No comments about Advanced Painter Techniques.

3 comments about Level Design for Games: Creating Compelling Game Experiences (New Riders Games).

1. This is an excellent book. It is straightforward and delivers very useful information. This book is devoid of the fluff, generalizations and pseudo-intellectual chatter so many books in the game development/design genre contain. This author speaks from experience, which is evident from his bio, but more so from the flow and genuine voice of his writing. I am particularly cynically and harsh on books in this genre so I didn't write this review lightly.



2. Page for page, this book is likely one of the most useful game design books on the market. Phil Co boils all the essentials needed to understand level design into this tightly written text. I wish others would follow his lead and give developers more useful information rather than a long winded history of the game industry.
   
   Time and time again I point to this book as the most useful, manageable, and clearly written text on the subject of level design.
   
   It's perfect for teens as well as pros who want to brush up on their level design.



3. The book is practical and easy to read. It is clear that this book is written by somebody with experience from the games industry. Inside the book you will find several useful level diagrams and design examples to help you improve the way you work with, think about and document your level designs. The book is very focused which means that even though it is relatively short, it probably has more (relevant) content than other books which mix in a lot of other subjects (at the expense of level design). If you are a games design student you should read this book.

2 comments about The State of Play: Law, Games, and Virtual Worlds (Ex Machina: Law, Technology, and Society).

1. Great book, interesting essays about where our digital lives are going.



2. When Judge Richard Posner first called himself and other legal academics "intellectual entrepreneurs," he was at least half-kidding (in a Chicago kind of way). But in recent years the "market" for legal scholarship has become among the most cutthroat in the world. Professors seem desperate to be the first to homestead new territory in any emerging market.
   
   The work of economists like Edward Castronova has demonstrated that virtual worlds constitute a new frontier, ripe for cutting edge scholarship. The authors in this book are staking their claim to its legal issues. But just being the first to a topic does not mean you have anything interesting to say about it. Castronova's work is interesting, but you don't need this book to understand it. The remaining essays in this book reminded me of cyber-squatted domain names. "What will happen?" they all seem to ask, but they don't offer many answers or even interesting speculations.
   
   The real problem here is that law exists to dealing with real-world consequences, while virtual worlds exist to eliminate them. Law may eventually get some traction in virtual reality, but it hasn't happened yet. If you want to be there when it does, don't read a law book - get yourself into a MMPORG. Just don't plan on keeping your job or your marriage.

5 comments about Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories - The Official Strategy Guide.

1. I can hardly remember about a missing topic. It's detailed, complete and it has an open layout. If you like any of the previous Doublejump guides, you will be more than satisfied with that.



2. Disagea 2 is a great game in many respects. It uses the old school boxes on a map , turn based system (which I happen to love) with a concept similar to games like Super Robot Wars or Final Fantasy tactics but with a twist. The characters are outrageous and there is no limit to how "powerful" you want to make your characters.. this can make for some crazy attacks with abnormous amounts of HP and crazy damage done if you choose to spend a of time with the game. All in all it's a fun game; one worth playing, with a high replay value.



3. I am blown away with every Doublejump guide I buy. The amount of detail they cram into these guides is insane. You can tell the writers at Doublejump have a passion for the games they create guides for, and a deep understanding of those games as well.
   
   The presentation of this guide is excellent, as is every Doublejump guide. The paper feels thick, and the pages are colorful and easy to read. One thing I really appreciate is how they invert a section of the guide called "Spoilers" so you can be sure you won't flip a page and find out something you wish you hadn't!
   
   As another reviewer has already said, I now consider buying games if they have a Doublejump guide. The extra price is well worth it, if only all guides could be this complete and well written!



4. No really, they rock. Best strategy guides in the industry. Did I mention they rock?



5. This is a really, REALLY detailed guide - perfect for such a deep and addictive strategy game. It has just about everything you could need to really blast the game apart. Only niggling issue is - some of the print is quite small (the book is paperback size) and hard to read especially late at night when my eyes aren't at their best! Heartily recommended if you like the game and want to really get into it - I bought it from Australia and had to pay an extra $20 for freight, but it is still worth every penny at that price.

No comments about World of Warcraft: Night of the Dragon (World of Warcraft).

5 comments about Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Prima's Official Strategy Guide).

1. Very good product. Fast delivery. AAA+++. Please leave me positive feedback, if it is allowed.
   
   Thanks. God is good.
   
   Martha in TN
   sngwrtrme



2. Every time I looked in this guide it made me want to play it, but unfortunately I'm not very far. That's because my skills in this game aren't good. I did manage to get from the Vulker base to creating my own light saber. I do think you should get this cheat book. It helped me get through an area when I couldn't do it on my own (in the sewers on Teris). But above all, it's a good cheat book.
   K. (8 years old)



3. Great product, really helpful and also very cheap for mint condition A++



4. Despite the beliefs of others, I believe this guide is actually helpful. Of course, the guide is not going to pass the game for you, you have to do that yourself. More or less, this gives you an outline of what you need to do, you just have to be smart enough to comprehend what it is that they are telling you. All one should need when playing these games is to know the answers to the most difficult puzzles. If you cannot accomplish something on your own, then Knights of the Old Republic isn't for you, so look elsewhere.
   
