The Video Game Library Newsletter - Vol. #036

Gaming magazines aplenty! Plus some really exciting (and mysterious) teasers that you're gonna want to keep an eye on.

Welcome back to The Video Game Library Newsletter!

Last week’s newsletter was one of the most packed issues we’ve had in a while, and I want to say a big thank you to everyone who read, commented, and shared what you’re excited for. The conversations were a blast, and it really reminded me how fun it is to swap book hype with this community.

I did notice readership came in at less than half of normal, and traffic to The Video Game Library website was down 13%. I’m guessing the move to Mondays instead of Sundays might take a little time for folks to adjust, and the start of the year always comes with a lot competing for attention. Will keep showing up every week and keep improving this roundup so it stays the most complete, most useful collection of game-book announcements and releases I can make.

Now for the fun part. This week is packed again, with a big focus on gaming magazine issues landing across multiple regions, plus some excellent new book announcements and releases. There are also a few mysterious teasers in the mix that have us really excited.

Over 20 stories to get through, so let’s get started!

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📰 News & Highlights

• Let’s start with magazines this week, because why not! EDGE #420 (March 2026) released with another solid issue. It headlines with an exclusive on The Blood of Dawnwalker, the debut fantasy RPG from Rebel Wolves. Also inside: the comeback of the scrolling beat-’em-up, the making of Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, Gavin Raeburn’s Collected Works, a deep revisit of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, plus previews and reviews including Terra Invicta and TR-49.

  

• Shadow of the Colossus fans will be glad to see the spotlight in Retro Gamer #281 that hit newsstands this past week. And even as I type this, seeing that cover makes me want to go back and replay that masterpiece of a game. Readers will also experience the hype around the 4K N64, relive the magic of Sensible Software with Jon Hare, and uncover Sonic's legacy. Plus, get insights from gaming legends like Yuzo Koshiro and Dino Dini in this month’s issue.

  

• And to round off the North American magazine news, on a blog post on their website, the cover has been revealed for Game Informer #375 (Feb. 2026). It features 007 First Light from IO Interactive, and will include the Most Anticipated Games in 2026.

  

• Lost In Cult love to tease, and once again this week, they have us salivating. In a cryptic post on Sunday, they announced that news would be coming soon for something “out of this world”. While most are leaning towards Outer Worlds II, I’ve got my fingers crossed for Éric Chahi’s “Out of This World.

  

• In other teasing news, Tune & Fairweather have their own post that’s getting fans excited. Looking forward to seeing some guesses in the comments below! Surely something “Soulsborne” related, but we shall see.

  

• And one final tease for you guys. Kurt Kalata, founder of Hardcore Gaming 101, put up a blog post this week with A TON of exciting announcements. While 2025 didn’t see any new books coming out of HG101, there are 3 slated for 2026!

  • Ys And Other Falcom Classics

  • Metal Gear, Silent Hill and More Konami Classics

  • Mascot Platformers

  He also announced several conceptual books that already have hundreds of pages assembled including:

  • The Guide to 1990s PC Games

  • Guide to PlayStation Imports

  • The History of Westone

  • And a secret Bitmap Books project that is on the horizon.

• CRC Press has released How Video Games Made the Metaverse: From Pixels to Portals by game-industry veteran Kelly Vero, arguing that story isn’t decoration, it’s the foundation of engagement in games and virtual worlds. Drawing on 30+ years of experience and case studies like Zelda, Final Fantasy XIV, and RuneScape, Vero shows how narrative is delivered through UI, mechanics, environments, and player choice.

  

• Also from CRC Press, the eagerly anticipated Risk Management For Video Game Professionals from Liam Wickham has just been published. It sets out to be a practical risk-management guide for game dev teams, built on 30 years’ experience, covering operational, creative, technical, and strategic risks across the full lifecycle, from indie prototypes to AAA pipelines.

