Editorial Review

Aimed at the working (or aspiring) Visual C/C++ game programmer, Read more

Reviews (36)

First book of many...
I have been reading this series since this first book.I am about to purchase Game Programming Gems 5 because each book has given me so much incite to the many elements of game programming.You could easily take every one of these tips and gems and implement them not only in games but many systems that require optimization, graphics or sound programming.
Throw your other books away.
I swear, this series is like programming crack. Succinct, no extra "learning how to program" garbage, no extra commentary.Code. That works. Well. Quickly.

Very useful.
I've found this book to be very useful in game programming.The variety of articles an concepts covered is very vast.In fact, that is probably the cause for its only (in my opinion) shortcomming - that many of the articles aren't long or complete enough.An excellent book if you're looking for an introduction to many different concepts. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books And Software    2. Computer Graphics - Game Programming    3. Computer Graphics - General    4. Computers    5. Computers - Languages / Programming    6. Microcomputer Graphics    7. Programming - Software Development    8. Video & Electronic - General    9. Art / Graphic Arts    10. Computer Graphics, Animation    11. Computer Programming    12. Computer games   

Reviews (22)

Insightful discussion of a complex social text
James Paul Gee, a pre-eminant researcher into video games and their relationship to education and learning, offers a clear and insightful discussion as to the educational potential of video games.His opening statement that he will even look for the positives in violent video games, lays the groundwork for his enthusiastic praise of these textual forms.His discussion of identity, community and the social nature of knowledge, opens up a wide variety of connections with other theories and approaches that see learning and literacy as intimately linked to human social experience.The nature of video games as cultural texts is what enables them to be such rich resources for learning.Drawn from his own experiences and those of many young people, this critical engagement with the debates surrounding video games, is essential reading for anyone reading or researching in areas of educational innovation.

we aren't all videots
This a remarkably approachable book despite being written by an academic. Mr. Gee does an excellent job of exploring the role of video games in the lives of contemporary people. He explains succinctly how learning principles from video games can be applied to learning.
A Must
I think this is the best book till now in this specific game culture subjetc. There is no recipe in here, but there are lots of ingredients for game designers and educators can understand about this specific top.
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Subjects:  1. Aims & Objectives    2. Computers - General Information    3. Education    4. Educational Policy & Reform    5. Social Aspects - Human-Computer Interaction    6. Video & Electronic - General    7. Computer games    8. Educational psychology   

Reviews (6)

Practical guide for facilitating creative brainstorming
There is a fundamental problem with going out to customers and asking them "what would you like to see in the next product?" Henry Ford once said - "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses." As most of us will not be able to pay off their mortgage by creating faster horses, we need better ways to capture customer needs and desires. This is where Innovation Games comes in.
Gain insight into what your customers are thinking
This is a really fantastic book!The format is easy to follow with the reason behind why these games work explained to the reader, followed by a detailed explanation of how to run each game.These games offer a unique way to gain insight into what motivates your customers so that you can enhance your product, change it or even create new products and hopefully gain a larger market share.I have found that using these games have brought insight into my business that we have been unable to achieve up to this point.Not only is valuable insight revealed, customers really like playing the games.
Product requirements elictation the collaborative and inventive way!
Luke has created a handbook useful to product managers, business analysts, project leads and team/project facilitators. I've found these techniques -- collaborative play -- essential for discovery and invention as well as useful to the hard analysis of what products //really// need to provide customers.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computers    3. Computers - Languages / Programming    4. Games    5. New products    6. Production management    7. Programming - General    8. Programming - Software Development    9. Project Management    10. Video & Electronic - General    11. Computers / Programming / General    12. Research & development management   

Reviews (20)

Absolute garbage!
This is by far the worst 'strategy guide' I have ever encountered. It was out of date before the game was even released, with much of its information seemingly taken from the game's beta testing. It has at the most 10 pages worth of accurate information, and you'll have to figure out which parts of the book are accurate for yourself.
Guild Wars: Game Guide
Is very helpful, but there is a lot missing, and it's hard to find what you're looking for in the book as opposed to the game...The maps are very helpful when you can find the one that applys to the game... I'd like to see an updated version of this book, I would definitely purchase it!!!

Guild wars official guide
I think the book is great with a lot of good info ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Games    3. Computers - Games    4. Games    5. Games/Puzzles    6. Video & Electronic - General    7. Games / Video & Electronic   

Reviews (42)

A Pokemon Fan's Dream Come True
My daughter love the whole Pokemon genre, and especially enjoys the GameBoy Pokemon games.She has poured through this book many times already and just loved it.I highly recommend it.

Decent
This book is good for a quick walkthrough reference. It's simple to use and does its job well. If you need help with Ruby or Sapphire, I'd recommend picking this up!

