Video Games Books

This is a great book for any Sonic Adventure owner. Extremely detailed and (as corny as it may sound) fun to read. It helped me beat the game.

Absolutely great! A little confusing with the maps. Very detailed and the best Sonic Adventure strategy guide that I've seen. Even includes information about the chao. Racing, caring and even a map showing the names of the different areas on the VMU for Chao Adventure! Also includes the places for the bullies. This strategy I would recommend out of all of the others!

This is a great book for any Sonic Adventure owner. It is very detailed and has great tips with roll-through maps of all the levels. It's the only way to get all the A emblems.

This is an excellent book. it has everything you need to finish the game. It also shows you all about the chao.

I recomend it to evryone.

Super!!! It has a lot of juggle combos and all the special moves!!!
it's really worthy to buy it if you are a tekken fan it's a must have

A good strategy guide I would have to say, very good. it lists every characters moves and what level each move hits and anything special about each move except Jinpachi since you cannot use him but I would've enjoyed an analysis of Jipachi within this guide. It also gives a list of combos for each characters which are mostly juggles which is the main thing to do in Tekken 5 if you want to play with crazy fanatics who play for many hours which, I am somewhat kinda like that. It also gives pictures and the cost of each customization item which was kind of interesting. Also it gives some secrets away in the back and it comes with a free wall scroll. of course in there are some typos within the guide but it happens in most guides, no big deal. This is helpful and convenient.

This is a good book and it tells me how to play this game. Also, it tells me which players versus each other is good or bad. In addition, the Tekken: Devil within game isn't tell me a lot, but each thing it tells is useful. So, it is a good book to buy to play with the game together. Go for it. :)

All the details described by the other readers are all true. There is only one thing this guide falls short of, it doesn't have maps of the Devil Within Game and the Strategies for the Devil Within Game are insufficient. Other than that, this guide is complete!

Threads of Fate is not a long, complex game by any stretch of the imagination, and I was honestly expecting the guide to reflect what I'm more accustomed to; a cursory overview of the two quests, the basic navigation and boss guides, and a list of hard-to-find items.

What I was pleasantly surprised by was the fact that not only does Tim Cox delve into the things one expects from the guide, but he also touches upon several of the things that make the 'real' Threads of Fate experience; the useless asides that you can engage in.

The game itself is highly linear in overall presentation, but what it benefits from is that, throughout, there are times when you can take a side-trip somewhere and have a miscellaneous conversation, or not engage in a certain battle and have the dialog change down the line, or else find a string of hidden conversations that add interest, if not vital information. Tim Cox does what many guides will not do, and actually explores the routes to some of these hidden gems, or makes notes about altered dialog trees. In reading the guide, he even reminded me of an alternate dialog path that I had long forgotten how to reach.

In short, it's a wonderfully constructed guide that touches upon thing that really make this game what it is, and I would recommend it not only to people who need the help, but to anybody who is a fan of the game itself. It's a real treat.

This book rocks. It's way better than anything else. Tim Cox is the best author ever. Thanks for such a great guide!!!

Threads of Fate is the most entertaining game there is! With help from the strategy guide you can go through this game with ease. I also recommend this game for the girls who play(like me!). You have the choice of being a cute little boy who changes into animals or a girl with magical powers and a attitude to go with it. As I said before its fun and entertaing. Everyone should buy the guide and game!

Threads Of Fate is a really challenging game and many parts I thought were impossible. This really helped me through it.

bets game in the worl

It will be cool

The kingdoms hintbook is, without a doubt the most brilliant, moving and ultimately breathtaking novel of its day. It will grab you from the beginning and never let go. Few authors come to mind in comparison to this masterwork. Among them Chaucer, Dickens, and Mary Higgens Clark. I highly recomend this chef d'ouvre to anyone who enjoys classicly pronounced literature.

I'd like to know how those two guys rated a book and a game that has not been released yet? Why would the web master allow these comments to be published. Lets all be a little more responsible please.

I was to my disappointment that Trigun didn't continue after Volume 2. I kept on searching every retailer and only saw Trigun Maximum. I actually read the review for it and found that Trigun crosses over to Trigun Maximum.

Trigun Maximum takes place after the Angel Arm incident on Jeneora Rock. A few years have past, and we witness the return of Wolfwood, The Gung-Ho Guns, Knives, Legato, and most improtantly Vash The Stampede.

