No comments about Shining Force(tm) Neo Official Strategy Guide (Official Strategy Guides (Bradygames)).

2 comments about Daggerfall: Unauthorized Strategy Guide (Secrets of the Games Series.).

1. This stragegy guide has almost everything an rpg player would need to finish daggerfall. This book gives you strategy and tips on fighting monsters, customizing your own character, dungeon crawling, the problems of everyday life, from politics to killing, and many other tips and strategies that help the gamer enjoy daggerfall to their utmost capacity. My only complaint is that the book contains no maps on the important dungeons such as castle sentinel or castle wayrest. my advice is get this book if you can find it. in addition get the official strategy guide entitled DAGGERFALL CHRONICLES. Normally it's better to get the official strategy guides as opposed to the unofficial ones. However, Daggerfall Unauthorized Strategy Guide has more strategy, tactics, and player insights than the official guide, but the official guide has all the necessary maps. The bottom line is: if you need tips to finish the game, buy this book ASAP! If all you care about are easy ways to walkthrough dungeons, then stick with the official guide. The official guide, however, is also out of print.



2. Using a strategy guide used to be only as a take-off platform for an otherwise difficult game, Ultima V: Paths of Destiny had no walktrhu but got you oriented right. This book goes in to far too much detail about how you "should do this " and you Must make your thief/spy "this" way and so forth, pretty commonplace now as people cannot think for themselves, but this was not acceptable when published. The best part of this book(avoid the chapters dealing with plots and sub plots) is the actuall STRATIGY involved in a beginning adventuer. The tips for starting out of Priv Hold are right here! Once you can actually last ten seconds out there, you don't really need the book. Banking and management are hard yes and developement is a little odd(in '97 people wern't familiar with the character dev system) since the instruction manual does nothing to document actuall developement STRATIGY, this book is a must for a beginner to the odd ball system. You dev 10 like-minded skills and sleep on it promptly.(no napping in between as I understood-this was fixed in Morrowind and Oblivion). The clubs and factions are also important(more so!) and also quick tips(not necessarily power gaming just first time survival) are very good for the weakling level 1 guy. Going in a graveyard to loot treasure,,,, repeatedly, isn't powergaming if the game it'self is a glitch pile! Other than "first time in towne, buddy?" avoid the other chapters. Your 30 HP barbarian with mithril rings on his fingers and ebony dagger encrusted bells on his toes, 60 speed, and all +1 bonuses to abilities isn't necessary(IMO) And don't let the book intimidate you into the YOU MUST DO IT THAT WAY OR DIE! You don't need to worry about maxing the game speed either but if you do you can fight even at max and a less-than bellsn'whistles speed rating! It's just more challenging that way! It just isn't role playing if you max speed and agility for all classes you play. You can actully get pretty far in the game with a normal stratigy or comon sense and perserverence, it's a game! it's supposed to be a challenge!(let the trolls kill ya a few times then rethink, like in the old days!) THe powergamng chapter is nice and thier is a warning not to read it(I sugesst heeding it!) if you don't powergame in RPG's, but the other "tips" in the "Character Developement sect" in particular, are just as bad. I give it a mediocre rating but not bad. IF you don't get my shorthand, you are STOAP'ih'T! don't bother commenting or "axing me what'z bout anyway(s). you have no wieght to your words! 'K bye!

2 comments about Cross-Platform Game Programming (Game Development) (Game Development).

1. With the development costs of a modern graphics intensive game reaching something like $15 million, you can't afford to ignore any sizable market, so if for another million or so you can make your game work on one machine like say a PC, but also on others like an X-Box, a Mac, a ... well you get the picture.
   
   In this book Mr. Goodwin, who has "been there, done that" talks about designing a game from the ground up so that it will perform identically on multiple platforms. By including good design practices from the beginning, the programming team can greatly reduce the effort required to produce the different variations of the game, in many cases using the same code to handle the different machines.
   
   The CD that comes with this book contains far more original material than most. It includes code for a memory manager, filesystem, and network driver developed using the principles shown in the book. In addition other code provides cross platform implementation of the major areas of game development.
   
   This is the only book I know of that handles cross platform development in a manner anywhere near so completely.



2. In "Cross Platform Game Programming," Steven Goodwin describes the major challenges developers face when building a cross-platform game or engine. Published by Charles River Media (ISBN 1584503793) for $49.95, the book spans eleven chapters through 460 pages and includes a CDROM containing the book's sample code and several useful toolkit libraries.
   
   As publishers continue to release titles simultaneously on multiple platforms, developers must contend with two or more console architectures during development. In order to isolate the high level changes and streamline development efficiency, games usually sit on top of an engine designed to abstract away hardware details to common API calls. The first chapter describes the typical problems encountered when attempting to write a cross-platform engine and how to design low level systems to prevent cross-platform issues.
   