  

• I know a lot of people have been looking forward to Bounce: Balls, Walls, and Bodies in Games and Play. This book, by Carlin Wing and The MIT Press, traces the bouncing ball through centuries of play, from ancient tennis to modern sport, animation’s squash-and-stretch, and computer “pings” and “pongs.” It shows how bounce links physics, materials, computing, and spectacle across physical and digital games.

  

• And finally in the world of GameStudies also from The MIT Press comes Victor Navarro-Remesal’s latest. Zen and Slow Games, as the name suggests, traces Zen and slow gaming, proposing “reflective games” that prize slowness over reflexes across video game history. One of the few books that features “The Longing” which is a game I absolutely loved.

  

  Photo courtesy of Ally Tamara (@allycatastrophe.bsky.social)

• For fans of the TIME Special Editions of Pokémon (and the fun assortment of covers), you’ll be happy to know the LIFE is following suit with their own Pokémon Special. Complete with 4 covers to collect (Pikachu, Venusaur, Charizard, Blastoise), this magazine recounts the history of Pokémon all the way up to Pokémon Z-A. Big thanks to Ally Tamara who tipped us off on this one!

  

• Pre-orders have opened up this week for Limited Run Games’ latest Collectors Edition of the Earnest Evans Collection. While the games, soundtrack and commemorative coin are great, this is a book blog, so let’s be sure to call out the Original Artwork From the Earnest Evans Collection softcover artbook that come bundled with it. Very cool!

  

• Last week had the bulk of the awesome Kickstarter news, but one news story makes the headlines this week from the folks at Pixels and Polygons. Darren Hupke’s 32 Bit Library Greatest Hits 1 Deluxe Edition is up, and is close to its goal with a few weeks still remaining. For fans of the PS1 era, you’ll want to check this out!

  

• For readers over in the UK, you may have seen Titan spotlighting the re-release of Halo: Cryptum this week. While the book itself is over 15 years old, this is part of a larger initiative to consolidate and reprint the Halo catalog for modern audiences, and Titan Books is taking the reigns on the late Greg Bear’s trilogy

  

• From the folks at Third Éditions, their first French book of the year has gotten its official release. In La Saga Shenmue - Le Voyage D'Une Vie Antony Fournier revisits Yu Suzuki’s Dreamcast masterpiece, exploring its creation, themes, and why its unfinished story fuels a lasting cult legacy. Be sure to click through to check out the gorgeous First Print cover as well!

  

• Also over in France, Mana Books has (finally) confirmed that the Genshin Impact Official Artbook Vol. 3 will be joining their collection. Pre-orders are up now, with an anticipated release of April 2, 2026.

  

• Héroes De Papel released Castlevania: El Manuscrito Maldito this week, a Spanish translation of Gianni Molinaro’s original French deep-dive into Konami’s legendary vampire-hunting saga. Unpacking how Castlevania was built, this book covers the series’ origins, story, and the way its gameplay evolved across decades, from the earliest entries through to the Lords of Shadow trilogy.

  

• German-speaking countries saw the release of World of Warcraft: Midnight - Blutsbande this week, the translation of Christie Golden’s latest WoW novel. Andreas Kasprzak took care of the translation for this one, while Panini Verlags GmbH handled the publishing. Always great to see these Warcraft books spread to other fanbases around the globe.

  

• Also in German translation news, Sonic the Hedgehog: The IDW Collection, Vol. 2 hit shelves this week. This volume collects issues #13–20 from volumes 4 and 5 (Infection and Crisis City) of the Sonic The Hedgehog series, the 2019 Annual, and the Tangle and Whisper four-issue mini-series.

  

• And in magazine news, M! Games #389 has released this week. It covers 81 upcoming games by genre, from AAA (GTA VI, Resident Evil Requiem, 007 First Light, Forza Horizon 6) to indies and new reveals. The Test section covers a few retail titles like Terminator 2D: No Fate, plus many downloads like Skate Story and Satisfactory.