This book was so great I bought Volumes 2 and 3 right away. The action is easier to understand in the Maximum series. Keep up the good work Nightow!

The "love-and-peace'n", irritating, moronic gunslinger is back, and nothing's going stand in his way for doing what he does best...expect for donuts and babes. (YAY!)

[1-VOL REVIEW]

Trigun Maximum isn't so much a new series, as it is a continuation of an already popular manga in the US. Yep, America loves it, and Japan wants to forget it(hey, facts are facts). From this point on, the things you knew from the anime series is completely different with this one; it parallels itself from that counterpart. I mean, come on, look at the black sides from Vash's hair in the book cover; IT'S DIFFERENT! With its new physique, expect some additions and differences onto this new adventure: new companions, new enemies, and from this manga ongoing, Nicholas D. Wolfwood doesn't die...hopefully.

The parallel thing doesn't start, yet. The first volume pretty much covers episodes 18-20 of the anime series, which is Vash leading a new life with a new identity as he lives with a young girl named Lina and her granny, but after being forced to bark like a dog in the nude by those sasafrassin' baddies and later got into a bullet blitz with Nick Wolf on his side, he realized he can't avoid what he is, so Vash the Stampede was reborn and left the caring ones behind to avoid harm. Enter the two stoogettes, Meryl and Millie, plus the conflict on the kidnapping and family vengence, and it's the whole celebro hoo-ha. There's only some key differences between this and the anime, i.e. Vash getting his new outfit during the feud chapter instead of the flying ship episode from the anime and this manga actually took place two years after the Fifth Moon instead of the five years in the anime, but other than those, I can only assume the true parallel act can happen in the second volume.

This is actually my first Trigun manga ever bought. I would like to buy the first two 300-page volumes, but I've seen the whole anime as it is, so why read the chapters originated for the ones I've already seen? That, and plus I don't want to pay five extra dollars more than the average TOKYOPOP manga for each volume(yea, I'm a cheapskate). Thankfully, Dark Horse made the TM series more accesible by making it cheaper, while keeping the same format and quality as the last two. In other words, the sound effects remains untranslated, and strangely, the honorifics are there as well. Not to be biased with the honorifics, if its there, it means that Digital Manga is doing great with the translations, but I don't recall ever seeing or reading a western medium where someone called the superior "sempai." It's just weird, that's all.

Some guy isn't kidding when he warn me about the art style of the manga, and I should've heed his words, cause that's the manga's biggest flaw. Trigun Maximum is VERY SKETCHY. I've read manga with sketchy designs before, but this is the creme de la crop. Characters are angled and not that detailed and polished, even some of their clothes are just scribbled in. And the panels within are so messy, even if they're big, I can't determined what's happening; like in one panel for example, and I was thinking, "What the-? Is someone playing paintball or are those gunshot wounds? WH-WHAT'S GOING ON?!!" That's the reaction I have with this design, and it made me lose track from fluently guiding through the whole story. Although the design does provide a positive message to future comic book artists: "Kids, you can draw as crappy as this, and you can still make a lot of money on your work."

Trigun Maximum is a great way to continue what's already a funny and stylized action series, and make it a little different by its looks. The messy art style alone prevents me from giving it a perfect grade, but it doesn't destroy what's good about this series, either. If you bought the other Trigun books, you probably have one in your hands right now, but if you haven't read the first two volumes, and have seen the entire anime series, Trigun Maximum is a perfect start to continue along this seemingly fun westerner. I Reckon'men'd this here book.

Short review-
Dark Horse is doing an excellent job on their translations for Trigun. All honorifics are left in.

About the actual content- This volume's mostly filler, following the fifth moon incident. Wolfwood's huge cross is revealed to be a machine gun, and Vash is still a god with his revolver. The art is pretty sketchy, but I still love Nightow-san's syle.

Also, there's been some talk about Vash's 'new' look. Most Americans have seen the anime, in which he keeps his original look the entire time, before reading the original manga, in which Vash's look abruptly changes in Maximum. Vash's new coat is a little crazy looking, but/so it fits Vash's personality a bit more. What's more, does it really matter what Vash looks like? He's still Vash.

