Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Book For Intermediate Programmers
Review: This book has these features:
1. Just DX8 Code and Theory. Nothing on setting up Windows and the GDI or the history of Windows. The lower price tag is due to this.2. Codes that actually compile and run. This is "pretty rare" considering that other DX8 books (as of July 2002) have half baked code that does not even compile. 3. Focus is on techniques and not on making a monster library. Unlike most books, there is no monster central library where each project needs to include. Each example in the book has its own source code and does one or two things only, making the relevant code stand out. Conclusion:
If you are an experienced programmer with DX7, this book is definately a buy. But, if you are a new programmer, stay away from this book. This book purposely leaves out any support for inexperienced programmers. For those that have his previous(?) book, "Isometric Game Programming With Directx 7.0", this book is basically part 2 of that book.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Reference Material / Get Up-to-Speed Quickly
Review: This book is a must-have for all budding game developers who want to make the move from DirectDraw to Direct3D. The material in this book is presented in a simple, straight-forward "no extra fluff" manner. You will be building simple 2D engines using Direct3D in no time. And it will give you a solid basis for expanding your knowledge of Direct3D as you move to building 3D engines, later on. I especially think the book does well (for its cost) by not having a lot of useless Win32 / Generic C++ content overhead. Yes, you are expected to know a bit of this coming in, but if you don't know the basics already, you should be starting with another book. "Focus on 2D..." also serves as an excellent reference to be able to fall back on when looking up specific information. You definitely do not need to read it front-to-back; each chapter stands on its own and covers the fundamentals needed, regardless of whether you need information on particle systems, alpha blending, textures, or other Direct3D systems. I highly recommend added this book to your collection!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Reference Material / Get Up-to-Speed Quickly
Review: This book is a must-have for all budding game developers who want to make the move from DirectDraw to Direct3D. The material in this book is presented in a simple, straight-forward "no extra fluff" manner. You will be building simple 2D engines using Direct3D in no time. And it will give you a solid basis for expanding your knowledge of Direct3D as you move to building 3D engines, later on. I especially think the book does well (for its cost) by not having a lot of useless Win32 / Generic C++ content overhead. Yes, you are expected to know a bit of this coming in, but if you don't know the basics already, you should be starting with another book. "Focus on 2D..." also serves as an excellent reference to be able to fall back on when looking up specific information. You definitely do not need to read it front-to-back; each chapter stands on its own and covers the fundamentals needed, regardless of whether you need information on particle systems, alpha blending, textures, or other Direct3D systems. I highly recommend added this book to your collection!
Rating: 
Summary: ok read
Review: this book will not teach you a lot. it will, however, point you into a direction where you should venture into if you want to learn directX 2D or 3D. the matrix lessons are a bit too complicated with the way the author explained it, considering that matrix arithmetic is not too difficult. there are a few pages containg cryptic matrix multiplication examples which could have been explained in a few sentences like in lamothe's tricks of the trade book( lamothe explains math better ). I especially didnt like the chapter where the author stated that he will not teach you how to load an X-file, he wants you to do that on your own. shoulda pointed out where if he wont bother explaning it. but i give it 3 stars for a decent read. it is a good addition to a game programmers collection
Rating:
Summary: Indispensible for modern Windows/XBOX 2D Game Designers
Review: Unlike many of the other books in the Premier Press Game Development Series, this book is a short 270 or so pages. That said, it's information dense and INCREMENTAL. It's also apparent how the book can prepare someone to make the transition from 2D to 3D quickly. Some of the topics the author covers in this book that I found particularly useful: - Alpha blending for 2D effects
- Z buffering (this topic is covered extensively elsewhere, admittedly; but this author has explained Z-buffering in the most lucid manner I have seen to date)
- Lighting for 2D
- Simple vertex shading for 2D
- Particle systems for 2D (very useful) The later chapters, in particular, were extremely useful. All the code WORKS. This book was written while DirectX 8.0 was the latest and greatest, so there may be some issues with DirectX 9 and higher, but of course that's to be expected. All in all, This book has been one of the best investments I've ever made in my game development education. Furthermore, it has been a constant companion and reference during my own commercial game development.
Rating: 
Summary: Microsoft Documentation... in Book Form
Review: What I didn't like: Okay, this is a bit different than the Microsoft references. However, the "focus" perhaps was slightly misplaced. "Chapter 1 - The Direct3D Architecture" was not the name of the first chapter, unfortunately. It should have been the largest chapter in the book and it wasn't even in it. An appendix, a simple diagram, something?!! A necessary but perhaps overreaching review of Linear Algebra - the long form of dot and cross products for 4x4 matrices. Sometimes you swear you heard the author thinking, "How can I fill another page?" That information would have been better supplemented in an appendix or by referring the user to an online resource (the email address of a good mathematics professor, maybe). Equally, the book could have been written with about half the number of pages conveying the same, if not more, useful information. There are a lot of terms - especially someone who is new to 3D programming. Most of the terms reflect concepts or objects of the Direct3D architecture. Again, where is that critical Chapter 1? While you eventually discover what all these terms are, it is not obvious what the interdependencies are until later. What I liked: Each chapter in the beginning tells you what you should get out of it. So at the end of the chapter, go back to the beginning and see if you agree. If not, re-read, chief. Admittedly, the book breaks down the Direct3D functions one by one. The information is there in case you don't want to search the MSDN. AND with the way the functions are presented, you can easily code along with the first few chapters. Summary:
If you are new to Direct3D, it is less scary than the MSDN documentation. It is a VERY linear book with insufficient focus on architecture, too much focus on function calls, and a lot of reiterated implicit information.
Rating:
Summary: Microsoft Documentation... in Book Form
Review: What I didn't like: Okay, this is a bit different than the Microsoft references. However, the "focus" perhaps was slightly misplaced. "Chapter 1 - The Direct3D Architecture" was not the name of the first chapter, unfortunately. It should have been the largest chapter in the book and it wasn't even in it. An appendix, a simple diagram, something?!! A necessary but perhaps overreaching review of Linear Algebra - the long form of dot and cross products for 4x4 matrices. Sometimes you swear you heard the author thinking, "How can I fill another page?" That information would have been better supplemented in an appendix or by referring the user to an online resource (the email address of a good mathematics professor, maybe). Equally, the book could have been written with about half the number of pages conveying the same, if not more, useful information. There are a lot of terms - especially someone who is new to 3D programming. Most of the terms reflect concepts or objects of the Direct3D architecture. Again, where is that critical Chapter 1? While you eventually discover what all these terms are, it is not obvious what the interdependencies are until later. What I liked: Each chapter in the beginning tells you what you should get out of it. So at the end of the chapter, go back to the beginning and see if you agree. If not, re-read, chief. Admittedly, the book breaks down the Direct3D functions one by one. The information is there in case you don't want to search the MSDN. AND with the way the functions are presented, you can easily code along with the first few chapters. Summary:
If you are new to Direct3D, it is less scary than the MSDN documentation. It is a VERY linear book with insufficient focus on architecture, too much focus on function calls, and a lot of reiterated implicit information.
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