- Paperback: 176 pages
- Publisher: Random House USA Inc (9 Nov 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0345475860
- ISBN-13: 978-0345475862
- Product Dimensions: 21.5 x 1 x 27.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
-
Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
349,019 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #11 in Books > Computers & Internet > PC & Video Games > Strategy Guides > Characters & Brands > Halo
- #24 in Books > Music, Stage & Screen > Film > Film Genres > Animation
- #45 in Books > Computers & Internet > PC & Video Games > Art & Design
 Trade In this Item for up to £5.25
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in The Art of Halo: Creating a Virtual Masterpiece for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £5.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
When Halo® hit the shelves with the launch of the Xbox® in 2001, it was an immediate sensation. This action-packed science fiction—military combat game, set on a distant, war-torn, artificial planet, became an instant triumph with gamers–and scored numerous awards for its innovations, irresistibility, and sheer thrills. The Art of Halo is a showcase of its stunning visual style, a fascinating guided tour through the making of the phenomenon–from bright idea to brilliant result–and a testament to the creativity of the artists at Bungie Studios.
• Meet the brains behind Bungie, the birthplace of Halo
• Feast your eyes on a panorama of all-new artwork from its spectacular sequel Halo 2–one of the most eagerly-awaited games of 2004
• Discover the art of game design from the inside out, in interviews with–and illustrations by–the Halo creative team
• Learn the secrets of designing gear from the artists themselves
• Follow the construction of a crucial sequence from storyboard to completion, along with pages from the actual script
• Thrill to a gallery of glorious Halo artwork, including action figure designs, game packaging, cartoon strips, posters, T-shirts, and more
It’s all here–the story behind the sensation that GamePro declares “above and beyond what console gamers have come to expect”–in one virtuoso volume!
• Meet the brains behind Bungie, the birthplace of Halo
• Feast your eyes on a panorama of all-new artwork from its spectacular sequel Halo 2–one of the most eagerly-awaited games of 2004
• Discover the art of game design from the inside out, in interviews with–and illustrations by–the Halo creative team
• Learn the secrets of designing gear from the artists themselves
• Follow the construction of a crucial sequence from storyboard to completion, along with pages from the actual script
• Thrill to a gallery of glorious Halo artwork, including action figure designs, game packaging, cartoon strips, posters, T-shirts, and more
It’s all here–the story behind the sensation that GamePro declares “above and beyond what console gamers have come to expect”–in one virtuoso volume!
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Art of Halo is a great, interesting resource for Halo fans that sadly doesn't overstretch itself and become the more widely recommendable book that it should be.
The Art of Halo contains a higher text to image ratio than the other artbooks I own. It seems to me that the images suffer as a result, with some sidelined and reduced to miniature size. Forgivable perhaps, so long as the text is worth the loss: Unfortunately, the text contains far too much gushing praise for Halo and Bungie, and far too little actual information about the design process, such as you might expect from a book subtitled 'Creating A Virtual World'. There is also a tendency for repetition that goes unchecked, either between team members, or image captions and the main text. The most disappointing problem with the text is its tendency towards basic information: a character or enemy's role in the games, fictional background information on locations and weapons. The kind of thing already in the game's manual and strategy guide and completely irrelevant here.
By far the poorest section is that devoted to weapons. The text here is illuminated by scarce gems of background information, and the image content is even worse, nearly exclusively composed of in-game screenshots and final model renders with concept art available for the minority, it has very little to offer that anyone familiar with the games don't already know, and non-players are unlikely to be interested in such details anyway. Thankfully, other sections are a lot stronger: the Environments chapter is particularly interesting, and contains a more acceptable amount of unfamiliar concept material. Still, my overall feeling is that the book could have contained far more conceptual designs and anecdotes, and far fewer images of in-game and finished material (there is also an inappropriately regular use of outdated E3 2003 demo content). Sometimes the layout of a page isn't perfect either, with large highly detailed images relegated to thumb-sized squiggles in favour of useless text or huge reproductions of simpler works (on page 57, for instance, we lose a beautiful looking Gravemind study to a very pixelated and far less interesting early study that for some reason takes up a quarter of a page). There is also a bias towards the (then unfinished) second Halo game, apparently symptomatic of Halo's troubled and rushed development.
The book is printed with high-quality materials but sadly lacks a hardback edition for true collect-ability. It is also not overly long at 161 pages. At its height it is a marvelous visual delight and an interesting read, but it fails to sustain this level of content and is unlikely to interest non-fans of the game. But then, there are so many Halo lovers out there that the book certainly has a wide market anyway.