Not too good, but a few mistakes.
Mostly good, but a couple of mistakes. They called Rock-types EARTH Types!, Not the best guide, but Nintendo Power is better! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computers - Games    3. Games    4. Video & Electronic - General    5. Video & Electronic - Nintendo    6. Games / Video & Electronic   

Reviews (26)

Good book
If you are wanting to make your own games you absolutely need this book.
Very Poor
This book has a lot of problems. The code is buggy. The structure of the book makes little sense, and will gloss over many important things. The writing style is difficult and vague. I could not recommend this book any less.

Stay away... there are better ways to learn...
I should have examined this book more closely before purchasing. It's not a learning tool, most of the chapters focus on following directions with no real explanation why. Needless to say this will leave people out to sea when it comes time to fly solo.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics - Game Programming    3. Computer games    4. Computer graphics    5. Computer software    6. Computers    7. Computers - Languages / Programming    8. Programming    9. Programming Languages - General    10. Video & Electronic - General    11. Computers / Entertainment & Games / General    12. Image processing: graphics (static images)   

Reviews (1)

Good, but missing a few things
This is a very good guide in terms of breaking down what you need for the various rankings and the location of the Memory Capsules.If you're only interested in completing the main game this is the book for you.However, I was a bit disappointed to see that it doesn't really discuss the Extra Missions.It tells you what they are and what you need to do to unlock them, but zero specifics.While some of the missions are pretty easy and need no explanation, others can present real challenges (especially for those of us who normally play mainly RPGs, not shooters); they're certainly harder than the game's normal mode. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Games    2. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    3. Games/Puzzles    4. Role Playing & Fantasy - General    5. Video & Electronic - General    6. Games / Video & Electronic   

Reviews (7)

It's a supplemental guide, not a stand-alone strategy guide
This book doesn't give as much information as the actual thick FFXI Strategy Guide. Heck, it's not even a strategy guide to begin with. It's a book that contains many of the maps of FFXI, both cities and dungeons. Take note, "many of the maps". There are a lot of missing maps and areas for some oddball reason.
Inexcusable; Brady should be ashamed
Do not waste your money on this steaming load.Not only is it missing a TON of maps (CoP zones, I can understand.. but no Boyahda, Quicksand, Onzozo, etc.?); for the maps it does have, that's just about all you get -a map.There's a little info on some NM pop locations, but that's it.This guide doles out useful information very sparingly.Not a single damn coffer pop location.
Good, but not great.
This atlas, in my opinoin, is pretty good, but not complete at all. It does give you a lot of maps, but only the ones you start off with, or can buy/quest - none from coffers. (Maybe with the exception of Castle Zvahl, I can't remember how you get that map)It does give you a fairly accurate list of monsters and nms along with reccommended levelsand some pop locations. Also, it does have maps of towns with some usefull NPC locations. So, if your a beginner, I would definetely reccomend it, since it can get you around for quite a few levels, but the more experienced players don't really need it, unless they really want to save a few gil by not buying maps. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Games    2. Computers - Games    3. Games    4. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    5. Games/Puzzles    6. Video & Electronic - General    7. Video & Electronic - Sony PlayStation 2    8. Video games    9. Games / Video & Electronic   

Reviews (9)

I love this book.
This is my first time to write this kind of review, therefore, I don't know how to do a good one. But what I can say for this book is it is easy to follow and the method of modeling that I have learned from it is very useful. If you can follow the tutorials patiently, you can gradually build a very good foundation of your modeling skill. ^-^.. I am looking forward for the next edition.

One of the best books for character modeling, rigging and animation
1)This book highlights some important issues in modeling & rigging that no other books bother to emphasis.
Not just for games, but aimed at beginners
This is a good book.I was hoping for some much more indepth technical information.This is a great book for starting into maya, and character creation. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Animation    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer Graphics - General    4. Computers    5. Computers - Languages / Programming    6. Programming Languages - General    7. Video & Electronic - General    8. Computers / Computer Graphics / Game Programming    9. Image processing: computer animation   

Features

• Illustrated

Reviews (11)

Far better than any other book on this topic
This book is miles ahead of other Java gaming books...For one thing, this is an excellent book in its own right.For another, the other existing books on the topic suck.
Somewhat Disappointed - But hopeful for a second edition
This is the first time I've been disappointed by a book published by O'Reilly. There are, in my opinion, quite a few things wrong with this book. I'll mention a few.
Best book I've seen on the topic
I went through a few books on java game programming before I got this one and I must say that by fair its the best.I have a few years experience with java and wanted to make a few games for fun and this book gave me all the information I needed to get started.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Books: Languages    3. Computer Graphics - Game Programming    4. Computers    5. Computers - Languages / Programming    6. Programming Languages - Java    7. Video & Electronic - General    8. Computer animation    9. Computer drawing    10. Computer games    11. Computers / Languages / Programming    12. Computers / Programming Languages / Java    13. Java & variants    14. Java (Computer program language)    15. Programming    16. game programming, Java, J2ME, 3D, 2D,multiplayer, fractals, Andrew Davison   