9.5/10

Although the wait was intense, it was well worth it. The book had many new and unique things about it, different from the ever popular anime. Many times it is hard to fully understand the action that is being illustrated, but in the end, you get the general idea of what has happend. The illustrations sometimes leave me wondering "This is awful", and again, some illustrations are wonderful. In the end, it really does not matter as long as the stroy gets told. And in the end, I found Trigun Maximum #1 to be a well spent $10.

It's too bad that this book isn't available new anymore. It's easy to gauge its value by the price it's holding as a used book. I'm the moderator of the yahoo motioncapture group, and this book was the stepping stone for me to begin developing my own motion capture system. This book is so useful, that I've got two copies. That way I can lend one to a friend, and keep one handy to solve the hard problems that come up as I develop my system. There are a couple of newer books that cover the basics, but if you want to get into the technical details of how it's done, this is still the reference to use. If you are a provider or consumer of mocap, this book covers both points of view and details project and cost considerations too. There really is no other mocap book that covers everything this one does.

Our department is working on Motion Capture research. This book helps us to direct a practical approach on not only academic perspective but also entertainment applicaiton.

The historical overview in the first half gave an excellent and entertaining background. It tells the stories of various well known motion capture projects so readers can immediately relate to the real world applications of motion capture and understand what sorts of applications will not work. The technical information was well organized and clearly written. This is a must have for anyone considering motion capture as a part of their project! ---Scott Whitney

At last a no-nonsense book for both users of the technology and those considering using it in their future productions.

The first half deals with the checkered history of motion capture and it's use and misuse to date. Unfortunately most of the stories fall into the negative vein and concentrate on the cases where the use of motion capture turned out to be a costly mistake, but this is all to the benefit of the reader lest he/she should be aligning themselves to make the same mistakes!

There is good practical advice on how to come out of a motion capture session with useable data and some extremely useful math to allow you to transfer it to your character. If you are using off the shelf software some of this may be superfluous, but if you have the opportunity to supplement it with your own proprietary code it could save you months of work. Either way it is genuinely useful in understanding how raw data can be used to drive a computer generated character.

It is hard to find fault with this book. If there is one it is just that the reader is left wanting more of the invaluable 'war-stories' from those who have used the process in the past, and possibly more recently on projects like 'Titanic' and 'The Mummy', if those studios are willing to divulge the detils. Mr Menache warns that facial motion capture is beyond the range of this text but hints that there may be another one to follow to make up for this. It is comforting to see that he himself ran a motion capture studio for many years, and you can be sure that the sum of his experience is inside the pages.

Just buy it BEFORE you start your production!

I loved I

"Genious" is spelled "g-e-n-i-u-s". Then again, I'd wouldn't expect much more out of a St. Mary's graduate. As for Anthony Pena, I haven't read his book, but I'm sure it's good...

I've been in the gaming industry for years, and this is one of the finest books I have read to date. Although it's one of the few books I've read in my lifetime, it has inspired me to take my game playing to a new level. Anthony Pena is a genious! He is the Tony Robbins of the 21st Century!

This is one of the most informative books on professional wrestling in the WCW today that I have ever read. I have read almost every book on pro wrestling ever written, and this one is one of my very favorites. It helped me a lot with planning strategies for the game. I highly recommend it for anyone serious about pro wrestling and video game strategy both.

I received this much faster than expected! AND it was in brand new condition.

I found this strategy guide to be helpful, although at points in dugeon exploring it skipped rooms. But its worth the buy, because the game is different from the original PS1 game.

Thsi guide have been a great help for those who get stuck in the game. The guide is extreamly detailed and covers all skills, items, enemies and ect. Great to have if your stuck.

When at first I came upon the Wild Arms Alter code F guide, the first thing that came to mind was simple: It's Prima. And when I saw it was Prima I was immediately thinking, these are the guys who did the guides to Legend of Legaia, Legend of Dragoon, and Legaia 2. All of them, for games by Sony Computer Entertainment America, all of them ridiculously thin, and all of them lackluster. I'm proud to say that this guide is not like those guides. It's actually detailed, doesn't stray you wrong, and is actually a Wild Arms guide worth getting!