   Of course, with everything, there is also some faults, but then everything can't be perfect. The maps are helpful to guide you to where you need to go, especially on Dantooine. From what I've seen, there are times when the guides can be wrong. They also sometimes use pre-production graphics which you look forward to and then are let down. That is practically it.
   
   One should look at these guides basically as outlines. For the most part, outlines help you learn and remember things, but they are not going to teach you everything on the subject. So learn to deal with what you've got.



5. I am one of those completist gamers who likes to get everything available the first time through the game; therefore, a strategy guide is usually an absolute must for me. Unfortunately, there is a wide variation in quality, and this one leans pretty heavily towards the lower end of the spectrum. Don't get me wrong, it's still useful, but on the whole it feels sloppy and thrown-together, rather than comprehensive and helpful.
   
   One of the things that really mars the presentation is how badly organized it is. The walkthroughs are relatively helpful, but oftentimes a crucial bit of information that was mentioned previously is left out, leaving you to flip back through trying to find it. Another problem is that the guide was apparently written for a beta version of the game - it talks about gameplay and story elements that aren't available in the game itself and leaves out others that are. Taken as a whole, it just feels like it was done in a hurry by someone who wasn't paying attention.
   
   On the whole, the guide does work, but I wouldn't recommend purchasing it - you can find much better-organized and more thorough collections of the same information for free online. It's far from unusable, though, so it'll work if you need to have something nearby for reference and don't own a laptop computer.

5 comments about Madden NFL 08: Prima Official Game Guide (Prima Official Game Guides) (Prima Official Game Guides) (Prima Official Game Guides).

1. There is some good information here on offenses and defenses in the game and some generic information on all the NFL teams. But there is no specific information on plays to call for each team.
   
   Other issues:
   
   - At times the guide references the XBOX and PS2 controls. Other times the PS3 is mentioned. Why not list controls for all consoles or at the least be consistent?
   
   - Several typos / misspellings. Has the publisher ever heard of spellcheck?
   
   - Several inaccuracies. Ex: the Patriots no longer play on grass, they are on field turf.
   
   QA was lacking on this book.



2. Got to agree with the other reviewer about this book. The information contained in the book is decent, but the pictures and explanations of the controls are terrible. It looks like they used xbox or ps2 for the pictures and for almost all the controls. Why they did that I don't understand, as it would seem that xbox 360 and ps3 are the up and coming systems. I would skip this if you have xbox360 or ps3, as it is not much help.



3. I just wanted to echo the reviews so far, this is focused on PS2 and XBOX, with only 16 pages about PS3 and XBOX 360, I was really disappointed.



4. Very disappointing, and not what we've come to expect from Prima. I expected to get some insider tips on the 'features' not discussed in the flimsy manual. Things like why one running back has the "Elusive skill" and a yellow bar at 92, while another has a partially full "white bar" at 93. Or what do the 'points' really mean on the mini-game 'bench press'. I mean how many reps is required to get 9,000 or 15,000 points? How about deciphering the obscure scouting report comments such as "Is this guy really a DT"? Is that a complement or a smack down?
   Instead you get a player-by-player breakdown on every team in all individual categories - useful, but is not all I was expecting. The book is hefty, but that's expected with the team-by-team/player-by-player breakdown.
   The book also does not do an even adequate job of sorting through the various platforms. No where does it tell you that the "adjust pass rush protection" feature is not included on the Xbox 360 version (even though the Prima Guide lists it). After reading this in the Prima guide, I had though that little gem was for all platforms, and went back to the game manual to try to find it. Nope, not there. It does vaguely discuss NexGen platforms, but is still not up to par from what we normally expect.
   If you want a team-by-team/player-by-player cheat sheet, then go ahead and buy, otherwise pass on this one, and buy another game or accessory.



5. I bought a 360 and immediately bought Madden 08. I've played Madden since 92 and they just get better and better.
   
   The manual is terrible.
   
   The information on the screen is too small to read sometimes to understand what to press or such.
   
   The interface is crap.
   
   The announcer commentary during the game is absolutely HORRIBLE. You have great sound from the crowd, players, FX, and so forth, and the announcer is a cruddy radio announcer calling play by play through what sounds like a one speaker AM radio. Where the heck is Madden's colorful commentary? I usually ended up turning it off at times in the past, but who doesn't repeat the oft-heard Madden-saying to his buddy he just sacked "he put enough mustard on that to cover a foot long hotdog!"?
   
   I've not played the mini-camp games yet. I don't even know if they are offered on the game anymore. I hope so. If they aren't I'm just going to go sell this game back to a store and get another football game.
   
   Good gameplay, but missing those little things that made Madden so endearing over the years. All this game has is name recognition as THE game that pretty much every guy has and plays. But if EA keeps going this, then the game will be passed by Sega or some other developer.
   
