1 comments about Super Paper Mario: Prima Official Game Guide (Prima Official Game Guides) (Prima Official Game Guides).

1. Since Nintendo came out with the Wii last year, there have been a lot of good games for it like The Legend Of Zelda Twilight Princess. However, when it comes to maps and strategy guides, you can often find it as a hit or a miss for Third-Party companies like Prima with those guides. Especially with Nintendo's latest Mario adventure Super Paper Mario. Although the guide is sometimes handy, it just doesn't detail enough information from the maps, which at times makes it very frustraing to play on the Wii. I honestly suggest you get the Player's Guide Nintendo made instead. It might be a few bucks more, but it is much more worth getting, especially if you want to master Bowser and crew.
   
   Price: C
   
   Maps: D+
   
   Convience: C-
   
   Overall: C-

5 comments about Lucky Wander Boy.

1. This is definitely the best fiction I've read in a long while. I'm sorry I hadn't read it sooner. It was a total page turner for me, I read it within two days when I was sick recently. I think all of it is still sinking in. I would go so far as to say its like if Vonnegut wrote a story with (video) gaming as an underlying theme. It is told in a similarly often hilarious often seriously scary tone, sometimes clever to a fault, sometimes ranting like anything.
   This is definitely about more than video games, but anyone who has grown up with video games in their lives will love this all that much more. If you've ever had a geeky (not geek-chic, mind you) obsession (sick or otherwise) you will find comfort in this story. It plays out something like an acid trip, where all of these minor details, fringe phrases, and various bulldada bounce around until everything seems to fall into place, or not. Sorry, I'm not going to give a plot outline or anything, because you NEED to read this book for yourself. If you've ever sat around and contemplated (seriously, not just when you were stoned) the deeper meanings and semiotics found in the ambiguous shapes and tasks of classic video games, well guess what, someone named D.B. Weiss has met the Moment of Decision, and brought back this grand tale for us all. I can't wait until D.B. Weiss' next book (?) is released, he definitely has a new fan. One complaint I have is that the cover artwork/ design doesn't do the book justice (does it ever?) It's just some bogus stock-photo designy junk that might make it look more "serious" to a yuppie on a shelf at Borders. I love this book. I used to work at a place that was totally like the Portal Plant.



2. Just put the book down, so this is more gut reaction than considered or remotely objective perspective. I can see that there are a lot of reviews for this here already, and frankly, you should review them all to best decide your buzzword inspiration to follow.
   
   For me, the pros and cons of dismissing or praising this book around terms like "Gen-X" or "Video Game Literature" are ill founded and every bit at vapid as the catch phrases of one of the protagonist's chief adversaries within the tome. Might as well say, in true weasel-hating style, that this book is the next "Fight Club" or the next "Rim" or the next "Headcrash." In other words, this book defines itself, and revises same, constantly throughout the course of the narrative much like any sane person with even the slightest degree of perspective might throughout the course of their very own day. And that, quite frankly, is an extremely pleasurable process to survey when such evolution of perception is derived from undeniably rich religious, suburban and pop-cultural aspects as to resound with anyone born in the US circa 1970 plus.
   
   This book deliberately denies the option for an easy, simple or quick filmic adaptation, uncanny as is respectable, especially considering the very notion of such intent is imbedded within, nigh, clearly stated within the parody of Hollywood and screenwriting and licensing within the handling of IP properties by the book's developer antagonist organization. Trust me, been there, and this book screams truth on that front. But I digress.
   
   This book, however autobiographical or utterly construct fictional, comes from a similar existence and perspective of that of a sponge soaking in the Palmolive of 20th Century Americana, in that years of rhetoric (academic, social, pop culture. Media or otherwise) were absorbed; absorbed until that one fine day when circumstances clenched a firm fist around said sponge and the results are contained within this book. Meaning, this book is an unforgettable exposition that strikes much like a tsunami and leaves considerably magnificent silt behind past the withdrawal of any slithering undertow.
   