Reviews (42)

Great book to get started. Clear and Concise
I started DirectX programming recently. This book brings you upto speed very fast. It is well organized, written well, and is kept very simple. It's objective is to teach concepts and how to program specific concepts is C++. The examples and straightforward and illustrate whats in the text very well.
Very easy to follow
This book is written very well, and it is written in a way that allows the reader to follow without getting lost in the terminology.Everything is explained very well.I use the book constantly as a reference when programming.Pick this book up if your serious about learning DirectX.

Great Book -- Misleading title. :(
While I agree with all the other reviews on how this book is EXCELLENT for learning the introduction (and some advanced) concepts and applications of Direct 3D it is severely lacking one thing: game programming mechanics.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics - Game Programming    3. Computer Graphics - General    4. Computer games    5. Computers    6. Computers - Games    7. DirectX    8. Programming    9. Programming - Software Development    10. Video & Electronic - General    11. Computers / General   

Reviews (10)

A plethora of information
Confused about AI? Get this book! This is a nicely bound reference library with a large variety of techniques and algorithms. Lots of useful tips
It's hard to find good information about game programming and design.The trouble is that people working in the industry have an incentive to keep their techniques secret -- they don't want their competitors to learn them.The people who aren't in the industry can write about games but don't have the experience to back it up. The most complete, the most usefull resource...
This is the best book in my library.Read more

Subjects:  1. Artificial Intelligence - General    2. Computer Books And Software    3. Computer Games    4. Computer Programming    5. Computer graphics    6. Computers - Languages / Programming    7. Design    8. Games    9. Programming    10. Programming - General    11. Programming - Software Development    12. Video & Electronic - General    13. Artificial intelligence    14. Computers / Entertainment & Games / General   

Reviews (38)

Ignore the bad reviews
I wasted a lot of time sifitng through faqs on the internet before I got this guide.This guide has EVERY single item, power, monster, treasure chest location etc...This guide is the definitive resource for this game's secrets.If you have the game, this is a must-own.

Lot's of pictures and one useful map.
I haven't bought a stategy guide in years, so maybe it's just come to this, but when I pay for an official game guide I kinda expect everything to be in there.If I didn't want spoilers I wouldn't have bought the guide in the first place.
Guide??? Riiight
I admit, I havent baught a game guide in a looooong time...
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Subjects:  1. Computer Games    2. Computers - Games    3. Games    4. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    5. Games/Puzzles    6. Video & Electronic - General    7. Video & Electronic - Sony PlayStation 2    8. Games / Video & Electronic   

Subjects:  1. Games    2. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    3. Games/Puzzles    4. Video & Electronic - General    5. Games / Video & Electronic   

Reviews (1)

The State of the Art as it Exists Today
Computer gaming continues to grow at a very rapid rate. In fact much of the development of the new higher speed chips and of course the high performance video cards are being driven by the needs of the gaming people.
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Subjects:  1. Artificial Intelligence - General    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer Graphics - Game Programming    4. Computer games    5. Computer graphics    6. Computers    7. Computers - General Information    8. Design    9. Programming    10. Programming - General    11. Video & Electronic - General    12. Computers / Entertainment & Games / General    13. Software engineering   

Reviews (3)

Not very deep
I found the guide disappointing.It reads like an expanded manual rather than a strategy guide.It doesn't hesitate to tell you the history of the various units and weapons, but it is lacking in actual strategy-- the very reason why I purchased the "Official Strategy Guide".
Total waste of $20
I would just like to add another voice to the one below which I completely agree with.He has pretty much summed it up.I just want to stress that the multiplayer maps are covered in one page each with absolutely no useful strategy.To be fair there are some very very general strategies but nothing specific and absolutely no maps to explain these strategies.How can they get away with trash like this!

Useless and highly inaccurate
The descriptions of units are worthless, virtually the same as in the manual. Very obvious points are made about unit abilities, mostly a rehash of info in the manual. Several facts are simply wrong. There is a ton of historical info on the real-world counterparts of all the game units.
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Subjects:  1. Games    2. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    3. Games/Puzzles    4. Interactive & Multimedia    5. Role Playing & Fantasy - General    6. Video & Electronic - General    7. Computer games    8. Games / Video & Electronic   

Reviews (6)

Great graphic maps
I really do like this guide book the maps are really helpful.As well as the instructions for the boss fights.You will really find this book useful.