The Art of Halo contains a higher text to image ratio than the other artbooks I own. It seems to me that the images suffer as a result, with some sidelined and reduced to miniature size. Forgivable perhaps, so long as the text is worth the loss: Unfortunately, the text contains far too much gushing praise for Halo and Bungie, and far too little actual information about the design process, such as you might expect from a book subtitled 'Creating A Virtual World'. There is also a tendency for repetition that goes unchecked, either between team members, or image captions and the main text. The most disappointing problem with the text is its tendency towards basic information: a character or enemy's role in the games, fictional background information on locations and weapons. The kind of thing already in the game's manual and strategy guide and completely irrelevant here.
By far the poorest section is that devoted to weapons. The text here is illuminated by scarce gems of background information, and the image content is even worse, nearly exclusively composed of in-game screenshots and final model renders with concept art available for the minority, it has very little to offer that anyone familiar with the games don't already know, and non-players are unlikely to be interested in such details anyway. Thankfully, other sections are a lot stronger: the Environments chapter is particularly interesting, and contains a more acceptable amount of unfamiliar concept material. Still, my overall feeling is that the book could have contained far more conceptual designs and anecdotes, and far fewer images of in-game and finished material (there is also an inappropriately regular use of outdated E3 2003 demo content). Sometimes the layout of a page isn't perfect either, with large highly detailed images relegated to thumb-sized squiggles in favour of useless text or huge reproductions of simpler works (on page 57, for instance, we lose a beautiful looking Gravemind study to a very pixelated and far less interesting early study that for some reason takes up a quarter of a page). There is also a bias towards the (then unfinished) second Halo game, apparently symptomatic of Halo's troubled and rushed development.
The book is printed with high-quality materials but sadly lacks a hardback edition for true collect-ability. It is also not overly long at 161 pages. At its height it is a marvelous visual delight and an interesting read, but it fails to sustain this level of content and is unlikely to interest non-fans of the game. But then, there are so many Halo lovers out there that the book certainly has a wide market anyway.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
For everyone who wants to see HiDef pictures it is maybe a little bit disappointing because at the time of Halo 1 the graphic was not so evolved like today. For those fans the Halo 3 Artbook is a better suggestion. But never the less a really nice item for every Halo Fan.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I got this book yesterday, and I can tell you outright that the reviews (which shower it with praise) still make it seem worse than it actually is. I'm not saying the book is perfect though.
I would have liked to see more descriptions and creators' comments on the art. Some captions don't do the picture justice. But if you really want to admire as much Halo concept art as you can, then get this book. There's lots of art in it that you can't find on the internet. And unless you're a hardcore, salivating psycho Halo fan, there will be some stuff in the book about the Halo universe/game design/concepts/creative process that you didn't know before.
Like the previous reviewers say, if you're a true fan, get this book. I am a true fan, but I'm a cheap true fan. So at first I didn't get the book, because it was bloody expensive. But it's now on discount here on Amazon, and £10+ pounds is definitely not too much to ask for a book with full-colour art on every page. So for the thrifty ones amongst us, here's something that strikes the balance between economy and obsession.
I would have liked to see more descriptions and creators' comments on the art. Some captions don't do the picture justice. But if you really want to admire as much Halo concept art as you can, then get this book. There's lots of art in it that you can't find on the internet. And unless you're a hardcore, salivating psycho Halo fan, there will be some stuff in the book about the Halo universe/game design/concepts/creative process that you didn't know before.
Like the previous reviewers say, if you're a true fan, get this book. I am a true fan, but I'm a cheap true fan. So at first I didn't get the book, because it was bloody expensive. But it's now on discount here on Amazon, and £10+ pounds is definitely not too much to ask for a book with full-colour art on every page. So for the thrifty ones amongst us, here's something that strikes the balance between economy and obsession.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Art, Architecture & Photography > Graphic Arts > Illustration
- Books > Computing & Internet > PC & Video Games > Art & Design
- Books > Computing & Internet > PC & Video Games > Strategy Guides > Characters & Brands > Halo
- Books > Music, Stage & Screen > Film > Film Genres
- Books > Music, Stage & Screen > Film > Production & Technology > Animation
- Books > Science Fiction
- Books > Sports, Hobbies & Games > Hobbies & Games
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