   The book grabs and holds, reads fast, furious, and doesn't fully diverge ever except to cajole spectators into a frenzy of speculation, bewilderment, stunned reflection and smiling joy for the extent of the brilliant literary pranks, pat falls, detours, tangents, expositions and rants. And then there's that ending, an end that is simply not actually an ending. Rather, an ending best described as a gateway to speculation, to Phase III, to which on one hand may descry an inability for the scribe to nail himself to the crossbeams of a solitary solution without at least making firm observation of all possible alternatives. This author does such a notable feat while also wonderfully coinciding said abstract ending with key plots and themes integral throughout the book itself, such as a recurrent theme of setting up a third act; such as observing repeated upon an expectation of same. Striving for such ultimate inevitabilities, Moments of Decision as they might be or were, until such is stumbled upon, snatched away, or simply deferred, in this book's protagonist's lot. Such erstwhile pursuits culminations may well be left to the actual reader's disconcerted speculations following turning those final, aptly dismissive pages; let that not deter you.
   
   This book resounds with a simple honestly draped in oft cynical whit well worth your evening to purview. Few flights of fanciful fiction create sufficient friction as to warrant further consideration.
   
   This one delivers, more than, and for that alone should sit upon your shelf, or your dashboard, or the back of your toilet, or at the very least, in your work desk bottom drawer next to a flask of Jim Beam and a mighty stack of neglected, perhaps relegated ignored tasks from previous months' email slag piles of task, toils and woes.



3. Okay, so I actually do what the main character in this book does, I catalog obsolete entertainment on a rather large "coinop" website with a ".org" at the end of it. I'm also a fan of Japanese culture, so this book at least probably targets me a little bit, right?
   
   So I should probably love it.
   
   But.
   
   It had some real momentum and some real character development happening, then it suddenly took a left turn. The left turn it took was into an unwritten Kobo Abe novel, some kind of an attempt at a surrealist ending, or rather an attempt at many surreal endings. In my opinion, it just didn't quite work.
   
   So, regretfully, I give it 3 stars.



4. I think it takes a special kind of reader to enjoy D.B. Weiss' Lucky Wander Boy. For instance, it requires someone with a decent knowledge of, and appreciation for, the classic video games referenced, such as Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, etc. Also, it requires someone with more than a passing interest in (or at least a high tolerance for) existential/metaphysical philosophy such as people might indulge in after taking hallucinogenic drugs. Fortunately, I happen to fall right in the requisite audience: I love both video games, and highly abstract thought/philosophy, and so I had myself quite a good time.
   
   Maybe you would, too.
   
   And then, maybe you wouldn't.
   
   There is certainly a lot of potential, here, as this first time author succesfully plays with convention, writing in novel, screen and stage writing formats, not to mention the thread of the entries to a "Catalogue of Obsolete Entertainments" that are always somehow relevant to the larger, surrounding narrative. The ending, without saying too much, is interesting and daring. I am still not certain that it is entirely successful, but it is at least thought-provoking, and that's saying something, right?
   
   In short, the author tells a fine story with an engaging plot and decent characters, and manages to do this while being playful and inventive in his presentation. The philosophy discussed in the piece--the philosophy of video games--is well-done, even if it's obvious that it isn't ever meant to be taken seriously. It leads to a hard question of whether anything in the book is to be taken seriously at all, and I don't have an answer to that, either. The author references Godel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter (and it has an obvious influence) and it reminds me more of that work in that it seems to delight simply in being clever, rather than the (very serious and purposeful) Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud, also referenced. So: does the author really believe that there is philosophical insight to be gained in studying video games? Or, are we just to feel the main character foolish, and a loser, for believing so?
   
   The ending may answer that question for you.
   
   And then, maybe it won't.



5. Having become an indelible part of this generation's culture, it is hard to explain the pleasures of 8-bit entertainment to kids who have only known hi-rez video games their entire lives. There are college kids today who, in fact, have never had to touch anything less than 32-bit in their entire lives! Names like "Atari" and "Colecovision" become mere reference points to them, even inciting derisive laughter when in mixed company - that is, if the kids even know what "Atari" and "Colecovision" mean.
   
