Sams The Black Art of Video Game Console Design review

Verdict:

Review Date: 17 Mar 2006

Price when reviewed:

Our Rating 5 stars out of 5

Review
Specs

This is an amazing book and highly recommended, but only if you know what you're letting yourself in for.

Andre LaMothe's book is not just another game-programming book. The focus is squarely on console design, and the book deals with hardware from the first page.

The initial chapters cover the physics that you need to understand electronics, including one of the best explanations of how a transistor works that we've ever read. We're not sure what a complete beginner would make of it all, as the author has a sophisticated view of the way things work. But if you are well-grounded in software, this could be the book you've been waiting for. It's great fun and explains things that you might have been wondering about for years. It goes from basic electricity to microprocessors and designing and building the hardware and software in an old-style games console.

You probably won't produce anything real or revolutionary through reading this, but if you're interested in the theory of how games consoles work, it's fascinating.

Prev Next

Get more reviews, tutorials and in-depth advice, every month with Computer Shopper.
Click here to try 3 issues for £1

< Previous Reviews : General Next >

Sponsored Links

Be the first to comment on this article

You need to Login or Register to comment.