Microsoft XNA Unleashed: Graphics and Game Programming for Xbox 360 and Windows (Unleashed) Reviews

• Though material is covered, the author fails to communicate a useful picture of what is going on

  
  By A2IULSQQ0JTMOB on 2007-08-24
  Since I am apparently the first rater I have given it a generous two stars, relative to my opinion of this book. This is a difficult book with a lot of facts in it, but the facts are not organized nor woven into a useful picture of what is going on. If you are familiar with XNA, you may agree that what the author is saying is correct, but I did not find his presentation of the information to be useful. I wanted something that would take me beyond the examples that are free from Microsoft. Microsoft has some free tutorials online which are far superior to getting you up and running than this book.
  
  Let's look at the full section entitled "Vertices".
  
  <-Begin excerpt, pg. 59--->
  
  Vertices
  
  Everything in a 3D game is represented by 3D points. There are a couple of ways to get 3D objects on the screen. We can plot the points ourselves or we can load them from a 3D file (which has all the points stored already). Later, in Chapter 6, "Loading and Texturing 3D Objects," we will learn how to load 3D files to use in our games. For now, we are going to create the points ourselves.
  
  We defined these points with an x, y, and z coordinate (x, y, z). In XNA we represent a vertex with a vector, which leads us to the next section.
  
  <---End excerpt>
  
  Considering the above excerpt, what is specifically said about vertices in the paragraph? The answer is nothing. Although if you know that the plural of vertex is vertices, you get to learn that in XNA we represent a vertex with a vector.
  
  Now let's look at the full section entitled "Matrices".
  
  <-Begin excerpt, pg. 60--->
  
  Matrices
  
  In XNA a matrix is a 4 x 4 table of data. It is a two-dimensional array. An identity matrix, also referred to as a unit matrix, is similar to the number 1 in that if we multiply any other number by 1 we always end up with the number we started with (5 * 1 = 5). Multiplying a matrix by an identity matrix will produce a matrix with the same value as the original matrix. XNA provides a struct to hold matrix data--not surprisingly, it is called Matrix.
  
  <---End excerpt>
  
  Huh?
  
  In short, if you already understand everything the book is writing to address, you will understand the book. I was hoping for a good overview and a strong conceptual foundation in the book, I found neither. When my book arrived I first wanted to get grounded in game services, and although this book does address it, in that it has a section on creating a game service, it was worthless to me. My experience of the book is that though it has topics one who is interested in XNA would like to learn about, its organization and coverage are insufficient to be helpful.
  
  
  

• Fast-moving

  
  By A3F5IQW8RLSMEN on 2007-09-08
  Personally I enjoyed the book and got a lot out of it. I would recommend not looking to any one book as a tutorial; game programming is a complex beast under the best circumstances. Rather this book is excellent when used in conjunction with the resources freely available online including video tutorials, articles and the knowledge base.
  
  I will say that of the XNA books I've read so far this one was the most logically oriented and the easiest to get up and running with. Don't know how to set up and deploy to an XBox 360? It's in here. Want to get split-screen running this afternoon? That's in here too. Need a better primer on HLSL? Try this book.
  
  There is no magic bullet. Make use of the multiple resources at your disposal and put in a little leg work. XNA simplifies game development quite a bit, but there are far too many concepts involved in game development to be covered in their entirety in one, two or three books.
  
  

• Very Very Nice

  
  By A36IYB3VC5Y4DP on 2007-10-13
  I own pretty much all of the XNA titles that are currently available and I must say Chad's book is by far the easiest and nicest to read. The author is great at explaining a topic then putting it into source code.. which in my opinion is important with this difficult subject.
  
  Very nice book and I hope the author will write a more advanced follow up :) Perhaps a book on writing a complete game with the XNA Framework 2.0 due to be released in winter?
  
  5/5 from me
  
  

• Wrote my first game in four days

  
  By AO5INNWOMJU0F on 2008-02-08
  This book was a recommended text for my graduate-level game architecture class. Like all good students, I left my assignment to "write an educational children's game" until the last moment, and found myself with five days to get myself up to speed on XNA -- starting from square one.
  