   For 20-something Adam Pennyman, video games do not get better with progressive graphical enhancements - they simply became otherworldly temptations, drawing the limelight away from the classics; Tempest, Donkey Kong, and of course the ubiquitous Pac-Man consoles. Adam, the narrator and obsessive driving force of Lucky Wander Boy, strives to keep the memory of these old video games alive through his efforts in writing "The Catalog of Obsolete Entertainments," an encyclopedic reference book filled with entries which do not simply describe the games in question, but delve into the indigenous societal value of said games (Frogger as the beleaguered Everyman, for instance, or Pac-Man as Marxist symbol of Capitalist insatiability). To Adam, these games are not simple diversions, but oracles presenting valuable insight not to be found elsewhere.
   
   As you may have guessed, poor Adam (charming though he is) isn't quite playing with a duel-button joystick. Making his situation worse, a series of coincidences during his life drives him to find out the truth about "Lucky Wander Boy," a very special arcade console delegated to obscurity due to its defunct (and otherwise useless) technology, and exceptionally bizarre concept. (Imagine Atari 2600's Adventure bred with SwordQuest, a space opera, and clinical insanity, and you're pretty close to this game.) Unavailable in any format other than the original - the specs make it impossible to simulate in any other form, and the scarcity of the consoles make such investigations as much more difficult - Adam allows the elusive Lucky Wander Boy (and, as a result, its female Japanese creator) to take over his life.
   
   Like the fictional game upon which the novel is based, Lucky Wander Boy is told in three "acts," each one symbolically representing the acts within the game itself. In this way, there are no "happy coincidences" which drive so much modern-day popular fiction... the video game almost dictates the events which are to unfold within the book. So masterfully told is this story, the book itself seems to have no "true" ending, with many different resolutions possible. After the story has been absorbed by the reader, there are multiple plot points and instances of creative storytelling which can lead the reader to many different levels of understanding.
   
   Not that this book is overly "artsy," either. The narrator basically tells his audience everything they need to know by way of the provision of small details and the inclusion of brief excerpts from his "Catalog of Obsolete Entertainments." There are no wasted paragraphs in this book - everything is important, leading to something quite rewarding by the book's final page.
   
   Author D. B. Weiss has managed to take a oft-dismissed topic (the presumed banality of video game culture) and infuse it with a kind of soul that even non-gamers would enjoy. Lucky Wander Boy isn't as vacuous as most popular fiction these days. It has a certain self-consciousness, a certain poignancy and humility unlike most books of its sort.
   
   If you enjoyed Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, you will want to pick up this book as well. And do yourself a favour - keep an open mind throughout Adam's tale, because the final "act" is where things really degenerate into madness... and ultimately, they begin make sense in a whole new way.

No comments about Sonic the Hedgehog (PS3, 360) (Prima Official Game Guide).

5 comments about Hellgate London (Prima Official Game Guide).

1. Unfortunately, this guide could have been so much more. Instead it is mostly table after table of items without much useful information. It's a shame because this game has huge potential despite its bugs and this guide could have gone a long way towards helping with its potential.
   
   The book is sadly lacking in Strategy tips and even dips so low as to repeat the same tips in multiple places in the book. The maps are slightly helpful and are what makes me rate it two stars.
   
   Even the class sections dealing with the skill trees are simply regurgitating what you can read in the game itself. There is no deeper explanation or suggestions. It is sadly lacking in details.
   
   Normally, I love Prima's strategy guides but this one falls flat.



2. Much of what I learned about the game was from trial and error. The book does not address how to create mods, item crafting, or salvage. It doesn't inform you that some areas are closed off until a quest is obtained from a particular npc for a more distant area.



3. I'm in my 60's and enjoyed this game very much, it has replayability which makes it usable for a long time.



4. I bought this book to help understand some elements of the game a lot more, and its actually a pretty awesome book. The fold out poster looks pretty cool, which is a common banner Flagship Studios use in the tube stations. The other side with the map is awesome, with full descriptions of the complete world map.
   
