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(More customer reviews)Some background on me:
I have a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science. I'm also a professional software engineer in the video game industry.
In my education, I had a few classes on electronics/digital circuits and I loved it. I started doing my own circuits outside of class and buying digital ICs to add to my toolkit. Over the years, I'd lost touch with that side of myself and the joy that it gave me. Then I found this book, "The Black Art of Video Game Console Design".
This book is basically an abridged EE (Electrical Engineering) degree with a focus on video game consoles! And the kicker is that you're being instructed by one of the most "readable" authors around. By "readable", I mean that the author has a way of teaching you things as if it was your friend, sitting next to you, turning complicated subjects into an easy-to-understand, entertaining, data stream. The information is clear and the tone is upbeat and occasionally humourous.
As I read through the book, I was hitting everything that I learned in months and months in the classroom, but without all the fuss and only the relevant information. Resistors, capacitors, diodes, truth tables, timing diagrams, etc, it's all there. Then, the author jumped into complicated areas such as joysticks, sound, microprocessors, assembly language, the NTSC (standard TV) video signal (just to name a few). Finally, there we were at the pinnacle of the mountain, the culmination of all our learning, and here's where the real "Black Art" of the book kicks in, the full process of designing a video game console.
In today's hardware driven world, this book should be on every game programmer's shelf, whether they're a hobbyist or a seasoned veteran.
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&a>breaks new ground in game development by bridging the alien worlds of hardware and software together for the first time! The Black Art of Video Game Console Design is written for the programmer and/or hobbyist interested in software game development, but also wants to understand the hardware games are implemented on. This book assumes no prior knowledge of Electrical Engineering or Computer Architecture, but takes you on a breathtaking journey from atomic semiconductor theory to the design and construction of basic video game consoles that you can build and write your own games for! Included in the book is the entire design of numerous embedded game systems including the XGameStation systems and much more. The Black Art of Video Game Console Design with 800+ pages covers everything you need to know to design your own game console including:• Basic atomic physics and semiconductor theory primer.• Introduction to circuit analysis; current, voltage, and resistance.• Analog design using discrete components.• Digital electronics and Boolean algebra.• Physical hardware construction and prototyping techniques.• Combinational logic and advanced integrated circuit building blocks.• Finite state machine design.• Computer architecture and design.• Understanding and using microprocessors and microcontrollers.• Developing software for embedded systems.• Designing video (NTSC/VGA), audio, and input device systems.• Interfacing and communications.• The complete design and discussion of numerous game systems including the XGameStations!Register your book at informit.com/register and download the following additional resources (previously on bundled CD):• PCB and circuit simulation tools.• All necessary data sheets.• Demos and source code.• Complete designs to numerous embedded systems including the XGameStations.
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