Rating: 
Summary: The Best Book Around
Review: This book is the BEST book for game programming in existence today! And, given that is is only Volume I, of a II volume series, makes it even better."Tricks ..." has well over 1,000 pages to cover all of the fundamentals of game programming. Whereas "Windows Game Programming for Dummies" only had around 450 pages. Which do you think is more thorough? To make things even better, we get coverage of DirectMusic ... something that is hard to find information for, if you are a developer. The description of the book clearly states that the 3D information on the book is on CD. It is very sad that some people fail to read the description and then post a bad review becuase of their folly. The next volume will be covering the "quake" type engine development. This is something that is completely new and the foundation had to be set forth in order to get there. This book IS that foundation. Whether you are a serious game programmer, or just a hobbyist, this book can't be beat ( at least until Volume II comes out )!
Rating: 
Summary: Good book but...
Review: Overall I'm pretty happy with this book with two major exceptions. 1) Before it's release it was described as a book on 2d/3d techniques. Only problem is that all the 3d stuff is on CD. Now were told that the "real" 3d stuff will be in Volume 2. Volume 2?!?! If that was the original intent then why wasn't this pointed out in the synopsis? I probably would have waited for Vol2 rather than order this rehash of Windows Game Programming for Dummies. 2) This is related to #1 and is what ultimately caused me to rate this book 3 stars rather than 4. Three of the online chapters don't load! Maybe it's just me, but I can not load Chapters 1 and 7 in the General 3d online book or Chapter 3 in the Direct 3d online book. I get messages for all 3 saying that the document name/path is not valid! Give me a break! If you're going to pull a fast one and throw promised chapters on a CD rather than in the book, make damn sure the CD works! Anyone else have this problem? My final conclusion is that IS a good book. I'm just a bit jaded by the misleading sysnopsis that was originally presented on Amazon and the CD problems.
Rating: 
Summary: Pitiful
Review: I must agree with the previous reviewer. The only reason why I give the book two stars is for the decent information on the CD. This is NOT the book that was first advertised, this is <ahem> "Volume I" (Which really is just a rehash of windows game prog for dummies). The 3D stuff is apparently in Volume II. What a waste.
Rating: 
Summary: Not As Advertised, But Still Great
Review: According to Andre the man himself, this edition is not the complete manuscript -- it's part 1 of 2. He apparently wrote way too much to fit into 1 book, so late in the writing process he decided to split it into 2 volumes. As it stands, it is an excellent introduction to the world of 3D game programming. You really can't learn 3D game programming without understanding something about 2D game programming first (well you can, but it's just much easier this way), so don't get you stockings in a knot if you think this book isn't as informative about 3D programming as advertised -- just be patient, and wait for the next volume -- this is only the intro.
Rating:
Summary: Good First Volume
Review: This is an excellent book on basic game programming in windows, particularly using DirectX. It should be noted however, that this volume does not cover any 3D topics. That will be in the second volume of this series.
Rating:
Summary: Just what I wanted
Review: Tricks of the Windows Game Programming Gurus gave me the information I wanted on the fundementals of game programming. The clear explanations and examples made the sometimes complicated math--not my bag--much easier to understand. (and better than understand--to apply) This was my first Andre Lamothe book and I would certainly buy others. His style is interesting and readable. If you want to explore game programming, this is a great choice.
Rating:
Summary: Simply put-----Another Masterpiece by Andre'!
Review: This book is simply another masterpiece in a long line of excellent writings by Andre'. His style gets better with each book and his ability to cover game development material at a level that is understood by many has not been equaled to date. It contains all of the essentials to get any beginner started and provides techinques to assist those intermediate+ level people. For beginners the book covers game design, design documents, and 2D gaming techniques. For more advanced users the book covers topics like AI (ie, Fuzzy Logic) and physics. In short, you cannot go wrong with this book. He takes the time to tell you "everything" you need to know with working source code (unlike many other authors). Lastly, although the books mentioned above are excellent books, please keep in mind that neither of them are specific to game programming and thus, do not contain any material regarding game development. I've given my 2 cents..................
Rating:
Summary: This book rocks!
Review: First of all, the previous comment is completely off base. The AI chapter has all kinds of cool stuff that I have been looking for 4ever. Things like path finding, fuzzy logic, script languages and more. And the physics moves all the way into full collision response which is hard enough since I'm not that good at math. Finally, the book is Volume I of a 2 volume set which Andre states in the book, and volume II is the 3D book. Nevertheless, there are two other full books on 3D and the general 3D book is far better then Abrashes black book (which I own), which is a regurgitation of articles from the 80's and a blow by blow of making quake -- but not technical enough to get anywhere. Anyway, the book kicks ass like all his others, buy it you won't be sorry.
Rating:
Summary: Not true to advertising , but an ok replacement
Review: I was really happy when I read the MacMillan advertising about having a 3D Quake level engine from LaMothe, one of my all time favorite programming authors. However the book is similar to Game Programming in 21 days and Windows programming for Dummies. It all looks like the same stuff except in Win32 and DirectX clothes. This is not all that bad because if you are starting out you will not have to try and guess what the Win32 equivalent of the DOS calls are as you would in Black Art of 3D game programming. This is disturbing because I really love LaMothe's books and this appears to be just a rehash. There is nothing on 3D game programming and the "rasterization" library is basic at best. If you are new buy this book else wait.
Rating:
Summary: Wasn't worth the wait
Review: Am I the only one getting sick of "bonus" chapters on CD? Even when learning about programming, there are times when I prefer to sit down with a book AWAY from the computer. The first reviewer got it right when he said this is basically just a rehash a LaMothe's "for Dummies" book which was a good intro to Windows game programming. However, this time round I was really expecting more. What a disappointment.
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