   The biggest confusion without much detail is the skills, atrributes, etc.. This game describes each skill for each faction/class very detailed. And there are actual dev tips so you can maximum your experience in the game. I'd recommend to any player of the game.



5. I know that people buy these books for many reasons, but if you are looking for help with the quests, save your money. I have had a number of Prima books over the years, some good some better, almost all were helpful. So I didn't take the time to thumb through this before I bought it. Too bad for me. The section on the quests is a total waste of paper and certainly a waste of my money. Whoever wrote this book must have not played the game or the beta and worked strictly from developer's notes.

No comments about AI Game Programming Wisdom 4 (AI Game Programming Wisdom (W/CD)).

5 comments about Sims 2 Pets (Prima Official Game Guide).

1. The Prima Guides for Sims 1 were packed with information that wasn't easy to find in-game. I consider those guides almost essential -- and fun, too!
   
   The writing style of the Sims 2 Prima Guides is completely different. It is too "chatty and chummy" and meanders around before actually getting to a point. And it doesn't actually seem to make many gaming points! They seem to want to talk about the game, and be cool, rather than actually assist players.
   
   I find the writing and formatting styles so distracting that I can't actually read this guide without my mind wandering off. It is difficult to locate information I need. And it doesn't really tell me much that I can't easily find on my own while playing.
   
   I have the Pets guide, the Nightlife guide, and the basic Sims2 guide. I bought them all at the same time. Otherwise, if I'd gotten one, then others, I wouldn't have gotten others!



2. Helpful with cheats for the new add on but also has some info about the basics.



3. This really doesn't have enough information on game cheats and strategy in my opinion for the money. I think they should just give these away with the purchase of the game.
   
   Also, this book has no index. Which really makes it difficult to find specific information. This was the first guide I've bought for my Sims 2 games and will be the last.



4. This has been a long waited chapter in the saga of the Sims and it certainly is not disappointing. The only thing is that there are some glitches in purchasing clothes downtown but whether or not that is in the game itself or my memory getting full I can not say but for entertainment value The Sims 2: Seasons can not be beat



5. I read the guide to pets, it was some help, it gave the basics of the pets expansion pack. I was expecting a little more.

5 comments about World of Warcraft Official Strategy Guide.

1. It has everything you need to understand how to start a new character and get around the world of Azeroth. There were lots of good pointers on how to play the different races, the different classes and what servers would be best for your gameplaying style.



2. The guide is a good start for someone who has no idea about WOW. It gives details about what you should do as a beginner.
   
   For those who are already familiar with the basic stuff, this is still good as you can take this as a reference guide and use it whenver you need it.



3. For first time players you should invest in this book. It was a world of help to me. Have fun!



4. If you're very new to World of Warcraft, and have no access (or awareness) of the multiple websites that provide a lot of info and other guides to playing the game, this book would be useful for you. There are maps of most of the original WoW (not expansion) areas, as well as names, level info, and quest info. There's also some information on each class and race (again, not expansion).
   
   Again, there are websites that has every bit of info that this book has, and in a more updated state, but this book still is a good adjunct to that.
   
   Of course, if you haven't bought anything yet, I strongly recommend buying the battlechestWorld of Warcraft Battlechest, since you get this book, as well as 2 games, and the expansion guide with it. Just realize that I don't care for the expansion guide, but since anyone buying this guide is likely new to WoW, by the time they get to the expansion, they won't need the expansion guide anyway.



5. This is a great book for telling you who is in what village and that besties there are in what area. But that is where it ends. It does give information on the races, classes, and professions, but it is nothing that you couldn't get for free on the many websites out there for WoW.

5 comments about Xenosaga Official Strategy Guide.

1. As far as strategy guides go, I'm more concerned with how its going to get me through the game, and also if it can get me through the game with ease. That's the MAIN point of a guide is to get you through the game. The Xenosaga Official Strategy Guide does this with ease. There are a couple of gripes present but otherwise very nice.

