2 comments about Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles: Prima Official Game Guide (Prima Official Game Guides) (Prima Official Game Guides).

1. Great guide, it includes all your needs, from fully detailed maps to the descriptions of every enemy in the game. It also includes hints to how to beat any boss in the game.



2. It's good giudance to unlock the armo and the new stages. The price is cheaper than in store a lot.

2 comments about Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2: Prima Official Game Guide (Prima Official Game Guides) (Prima Official Game Guides).

1. This guide won't be that helpful for PC users, since it is based on X360.
   The game is actually very hard.



2. i have heard people bought this strategy guide for the PC version. This is a 360 version. that cleared, the info in the guide help you plan your movements and has great specs on the weapons. many dont like it because it dos not tell you how to beat the game. to that i say. than what the fun of beating the game!

1 comments about Dark Sector Official Strategy Guide (Brady Games) (Brady Games) (Official Strategy Guides (Bradygames)).

1. As far as most Bradygames guides go, this one is pretty standard fair. It has a nice layout with interesting photos. The walkthrough contains a lot of helpful details. All of that text does require that the photos be a bit small, but they are pretty clear. There are nice descriptions of all of the characters. The info on the multiplayer is pretty short, but there are only two multiplayer options, so you do the math. There is a lot of information about Hayden's abilities, boss battle strategy, and back story. It's a pretty good companion piece to a pretty good game.

No comments about Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance: Sybex Official Strategies & Secrets.

5 comments about Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse Official Strategy Guide (Signature).

1. I received the product in under a week after I ordered it. It was received in bubble wrap and is in very good condition; there weren't even any creases on the binding. I would not have expected to find a copy in a bookstore in this great a condition.



2. I'm not a big fan of stradegy guides. But I sure know what's a good one. This book has alot of tips and good boss stradegies, such as enemy data and HP, type weakness, break zones, etc. However, I feel uncomfortable with the layout of the maps and how the key works. It's a bit confusing. Especially with the location of the items and sometimes I wonder why the GS quests couldn't have been put at the end of each section instead of making me flip all the way back to the book. It's a hassle there because most, if not all new proceedings in the next stage, a couple of new GS campaigns are avalible and it's very annoying to always flip to the back of the book and wondering which GS route you have to do.
   
   Also, there are confusing instructions making it almost impossible to find out what they're trying to make you do. Those are just one of the two major things that irks me. (It's not that bad but it's still confusing if you skip the key.) All in all, it gets you through the game, has amazingly good heads-up on notes you should keep in mind, and it has a lovely fold out poster. But I think you can get through the game just fine without it, it's just that it gets you through puzzles quicker. I'm one of those people who really hates game puzzles.



3. 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. The signature series look espicially sharp!



4. I love Xensaga. I just finished the first one and can't wait
   to start on this one. If you like the thinking games, then
   this is for you!



5. It's always helpful to have a strategy guide for when you get into a tight spot, or to find those elusive items :)

1 comments about WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 Signature Series Guide.

1. Delivery was quick. The manual is in good condition. It was a little bent and wrinkled in the back but, it was like new otherwise. I am pleased with the purchase.

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 Artificial Intelligence for Games (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Interactive 3D Technology).

1. The author uses "pseudo-code" through out the book. The cd contains only a pc-executable program. There is no source code on the CD.
   
   This book is a poor source of programming code where the author explains how ai works based on the pseudo-code.
   
   If you're looking for source code (ie C++ source code) you'll not find it here.



2. Understand that the pseudo-code approach this book takes is what makes it such a standout from the rest of the crowd. The author is technically thorough and the syntax is straightforward enough to use in any language needed. Moreover, it frees the author to discuss AI in abstract terms which, in the end, proves to be much more valuable content. C++ source code puts the pseudo-code discussions into practice for those looking for real-world examples.
   
   I would HIGHLY recommend this book as a follow up to Mat Buckland's "Programming Game AI by Example" (Nov., 2004)



3. This is a very solid book on AI for games.
   
   The C++ source code provided with the book is excellent. While the examples are visually unexciting, they demonstrate the power of the book's principles without the clutter that a complete graphics game would require. I was able to compile and build all the examples on the CD in one evening. The code demonstrates many of the best practices of C++ programming and design patterns.
   
