4 comments about The Book of Games Volume 1: The Ultimate Guide to PC and Video Games (Book of Games series).

1. Based on the reviews in the book, I just found a game that is perfect for mye nephew. I'm looking forward to Volume 2



2. This book reads more like a catalog than I expected. I was hoping for a comprehensive history and documentation of video games, but instead, it feels like the same information you get from a video game review website.



3. I found this to be a really good book! Its got some really nice editorials, which most reviewers dont give to much credit for. Most of them open the book and say "Oh, its just a catalog" but if you look and read through, it has some articles about the future of gaming and research on gaming. And a quick look at video game heros.
   
   The book, has a list over major tittles of 2006, which in its self is really good, because it gives you an idea of what games you might like, if you liked a specific tittle.
   
   And Volume 2 Will be more in-depth then the first, and they are going to make a nostalgia one too! Which im looking forward too!
   
   This book is a really nice guide to parents and alike, as it gives you insite to what games are good for your children ect.



4. It has no metal gear games what so ever!!! No PS 1 no PS 2 no PSP no PS 3 no nothing!!!! And I wonder, why??? It is the greatest game ever!!!! The author is bias, he doesn't like metal gear or something...
   And the book doesn't go into an "in depth" history of video games...
   It is an ok book but I can manage without it, I have an internet connection...
   
   The M.K.M.

2 comments about Conan Official Strategy Guide (Bradygames Official Strategy Guides) (Bradygames Official Strategy Guides).

1. For those who like game guides, this one is pretty good. The maps are easy to read and everything is marked with icons (slave girls, etc.) so it's easy to find and know what's coming up so you don't miss anything. Has a nice extra section with Conan lore and information for the uber fan.



2. Game is tough, but that is what we like, Right?... Constant action, (Gore), and wicked annimation!

5 comments about Developing Games in Java (New Riders Games).

1. The good things about this book that the author modulates the basic game componets into various class such as screen manager, input manager which enhances the reusability of the game code.
   
   Also, a game can be easily built on the existing class without much tweaking of the original source code.



2. First off, this book is fairly easily to read if you have some programming background. This book is obviously not aimed at beginners, so it will require atleast a basic knowledge of Java to make any sort of sense.
   
   What I liked about this book is the rather large number of projects you have to build right from the get go. However, what was most disappointing about this book was the lack of explanations as to what, exactly, is going on in the code. For instance, his section on mouselooking basically dumps two pages of code on you, filled with new algorithms that are accompanied by zero details about how they work or why things are done that way. There aren't even comments in the code that step you through it.
   
   That aspect of the book is really saddens me because that's all that seperates it from a typing exercise and a great lessong in game programming.
   
   Having said all of that. There are some basic functional things you gather that are useful if you are brand new to game programming.
   
   What I had hoped to gather out of this book was more than just code. I hoped that there would be principles that I could extrapolate and take with me from project to project. Regretfully, I don't think this book accomplished that goal.



3. I have had this book for a couple of years. It is one of the best games programming books I have read. Be aware that over half the book is devoted to developing a software 3D engine. I found this to be quite high quality and I have even ported it to C++ with no issues. The engine supports texture mapping, shade mapping, z-buffering, collisions, pathfinding and BSP trees. As the author states, learning how things work in software helps when you later use hardware 3D rendering. To be honest, I was really impressed with the speed the 3D demo ran at, considering most people still think Java is slow.
   
   The first half of the book develops a nice game framework to help with redifining keys, choosing a screen resolution, sound effects, animation and 2D scrolling with collision detection. There is enough info here to produce a good Mario clone. There is a chapter on networking but it seems disconnected from the rest of the book (I think it was written by a different author).
   
   One of the best things though is that all the source code (available from his site) compiles straight off the bat, and works with no modifications. I cannot tell you how rare this is for a computer book. All the examples are built as Ant scripts and I simply imported them into my IDE (IntelliJ IDEA, but most other IDEs can also import Ant scripts). They all compiled with no errors and ran exactly as described in the book.
   
   In summary this is an excellent buy for the intermediate Java programmer who wants to get into 2D and 3D games.



4. Early attempts at Java game programming usually meant incorporating a foreign framework in your code. With the latest advancements in Swing, it's become easier to develop rich media applications in Java. Developing Games in Java takes this rich framework and explains thoroughly how to best utilize it for both 2D and 3D games. The book could easily be used as a primer in game and graphics techniques as well. Concepts like collision detection, path finding, scripting, and AI are well covered, making this a complete introduction to developing great games in Java.