  Thankfully I'd had some C# experience, but when I sat down on Friday night with only this book and my laptop, I knew nothing about how to install or use XNA. After a solid weekend's work, I had an interactive fish tank simulator (ecosystems are educational, right?) complete with sounds and animation. There were enough examples in the book to get me started in all the directions I need to go: animating and scaling a sprite, collision detection, creating a sound bank... Plugging the appropriate code samples together was quite painless.
  
  I did have some trouble running the example code from the book, probably because I was running the relatively new XNA Game Studio 2.0, while the examples were written under the previous version. Nothing some Googling and debugging couldn't work around, however.
  
  Be sure to explicitly follow the instructions (either in the book or on the XNA download site) for installing Visual Studio, .Net, DirectX, and XNA Game Studio. You need precisely the right versions in precisely the right order or you'll be tearing your hair out. The CD that comes with the book contains only the example code - none of the Microsoft products above are included - so if you're on a slow Internet connection, you'd better start downloading now.
  
  Overall, this book is highly recommended for folks who want (or need) to get rolling with XNA quickly.
  
  

• The 2nd Course in XNA

  
  By A1A47RO2VNF320 on 2007-12-06
  This is my official 2nd book that i am going through (Though i do own 3 XNA books, one of them is way to basic and only covers 2d).
  
  This book is a great book. It just does not give you good code to program by, but gives you the reason why you should program this way, by, well, another example. Teaching about librarys, and DLLs, this book shows why some methods of programming are inefficient. The first GameComponent you create is a FPS which calculates your FPS. But how you create it is amazing, for those who have programming experience, but no XNA experience, and how to implement it is great. So then by showing the different ways of drawing and what they have on your FPS is great. You understand why things are just better. Then we get right into creating a lirbary, with FPS, Camera, and Input handler as the first projects.
  
  Another great thing is this book shows you have to become a Better XNA programmer, not just a good 3D programmer. That way you can take complete control over XNA. I am current only on Chapter 5. But (being a college student for programming in a "REAL" school, not a tech school) i can tell that this knows what he is talking about.
  
  Ill be updating this comment when i get to Chapter 10: 2D Effects (which is great when you wanna create GUI's. not so fun when you are doing 2D games (i dont like 2D games, not mathematically hard enough)) (and yes the double parentheses is a habbit, gotta properly use them) :)
  
  
  ***A SIDE NOTE FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE DREAMING/BECOMING A GAME PROGRAMMER***
  Ok so you want to become a game programmer. This is great steps to make. First learn all you can about different graphics uitilities. (Learn directX with C++ and then learn OpenGL). Next go to College, not a tech school. Though DigiPen is the greatest, and much harder than regular college, game school around, it does not mean employers will respect you. If you earn a degree from there, or full sail or other game specific colleges, you will not have as much opprotunity as a Tier 1 school. Not only are Tier 1 Abet Schools cheaper than those places, and easier, they give you a real degree. Which means while your waiting to become a game programmer, you can work and earn 55-70k a year. Second off you learn about theory, which i hate theory but none the less, which is a fantastic tool when programming better games.
  
  So for anyone aspiring to be a game programmer, dont go the easy (but harder school wise) way out. It will only bite you in the butt down the road.
  
  
• The best XNA book I found
  By AJ95ACSQ0D89F on 2007-10-18
  This is a great book. It assumes you are familiar with C# and OOP but if you are familiar with Java or C++ you can easily catch up since they are very alike.
  
  The author explains in good details without being superficial. If you know how to program and want to get into game development, this is the book for you.
  
  
• Excellent examples
  By A1H7FMBF8KPLBQ on 2007-11-17
  Each chapter has several code examples illustrating basic concepts and developing simple games. They all work which makes this book a pleasure to use. Code is available on a CD included with the book. The text is clearly written showing how to use XNA(TM) Game Studio to develop either 2D or 3D games. It would be impossible to go into depth on all the background graphics and mathematics that one would need if not using XNA. The book rightly focuses on XNA methods which do most of the work. More information can easily be found online to supplement the text which might be helpful to those new to game programming.
  
