Rating: 
Summary: If I had to do it over again, I wouldn't
Review: This book is over 1000 pages of mindless drivel. The author spends a little too much time explaining how the hardware works and not enough time explaining the code. He doesn't even get into directX until chapter 5, over 200 pages into the book.The title is also decieving, "Fundamentals of 2D and 3D programming." What they don't tell you is that the book itself is COMPLETELY about 2D programming, and if you want to learn 3D programming, there is a "bonus" chapter (only on the CD included) and a list of www links that may or may not help you. I bought Tricks of the Game Programming Gurus and More Tricks of the Game Programming Gurus and was impressed, but with this book I was not.
Rating: 
Summary: ABSOLUTELY Not worth it
Review: This book was terrible. The directions were vauge and not centered on the topic. I must have spent 14 hours trying to figure out what the heck the book was saying, with no help whatsoever from the CD. I'm not some new-user who doese'nt even know what a file is, but i'm not a world-class programmer, so i do'nt have time to understand a badly-written book. Don't get this book unless you want another piece of firewood.
Rating: 
Summary: great book for the beginner
Review: I loved this book from the start, some people might not like LaMothe's very personal writing style, but to me it felt like he was talking to ME which makes the book very pleasant to read. Tons of examples, both for the beginner and more experienced programmers about the most common gaming problems. However this book is for 2d, the 3d stuff is on the CD and who likes to try to read 100+ pages of word documents? Also I miss DirectPlay, network games are almost the standard these days.
Rating: 
Summary: Good concepts, but cluttered code
Review: This book is excellent for teaching the theory behind game design, including physics and hit detection. However, I found the code very cluttered. His programming style is awkward and he uses unnecessary header files. One example is a blitting demo in chapter 7. There's great examples to go along with it, but the actual code is well over 1000 lines. I created the same demo using only 500 lines of code. Overall though, for someone wanting to get into serious game development on any platform, this book is a must. I'd buy it just on the collision detection, physics and AI chapters by themselves. 3 stars for those items, and 2 taken off for bloated coding.
Rating: 
Summary: Amazing game programming book
Review: This book will get you started building everything from basic Windows to full 3d matrix powered models. A great resource and Must Have for any gamers wanting to turn to the "game-programming-side". If you buy this book,--> before it comes.. 1) make sure you have a sweet compiler.. ie. VC++ 6.0, Enterprise, Pro, etc. 2) Know some c++ code.-->If you don't get a c++ ref. 3) Be prepared to have to edit a little bit of code.. some of the code is built off of Andre LaMothe's template lib. and may cause warnings due to repeat var declarations. (no worries you'll get it to work). This book rules! Get it.
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Summary: Tricks of the Windows Game Programming Gurus - AWESOME
Review: Andre LaMothe is by far and away the best programming author I have read. Clear, concise examples and complete source code. Very well done! I can't wait for the 2nd volume!
Rating:
Summary: Excelent Book
Review: This was my first book on game programing , and everyone must agree with me that this book covers a lot.It teaches you some Windows programing(Win32 API) , DirectX6.0 (Direct3d on the CD),and some programing techniques (believe me that will be enought for a start:D).After reading this book ,I turned on the computer and started creating what before was only on my dreams, I started creating GAMES.... (Obs:Just for the record ,I suceeded creating a game that mimics Diablo's fighting style[point,click,kill],and I used the Vampire's battle rules...and it was the third game I created after reading this book.Great work Andre! )
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Summary: Tthe Greatest Book on Game Programming...!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: Before I met Andre Lamothe, I had had a good grasp at C/C++, 32bit Window Programming and Assembly Language. However, Ididn't know what program I make. I had made some s Exel-like-calculater, a simple word processor and so on. However, preceding project is very boring and not what I really wanted.. One day I went to the book store and met Andre Lamothe. When I first have a look at this book, I feel the cover is very cool!. Soon, I really wanted to learn graphic programming. This book is very very great to get some elementary stuff on DirectX graphical and game programming. Now, I am a Expert on game and graphic programming... Ha Ha Ha.. The only drawback is about 3D... I trust Andre Lamothe. Maybe he is writing a new edition or another book on 3D..
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Summary: This is a great book. Nobody else does it better.
Review: Covers all the fundamentals, from Windows programming, to physics, AI, algorithms, etc. Best value ever. Doesn't assume anything, provides valuable information consistently. Some errors but minor.
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Summary: This book isn't just good... it's DAMN good!
Review: I was going through a book store, and my dad offered to by any book I wanted. I immediately went to the computer section to look for a book that was both at my level and that teached game programming. This book was both. I have a fairly strong grasp of C/C++, but little applicational experience. This book gave me a crash course in Windows programming, in GDI, and finally, in DirectX, which is all but mandatory for games now. I'm going to get the second volume as soon as I can, so I can make a REAL killer game. On a side note, I would really recomend some knowledge of C++, but you could probably pick it up from the Appendix if you have an iron will. And remember, there are a lot of sites out there to learn C or C++ from.
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