5. Pretty darn great book!
   Chapter 1 starts with threads, locking and multithreading animation!!
   This is for serious programmers, serious game developers...you gotta have some experience in JAVA development in order to get the best from this book. Beginners will take some time, but eventually prevail.
   A must!!

2 comments about Neopets: The Ultimate Field Guide: Discover Neopia! (Neopets).

1. Neopets has been a fantastic on-line site for kids (and adults too) where you'll find a Uni or perhaps even a Cybunny! Now there is a guide to help you navigate the Neopets world.
   
   The guide is well presented, fun, and a must have for all Neopians!



2. Although I am an adult reader/player, I enjoyed this introduction to the world of Neopia. I have had my account for 10 months, but still found new tidbits that will have me entering Searches for quite some time! Page 11 shows b&w pictures of all 54 Neopet species. Aside from the humor the author infuses into her tour guide character, this is a perfect beginner's reference. Just enter each new name or word in the site's Search feature, or ask the question on the Help chat board. It has 5 lined pages for you to make your own notes as you explore the online world; very handy for keeping track of shops/locations and helpful petpage guides. I hope to see many new releases of the story books. Maybe even a print-version Neopedia!

1 comments about Turok Official Strategy Guide (Bradygames Official Strategy Guide).

1. This guide is almost completely useless. I played through Turok without needing the guide and it is a good thing because the guide was poorly put together. No maps, no waypoints or landmarks to tell you where they are talking about in the game.
   The only part of the guide I liked were the weapon descriptions.
   
   I would not reccommend this guide to anyone, it is not needed to beat the game and it would be of minimal help anyway.

5 comments about Dark Cloud : Prima's Official Strategy Guide.

1. I thought it will help me a lot but all I got was an advice to play the entire game with one character (what you will do anyway) the game is easy without it save the money and buy "devil may cry" and its official guide belive me it's better.



2. Given a game where the dungens change every time you play them, I think they did pretty good. The guide lines out the aranging of the villages pretty good. It's main weak point is it's lack of help on monsters, like their attributes and such. Still worth the money though



3. Dark Cloud is a very random game, with its dungens, when you get people and their houses, items, weapons, ect, which makes making a guide about it very hard. But with what could have been put in the guide to make it at least worth a purchase, Prima didn't put hardly any worth while info in. In fact, one of these reasons is probably why you bought/want to buy this strat guide. You probably expected...

   1.) Detailed maps of where to put peoples homes, and their requirements to make them happy (probably your primary reason for getting/wanting to get this)

   2.) Enemy and bosses weaknesses, and how to dispatch them in a format that is clear and not confusing as heck

   3.) A detailed layout of what each weapons strengths are when you get them, and/or a layout of each requirement for the weapons to be able to build them up

   4.) A list of what each items price is, what shops have what items, and where to find them

   Well if you expected any of those, then you're sadly mistaken. Prima decided to keep the strat guide at a bare minimum of info, lacking almost everything that is needed to make it considered a strat guide and not an over-glorified handbook that comes with the game. In a nutshell this guide just tells you...

   1.) What weapons build up to what (none of the requirements, stats, or anything else useful though)

   2.) A little very biased characters guide, favoring Ruby over every other character in the game (which is pointed out in almost every chapter when you get her making you probably hate her by the time the book's done)

   3.) Tons of worthless information. Such as talk to the villagers (well duh), the names of each of the villagers and some info on them, what water pools does in every chapter like you're going to forget every 5 minutes, ect

   4.) A very clunky guide on how to fight bosses (It took me 6 trys at the Ice Queen even after disecting the boss guide since it didn't tell me jack about her attacks other than "...her attacks will freeze you in place" and "...she will attack and defend relentlessly". Prima nicely neglected to state that in order to get to the ice queen you have to dodge tornado attacks as well as her constantly following ice blast that doesn't leave you alone. In other words, very little effort was put into telling you how to dispatch bosses)

   5.) Just a brief skimming over what each item does (nothing special, but you can just select the item in your menu and it tells you what it does making this info worthless)

   6.) A list of georama analysis over what items are required to trigger an event (Which is rather pointless, due to you can just ask the villagers. Besides, you have to talk to the villagers to find out what they want before you can put the required item in it's proper slot anyway. This was just added in the strat guide to take up space much like everything else)

   Almost everything in this strat guide is just worthless information that you can find out by exploring, reading the handbook that came with the game, and just talking to villagers. If you're stuck at a part in Dark Cloud, this guide will probably not provide you with much more than just colored pictures, and telling you that Ruby is the best.