   A key goal in writing cross-platform software is to reduce fundamental differences between target environments. The book's second chapter highlights code design methods and nuances that are critical to consider and adopt. Some of the subtle points discussed include language implementation differences between compilers, deterministic mathematic calculations, and different debugging environments. Goodwin describes common pitfalls to avoid and design considerations to adopt.
   
   Each of the subsequent chapters focus on a specific hardware difference: memory, CPU, storage, and input devices. The memory chapter describes issues associated with alignment, basic type sizes, and designing a memory management layer to create a common allocation scheme. The CPU chapter considers hardware timers, multi-threading, and various time management strategies. The storage chapter discusses creating cross-platform data file formats, endian issues, safe serialization, and creating a custom file system. Lastly, the input device chapter considers treatment controllers and platform specific interface devices.
   
   Without going into specific detail regarding today's console hardware, the book does a good job describing typical pitfalls and troubles one will encounter writing an engine to abstract the hardware of all three major systems. In particular, Goodwin addresses game specific problems like resource construction, the art asset pipeline, and video playback. Sample code is sprinkled throughout the book to help highlight topics discussed in the text. I was a little surprised the book didn't allude to any specs of the upcoming consoles, however, but instead stuck with the PS2, X-Box, and Game Cube.
   
   In the later chapters, the book tackles cross platform problems found higher-level systems like audio, graphics, networking with mixed success. For example, the audio chapter emphasizes various resource compression algorithms (MP3, Ogg, etc.) as a mechanism for data homogeneity across multiple platforms but the audio engine itself seemed rather shallow and contrived compared to the previous chapters on hardware abstraction.
   
   The text comes with a CDROM that contains the book source code and figures, as well as several freely available SDK and toolkit packages like DirectX, Lua, and Ogg Vorbis. The CD is nice but unspectacular given the book is relatively light on sample code and examples and considering the most developers probably already have the other packages.
   
   Overall, Goodwin does a good job presenting the challenges facing game developers who undertake writing a cross platform engine. In reading the text, I've encountered and had to cope with almost every issue he presented and found the writing to be credible. However given the book's length, I wished the discussion involved creating such an engine more than talking about it generically with some partial implementation of specific subsystems.

5 comments about Keno Winner: A Guide to Winning at Video Keno.

1. Outstanding book! Just hours after receiving it, I was standing in front of the machines doing better than I ever had before. This is thing is full of secrets so simple and easy, I can't believe I never thought of them before. Pays for itself easily. Highly recommended!!



2. Best book of it's kind I've read so far. It has a lot of good information, and it's presented in a way anyone can understand. Also, I do have to admit, it does seem to have helped improve my percentages in winning at keno. Definitely worth a read.



3. After reading this book I went to the casino and after a short amount of time of using the strategy presented in this book I hit 6 out of 7 numbers in Keno! Great book, quick read, definitely a book to teach you the right way to play.



4. I play almost every weekend on IGT Game King keno machines at a local Indian casino in California. I will admit that I HAVE won more money blocking numbers. I've also seen other people in the casino do very well blocking numbers and playing straight lines, but in the end it's all up to luck. My brother-in-law has won thousands more than I have and he plays scattered numbers. My advice is to stick to whatever has paid you the most money and keep at it. If you're like me then you'll have a few special machines that seem to always pay out more than others. This book is a fine quick read for anyone getting into video Keno gaming. Good luck!



5. The book provided very little information regarding winning techniques; but basically information that anyone could acquire at a casino but pushing the HELP button on the video machine; such as payouts, etc. I was hoping for some tried and true methods of improving my odds and did not find any.

No comments about Gaming Lives in the Twenty-First Century: Literate Connections.

2 comments about Game Design Perspectives (with CD-ROM) (Advances in Computer Graphics and Game Development Series).

1. This is a nice book with some technical issues that could be better but still a nice book to have for any one interested or that has a career in game design. you should read this book and understand at least a nice outline of how to design a game. you should'nt buy this if you are just starting and have no clue how to design games it is a nice book to try for starters even though there is a chance they will not know what it is talking about.



2. This is a very good read, and offers a lot of good information for the budding game designer. There are lots of issues to ponder and the book certainly manages to raise some good ones. My only complaints about the book are the lack of strong examples for some key concepts (naming specific games, and perhaps detailing how said game illustrates the concept would be nice) and the fact that it is rather focused on the RPG and Adventure genres. For that reason I would highly recommend it to designers interested in those genres, but would caution those who are not interested in designing RPG/Adventure games.

1 comments about Naruto: Rise of a Ninja: Prima Official Game Guide (Prima Official Game Guides) (Prima Official Game Guides).