   The author builds up a nice AI engine as you progress through the book. The C++ code from the CD (or web-site) is well commented and ties exactly into the pseudocode in the book.
   
   Millington goes into considerable detail as he reveals the power of Artificial Intelligence for Games. He carefully explains each step including the math and physics required to carry out the execution. It is obvious that he has a great deal of experience in writing computer games. He shows you a clear solid way of doing things and then discussed the strengths and weaknesses by comparing it to other techniques and addressing possible optimizations.
   
   To read and understand this book takes time and hard work. Artificial Intelligence is a large and complex topic in math and computer science programs. The author has brought many nuggets of wisdom from that branch of research and made them understandable and useful for game programmers. Not an easy job, but Millington is one of the best at explaining difficult concepts in a clear and straight forward way.
   
   The other reviewer's that are knocking this book because of the code, don't know what they are talking about. The code is excellent and what makes this a 5-star pick.



4. This book is really good and is different from other ones in the field of Artificial Intelligence. Millington explains difficult stuff in an easy and readable way. I like the academic approach of the book, I used it during my last year in college and it turned out really useful. If you want implementation details you have the source code in c++. The use of pseudocode is the best idea when writing these sort of books.



5. I bought this book for an Artificial Intelligence for Games class at my University. I haven't read through all of the book, but I can already tell you that the pseudo-code in this book is very poor. It's obvious that the author didn't actually go through and run the code to make sure it worked. In the movement algorithms, the code would sometimes alter rotation (speed of orientation) when it should be altering the orientation itself. In the dynamic kinematics class, the code multiplies the velocity by the acceleration instead of just simply adding the acceleration to the velocity.
   
   Even when you get the provided movement algorithms to work the way the author probably intended, there are still issues that aren't considered. I won't get into too much detail but an example is the "Arrive" behavior. It doesn't work properly because the bot never arrives at it's target. There is nothing in the algorithm that actually decelerates the bot or nullifies the velocity. So you basically get a bot that wiggles back and forth on stationary targets.
   
   The explanations are pretty straight foward, and I admit I haven't read the full book yet. I just think it's pretty unacceptable to publish something with so many errors in the pseudo-code.

5 comments about Gaming: Essays On Algorithmic Culture (Electronic Mediations).

1. Interesting book, but not entirely what I was expecting. It takes a very filmic approach to videogames, focusing on gaze and perspective. There are some interesting parallels draw between film and games, but for the most part, the author seems more comfortable in a critical eye outside of games themselves.
   
   I lost interest in the book about halfway through, but I may pick it up again. If you are looking for a book about interaction or theories of play and leisure, this is not the book for you.



2. After Protocol, one of the best books in cyberculture, Galloway bring us Gaming, one of the best books in gameculture.
   Remembering Protocol's way, a bit of history, with some criticism after. The only problem is the book is toooo short, and very important issues, like gameart and mods, stay basics. I hope these can be developed in the next future.
   
   And I love cover, with the Unreal Healt PickUp int the hospital.



3. This is a fun book to read that is written in an accessible and engaging style that contains some really interesting ideas about gaming. Because this is more a collection of interrelated essays than a sustained argument, it makes sense to approach each essay individually.
   
   In the first chapter-essay, to understand the relationship between the player and the game space, the author arrives at a cartesian plane of possible gaming moments: The x-axis moves between the operator's and the machine's actions, and the y-axis moves between diegetic and non-diegetic actions. The result is that some common gaming moments can be reliably plotted in this plane. The author's approach here presents a way to initiate a discussion around action, but the entire argument doesn't hang on the validity of this model. This diagram forces the author to define game diegesis somewhat narrowly within the confines of certain kinds of games, and it seems somewhat arbitrary where he draws the line between diegetic and non-diegetic. However, it's an interesting beginning, and the terms and relationships Galloway sets up here permeate the remainder of the essays, contextualizing them all within the idea of game action.
   
   In chapter 2, the author goes to great lengths to justify his central claim that where film uses the subjective shot to represent a problem with identification, games use the subjective shot to create identification. The problem with first-person or subjective camerawork is that the perspective suggests agency or the ability to interact. It is in these moments in cinema where the camera exposes itself as an agent of looking, and the audience is confronted with its own status as observer. In other words, it is the fact that the first-person perspective holds forth the possibility of action that makes it such an uncomfortable technique in cinema, but such a natural arrangement in gaming where the possibility of interaction exists. The author then identifies certain cinematic situations that adopt visual "patina" derived from gaming. Some obvious examples of this "gamic vision" include the Heads-Up Display subjective shots from Terminator and RoboCop.
   