   All in all, after reading this strat guide I didn't get anything out of it other than what each weapon can build up to, which was a great disappointment considering what the price is of this thing. If everything that is worthless info was cut out of this guide, it would just be about the size of a 2 page pamplet of what info is worth while...it's not worth a purchase, let alone your time looking through it.




4. this guide is the best i beat all the bosses 1 try,
   now im at gallery of time 3rd level this is an amazing
   guide!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



5. Just ordred it from a book store for $15 dollars. Beat that. These people selling them R ripping U off.

No comments about Rise of the Argonauts: Prima Official Game Guide.

5 comments about Attack with Mikhail Tal.

1. Even from reading the first few pages my abilities as an attacker on the board has gotten better. To those who ever wonder how he manages to find the right time to attack, this book will show you how. my only complaint is that the book does not discuss attacking on the queenside.



2. This book is structured into nine chapters.
   1. Enemy King in the center - shows how to keep the king in the center and to attack it.
   2. Breakthrough in the Center - The theme still revolves around trapping the enemy king in the center for material sacrifice.
   3. The Assault Ratio - Shows how to tear apart the enemy fortress
   4. Invasion trajectories - Shows how to attack on the diagonals
   5. Lines of Communication - Shows how to break the enemies lines of communications to set up an attack.
   6 Outposts - Shows how a piece outpost beyond the 4th rank is a thorn in the enemies army.
   7. Eliminating Defenders - Shows how to get rid of those pesky defenders when attacking.
   8. At the Royal Court - Shows how to break apart a castled position.
   9. Destroying the Fortress walls - summs up with bxh7+ and double bishop sacrifices when the enemey pawn cover has not been touched. Also nxf7 and nxg7 sacrifices.
   There is a chapter missing on queenside sacrifices, but alas the magician from riga passed away before completing the book, so it's not his fault.



3. There comes a point in a tournament chess player's development when they are familiar with the "standard" tactical [and positional] themes: they know to go for the kill on, say, f7/f2 against a king stranded in the center (to me a "stranded" king is a stronger precondition for an early attack than an "uncastled" one). They can find (or at least know when to look for) "King's Field" sacrifices and combinations. They can find "Mate in X" when the position requires it.
   
   To me, this brilliant work is about COMPENSATION for sacrificed material in the form of much greater COORDINATION of one's forces than the opponent has of his. And often, the disparity of coordination that pops up is not immediate; rather, the attacking side has a greater ABILITY to develop/coordinate their pieces in the ensuing battle. The opponent's pieces may find themselves sealed off on one flank, or unable to rush to the defense in time.
   
   The thread running through Rudolph Spielmann's THE ART OF SACRIFICE IN CHESS (which I reveiewed previously) is the notion of COMPENSATION when the sacrifices are not of a decisive nature. Upon looking at his examples, the reader can rationalize the material investment as being entirely justified.
   
   With ATTACK WITH MIKHAIL TAL, however, this notion of COMPENSATION is much less clear for, I suspect, most of us. The 8th World Champion (1960) was adept at "Making it Work." The defensive resistance put up by Morphy's opponents was, generally, pathetic. By contrast, Tal stormed his way to the top by hacking to pieces many of the greatest chess players the world has ever seen (for example, he went 4-0 against Bobby Fischer in the 1959 Candidates Tournament, and beat Mikhail Botvinnik by 4 points in the 1960 World Championship Match).
   
   The attacking prowess of the Magician from Riga becomes understandable when reading this work, because he and Damsky explain the thought process behind it so well. All of this said, it takes a great amount of study and boldness to try and integrate this into one's own play! I know I certainly haven't been able to do it yet, but will continue to try!



