Rating: 
Summary: Total garbage
Review: I have tried to read this book but it's very awful. For little experienced programmer, it gives nothing new. But, for a beginner, it tries to teach some 2D directx graphics by explaining his source code. He made its program from many source files and classes, so it's totally ununderstandable for a beginner. I recommend you to not buy this book, there are many better books in amazon.com about this subject. I have totally disappointed. But, of course, it's your money.
Rating:
Summary: Don't buy this book if you want to learn DirectX 8
Review: I just got this book and it was big disappointment. This book starts using DirectDraw right off the bat completely failing to mention anything about the recent incorporation of DirectDraw with Direct3D in DirectX 8! What a let down! That was the whole point of getting it in the first place! The title is very misleading. Don't get this book if you're trying to learn DirectX 8 (never mind all the new cool tricks like pixel shading or vertex shading)! The whole idea of starting to learn game programming with DirectX 8 is that it has been greatly simplified so that you don't have to write as much code and initialization stuff as you would in earlier versions! Stay away from this and learn from on line tutorials instead. They are free at least!
Rating: 
Summary: The Best Game Programming Book Ever
Review: I picked up this book because I was eagerly interested in moving from OpenGL to Direct X. The instructions in the book were so easy to used that my father was able to program. The book is based around a game that the writer made and throughout the book it explains every part of it. If you want to learn Direct X or start programming, this book is an excelent choice.
Rating:
Summary: Very deceiving...waste of time.
Review: I really think that both of the directx books from Parberry are complete garbage. Unfortunately I wasted my money on one of them only to be disappointed that there was no coverage on what was stated in the title! He states that the only knowledge one must have is some C++. I'm sorry but that is wrong. He says he covers the WIN API but does such a horrible job explaining it for beginners. He even goes to the extent of listing several portions of code and for his explanation on the code he says "This is out of the scope of the book." In addition, the way that he has structured the code in the book is so horrible and sloppy! It is completely obvious that he was trying to save paper instead of making the code readable. Don't be deceived into thinking that you will really know how to make your own simple games. Parberry doesn't really offer tips on game programming. He just does what is necessary to complete HIS little example game, nothing else.
Want a real book on programming games? Try Tricks of the Windows Game Programming Gurus (2nd Edition) by Andre LaMothe.
Rating:
Summary: Yet another worthless book.
Review: I was hoping that some day we would see the demise of the long list of books of the form "Tricks of the Computer Game Experts Written for Dummies and Learnable in 7 Days" (subtitle: You want to be a game programmer; we want your money). Add this book to the end of that list, soon to be followed by other worthless books that also have little content, but apparently catch the eye of aspiring game programmers. The first warning is on the cover page: "Ian Parberry, Ph.D. / Foreward by Melanie Cambron, Game Recruiting Goddess". Be wary when an author must flaunt his degree, as if somehow that makes the book good. And "Game Recruiting Goddess"? Give us a break. Well, the preface is entertaining--ramblings about life in academia with an argument to support why the author is qualified to write a book on game programming. Not convincing. Having experience working for a game company would be more convincing.The second warning on the cover is the phrase "Condensed and updated version of Learn Computer Game Programming with DirectX 7.0". When you get to Chapter 1 "Read This First", here is where you get your surprise. From the book: "This book is a short, inexpensive version of the author's book Learn Computer Game Programming with DirectX 7.0. If you already own that book, then don't buy this one. (*) This book does not contain Chapters 13-15." The new appendices "Now What", "High Color and Resolution" (new BMP file reader), and "AVI Movies and MIDI Music" (play an AVI, play MIDI music) are not significant. The CD includes DirectX 8.0 SDK (it is downloadable from Microsoft...). Nothing to warrant purchasing the book. Regarding the content, this book has nothing to do with anything 3D; it is a simple presentation of a few basic DirectDraw concepts. Chapter titles: Read This First, Displaying the Background, Page Flipping, Full-screen Animation, Sprite Animation, Sprite Clipping, Parallax Scrolling, Artificial Intelligence (not even close to what real game programmers call AI), The Game Shell, Sound (play .wav files), The Mouse, The Joystick. The fact that the book has DirectX 8 is irrelevant. There is no discussion of old things such as camera models, lighting, texture effects, etc. There is no discussion of new things such as pixel shaders and state blocks. Given how well the book appears to be selling, I suspect a lot of aspiring game programmers believe they are getting a good buy; that is a shame. For those who have not yet bought it, save your money and purchase something with real content from a book company with a reputation for delivering quality computer texts.