   I bartend and some EA designers sat at my bar one day. For all you guys out there, I chastised the hell out of them for the terrible looking cheerleaders on a Madden a couple of years ago. Wait till I see them again this time... I'm gonna unload on them.

5 comments about Final Fantasy XI Online Official Strategy Guide (Fall 2003 Version).

1. This is a great book for those JUST STARTING OUT on FFXI, much of the information from Fall of '03 still works with the current incarnation of FFXI, however, due to the ever-changing nature of FFXI, it will be out of date sometime next year. The job guidelines are great, and it's really geared to the new player. A good buy for any wanting to know a bit more about the game, but don't expect everything in here. There's a level 50 Cutoff on spells, equipment, and information in general (the game currently goes up to level 75) My copy has gotten much use, and I still break it out once in a while. ^_^



2. 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.



3. 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.



4. 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).



5. Gives good information, but disappointed there aren't better details on objects.

5 comments about Microsoft® XNA Game Studio 2.0: Learn Programming Now!.

1. After going to numerous retail (Borders, Barnes and Nobles) and their onlince counterparts + Amazon, I've come to the conclusion that someone at Microsoft dropped the ball. Each time I ask them to key in the ISB for the book titled "XNA Game Studio Express and Visual C# express edition", expecting to find a book with a CD. And each time I locate it on the shelf there is a similar book called "Microsoft® XNA® Game Studio 2.0: Learn Programming Now", with the same ISBN, same Author, similar cover, but without the CD. What gives? Is this the same book, but with a changed name shortly before release (i.e. Revenge of the Jedi)? If so, where is the CD. If someone from MS Press reads this I hope they will clarify this.



2. I got this book at Barnes & Noble, so it was the 'newer version' without the CD or the promise thereof. It wasn't a problem at all for me, as everything is very easy to access online...and I'd prefer to buy the book at a cheaper cost and download the software than pay extra for a CD.
   
   The content, at least the part that I've read is very informative for a newbie programmer like me. I'm only on Chapter 3, but if you're already experienced in C#, this book might not be for you. Everything is clearly explained, and the length of the book is perfect - long enough to be thorough, but not so long to be intimidating. Highly recommended.



3. *NEWSFLASH*
   
   Forget about the not downloadable code... It can be found a very silly games dot com. If you want to learn more about XNA. Buy this book...
   
   *END NEWSFLASH*
   
   First of all let me say that I think that this book is very well written. It explains things quite easy and I think beginners are going to enjoy this book quite a lot. Even medior programmers can learn stuff from this book. And I think everyone gets a pretty good insight on how XNA works. Having said that, there is one complaint and preventing this book from getting more than 3 stars.
   
   The book tells you to look at examples quite often. And as I am one that likes to see code examples I find it very annoying that the CD is not available. But as some of the previous reviewers mentioned everything is downloadable so I went out for a search.
   
   So I thoughed I get it of the Microsoft press site. But as it turns out the CD is not downloadable atm. So well, lets try searching via Google. Nothing to be found. Perhaps I am looking in all the wrong places, but I you write a book and refer to code examles quite a lot I think they should be easily available. This is not the case atm. So herefore 3 stars and no more.
   
   Talk about a BIG shame.
   
   So in conclusion. When you think of buying this book make sure you have the code examples. Than this book is going bring you lots of joy. If you cannot find them, my advise would be. Leave this book be till you do.



4. This book is really simple. If you are just starting out, you may want to start here -- although I might would suggest starting with a straight C# book (or online tutorials).
   
   The book has 2.0 in the title, but I couldn't find anything new to 2.0 discussed in the pages.



5. I've been going through a lot of online tutorials, training videos and all the big XNA books out there. I'm at a 'middle' level of knowledge and I wanted to pick this up just to reaffirm what I've learned. Looking at it, I knew it was going to be more basic that most books and I knew that going into it (which allowed me to get through it fairly quickly).
   
   The book starts off as a great little intro to XNA, but as it progresses seems to get into the same issue as a lot of other XNA books, it just starts leaving things out and expects you to be following along with the source code (which is downloadable). I'm ok with more advanced books doing this, but for a complete beginner, I know this could end up a little confusing (and I believe this book is geared for that audience).
   
   The only other minor gripe would be (and the author alludes to it being an issue at the beginning of the last chapter) - the programs created begin to get to that point where they are starting to get a little complicated and keeping all the code in a single file starts to backfire. An introduction to OOP and classes would have greatly benefited the examples for the last few chapters. I don't think it has to get into great detail, but after explaining namespaces and even using structs, I don't see why the code couldn't be broken out to some basic OOP. Nothing fancy is needed but having some separate classes would have been nice and I think much easier (even for beginners).
   
   Other than those minor issues, I feel the book is a good intro for someone who knows some basic programming of any language and wants to dabble in XNA. Someone that hasn't done any programming would also be fine, but I'd recommend a C# book to get the full set of basics. The first 3/4 of the book are well written and go by quickly with some fun examples. It's an introductory book and a pretty good one at that. I recommend for anyone starting out and wants to get their feet wet.

No comments about Rune Factory 2 Official Strategy Guide.