_of_the_Day
Member
I would put anything you want in my mouth for something that nice looking for a more meaningful game, like Legend of Zelda. Anything. You. Want.
Bobby Roberts
Banned
That's exactly where I was going with my initial comment. It's not that it's an unauthorized guide - it's that it's an unauthorized guide shoved FULL of stuff that there's no possible way he could publish without catching a face full of infringement. And if he's bothering to contact Nintendo directly ANYWAY, he might as well use this book as a proof of concept for an official product THROUGH Nintendo. The best possible use for this thing would be as tangible material for a pitch meeting.
Now, maybe he could have skated under the radar selling this thing independently on the internet, keeping as low a profile as possible, but then he went and used kickstarter, which puts a spotlight on him.
The whole thing is pretty confused. And will likely end up simply being an exercise in money refunding. He'll get his 25k - and then he'll give back that 25k.
IrishNinja
Member
SMH @ the "why this game" people....it's a classic! i like seeing b-tier series like this getting love, zelda's already got hyrule historia and mario's got several books. you could certainly argue Metroid, but i think this series was long overdue for some love, god knows anniversaries wont do it.
Hero_of_the_Day
Member
I love Punch Out, it just seems like an odd choice for something like this. Even something like Ninja Gaiden would have seemed cooler to me. It looks super fucking nice, though.
NotoriousLynx
Banned
Exactly. It looks really awesome, but its just such an odd choice. Ninja Gaiden seems like a step down personally. I haven't really played the games but Half-Life seems like a cooler choice, for example. Half-Life has a very expanded universe and a spin-off series (Portal) which has many secrets people probably haven't even discovered yet.
Punch Out is a classic, no doubt. Its probably mentioned in other medium than most games. I just don't feel like it warrants something like this. There isn't really a universe to the game.
I agree that there isn't a universe to the game, in the sense of game world, but the Punch Out!! games have a great following in the competitive scene.
I'm personally very attached to it, though mostly on Punch Out!! Wii. The first year and a half after that game's release was a great time for me and several others. I had a blast working with the other greats besides myself in coming up with the strategies for each fight, and discovering little quirks that perhaps not even the designers knew about.
Case in point, Odd Star off of Hondo. Having a book filled with little details like this about the NES game, with such a sick presentation makes it fantastic.
IrishNinja
Member
exactly, and from what dude showed, i feel like he had to dig high & low for the art & details he did find, kinda dig that. i mean, i know its just taste, i still play OG mike tyson every month or so...id buy a Katamari book with half as much effort, haha
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
Is stuff like this actually legit?
Since truthfully dont like the idea of folks making stuff they dont hold the IP rights for.
Asides from that cool book and good luck to them.
Since truthfully dont like the idea of folks making stuff they dont hold the IP rights for.
Asides from that cool book and good luck to them.
SpinningBirdKick
Banned
Incoming Nintendo cease and desist order in 5...4...3...2...1...
IrishNinja
Member
nah, i dont think its on their radar yet.
it will be when he asks for permission after the fact, though. reminds me of that guy drew or whatever his name was that made that DS game by himself, and asked afterwards if it was cool. he didn't take it well when he was rejected.
it will be when he asks for permission after the fact, though. reminds me of that guy drew or whatever his name was that made that DS game by himself, and asked afterwards if it was cool. he didn't take it well when he was rejected.