Rating: 
Summary: Horrible book, damn Ian...
Review: I wasted 32 dollars on this pitiful book thinking it'd teach me something other than sloppy coding. I'm competent in C and C++ but even at the beginning he was too far ahead. A basic overview of the API wasn't enough. Concepts were non-existant nor were explanations. All this book did was confuse me more and discourage me. Don't waste your time or money on this guy, he can't write or put his teaching skills into text. My advice for him is INDENT YOUR CODE YOU SLOB. He leaves the comments in with the code and not indented out and it's painstaking to read. AHH!
Rating:
Summary: Great for Begginers
Review: I will make this brief: If you want to know the "New and Improved DirectX API, this is not for you; If you are a begginner like me and want the learn the basics of DirectX 8, this is a GREAT buy.
Rating:
Summary: Don't use DirectX 8 in the title...
Review: I WISH I had read the ... takes on the book before purchasing this waste of paper... I do however like the author's sense of humor and style of writing... I must say I hate books that promise one thing and deliver something COMPLETELY different... What's worse? if that "something else" is 5 years behind and considered dead by the industry... More accurate title for this book: "Learn Computer Programming using archaic techniques and DirectX 7" As far as content? There is absolutely NOTHING here of use... Let's see: DirectX8 is NOT used anywhere in the book... Proper construction of the new Direct3D combined interface to DirectDraw and Direct3D is missing... Where are the new scene switchers and page flippers in DX8? Now, here's the funny part: The book's demos are in 256 color PALLETIZED graphics! Hmmmm.. The book promises the use of a cutting edge API to do what programmers were able to do 5 years ago... Even Microsoft admits, in their Direct3D book and the DirectX Complete title, that the use of the pallet is pretty much DEAD... Now, to the other idiots knocking the book because it doesn't cover 3D topics: Use a little common sense... How many pages are in this book? Is that enough to cover the math of matrices, vectors, and physics of 3D programming AND cover the numerous interfaces of Direct3D??? Go read the industry standard: "Computer Graphics: Principles and Practices" by Foley et all... I'm almost ashamed to review this book so poorly, but out of all the books I have purchased and reviewed on, this books absolutely sucks... What does he teach in the previous version of the book that includes the DirectX 7 SDK? WinG? It looks like no one is going to do a book on DirectX 8 anytime soon, and not that its really needed, but nVidia has published their wonderful presentations on Vertex and Per Pixel Shading tutorials online! ...Developer relations -Moe
Rating: 
Summary: Great for starting out with Direct X programming
Review: I'm still in the process of reading the book, but so far it looks great. For those who've given it negative reviews, I just have to say that this book seems more of an INTRODUCTORY type book, not a book for experts. It doesn't go into depth on all the tips and tricks of DirectX programming. Instead, it gives you a start, showing you how to begin using DirectX in games and other programs. It's a little fast paced, and you do need to read it carefully to understand what's going on, but the material here is great. Again, it's seems to be just an INTRODUCTION. More advanced programming techniques must be sought elsewhere!
Rating:
Summary: Horrible book, damn Ian...
Review: I've read several complainant reviews about this book, and most of them make valid points. However when all is said and done this book is great for beginning 2D programming. Many have pointed out that this book doesn't cover DirectX 8, and that is true, in fact it really covers DirectX 3. This doesn't really matter, as the aspects of DirectX have not changed much. In fact one of the only major differences between DirectDraw3 and DirectDraw7 is the RestoreAllSurfaces() function. The simple fact is you can upgrade to DirectDraw7 easily enough, and if you want to use 2D programming there is almost no reason to use Direct3D8 (often refered to as DirectX Graphics), as DirectDraw is perfectly satisfying for 2D programming. On the plus side, this book covers a lot about the theory of game programming, and his methods are not at all bad. I can say that his sound manager was not too profroundly great, and that DirectX 8 should have been used for that, and I would have prefered that DirectInput would have been used. But DirectInput is easy enough to learn from the tutorials included with the SDK, and the same is true for DirectMusic (which is fine for sound effects in a non-3D Sound environment and not just music). The author also used 256 color (using a palette) throughout the book (and only higher color depths in an appendix at the end), and he probably shouldn't have done that. When it all comes down to it, this book is a good guide to game programming, and if your new there is now reason to even hesitate to buy it, unless of course you don't know the C++ language.
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