   The first thing I noticed about the guide were the first about 60 pages of the guide are dedicated to a few of the miscellaneous things. The game basics and such. This may not seem like much but the guide explains the basics of the game a lot more clearly than the instruction booklet does.

   Character profiles are great. They tell you when characters learn techs in an easy to use chart and they also give a small bio for them without spoiling what their main role is in the quest!

   An weapon/armor/item list is availible. Easy to use table that tells you what you should buy and what you probably shouldn't. We all know that in Xenosaga you could spend quite a bit of money and you don't get much. This guide will help you save your money.

   A.G.W.S data for them all. This also suggest what you should and shouldn't buy for them, as well as who should pilot them and what attacks you should focus on using.

   The walkthrough was perhaps the most helpful part of this guide. This is where a couple of my small gripes come in but believe me they're very small. The walkthrough is easy to use and here's a nice thing to do in using this guide, while a movie scene from the game is playing take the time to read the guide. You'll notice that a lot of the info is extremely helpful.

   Most noticeable are the boss strategies. These are VERY helpful strategies but this is where my first gripe with the guide comes in. The boss strategies are extremely helpful on offense. It's great to know what you can do to the boss but it would also be nice if they told me what the boss could do to me in return. Other than that these strategies are unbeatable.

   Before you begin each section you'll see a list of enemies, maps with a very handy key, and a step-by-step objective and items list. VERY helpful walkthrough.

   My second gripe is minor depending on how you use the guide. The screenshots aren't always clear. Some are rather fuzzy (the smaller ones). It's also nice that with each new area you come to there are mini-bios for the characters who you'll meet there. So the guide is very imformative. The best part? The guide has NO spoilers to the amazing story that unfolds!

   Now for those mini-games, side-quests and secrets. The guide will help you to understand the mini-games and play them to success. If you're like me you don't play mini-games much. The guide also covers just about every secret and sidequests there is, again it doesn't spoil the plot.

   Clearly this is an extremely helpful guide. You'll love the guide. It's great to use for the game. Just remember that you won't know what to expect from EVERY boss (there's one that can kill you in one hit and the guide WON'T point it out).




2. I recommend this strategy guide to those who plan on playing the game. It is true that you can beat the game without a guide. However, the game has plenty of side quests and important (but optional) items to collect that the chances of you finding them all is very unlikely without some sort of guide.

   Also, the characters in the game are highly customizable. Meaning, you can manipulate their attributes to your preference. The problem is that the process for doing that is not readily obvious. And there are many ways to go about doing so. Some "bonus" items will be impossible to obtain accidentally, and some require that you make certain decisions, in the right order, in the right place, at the proper time. This strategy guide will help you get the most out of the game.

   My only minor complaint is that the quality of the paper used in the cover could have been better. And that criticism also apply to most of the newer game guides out there. I prefer the covers to be made of heavier weight material, for example. I am picky, perhaps, because I collect these guides.




3. I think everything to know about xenosaga episode 1 is in this guide. I'm just about ready for episode 2 and I'll get the guide for that too.



4. Very good guide with little flaws! The only thing that the guide missed was that it did not inform you to protect yourself from "instant KO" from the Demon enemy inside Proto Merkabah! Other than that it was great. Good boss strategies, good pictures/ illustrations and directions if you get lost on where to go. very accurate and complete lists of all items/abilities/accessories. This guide explains the basics of the game very thoroughly also so it is useful in that sense and if you bought the game used like I did or if you rent games, in which my copy did not have the instruction manual, you can get all the necessary info from this guide! So, I definitely recommend this guide to anyone who wants to get the most from this great game! Also, guide gives good explanation and rewards from the games side quests and games.



5. The best guides the buy are by Brady Games...they are the most helpful when stuck in a game...they stend to include lots of picures unlike some of the other guides.

No comments about Mercenaries 2: World in Flames: Prima Official Game Guide (Prima Official Game Guides).

