The Black Art of Video Game Console Design Review

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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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Game Engine Architecture Review

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(More customer reviews)Jason Gregory's book offers a 10,000-foot view of game engine architecture, covering every system found in modern game engines, and detailing how those systems interact. It details the subjects at a level easily understood by anyone with a modest level of programming experience -- even non-programmers can gain a solid understanding of engine design from the book. This would make a great first book for anyone interested in programming game engines, either as a hobby or a future career.
However, it is important to clarify the limits of the book. I do not consider this to be a programming book, since it does not present the material at a sufficiently low-level that would permit an inexperienced programmer to implement a game engine from the ground-up. It describes how the algorithms work in enough detail that you can understand the idea, but does not present complete code examples that would demonstrate exactly how the algorithms would be implemented. There are occasional code snippets, and brief examples from engines like Ogre, Unreal, and idtech. But most of the content is entirely prose.
Experienced programmers/game devs have the coding background to implement many of the designs described in the book from the level at which they are presented. But neophyte programmers will not find enough details in this book to implement a full game engine on their own. However, no one book could do an adequate job of detailing how to implement an entire game engine: learning to program a game engine from the ground-up requires a very large stack of books (especially for physics and AI). So it would be unfair to fault this book for what it is not.
The value of the book is in providing clear, prose descriptions of the functional blocks found in a game engine, covering alternate ways different engines implement certain features, and cross-referencing how those blocks interact.
Another positive is that the book benefits from a mature writing style. Unlike the "Oh wow! Cool! Dude! Whew, math is hard! {BG}" style of writing inflicted upon many intro/for-teens books, this book can be read by adults (and most teens) without any undue eye-rolling due to bad writing. Which, sad to say, is why I feel inclined to remark on this point. Granted, this book was written for a course a SoCal, so a more mature writing still is required. I do wish more games-related books would follow this convention, instead of assuming the reader is mentally bereft or a pre-teen.

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A 2009 Game Developer Magazine Front Line Award Finalist, this book covers both the theory and practice of game engine software development, bringing together complete coverage of a wide range of topics. The concepts and techniques described are the actual ones used by real game studios like Electronic Arts and Naughty Dog. The examples are often grounded in specific technologies, but the discussion extends way beyond any particular engine or API. The references and citations make it a great jumping off point for those who wish to dig deeper into any particular aspect of the game development process. Intended as the text for a college level series in game programming, this book can also be used by amateur software engineers, hobbyists, self-taught game programmers, and existing members of the game industry. Junior game engineers can use it to solidify their understanding of game technology and engine architecture. Even senior engineers who specialize in one particular field of game development can benefit from the bigger picture presented in these pages.

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Tekken's Nina Williams In: Death by Degrees(TM) Official Strategy Guide (Official Strategy Guides (Bradygames)) Review

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(More customer reviews)Death By Degrees Official Strategy Guide is a full-color, in-depth video game guidebook to the recently released game "Death by Degrees", exclusively for the Sony Playstation 2 entertainment system. Death by Degrees is a unique action game starring the blonde, beautiful, and utterly lethal female assassin Nina Williams, known among fans as the bone-breaking mistress of martial arts in Namco's wildly popular "Tekken" fighting game series. "Death by Degrees" takes place before Tekken 1, and follows Nina on her mission for the CIA, with Nina's equally deadly half-sister Anna and the enigmatic millionaire mogul Heihachi also making an appearance. Death By Degrees Official Strategy Guide goes into explicit detail concerning the control system (which relies almost entirely upon the analog joysticks of the PS2 controller), the strengths and weaknesses of various power-ups, ideal strategies and tactics, and a mission-by-mission walkthrough to aid the neophyte gamer or allow a veteran who has already beaten the game once to discover every last hidden secret. Appendices allow for quick and easy lookup of the requirements to earn extra rewards and unlock hidden artwork pictures after the main mission is complete. Completely living up to the high BradyGames standard for its video game guidebooks, Death By Degrees Official Strategy Guide is the perfect companion for anyone seeking to get the most out of this exciting, action-packed game.


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BradyGames' Tekken's Nina Williams In: Death by Degrees Official Strategy Guide includes the following:COMPREHENSIVE WALKTHROUGH: We lead you step-by-step through all 20 missions! Solve every Honeycomb Lock puzzle, earn and upgrade every skill, and more!

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