The guide begins quite simplistically. It doesn't waste time at all, it jumps right into the characters section. There are no bios but it does detail just about everything you need in terms of their abilities. It also includes those for the hidden characters as well. The game then jumps into the games unique system itself. It covers all of them perfectly within the first eight pages.

The walkthrough is much better than any Wild Arms guide before it. Each area begins by telling you how many chest are in an area, and if any of them need duplicators. It then shows the tools you'll need to clear the area (progress) and the tools you'll need to fully complete the area. This means getting all the chest because some of them are simply not accesible the first time through. The guide will tell you when to come back.

Each area is also detailed with excellent maps. In town, there are simple call outs using the ABC method. This means that if you see an "A" on the map, you look for section "A" in the walkthrough where it'll tell you what to do at that point. If it's something you can't do, they'll tell you what you need in order to access the area first. The walkthrough also has important call out tips in a separate box.

For dungeons it's a little different. It does not use the ABC method, but it still points out chest in the key, and tells you what tools you need. Instead, however, their maps are numbered by floor. This makes the guide simple to use. If you get stuck on Floor 1, for example, they have a description on what to do on that floor. This eliminates the old flaw the Versus Books Wild Arms 3 had, which was disorganization. This guide is perfectly organized. This makes it so that each "area" of the map has it's own section. It makes the walkthrough easier to use, and it gets to the point much faster. Likewise, it keeps the guide from revealing the plot and spoiling the story for those going through Wild Arms for the first time.

Likewise, boss strategies in the walkthrough are better than your average RPG guide. Most of them will simply state a weakness and expect you to attack. This guide tells you exactly who should do what, and they even explain why. And if you don't believe them, well you'll the results for yourself when you lose. The author of this guide (former Versus Books author Gerald Guess) doesn't dilly dally with boss strategies either. Right to the point.

The walkthrough is also helpful enough to make call outs to side quests and optional events in the walkthrough instead of you having to constantly flip to the back of the book to check for availibility. You'll still have to flip to the back for the quest itself, but that's not a problem. I personally don't like it in guides when they stick optional quests in the walkthrough, I usually tackle them when I find it best for me, not the moment they're availible.

All puzzle solutions are perfectly explained, as well as the just all out confusing situations some of the dungeons will trap you in. No plot spoilers also help the guide, especially if you didn't play the classic Wild Arms in 1997.

After the walkthrough, the guide tackles all the optional things you can do. This section is huge, and helps you complete areas such as the Devil's Playground, the Abyss, and Gardening, among what else the game has to offer. They also depict the location of every EX File Key.

The best thing about this guide is that it does something the Versus Books Wild Arms guides were too lazy to do. Give you a strategy for optional bosses. I don't know about you but when it came to Versus Books Wild Arms 2 and 3 guides, I couldn't stand not having optional boss strategies. I got stats, but no strategies. Here, I have strategies, and you know what? They're pretty GOOD strategies.

The appendices are incredible, most notably the monster list in the back. Most people don't like it when there no pictures in the bestiary. To them I say, you can read, right? No worries! Just know the name of the monster you're fighting, no problem. They also seperate the monsters found in the abyss from the ones found elsewhere.

As a bonus, the guide has a few Penny Arcade Comics. Not a whole lot, but they're particularly funny. Each of them (save for one) stars characters or monsters from Wild Arms. They're funny and memorable in the original Penny Arcade humor. Of course, for some of them, you have to know Wild Arms, but I'm assuming you got the guide because you have the game.

If there were any major problems with this guide, I'd say the only thing I don't like is that they don't call out how much HP enemies have in the walkthrough. They give a list of monsters you find in the dungeon (and tips on how to beat 'em), but they don't tell you how much HP they have, forcing you to flip all the way back to the monster index. It's forgiveable, though, and it shouldn't cause much stress. I don't mind flipping back, but some people do, so I thought I'd warn you of that.

The other big problem is that the game doesn't have a download list of regular enemies for Emma. Bosses are listed, but not regular enemies. Gerald Guess himself has seen this flaw and took time to post a download list on GameFAQs.com and it isn't too much paper to print it out either.

This guide to Wild Arms: Alter Code F is the perfect companion. Very easy to use, user friendly and the way it's written is more like someone is talking to you than like an instruction manuel. Well organized efforts make up for the lack of quality in Prima's earler guides for RPGs.

