Day: February 19, 2008

Atiz’s Book Snap

Book SnapOkay, it may be impractically expensive, but Atiz’s Book Snap is still a pretty cool book digitization solution. You put digital cameras in each of the housings on top, and then place the book in the cradle at the bottom  which is specially designed to hold the book flat. The result, according to Atiz,  is a far superior scan  compared to what you could get with trying to use a flatbed scanner.

The downside is that the unit is $1,595 . . . plus, you have to supply your own digital cameras. Ouch. On  the other hand, I can imagine someone with an extensive library he wanted to digitize  going for this, or perhaps some cooperative arrangement where a group of bibliophiles share the cost  (not to mention the possible use by smaller institutions, though I imagine copyright concerns would  be a major deterrent there).

SJ Games 2008 Stakeholder Report

Steve Jackson Games’ annual Stakeholder Report is always an interesting read and an interesting snapshot of what’s left of the RPG industry. The 2008 report doesn’t disappoint, with this paragraph doing a good job of summing up the status of the pen-and-paper RPG market,

Roleplaying didn’t get any healthier. Not long before this writing, the Games Workshop divison which produced the popular Warhammer RPGs announced that it would discontinue the line in order to put more effort into fiction production . . . because the Warhammer novels are more profitable than the game is. Nevertheless, word from our distributors is that GURPS at least maintained its sales base during a time when other lines were losing 50% or more.

SJ Games big product of the moment, of course, is the Munchkin card game line (and soon to be a board game with Munchkin Quest).

Diamond Select’s Retro Cloth Dr. Zaius and Zira

I previously mentioned Diamond Select’s line of Planet of the Apes Mego reproductions which kicks off in June with a Cornelius and Soldier Ape figures. Diamond Select recently announced that the next figures in the series will appear in August and feature Dr. Zaius and Zira,

Diamond Select Retro Dr. ZaiusDiamond Select Retro Zira