Rating: 
Summary: Excellent work/book...
Review: All the other books on this topic are just crap. Brackeen is
way ahead of anyone else. The chapters on 3D programming might
be a bit too short, though. Also, what is missing is a thorough discussion on the differences between Java3D, Jogl and other scenegraph renderers and when to use which.
Otherwise, the book is just very good.
Rating: 
Summary: Needs more in-depth discussion of the topics
Review: I agree with a previous reviewer about this book. It is a great book, covering a gamut of topics on developing games. The problem is what the other reviewer mentioned: the huge amount of code. It seems that the author is simply handing you his development toolkit to use rather than helping you develop your own.
Also, given that there is so much code and as the length of the classes gets longer, UML diagrams or some sort of visual representation of the interaction of the classes would make things much MUCH clearer. I've had to constantly refer back to such-and-such a class described pages before simply to grasp some trivial portion of a new class the author introduces.
The book is geared towards those that have worked with java before. This doesn't necessarily mean that the reader would have dealt very much (if at all) with graphics, animation, etc. As such, it would have been much better if the topics were delved into more thoroughly, referring to the code. As it is, the code itself is used to explain much of what is being discussed leaving the tedious reverse-engineering to the reader.
I've focused on the negative, but despite all this the book is still really very good. However, someone deciding to pick it up should come with a grounded understanding of java as well as a lot of patience.
Rating:
Summary: Concise, Simple, Straightforward Explanations
Review: I have been teaching Java to gifted adolescents for years and have developed my own method for teaching Java geared to video game development. I am so happy to find a book that matches almost exactly what I've been teaching previously without the benefit of a text to reference. The examples are short and concise without sacraficing functionality and performance. Most importantly, this book tends to explain and give examples of the basic constructs of game development in Java without tying the reader to his own personal design or packages. Rather the author encourages the reader to adapt and develop code geared toward his or her own needs.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely a perfect intro to game dev for Java Developers
Review: I have been working w/ Java for the past 4 years in the corporate environment, but have always had a passion for games. I stepped through this text from beginning to end and the code examples and flow of the book were absolutely perfect. Not only does Brackeen teach you how to use the Java API to write games, he lets you know the ins and outs of Game Programming best practices. Every example is developed with an insightful and thorough explanation, never wasting time, but explaining all the necessities so you know the whys of what you're doing. New Riders has been a favorite publisher of mine for Java texts and this one hammered that belief home.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely a perfect intro to game dev for Java Developers
Review: I have been working w/ Java for the past 4 years in the corporate environment, but have always had a passion for games. I stepped through this text from beginning to end and the code examples and flow of the book were absolutely perfect. Not only does Brackeen teach you how to use the Java API to write games, he lets you know the ins and outs of Game Programming best practices. Every example is developed with an insightful and thorough explanation, never wasting time, but explaining all the necessities so you know the whys of what you're doing. New Riders has been a favorite publisher of mine for Java texts and this one hammered that belief home.
Rating:
Summary: Great book for learning game programming w/Java
Review: I have practically every book on learning game programming with the java language and this is the first one that doesn't start out with half the book being a java tutorial. The authors are very knowledgeable on the subject and go over 2d and 3d programming, pathfinding, ai, ... This is the kind of book i want when i buy a book on game programming, not a java tutorial (there are enough tutorials already). I highly recommend this book and can't wait to start developing my own games.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book
Review: I have read countless books on games and Java and all those pale in comparision to this book. It teaches one thing: how to make games in Java. It doesn't walk the reader through the API like some books; it doesn't simply port games from C++. It has a very logical flow starting with threading, going next to 2d graphics, sound, 3d objects, and even much information on AI, scripting and optimization. This is the ultimate book for those who want to know how to program 2D/3D Java games.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book
Review: I have read countless books on games and Java and all those pale in comparision to this book. It teaches one thing: how to make games in Java. It doesn't walk the reader through the API like some books; it doesn't simply port games from C++. It has a very logical flow starting with threading, going next to 2d graphics, sound, 3d objects, and even much information on AI, scripting and optimization. This is the ultimate book for those who want to know how to program 2D/3D Java games.
Rating:
Summary: Close to 4 stars...
Review: I have to admit that this book is a very good java game programming book. Probably the best book on the matter out there, perhaps until the new crop of 2004 java game programming books start showing up on the bookshelves. I was able to take the source code provided and get "most" of the projects running smoothly. Most importantly, the side scroller example worked great. Basically, the book does a great job of providing almost everything you'll need to know about getting a fullscreen java game running on your system. I have to agree with most things everyone has said about the book in their reviews. However, that doesn't mean the book warrants 5 stars...What I don't like about the book is the pages and pages and pages of code plastered in the book. I simply cannot give a book a high rating when so much of the book contains cut-and-paste code. If you want to learn game programming, you should be sitting in front of you computer with code on your screen. I'm fine with some code snippets here and there, but when you're provided with a great downloadable source (which the book has), you don't need the overkill in the text. The book would be much more conducive to focusing on game framework explanations if you weren't flipping through pages of code but rather referencing the book and looking at your screen. Just my two cents on programming books. Otherwise, the book does contain very good content that all java game programmers will want to know.
Rating:
Summary: Close to 4 stars...
Review: I have to admit that this book is a very good java game programming book. Probably the best book on the matter out there, perhaps until the new crop of 2004 java game programming books start showing up on the bookshelves. I was able to take the source code provided and get "most" of the projects running smoothly. Most importantly, the side scroller example worked great. Basically, the book does a great job of providing almost everything you'll need to know about getting a fullscreen java game running on your system. I have to agree with most things everyone has said about the book in their reviews. However, that doesn't mean the book warrants 5 stars... What I don't like about the book is the pages and pages and pages of code plastered in the book. I simply cannot give a book a high rating when so much of the book contains cut-and-paste code. If you want to learn game programming, you should be sitting in front of you computer with code on your screen. I'm fine with some code snippets here and there, but when you're provided with a great downloadable source (which the book has), you don't need the overkill in the text. The book would be much more conducive to focusing on game framework explanations if you weren't flipping through pages of code but rather referencing the book and looking at your screen. Just my two cents on programming books. Otherwise, the book does contain very good content that all java game programmers will want to know.
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