4. First id like to say that my opinion on this book is quite emotional. This book is simply beautifull in the way it shows so clearly the main elements necesary to carry and attack on the king from one of the greatest attackers if not the greatest. To give some objective information for the buyer the book is divide by stages ( as much as an attack can be divided in stages ) and carrys the reader through them quite clearly , even if you didnt understood the explanations , you would get the knowledge from doing your homework of analisying yourself along with the analisys of the authors. Mikhail Tal died before finishing this book and therefore theres one chapter missing on queen sacrifices , but nevertheless the book is great , specially if you find yourself toothless when the matter in hand is carrying an efective attack on the king and in general. To be honest i had to read the book twice , the second time i read it backwards ( it simply clicked when i did it that way ). I carry the book most of the time with me to do some quick reviewing when ever i can. At the time i read the book i was already the champion on my club , but mostly in account of the poor positional and tactical decisions of my oponents , now im just bringing them to their knees. Last game i played ( against a german player ) i threw an attack on the kingside ,even though there was no outposts or lines (based on the assault ration concept Tal exposes in the book ), and then after making my oponent become completely passive i redirected an attack on the weakenesses left on the queen side and winning an important piece and the game. The diference in that game is that i was so clear and what was there and was not that i was able to come up with a more complete plan and enjoy more thorough understanding of my attack posibilities. Enjoy



5. This book is broken down into sections covering a variety of attacking themes and prerequisites for launching decisive attacks on your opponent's king. By playing through the many fantastic examples presented in the book, one sees over and over the beauty of sacrificial, tactical chess. I enjoyed this book very much and would recommend it to anyone who loves the game.

3 comments about Official Nintendo The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask Player's Strategy Guide.

1. I've liked Nintendo guides because they seem to have good insight and great mapmakers. The downside is they sometimes rely a little too heavy on the maps. Yet overall a great guide.
   
   Pros
   +Very colorful
   +Great Maps
   +No spoilers
   +Concise the dungeon walkthrough, it is easy to follow you just navigate from number to number on the map and then read the paragraph it correlates to.
   +Tells you all the movements for Link
   +List all the items and which mask's can use them
   +Gives you hints on how to survive
   +Good fairy guide with screenshots
   +Side quests are incorporated right into the walkthrough.
   +Bomber notebook guide (includes a graph of the times available, list of the requirements and rewards, and a walkthrough with screenshots)
   +Masks Guide (Tells who to get it from and were they are, also a walkthrough with screenshots)
   +Pieces of Heart Guide (A screen shot and paragraph on how to get it)
   +Bottles and Upgrade Guide (Paragraph with screenshots on how to get the bottles and upgrades)
   +Majora's Mysteries, which is a section of fun things to do
   
   
   Cons
   -Choppy walkthrough, it just highlights the key and difficult points in the game and expects you to get there on your own
   -Expects you to use the map to navigate from point to point
   -The dungeon walkthrough can seem too concise in a little under five instances, which aren't difficult to figure out, i.e. you'll need a key to enter and you'll need to find it on your own
   -No Bestiary
   -A little thin
   
   Overall its a great guide. I would definitively pick this guide up if you buy The Legend of Zelda Collectors Edition or decide to go retro and pick up and N64 and LOZ:MM.



2. Thank you for responding back. I've been looking for a Player's Guide in this game because it gets confusing for awhile. So, I don't mind cheating, which is my best bet in most games. I found what I've been looking for.



3. Never get lost in this game again. With this players guide you will find everything and never get stuck in the game again.

5 comments about Animal Crossing (Prima's Official Strategy Guide).

1. I dont know if this is the animal crossing guide i have or not. But the one i have is full of useful information on this game, that's fun to just look at.. even if you have the game if you ask me.



2. Animal Crossing is a real world type game.It has great graphics and is not violent.It has a lot of stuff you would do when you move out of your parents house like bills house ware and of course geting letters from your mom! By:Andrew Fink



3. This guide is a great tool for Animal Crossing fans to find out what pieces they are missing from their sets, and when activities happen (in general) and items can be found. Beware, however, if you are looking for a guide that will tell you every detail of your game. Due to the nature of Animal Crossing, no guide can give you a complete list of what to expect. The guide includes a calendar of the events for 2003, so if you're playing the game at the current date and time these events will not be accurate. This guide can tell you what to expect, but can't tell you exactly when and where it will happen in your Animal Crossing town. The only way to do that is to play your game every day ;) The layout of the guide makes it easy to catalog what you have collected and see what you are still missing, but looking up items takes a bit of page turning. There are nearly complete item lists, and approximate timetables for catching fish and insects. Overall, this guide is a great resource for collecting, but it can't replace the months/years of gameplay necessary to 'complete' the game and do all there is to do in your town.



4. Since this item is no longer in stock it would be nice if you would delete it from the listing. I have been looking for this title for a long time and was very disappointed to find that it is sold out.



5. If you play Animal Crossing a lot then you have to have this because there is so much to the game. There are some problems but it still is handy and can help a lot. That said you still will have to get some info on the internet. Is there such a thing as a casual AC player? I don't think so.