5 comments about Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar - World Companion: Prima Official Game Guide (Prima Official Game Guides) (Prima Official Game Guides).

1. The LotRO World Companion is probably the single most useless book I've ever purchased. Every single item in the game is included, but they are all listed by name in alphabetical order. This means it's impossible to look up weapons or armour by the level; it's impossible to look up creatures based on their level or by the areas in which you'll find them; it's impossible to look up quests based on the level. It's almost as if the authors merely took a computer database and just transposed it directly into the book.
   
   Also, there are no hints in the book. The only information it gives is what can be found in the game, and the game is actually more helpful than the book, in that it gives you a context from which you can better figure out where to look for creatures etc.
   
   Altogether this book is a complete waste. It's so poorly laid-out that I doubt I'll ever be able to get any useful information from it. I urge players to avoid this one like the plague.



2. i was in fact a little confused when i found out that this book served better purposes in the fire place than anywhere else... i wonder what in the world were the people at prima thinkin when they cuncocted this book..
   
   "oh hey guys lets make a book that repeats everything that states word for word everything in the game and make all the other info in it completely useless to the point that we only make money off the pre-orders because the poor victims can't read the book for themselves at the time.".. maybe it went somethin like that i'm guessing?
   
   sounds about right anyway.. anyone that wanted to make a couple hundred bucks could of done this by taking nearly thousands of screenshots and putting them in photo shop and they could of duplicated this book on their own at a cheaper cost for the exact same info.. i'm done ranting .. i feel as though i've wasted time and money...



3. Too bad there's no rating for zero. A great mass of info, designed to emulate an PRG players' guide, organized not by race, class, zone, or level, but alphabetically. Info in the book appears to come verbatim from the game itself, which is often, by the nature of the game, cryptic -- hence the need for a guide. This is a recap, not a guide. The book lacks the one thing that might have given it a redeeming value -- quest hints. There are none. I've done far better in the advice channel. I've considered asking for a refund based on uselessness.



4. This book has numerous lists about monsters, quest, feats, and etc. The tips for the quests are quick one liners, if you need more than that you should look elsewhere for the FAQs and etc.
   
   The book is cool for experience rewards, traits, deeds, quick info on monsters. However this book contains no maps to go along with these quests, areas or hints. This is a giant LOTRO index and nothing more.



5. This book could almost be rated 0 stars... HOWEVER, the only useful thing I found is the Quest Chains where it tells you what quests are available to you at what levels, and what is before or after each of those quests chains. It also tells you the difficulty of the quest. Also, one thing that is good is that it tells you the monster and enemy type and its location. That is only useful for hunting and doing deeds. However, everything else is horribly placed.
   
   Why in the world would PRIMA, a well know company that does guides, do such a horrible thing. If I was to be the last one editing it, I'll be throwing it in the trash and tell them to redo it.
   
   First off- anything dealing with items such as jewelry, armors, weapons are all listed in alphabetical order, which makes no sense at all. Why the heck would you mix staves and swords, to daggers and bows altogether? I had to go page by page just to look at the possible way to build my character only to get a migraine that it is annoying and undeveloped well. If I am to tell you, I'd say to buy the digital copy (if you are desperately in need or want this volume) that you can download, at least that way you can try to copy and paste the whole thing and short it in Excel yourself into categories. Again- why go through all that hassle when the guide is supposed to have it all done for you?
   
   As for jewelry, how stupid is it to tell us the level and rarity of it, but not the bonuses and stats it gives like the armors and weapons do? The book is entitled on the back that "With this guide your knowledge will be complete" however it helps with little knowledge.
   
   There are some sections such as quests that are not even completely written. It just gets cutoff. I don't know how they missed it, or if they just did not care thinking no one will notice it...
   
   Overall for what this book is worth (and not worth), I highly recommend you not getting it. I give it 1 star, and to me, seriously I have had it for over a month and hardly ever use it since Vol. 1 is more useful in many, if not all, cases.