Rating: 
Summary: You have to know what the author is talking about
Review: I like this book, no doubts, but there is some things that keeps me at the dude-who-wants-to-know-a-lot-of-things-about-programming-but-can't-find-what-he-really-needs level. The number one reason is that he seems impatient, that I think is a bad aspect of a Dummie Author. A Dummie author should repeat things more than once, and for christs sake NOT write things that he/she later in the text says is not important. I wanted to learn directx, NOT windows programming for C, that this book is much about. So I tried to skip the windows section, but I shouldn't have done that, so it's partially my fault. My advice is: buy it if you think you understand windows programming in C. Otherwise, you will get a living hell trying to understand what he is talking about. Especially if you are a C++:er
Rating: 
Summary: Opens the door to the world of game programming
Review: If you have ever wanted to write your own computer game, but did not know where to start ? Well, now you know. This book not only opens the door to the world of game programming, it kicks it right off the hinges !
Rating:
Summary: Well written, good sense of humor throughout book
Review: I'm by far no means a Guru yet in C/C++, however after reading chapter by chapter and working with the code I am picking it up once again. (Has been several years since I coded in C) I hit one chapter that didn't work with VC++ 6.0 and emailed the author and within 48 hrs I had a reply with a solution. In my opinion if you learn one thing from the book it is well worth the money spent. I'm amazed at all the critics. The author wants you to learn, not just the money. Try contacting the author if you bought the book if you get stuck, you'd be amazed on what solutions you might find.I enjoy the book, and this is just one of many that I will add to my collection of good learning tools. And besides, for $30 can you get a developer of Andre's caliber to sit down with you in RL for days to teach you all the material he covers? :) I'm only a few chapters into the book and already I feel I have my money's worth. I applaud the efforts of the author, and the good sense of humor he uses throughout the book.
Rating:
Summary: My decision to buy this book is the best one yet!
Review: This book is by far the greatest book ever published in history. If you don't own this book, get it now! You're missing a lot.
Rating:
Summary: Definately not for anyone who has never programmed before.
Review: I assumed that this book would teach me everything I ever wanted to know about creating computer games. Boy did I mess up big time! I couldn't figure out what the author was talking about. He may as well have been speaking Greek. Next time I'll surf the web before I purchase another book on game programming. SHAME ON ME!
Rating: 
Summary: If you don't know DirectX, don't buy it!
Review: I know C and C++ very well, and have some knowledge in Windows programming using API and MFC. But all this background couldn't help me a bit in learning DirectX from this book. The first six chapters explain the Windows API, and I could follow the author because of my previous knowledge, but when he starts to talk and through some API code about DirectDraw, you realize that he is not talking to a dummy! And the book is switched to "A Reference for the Rest of Us!" I suffered with chapters 9 and 10 because he threw tons of lines of functions and structures without explaining their purpose, and I gave up reading. I'm a big fan of "For Dummies" series, but some books don't rise to a dummy's level! And this book is one of them.
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Summary: A Wealth Of Game Programming Information!!!!
Review: This book is nothing short of amazing!! When I read the reviews that this book got, I wondered how a "For Dummies..." book could deal with such tricky issues as Direct X. Well, take my word for it, this book delivers!! Although this book does just teach what you need to know about the seprate aspects of game programming, it did leave me confident that I can move on to a book that deals with the advanced features of Direct X without concern. I give this book five stars and I applaud André LaMothe for writing such a well-written text.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding book.
Review: If you are looking for a book to help you get started in programming games look no further. This is THE book to buy. I have had this book for about 2 months now and have nearly finished a directdraw based engine. When I originally saw the title of this book I was a bit nervous about buying it. I consider myself to be a very experienced C/C++ programmer and fairly fluent using the Win32 API, so I dont consider myself a "dummy". Still, after reading all the great reviews I gave it a try (along with Inside DirectX -good book as well). I now have a strong understanding of DirectDraw and the general concepts of game programming (though I found myself rewritting a lot of his code using C++ classes hehe :) What I found about this book that most impressed me was that it inspired me to create my own 2D engine. The book helps get your imagination going and motivates you by providing solid code to follow. Get this book if you want to learn DirectDraw and other DirectX/Game programming concepts. Fantastic book. If the author comes out with a Direct3D book (or better yet an OpenGL book) I'll buy with no hesitation.
Rating:
Summary: Very Good, But lacks a couple of essentials
Review: This is a good book, but I've also read Inside DirectX which I thought was better. It is excellent in that it goes very in depth and spends several chapters just introducing windows programming before it gets to DirectX. But I feel that it lacks in some very important areas which were covered in Inside DirectX, like lost surfaces or sound buffers, which the only comments about these are "very bad". However, the AI chapter makes this a very useful book, together with Inside DirectX I feel I have unlocked a wealth of knowledge on DX.
Rating:
Summary: A good book
Review: I think that this book (along with many, many other dummies books) is very creative, educational and funny. It comes with good programs on it's CD-Rom that will help.
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