June 30, 2008

Japanese Edition - Official Art Book



God bless the internet!  I recently discovered a rare item which I've been able to procure from eBay.  Several years ago a limited edition Japanese  Tomb Raider - Official Art Book was released covering mostly the Angel of Darkness game.   Fortunately, the auction had a "Buy it Now" option so I didn't have to fight the poachers until the bitter end.   I was lucky enough to look through the book in London a few months ago compliments of Daniel and Chris from Planet Lara. I was careful not to spill my pint on it or worse, drool.   It is a lovely collection and I hope it makes the trip from Japan safely to my door. Fingers crossed!


James Kenny, concept artist from Angel of Darkness, went through about 100 of the images with me in Dublin (his present home) and clued me in on several new factoids.  At least, new to me.  A large majority of the AOD imagery in the art book was not even appropriate for the final game release.   According to Mr. Kenny, Core had developed a 3 part game storyline and most of the concept work in the Japanese art book was focused on Lara's adventures that took place after the storyline contained in the released game.  So our intention is to include this in the Dreams and Visions version and to clarify what those images are and the extended story.    

Exciting stuff! 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very exciting stuff indeed. Can't wait to read more about the book's progress. Keep up the great work! (y)

Anonymous said...

Wowza... can't wait to read what James Kenny has to say.