  The author starts with performance and integrates performance measuring into the code. He covers both Windows and the Xbox 360 with each project set up for both. The advanced topics are really useful for 3D games. In all it is very enjoyable to use.
  
  
  
• The is easy book about XNA to understand
  By A3PPU67BJ1RUES on 2007-11-23
  I own almost all books about XNA and this is the one that explain in a very easy way. I just love this book.
  
  Just like the other review, I wish the the autor make a new one about XNA 2.
  
  5 stars!!!
  
  
• Worth the effort!
  By A2ZTADAIUZDINU on 2007-12-03
  After deciding to start programming again after many years, I have found this book to not only be a great introduction into XNA, but also help with learning C# and the Visual dev process and environment.
  
  Many times the best way to learn is by doing, and this book provides a well thought out guide to "doing" just that!
  
  Future revisions might include a little more background/depth on concepts/definitions: such as 3D terminology, the math involved, more of an overview of the XNA framework etc.
  
  The author at times makes assumptions (i think appropriate ones) that the user knows how to perform certain tasks without those tasks always being spelled out. This is a good thing.
  
  Also, I think it is great that in order to build the examples the author describes you have to read and follow along with the text, rather than just copying a program listing at the end of the chapter.
  
  Overall i have enjoyed my time with this book and it has been worth every penny!
  
  
• Excellent. How about another one for XNA 2.0?
  By A1T06ZJ5VTDDIK on 2007-12-04
  I enjoy reading the book (almost done). Stuff related to performance is really helpful, not for just XNA programming. One thing I'd love to see is another book from this author (second edition?) - covering XNA 2.0 and adding a few more features to existing tutorials (sample games) in this book. Recommended.
  
  
• Preview before buying
  By A2UMVKIZ520G5V on 2008-01-14
  This might be a good book; I don't know, I couldn't get very far into it before I gave up. The introduction says,"This book was written with a few different audiences in mind," and boy, does he live up to that.
  
  At times, it seems that the author is writing for complete novices. He spends most of the first chapter giving detailed instructions on installing VC# express, which is just a standard wizard install, so you think we're taking baby steps. Whoops, next he starts talking about render loops and back planes as if he were addressing an experienced game developer who knew all about game programming, and was just looking for the differences in XNA and OpenGL. Then a bit later, he is somewhere in the middle, explaining how to draw a point.
  
  I almost get the impression that he had a decent book, but somebody turned on a big fan at the publisher's office, and scattered the pages all around, and they were put back in random order. I've read reviews from experienced developers that say this is a good book, so maybe it is, for them. For someone new to game programming, it's very hard to follow. To be fair, the intro does say you need a good understanding of programming, so it's not intended for novices, but I'm an experienced programmer, just not in the area of games or graphics. And I found the book very frustrating and confusing.
  
  Another problem is that he spends a lot of time on writing programs for the XBox360, rather than the PC. If you don't have an XBox, or don't want to spend the hundred bucks it costs to join the club you need to be in to program for it, then you naturally want to skip those parts. But later, you realize that he is assuming you did read those parts, so you have to go back and try to figure out what you missed. Or maybe it's just more of the same, where he brings in advanced concepts completely out of the blue.
  
  My recommendation is to read sample chapters on the web, or skim through the book in a bookstore. If you can follow it, great. I couldn't.
  
  
• Doesn't work at all with XNA 2.0
  By A1J1NCPG87M84I on 2008-03-01
  The author needs to update all the code to work with XNA 2.0. If you want to spend all your time fixing the author's code then buy it, otherwise find another book.
  
