Nintendo and Dark Horse Comics will publish The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia early next year after the original book was published in Japan last year. It’s an encyclopedia that chronicles the history of Zelda, and details some of the franchise’s secrets. The book even gives fans a definitive timeline after years of speculation.

For a company as secretive as Nintendo, Hyrule Historia is a pretty big deal. It’s the first real look into one of the most storied franchises in gaming. It’s also notable that Nintendo has chosen to translate the work and publish it as a hardcover.

It’s going to be a while before we get a new Zelda game on the 3DS or Wii U. Until then, we will at least have some serious fan service.

Hyrule Historia will be released on January 29 of next year. The MSRP is $35, but retailers like Amazon are already discounting it to under $20.

Like with any good gaming project these days, the place to go is Kickstarter. The site has successfully funded a new Double Fine adventure and is well on its way to funding a sequel to Wasteland. Now it’s being used for something that’s far more important as the history of the medium needs to be preserved.

The book in question is called “High Score” and as previously noted, covers the history of the gaming industry in detail. The author, Rusel DeMaria, has begun a Kickstarter to raise $25,000 to cover the time he needs to research for coverage of 2000 to 2011 as well as travel expenses for interviews.

For those who donate $10 or more, they will get an invite to a party at next year’s Game Developers Conference. Donations of $25 or more get your name in the back of the book. For those who are really generous, a few of the biggest pioneers in gaming will be holding a dinner party with up to five people who give $250 or more. Some of these people include Chris Taylor, Tommy Tallarico, John Romero, Will Wright, Sid Meier and Peter Molyneux.

The project is only at a little over $7,000 of the $25,000 needed to be funded. There’s only 18 days left, but I’m sure it can get funded. Video games are more than just a hobby, and they need a history book to track their evolution. That’s what this book is all about.

If you want to help support the book, you can do so here at the Kickstarter.

[Source: Joystiq]

On the other hand, I’m a huge fan of book – real, tangible book that I can hold in my hand and unconsciously flick the page corners between by fingers as I read. I love the smell, and the sound it makes when I turn a page. I’m kind of a book romantic.

And I’m also a bookstore romantic. One of the best places on Earth is a great brick-and-mortar bookstore. And according to a report from the Book Industry Study Group, eBook readers are forgoing the trip to the local bookstore.

No, this isn’t a “print is dead” story. Quite the contrary. The report (which comes as volume three of a consumer study of attitudes toward book reading) shows that all forms of book purchasing are up. “E-book consumers are increasing their purchase of books — both print and e-book formats — online and especially through in-app purchasing,” says the study.

More than half of the respondents said that they have increased their use of app to buy books and more and a third said that they have increased their use of online retail sites (like Amazon.com) to purchase both eBooks and print books.

It’s the brick-and-mortar stores that appear to be hurting from this. More than a third of the respondents said that they have decreased their spending at national chains and 29% said the same thing about indie bookstores.

“The e-book market is developing very quickly, with consumer attitudes and behavior changing over the course of months, rather than years,” said Angela Bole, BISG’s Deputy Executive Director. “One of the strengths of this study is its ability to monitor ‘Power Buyers.’ They are predictors of where the market is moving, providing us with an ideal opportunity to look at what’s coming next.”

So, the “power buyers” are staying home, and that can’t make bookstore owners very happy.

Another interesting thing unearthed by this study involves which device folks are using to read their eBooks. The amount of people using all-purpose tablets (not specific eReaders) increased by 4% from the previous survey. And as hard as this is for me to comprehend, 3.9% more people reported to using their smartphones to read their eBooks.

“I originally wrote the messages for myself,” Davis says. “Although they were initially for my spiritual growth and benefit, I always knew they were meant to be shared to also encourage others. I thought, ‘What better way than on Facebook?”’

Davis says she began posting the messages as “peace tips”—ones she had written over the years and new ones she wrote that year—on her Facebook page. She did that three to five times a week throughout most of 2010.

Along the way, she started a Facebook group entitled “Peace in Us,” through which to better share the peace tips with interested Facebook friends. Within less than two weeks, nearly 500 people had joined the group. Within a few months, the “Peace in Us” group had grown to more than 1200 people who wanted to receive the peace tips.