   In chapter 3, Galloway unpacks the idea of realism in gaming, distancing it from the so-called "realism" of high-end graphics that purport to be faithful representations of real world objects. Instead, since gaming is for Galloway an action and not an image, realism should be imagined on different terms. Again taking cues from cinema, Galloway argues that a better kind of realism for gaming would follow the model of neorealism in film in which neorealisticness depends on narrative and not form. Galloway mentions games like September 12th and The Sims as possibilities of a better realism in gaming because they engage social reality at a level in which the game action parallels the real-world action it comments on. In other words, a person is more likely to order a pizza than shoot aliens. Again orienting his discussion on action, Galloway concludes that the true correspondence obtained in realistic gaming is a congruence between the "material substrate of the medium" and the gamer's social reality.
   
   In the fourth chapter and the concluding one, Galloway makes a compelling case for the expressive potential of video games. In outlining the allegories of control in gaming, Galloway claims that, to the extent that successfully navigating daily life increasingly relies on selecting options from series of menus, gaming simply emulates this by enclosing it within the gaming action. The main example here is Civilization, which has been criticized for its Imperialistic politics. For Galloway, though, the problem with Civlization is not so much that it presents other nations and people groups as fodder for conquering, but that it condenses politics into a series of quantities that can be balanced and varied according to menu configurations. So Galloway does criticize the game, but mainly does so because it represents an index for the very dominance of informatic organization and how it has entirely overhauled, revolutionized, and recolonized the function of identity.
   
   In chapter five, Galloway ends up with six theses for countergaming, one of which is hypothetical. Though the book as a whole claims to be a collection autonomous essays, it's hard not to read in this essay the culmination of ideas oulined in the first four. Put briefly, countergaming involves establishing and then subverting the formal poetics of gameplay. One theme in this is the foregrounding of apparatus, or when games break. The author's main example in this essay is Jodi's untitled game in which the interface frequently breaks down or appears to reveal its underlying code. Similarly, countergaming can become visible in subverting representational modeling of objects with degraded artifacts. Note that this is not simply bad modeling or the modeling of abstract objects. Rather, the spatiality of objects is threatened by their exposed status as images. This discussion is useful not only for outlining a potential direction for artistic or activist game design, but also for providing a context for discussing more mainstream activity like Alternate Reality Gaming in which the game world is very much defined by its juxtaposition with its representation and underlying code, or more sinister-seeming accidents like actual rendering errors in game worlds. These phenomena are not countergaming as such, but it is possible to understand the disruption of their presence better if we see it as a kind energy working against the dominant hegemony of the game structure. Such things break the framework of social realism.
   
   Although I found this book intelligent and engaging, I'm still not sure what to do with it. The author proposes alternatives to popular critical models, but these are mostly gestures toward a way of thinking about gaming rather than a declaration of How Things Are. It is this approach, along with the approach to gaming as an action rather than games as objects, that is this book's most valuable contribution. I would recommend it to high-level game architects and virtual world architects who aren't afraid of a somewhat academic read.



4. Excellent book. Until now, I have read the first two essays. In the first one, Gamic Actions - Four Moments, the author has developed an analysis framework for games based on the concept of diegesis. In the second, he digs the origins of the First-Person Shooter based on the film history. Definitely, this book will be an important reference in my doctorate research.



5. I work in the video game industry and have launched over 10 titles on both console and PC, 4 of which have sold over 1 million units. This book, while academically interesting in the abstract (and that's why it's not getting 1 star from me), does not describe anything relevant to the real world of game creation or development. It does not contain anything that I would recommend to my business as either prescriptive for development activities or descriptive of player behaviors. Other than the need to publish for academic politics reasons, I don't know why the author wrote this book.

1 comments about Madden NFL 09 Limited Edition Bundle: Prima Official Game Guide.

1. This Limited Edition Bundle is an interesting read, to get the history about how the Madden Game started, and NFL players views. Along with the Official Game guide for detailed levels/angles of the game, this is a great pack.