1. Usually these Prima Guides are on point, but this guide for Naruto: Rise of a Ninja is absolutely useless. It doesnt tell you where to find things or missions, at best it briefly describes the tasks and never explains what to do, how to do something, or where to find things. On one of the most annoying Social Missions which was a race thru the water-fall area for the second time it says, "finish the race and collect reward." Oh really? I didnt know I was supposed to finish a race thanks a lot Prima!!...Dont even bother buying this I wasted my money.
   The only positive thing is the multiplayer strategies, other than that if you wanted a walkthrough just find a much better, in depth one online.

5 comments about Donkey Kong 64: Prima's Official Strategy Guide.

1. Ok, All prima guides are a little hard to understand. these facts are: undetailed maps (what are we, 5 year olds? if you can read the maps, go for it.) Information sometimes typoed and unorganized. (In the Jet Force Gemini guide, it looks like is is messed up, look for the white lines, as for typos, people like these critics can report it, and Prima will change it.) See? this guide is also intended for slightly advanced readers. if you do not like this book, look at the Nintendo version of the strategy guide.



2. It is the BEST STRATEGY GUIDE YOU CAN GET FOR DONKEY KONG!It has the most pages then any other Donkey Kong Strategy Guide!It has all the information you want about the game!This is the ULTIMATE STRATEGY GUIDE for this game! Trust me.Buy it yourself and one will find that it is THE GREATEST GUIDE FOR THE GAME!



3. Prima has out done itself this time. With all the maps as to where each Golden Banana is or where each Banana Fairy may be hiding, this book clearly tells all you need to know. With detailed guides and maps for each of the characters, this book is one of the most helpful that I have ever used.



4. This is one of two strategy guides I used to play this game. Initially, I was a little lost trying to match the information in the first chapter of the "Walkthrough Section" of the book to the game I saw in front of me. It leads you to believe that the "DK Isles" area is the first area to tackle but much of this area is inaccessible to you until much later in the game. If you skip that section and begin with the "Jungle Japes" section you'll be starting where the game begins and the information is very helpful from there.

   This guide is especially helpful with the two "arcade" style games that you will encounter during the adventure. Winning these games will give you two unique coins that are vital to gaining access to the final area of the game. Details of how each of these games look and what must be accomplished will help anyone not familiar with these original 1980's games. My huge disadvantage from having never played either of these games was lessened by these instructions.

   The other guide I used was "Donkey Kong 64 Official Strategy Guide" by Bradygames. It's definitely worth taking a look at too. Both books were invaluable to me for different reasons. Together, they helped make my game experience much more enjoyable by clarifying details I would have missed on my own.




5. If you're confused this is the book to come to! In just a few months I went from 3% to 87%!

2 comments about Pirates of the Burning Sea: Prima Official Game Guide (Prima Official Game Guides) (Prima Official Game Guides).

1. This game guide was already out of date when both it and the game were released. It has some useful information, but it isn't useful as a reference guide to plan development on.
   
   I returned mine.



2. The book is great, if you play the game. I stopped playing after about a month, but the book was really informative.

4 comments about ICO (Prima's Official Strategy Guide).

1. As far as games go, I really feel that lately gaming has been in a slump. It has been more than a year since I have purchased a game, computer or PS2, and have been truly enthralled.
   Ico has changed all that. By incorporating a beautiful tale, into a game that has incredible graphics, and near perfect gameplay Ico has accomplished something great. Ico makes you actually feel like you are living out some sort of childhood dream. Now some would probably say that this is just a game... well yes it is, but Ico is more. Think about the greatest book you have ever read. Now think about how emotional you would get when the characters were in danger or conflicted... now imagine that you are controlling the main character, and its your job to ensure the heroin's safety. Now imagine that the heroin actually reacts to you... its unbeleivable, but Ico accomplishes this.
   Previous reviews have mentioned that Ico is short, well if you are looking for FF.. it is not. Its more like an interactive movie.
   Ico is by far one of the most brilliant games ever made.
   I agree that it is hard to justify spending the amount of money required for a game that might keep you busy for a week, but I say that if you want to see more games of this quality, and from a company that is obviously interested in providing top notch products I say spend the money.



2. Hi im getting this for christmas and im wandering is this book in english?? If you have an answer please post it up as a review



3. The game is one of the best I've played, I consider the guide is not as good as the game, it lacks a lot of info you may need while playing the game, Don't waste your money on this guide



4. Ico is a beautifully crafted puzzle game that lasts about 7-8 hours, with no replay value. The maps are not hard, and "dying" only happens if you make very careless errors. If you use this guide to run through the game, you'll only ruin the fun of the game, which is the puzzles. Relax. Take your time. Figure it out for yourself. Enjoy the visuals, they're some of the best on the PS2. If you really, really have to, consult an online guide.