“Throughout that year, I received so many messages from my Facebook friends saying how much the peace tips meant to them and encouraged them,” Davis says. “By the end of that year, I was inspired to compile them into a book. I knew a book would enable me to share the peace tips with even more people in a bigger way.” Davis says she doesn’t know if she would have compiled the peace tips into a book had it not been for the encouragement she received from her Facebook friends.

Peace Tips for Life was recently published as a gift-sized book packed with nearly 200 thought-provoking inspirational messages for people seeking more peace and balance in their lives. Davis says many of the ideas are not necessarily new, but offer different insights and perspectives on familiar ideas about personal peace.

“I believe we know deep inside what to do in life to have peace. God is constantly revealing it to us, but sometimes we’re too busy to hear or sometimes we simply forget,” Davis says. “Peace Tips for Life is, therefore, a book of reminders—inspirational memory joggers for us all.”

The movie has been in the works for some time now, and now we have an official trailer to enjoy. There’s a lot of Lincoln action, mixed in with some old time US imagery. With my favorite moment occurring at the (1:06) mark.

The reaction on Twitter seems to be divided, with some who ‘get it’, while others are frowning upon it…

While I’m in league with those who are beyond excited for the movie, I still scoff at Hollywood’s need to feature licensed music in every trailer they release. I love Johnny Cash as much as the next guy/gal; it just doesn’t get me excited for this movie.

cnet news reports about some patents that Amazon has filed in the not so distant past that point to a way or them to deliver an e-book with the traditional book. By putting together ad supported e-books and bundling them at little or no additional cost to the reader Amazon moves a step closer to changing the way people read in the future.

The Kindle and other e-readers require a paradigm shift for those who are not inclined to try new technology just because it is new. Just like people who say that they always want to open a newspaper and get ink on their hands, there are folks who feel that reading one book at a time is just fine and there is no need to carry a library in their pocket. Those pesky traditionalists are the folks that Amazon needs to introduce to the e-book concept in a way that gently nudges them to a new behavior that they wouldn’t otherwise try on their own.

Amazon Technologies, a subsidiary of Amazon, filed for a patent (”Method and system for access to electronic version of a physical work based on user ownership of the physical work”) in December 2006. It was approved last month and makes it possible for buyers of a physical book to have an e-book bundled with it.

But two additional patents, filed a year later by Amazon employees (and not yet approved), are the more interesting ones: these, according to MediaPost, “clearly note that Amazon would insert advertisements throughout the e-books, from the beginning to the end, between chapters or following every 10 pages, as well as in the margins.”

I have to admit that I really don’t care if ads are inserted in books because I have developed such severe ad blindness that I might not even blink. Imagine the day though when the ad is actually part of the story, like product placement in the movies. That’s when the real fun begins.

So do you think having an ad in your book is too much? Have you made the switch yet or are you going to be OK with having a few trees die for your reading enjoyment? Now that wasn’t fair was it?

Comments

If you’re at all into publishing (totally!), you know that BookExpo America ended yesterday. The book trade fair isn’t just a great place to work on your foreign rights deals—it’s also a good place for hinting at your potentially earth-shattering business moves. Like Google last week, according to the NYT:

In discussions with publishers at the annual BookExpo convention in New York over the weekend, Google signaled its intent to introduce a program by that would enable publishers to sell digital versions of their newest books direct to consumers through Google. The move would pit Google against Amazon.com, which is seeking to control the e-book market with the versions it sells for its Kindle reading device.

Can Google take on the acknowledged leader of online book sales? They’ve got a few things in their favor so far:

• Google says they’ll let publishers set their own prices (and with Amazon selling <$10 e-versions of $26 hardbacks, publishers are sure to jump at the chance—however, readers may not be quite as happy to comply. Also, Google reserved the right to adjust “exorbitant” prices.).
• The deal will be completely separate from their Book Search settlement.
• Google’s already established Book Search Mobile, offering 1.5 million e-texts to the Sony e-Reader, biggest competitor to Amazon’s Kindle—as well as mobile phones. A new deal would make text available to those devices as well as Internet browsers.
• Google has some experience charging for content—such as paid downloads from Google Video. However, most of these ventures haven’t been viable in the long-term.