  
• one of the better books, too bad its not 2.0,
  By A1V0A411UCGQX1 on 2008-03-06
  well this isnt realy the publishers \ writer fault but this book is written for XNA 1.0, and once 2.0 had been released some of the code in the book needs a bit of tweaking,
  
  i think that if you have some background knowledge about C# and programming, then this is the perfect book to take you into XNA.
  it has a much better approach then most, "teach yourself" books,
  and i recommand getting it,
  
  it only got a 4 out a 5, but if a new edition with XNA 2.0 will be release i would have givven it a 5.
  :)
  
  
  
  
• Wow! Excellent Book ... Even for 2.0!
  By A2WA5G4FU3KKR1 on 2008-04-29
  At first I was hesitant to get this book since it based on the 1.0 refresh. However, I wanted to get started right away and seeing how this technology will simply continue to grow, there is no better time than the present to start learning.
  
  I have all of the current XNA Books available and this one is by far the best. I love this guy's coding style ... it is nice when an author using .NET is actually using .NET styled code. If there is only one XNA book you can buy -- get this one.
  
  I really enjoyed his perspective on performance. It helped me in my day job as well ... can you say Garbage Collector? I bought this book to do 3D and I have been happy with my results. I am using 2D to supplement my 3D game, but it seems the community is obsessed with 2D games at this point. The physics chapter is great. I also enjoyed the chapter on Artificial Intelligence. Both are short, but to the point and helped me know where I need to look for more information. The particle system is excellent. I liked the force field created by particles ... cool.
  
  I am a programmer by trade and have dabbled in computer graphics in the past, but it was just too much work to get anything valuable. With XNA and this book as a guide, I was able to go so much farther than I ever did with DirectX and the books I bought on that subject. I have created a full 3D game that I plan to put out on Xbox LIVE Community Games when it is available. There is no way I would have a completed game without this book -- sound, game states, input, polish -- it is all in here!
  
  I liked how the author didn't waste time on rendering a single triangle ... he did a rectangle (two triangles) ... and then later used that code to create a skybox. The chapter on the content pipeline was excellent. I enjoyed the advanced topics he has as well like Render Targets, Parallax and Relief Mapping.
  
  In regards to changes with 2.0, he has updated the code on his site and it runs with no issues at all! Fortunately, the code is about identical to what it is in the book even with new code. I guess it just proves that not too much had to change between 1.0 refresh and 2.0.
  I would buy this book again. In fact, I will when the author comes out with the 3.0 book.
  
  Get this book ... and don't waste any more time ... make a great game -- it really is within grasp!
  
  
• Excellent Text for Intermediate Level Students
  By A24S208MX3HJDF on 2008-05-14
  This is a very well planned book with game development students in mind. Readers who complain that the writer takes off too quickly should keep in mind that the book is categorized as "Intermediate-Advanced" and quite accurately so.
  
  I'm using this as a recommended text for a module I am teaching to diploma students and it brings them up to speed on programming with XNA.
  
  You should get this if you have programmed in DirectX and/or C++; you'll find it a breeze and be amazed by how many things have been taken care / made much easier by the XNA framework and using a managed language such as C#.
  
  The author, Chad Carter, also actively responds to the questions in the book's discussion forums. This is especially important for a technical book such as this as technology is constantly evolving (we're at XNA 2.0 currently), and it helps to know which parts of the book need to be updated (or not).
  
  The only improvements I can recommend for the next edition (XNA 3.0) are:
  1. Consolidated list of errata on the author's website (xnaessentials.com) to make it easier to find and update my own copy / students' copies of the book.
  2. Teaching / supporting materials. However, I must admit that going through the exercises in the book will give you a good deal of ideas and inspirations already.
  
  In short, thanks Chad, please keep up the excellent work.
  
  

• Microsoft XNA Game Studio Creators Guide
• XNA Game Studio Express: Developing Games for Windows and the Xbox 360
• Professional XNA Programming: Building Games for Xbox 360 and Windows with XNA Game Studio 2.0
• Beginning XNA 2.0 Game Programming: From Novice to Professional (Expert's Voice in Game Programming)
• XNA 2.0 Game Programming Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach (Books for Professionals by Professionals)