The Good
+Excellent Walkthrough
+Some of the best boss strategies
+All secrets and sidequest revealed
+Overall well organized
+Clear screenshots
+Nice appendices (they even include locations of extra items such as Migrant Seals--all 20 of them)
+Penny Arcade cartoons provide the guide with some humor

The Bad
-In including everything else, they didn't stick in a world map, which could've helped in some cases.
-There's no download list for normal monsters, but Gerald Guess has posted an FAQ for it if you need one.

This book is essential to every online gamblers library. Karayanis offers quality information on reputable online casinos, tips on etiquette and strategies, as well as reference pages for those seeking help for gambling addictions. Please read this book before you tackle the casinos, be smart, read the fine print, and by all means, nurture that payroll! Definately check out www.goldenpalace.com, their live blackjack gaming option is fantastic! Best of luck!

If you've ever had any concerns about taking your Blackjack game to the "Brave New World" of online casinos, this is for you. This is a very well written book that helps make the transition from "over the table" player to "online player". It very wisely avoids going into too much detail on the basic "How to Play Blackjack" and instead focuses on "how to take your existing Blackjack knowledge Online". I've been playing the game for a long time and have made a fair amount of money in the casinos, but this book took my earning potential to a new level by detailing how I can win at online casinos from my own home. (fewer flights to Vegas and trips to AC!)A lot of step-by-step detail is provided where needed, but it also balances this with some light-hearted anecdotes and quotes. (a great touch!)
Personal ID Security is covered in a lot of detail, as are legalities and etiquette. Definitely worth getting!

Although there is a description of how to play blackjack in this book, the main emphasis is, as the title says, ONLINE blackjack. While the basic rules of the game haven't changed, the fact that you have to go on line, sign up, give out information such as credit card numbers make the game just a little bit different.

This book is on those differences. The author talks about the various on line casinos, how to protect yourself from illegitimate operations as well as viruses, trojan horses, worms, etc. She lists about 170 casinos that she at least implies she has visited and found them to be worth recommending.

It turns out that all the various casinos use software from a few software vendors. She lists these vendors and discusses some points about their software. Finally, these software packages, and consequently the casinos offer many different versions of the classical blackjack game. She goes into these differences and talks some about strategy to use with each.

Note that on line casinos shuffle after each hand, so card counting won't work very well.

This is among the best gambling books I've seen. I like to think of myself as a knowledgeable, seasoned blackjack player, but until now I've hesitated to play in an online casino. The privacy concerns, legal questions, and especially the fear of being ripped off -- It all made me nervous. But this book put those fears to rest. That's not to say that it glosses over the risks; it discusses them in detail so you know how to steer clear of them. Beyond showing you what to avoid, it tells you what to look for in an online casino, in a style that's both easy to read and intelligently written. I'd also recommend the book's sections on strategy to any new player, as well as to experienced gamblers looking to refresh their skills.

I just got this book, having pre-ordered it awhile ago. As a BREW games developer, I am finding Mr. Barbagello's explanation of some of the finer points of BREW very useful. I've already had a few "Doh! So *that's* how that works!" moments, and I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in coding applications for BREW. BREW has a definite learning curve to it, but this book could make that much easier. You should have a good grounding in C/C++ before diving in, though, so be warned. The book has an extra section on how to construct BMPs in memory for use in BREW, which sounds easy enough, but if you know anything about BREW, isn't. Overall, a wonderful book I wish I'd had when I was learning BREW.

It's amazing that so little has been written on BREW, but with this book the above author is at the forefront of the upcoming tidal wave announcing and providing us an insightful and indepth how to manual on how to develop and publish BREW applications.

This book is a great gift for BREW developers, Out of two books available for the Qualcomm's BREW this one has definitely more advantages, Even it doesn't matter that you are a Game Developer or not this will help you if you want to a become a BREW developer.
Amarjeet Singh
Bangalore India

This book (Wireless game development in c/c++ with brew) was pretty good. It is the best info I can find on the subject. There were only two books that I found about brew the other being Qualcomm Brew platform by Ray Rischpater, but If you are going to become a brew developer it might be in your best interest to drop the 80$ and get both books.

This one was the best out of the two I did get.

Also, even though the book has the words 'game development' in the title, it is a great book for non game dev people. My applications have nothing to do with games.