Rating: 
Summary: There are better alternatives
Review: After purchasing this book I was left rather disappointed. Being an experienced developer I was looking for a book with useful examples to help overcome the game programming entry barrier. This book is nothing more than a simple Driect3D reference book with somewhat unconnected examples. The Zen of Direct3D Game Programming is a *MUCH* better book (read: 5 stars). A further thing to note is that after reviewing the chapter on Quake 3 models (md3) I embarked on a small project to render/animate these models. Unfortunately the book didn't cover the material in depth enough to do this (and was in fact incorrect with respect to the md3 format). I sent an email to Wolfgang asking for assistance. It's now been over 2 months and I haven't heard a word. I will not be buying any of this authors books in the future. Aaron Thomas.
Rating: 
Summary: wish some things were better
Review: wished author had used some MS functions for 2D blitting instead of writing his own function to do it. Not all coding examples in book were on CD and some CD code didn't compile. So you usually had to go to a more complex example to figure out what was going on.
Rating: 
Summary: Full screen programming with Direct3D
Review: Before you buy this book, consider this book only covers full screen graphics. According to the author full screen debugging is nightmare if you don't have dual monitor. Obviously you will not benefit if you do not have it. The main engine to run his applications needs the class CConsole, which he never/very little talked about it. I only know C++, but if you are not a C++ programmer, defiantly God will help you, but keep asking to the God along with dual monitor. I do not know why this book is so thick with 862 pages? I was not expecting Windows knowledge, which half of the book covers. It has 16 chapters, but actual examples are only for seven chapters. Well the information is good in seven chapters, and if he had given information in his all 16 chapters, it was worth 5 point. I think we have to be kind and give fair rating and calculate points. Now according to mathematics it worth 7 (code for chapter) * 5 (Total points) / 16 (Total chatters) = 2.1875 points.
Rating:
Summary: Beginners book
Review: Good introduction to 3D programming using DirectX. Advanced techniques are only briefly touched upon.
Rating: 
Summary: This book is what it is supposed to be
Review: This book has taken so much abuse in the newsgroups and i really dont know why. This book is what it is supposed to be. This will help anyone new to the DX8 sdk and 3d programming basics. I will say it again, the BASICS. If youre looking for fireworks you are just going to have to wait until the 4th of July but if you need some insight on 3D fundamentals then look no further. The author is german and his english isnt that good and some words arent used properly in thier context but lets see any of us americans try to write a book in german. You get the picture. However,dont let this hold you back because it is a reflection on the editor.
Beginners buy it and experts look in other directions for all of your creative pleasures and STOP disrespecting this book. In my humble opinion this is alot help for those who feel helpless.
Rating:
Summary: I am officially disappointed
Review: I'm really not sure what to say about this book. I hear that Direct3D literature is scarce and far from sufficient, so perhaps I have just set my standards a bit too high, but I did not find this book very helpful at all. Though the information is reasonably thorough, it is very difficult to understand what the author is saying (particularly if you are like me, with no prior background in 3D games). This is not the author's fault since he is not a native english speaker, but it becomes very troublesome after you really don't understand something because of some strange wording. My real gripe about this book is that it does not teach you how to actually make a game. It teaches you how to set up Direct3D and how to render some objects, then moves on to show you some model loaders, physics and collision detection. Throughout all this, you never see anything that looks even remotely like a functional game. Even worse, example code is ridiculously scarce. By the end, you know how to put a model on the screen and make it animate a bit. Woohoo. Comparing this to, say, "Beginning OpenGL Game Programming" yields some striking differences: OGL has source code for every chapter, this book does not. OGL has some cool, game-ish examples, this book does not. OGL has a nifty 3D shooter as the final example at the end, this book has no example at the end. Moral of the story: I'm switching to OpenGL programming until someone comes up with a book that's at least on par with "Beginning OpenGL"
Rating:
Summary: Great book for beginners!
Review: If you are interested in getting a grip on Direct3D, Beginning Direct3D Game Programming is a great way to start. The book begins with complete instructions on setting up DirectX8 with MSVC. After this, the author gives a background and a high level description of what Direct3D is and what it does. Once this is complete, he jumps right into the details. The book is layed out in a well organized manner that is easy to follow and see exactly where the author is leading the reader. Explanations are very clear. The focus is on DirectX8, and frequent comparisons to earlier versions of DirectX show clearly the new features and capabilities of DirectX8. The author, Wolfgang Engel, has clearly created a book very well suited for beginners, with his readers in mind. His dedication became even more clear when at one point I became stuck. Unable to solve a certain problem, I emailed Wolfgang and within an hour he had responded with a complete and correct solution to the problems I was having. The book as well as the author's efforts deserve 5 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Tough
Review: I read about 100 pages of this book yet.
I cannot understand where other reviewers find this "simplicity" and "clarity" in this book.
I had to reread every sentence a few times just to understand what author is trying to say. Also - it is difficult to follow his line of thought (I am comparing with Lamothe's book "Tips and tricks of game programming gurus").
From 500 pages - 100 pages is appendix.
The only good thing - is that book is about DirectX 8, not 7. However samples are from SDK, and these are simplest samples of SDK. I think I was better off just printing out SDK documentation and studying it.
If you know DirectX well - then buy this book, but then again - this book is "BEGINNING Direct3D Game Programming"...
Rating:
Summary: bryan costanich
Review: I thought this book was fabulous. True, his grammar was a bit off (fault of the editor really, not his, he's German). However, the book did a wonderful job of explaining not only how Direct3D worked, but also how to use the Direct3D framework code that runs the SDK samples. The framework sample code has a pretty good architecture to it, and by building on that you're almost guaranteed that you're programming in the right direction. This book is a great beginning book, it will really help you to get into direct3d without killing you.
Rating:
Summary: Anti-Christ "LaMothe" Strikes Again!!
Review: Anti-Christ Andre LaMothe et al have done it yet again with another poor offering of DirectX programming. You'd think after 10 years of swindling society that he and his band of merry men would have learned a trick or two about writing. Granted the book tries to cover some of the more interesting aspects of Direct3D, Wolfe goes about this process more "telling" than "explaining". To fully grasp what is being so briefly brushed over in this "Beginning" book one needs to have previously mastered every baffling nuance of DirectX. Save your money and sanity and just read through Microsoft's far superior (and free) SDK manuals.
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