Kingdom Hearts chain of memories guide review
It helped dramatically and I found it to be really well done and very helpful in explaining the different cards and what they truly did....... Also its a good thing to have when deciding on going through the game and what world cards to use....although I was already half way through with the game when I had it.....It was still nice and helped me with my other half decisions....

perfect product
when i bought the item i opened the box and the book included everything it said. Also it was in perfect condition-no dented corners or riped pages-. when i used the book it it included all the secret items in the game. if you are a kingdom hearts fan i suggest this book to you. perfect product ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Games    3. Computers - Games    4. Games    5. Games/Puzzles    6. Video & Electronic - General    7. Video & Electronic - Nintendo    8. Games / Video & Electronic   

Reviews (204)

A Guide?! Are you kidding?
Normally I do not write reviews... however I feel the complete and utter deficiency of this guide require me to do so. First off this is not a guide. It is a reference book to an online site that is pretty much no longer available. The entire guide gives brief information but does not tell you how to collect all the items do all the quests, or sufficiently beat bosses. This guide and the people who wrote it make me extremelly frustrated... What if someone wants to beat this game with all the items and does not have an internet connection? It is so thoughtless and full of, well, no information. It is possibly the biggest pile of bologna that I have ever witnessed in a published work. If i haven't fully shown my miscontempt for this guide let me say this; I am a generally peaceful person but if I were to fight anyone in the world (other than a political figure) I would fight the creators of this guide for their thoughtlessness. ARgh!!!!!! do not buy this item!!!!! save yourself!!!!

A guide that refers you to another guide
This is the lowest quality strategy guide of Final Fantasy ever. This is my review
I ordered the book because I had the game, but hadn't been able to find the book in the stores. It's a cheat book for a PlayStation game. So far it actually seems to help less than the other books I've used in the past, but until I actually finish the game, I won't really be able to comment fully on that. If you're playing a Final Fantasy game, always get the book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computers - Games    3. Final Fantasy (Game)    4. Games    5. Games/Puzzles    6. Video & Electronic - General    7. Video & Electronic - Sony Playstation    8. Computers / Entertainment & Games / General    9. Games / Video & Electronic   

Reviews (20)

Outdated but useful in some ways
This book is not even in print anymore. There are three expansion packs out now. This book only covers the first one (Rise of the Zilart) and does not cover Chains of Promathia or Treasures of Aht Urghan at all.It is useful to newbs who are trying to find their way around the game, but there is nothing in this book that cannot be found on the internet if you just search for it. There are numerous sites that contain much more useful information (Such as allakhazam) but the problem with them is that the way this game is written, you cannot Alt-tab out of it to view another web page. Once you are in the game, you have to exit it to access any other programs on your pc (I play pc version exclusively....this doesn't apply to PS2 or X-Box players).
there is an updated verison
because online games such as these change on a regular basis, this particular book is out of date as a newer version has been issued. also since there is another expansion for teh final fantasy 11 game called Chains of Permathia, another version, probably called fall 2004 will probably be released soon.

Should Have Shipped With The Game. . .
This guide is nothing more than a decent instruction manual for FFXI. The idea was good and if you started playing the game, let's say, back when it was first released in Japan, this so-called guide may have been helpful. But times change and so do MMORPG's. Don't get this guide unless you have a time machine so you can go back to when it would have been useful. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Operating Systems    2. Computer games    3. Computers - Games    4. Entertainment & Games - General    5. Games    6. Games/Puzzles    7. Video & Electronic - General    8. Games / Video & Electronic   

Reviews (15)

A good book that doesn't go quite far enough
If you're like me, new to texturing with a bit of Photoshop experience and not much of an artist, you'll appreciate how this book starts slowly and builds to more and more interesting and challenging projects. You'll be surprised and pleased at what Franson can guide you into doing with so little effort on your part. You'll be pleased at finally using parts of Photoshop that you've looked at, but never tried. I think this is a great book to get you started texturing and producing some great results fast.
Dissapointment
You better know photoshop before you buy this book,because the author doesn't tell you were some of selections are in photoshop. Plus after I managed to make some of the textures which did look good in photoshop, they looked terrible in Maya7 when I rendered the scene. Some of the textures I can not complete because I dont know photoshop that well and I have no idea what the author is talking about or were the selections are that I need to use...

Texturing
I bought this book primarily to get information on texturing for 3D software projects. A lot of it is done in photoshop, so if you don't have that program (or maybe Corel Draw, or something similiar) I am not sure how useful it can be.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books And Software    2. Computer Graphics - Game Programming    3. Computer Graphics - General    4. Computers    5. Computers - Other Applications    6. Video & Electronic - General    7. Computer games    8. Computers / Entertainment & Games / General