What do you think? Are you interested in buying eBooks? Does Google have a shot to take on another Goliath?

Comments

You remember in college when you had a large circle of male and female buddies and everything was awesome until two of the buddies started dating and then it just got weird? Well, Facebook and MySpace are looking to mimic that phenomenon online.

We’ll start with Facebook’s news because it’s less stupid. Match.com is expected to announce its Little Black Book widget for Facebook users on Thursday, which will allow the lonelier of users to connect with both available Facebook users and Match.com members.

If you’re too shy to even do online dating yourself, Match.com also introduced Match My Friends, which allows your friends and family to set things in motion for you via a profile they make.

Can you picture it? A profile from Mom goes like this: My son William is the sweetest boy, and so handsome, don’t you think? (Though I’ve tried to tell him all that gunk in his hair will make him go bald like his Uncle Maury.) He’s studying to be an accountant, just like his father, which means he’ll be a good bread-winner. Word to the wise, though, puppets and mannequins scare him, always have. And his feet turn inward, so dancing’s not the best activity.

Meanwhile, MySpace is living up to the classiness Rupert Murdoch and Fox bring to all of their endeavors. The king of social networks has brought former "seduction society" member and author Neil Strauss on board to produce a series of short videos based on Strauss’ dating guide "The Rules of the Game."

The effort is cross-promotional as both MySpace and Strauss’ publisher HarperCollins are both owned my News Corp. And the videos also bring in some old Fox personalities the MySpace generation has probably never heard of. David Faustino, who played Bud in "Married With Children," and Corin Nemec of the short-lived early Nineties series "Parker Lewis Can’t Lose" will be acting out "The Rules of the Game" in the videos.

Who exactly this benefits isn’t entirely clear, but it should be fun to watch.
 

Since I’m an optimist I try to imagine they do it mainly to encourage innovation and better solutions to the world’s problems both on and offline. Even if that’s not the whole story, it’s very feel good. It infuses a sense of fun and open-mindedness since they are always a bit quirky are aimed a broad age and range of people.

Contests can be a good way to get things done and you don’t have to fly people to company headquarters either. Guy Kawasaki got his book cover designed by running a contest.

Here is a list of some Google contests (feel free to fill me in on any I’ve missed):

• Google Highly Open Participation Contest
• Doodle 4 Google competition
• Google Moon Contest
• Build Your Campus in 3D Competition!
• Google Desktop Gadget Contest

Here’s another Google contest for college students who want to assist local businesses about online marketing. It’s called the Online Marketing Challenge.

Here are some details for the Online Marketing Challenge:

• It was developed with college professors around the world
• Students get $200 worth of free advertising dollars to spend on a campaign
• Groups of students find local businesses to run an internet marketing strategy
• Starts in February 2008 and participants run the campaign on a three week timeframe

If you teach a college course (this makes me want to actually) this is a great way to give students practical experience on Google’s dime. The contest winners get a trip to the Googleplex and get to meet the developers of Google AdWords. Probably some swag too. No cash, but a bit of fun.

Comments

The book, in all its silver- and moonstone-covered beauty, was actually bought at auction, and the proceeds will go to The Children’s Voice charity.  So, although crazy amounts of money have been thrown around in the eBusiness industry, and we’ve never been afraid to make fun of bad decisions, it’s hard to call this one.

Unfortunately, it’s also impossible to call it a brilliant business move.  Amazon has put up numerous photos of the book if you’d like to “ooh” and “awe” at it.  There’s also a review of one of the stories within, and by Amazon’s reckoning, it was quite good.  That’s as close as any average reader will get to the book, though – pictures, reviews, and discussion threads are all Amazon plans to offer.

This has left a lot of people (see those discussion threads) with a sort of “what about the rest of us?” feeling.  Granted, Amazon’s showing more of The Tales of Beedle the Bard than a private collector could be expected to, and J.K. Rowling’s own restrictions are to fault for the lack of wide distribution, but, well . . . we want our fiction.

At the same time, Amazon wants its PR – that’s the only reason we can think of that might be behind the purchase of this book.  And, as the existence of this article proves, the company’s getting it.