  

• Weekly Famitsu – Feb 5, 2026 (No.1932) released this week and spotlighted 765 Production idol Chihaya Kisaragi ahead of her Nippon Budokan solo concert on Jan 24–25, featuring a close-up live-prep report and exclusive interview. This issue also delivers the second half of its 2025 “Hall of Fame” Cross Review roundup (covering July–December), plus the latest updates on upcoming releases like Resident Evil Requiem, Monster Hunter Stories 3, Pragmata, Rockman: Dual Override, and Monster Hunter Wilds.

  

• Also in Japan, B’s-LOG March 2026 issue hit shelves. This spotlights Promise of Wizard, the Japanese online sim game, with a newly illustrated cover of the Western Kingdom mages, a cover poster, an original short story, and voice-actor interviews. Plus a 2026 trend feature on self-producing “showcase” guys, and special content for Tokyo Debunker, Paradox Live, and CRAZY CHA!N.

Did I miss something cool? Want to see this laid out differently?
Drop it in the comments or swing by our Discord to share it with the community.

Let’s keep this celebration of game-inspired books going strong!

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📚 Behind the Shelves

Every week, I take you behind the scenes of The Video Game Library. From surprising discoveries to cataloguing challenges, there’s always something new as we dig deeper into this ever-expanding archive of game-related literature.

The ongoing focus on cataloguing more strategy guides saw us tackle a whole host of of books from across generations. This of course included Prima and BradyGames, but also branched out to some more Futabasha entries and even some magazine pack-ins like the Resident Evil Survival Handbook from NGC.

An eclectic handful of strategy guides that made it onto the site this week

We also continued to expand our Japanese catalogue of books, and as a result we found a few really cool non-fiction titles that were missing. Lots of great history, interviews and compendiums in the mix that you’ll definitely want to check out.

Have honestly never come across any of these Japanese titles before

Archive.org has been an amazing source for us to link to across our records, and we keep a close eye on the books that get added. We’ve noticed a flurry of music books that have recently been scanned, so we made sure that any video game related ones were all catalogued on our site.

Been listening to Chrono Trigger tunes all week after cataloguing these

GEEKS-LINE books are very cool. Let me start with that. Thousands and thousands of pages of awesome content. But they are a NIGHTMARE to catalogue. One book often has a French and English edition, multiple variant covers, and their marketing consistently shows covers at an awkward angle, making it very difficult to format. This information doesn’t live in one corner of the internet. It’s often pulled from a mix of eBay posts and random Tweets to get details on any one entry. Have reached out a few teams, with no luck, so it’s been a slog as we slowly get through properly cataloguing their collection. We’ll get there thought!

These 12 covers took hours to fix up…. a plea to publishers to have these yourselves

And this week we finally catalogued the first 6 IDW Collections for Sonic the Hedgehog. There’s A LOT more to go with the IDW publications, but these were weighing heavy on me, as they make a lot of appearances in our Newsletter announcements. Glad to have all 6 up!

Simple covers, but they look very cool side-by-side.

This, as usual, is only a small sample of all the things that have been happening behind the scenes, so take a peek at the site to see everything that’s been added since last week! And while you’re at it, drop your thoughts in the comments below. Your feedback helps shape how we deliver these looks behind the curtain.

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💡 Book Spotlights

Every week I like to zoom in on a few standout books from the collection. Sometimes it’s brand new releases, other times it’s older gems that deserve more love.

If you’re looking for deeper dives and not just quick headlines, check out some of these past spotlights:

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🙏 THANK YOU for Reading

That’s a wrap for this week’s Newsletter. I hope you discovered something new, surprising, or just plain fun.

As always, your feedback helps shape this project - so don’t be shy! Drop a comment below, join the conversation on Discord, or just reply to this newsletter and share your thoughts.

And if you’re enjoying these weekly roundups, please consider supporting The Video Game Library with a paid subscription or forwarding this to a fellow fan. Every little bit helps us keep preserving and celebrating these incredible works - and the passionate people behind them.

Until next week — happy reading,
Dean (Founder, The Video Game Library)