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Survey of Lowest Known Online Prices
Note: This list is hand generated and has no search engine bias.
Last checked May 6th, 2005.
$46.17 (34% off) Amazon.com Note: free shipping
$48.96 (30% off) BooksAMillion.com
$55.96 (20% off) Charles River Media
$62.96 (10% off) Buy.com
$69.95 (0% off) BarnesAndNoble.com
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Reviews from GameDev.net
pixelstar (rating 5.0/5.0)
A valuable book to anyone serious about creating cutting edge games! I gasp in amazement every time I buy a book from this series. I'm still trying to catch up to the second book!
D�min (rating 4.0/5.0)
It's a good book, has some very helpful articles, although I doubt that I will use all of them. They cover some new technologies such as Ogg, some old stuff like using Bison / Yacc to parse game data, and a bunch of other useful stuff like approximations, 3D audio, and some decent path finding tips. I just wish the book wasn't as pricey, especially here in Australia.
JonnyQuest (rating 4.5/5.0)
Excellent book, like the previous two in the series. While most people are probably unlikely to apply every single article in the book, there's bound to be quite a lot for everyone. All articles are very well written and thought out, and the actual techniques are, well, gems. Only criticism: price...
LucasMeijer (rating 4.5/5.0)
I've found this book to be incredibly informative. They don't spend any text to get people up to speed on a topic (like in gems1), each article goes straight to the hard stuff. I like it that way. You'll need to read an article several times to fully understand it, but this way much more articles fit in. I found it well worth its money.
Magmai Kai Holmlor (rating 4.0/5.0)
Good addition to the series, pricey like the other two.
meh (rating 4.0/5.0)
GLike all the previous books, great as long as there is something in it interesting to you. Personally I love this series.
Reviews from Amazon.com
James Boer from Kirkland, WA United States (rating 5.0/5.0)
Valuable resource for those in the trenches, February 16, 2003
For anyone who actually works as a game programming professional, I'd highly recommend this book. Those of you looking for general-purpose interesting programming tidbits, try one of Scott Meyer's books instead, which I'd recommend to ANY C++ programmer, not game programmers.
One thing to note: I've heard claims (regarding this and previous books in the series) that these books are simply pre-existing articles pulled from the web and other sources and packed into a collection to be resold. This is nonsense - every article in the book was submitted by programmers, and was exclusively commissioned and paid for by the publisher for use in this series. You won't find these articles floating around on the net. Moreover, because these articles are commissioned, peer-reviewed, and professional edited, the overall quality is much higher than random articles found on the net.
Overall, this book, and the entire series for that matter, gets my highest recommendation. You're naturally not going to find every article or topic useful or relevant, but if you're actually in the trenches, the likelyhood of finding at least one article that really helps you out is likely high. In my experience, simply finding one really valuable article is worth the price of the book alone.
nyrathwiz (see more about me) from Baltimore, MD United States (rating 5.0/5.0)
Exceedingly valuable, September 6, 2002
While Gems 1 will always have a special place in my heart, this book solidly builds on the foundation of Gems 1 & 2.
New techniques are revealed, and previous ones are expanded and enhanced. Every phase of game design is covered, from design to AI to graphics to audio.
If you are a game designer, you cannot afford to pass this one by.
Another reader from Big Pool, MD (rating 5.0/5.0)
Normally, I don't write reviews.., August 23, 2002
Like Gems 1 and 2, its a must have for any game programmer shelf... I'm finding more and more modern approaches to problems, vertex shading, etc in the newer gems series.. Gems 1 holds a special place in my heart because of how breakthrough it was, but this, which not as staggering in its signficance, is just as important to the modern game programmer.
Reviews from Amazon.co.uk
paulofsilva from Amadora, Amadora Portugal (rating 5.0/5.0)
Complete and interesting to read if you really like the subj, May 10, 2003
This book is just a collection of ideas from various software eng. It is interesting because it gives you an idea of how the other developers think and how they overcame their own problems. This book adds a networking chapter which I think to be of utmost importance since we are on the verge of a new generation of mobile phones based on ip tech.
andypatrick from Loughborough United Kingdom (rating 4.0/5.0)
High powered, October 22, 2002
The third book in the Programming Gems series, this is also the most technically advanced and certainly could not be recommended for beginners. However, for the more serious software developer there is much within these pages that could be of use, or at the very least should make you think.
The only drawback, is that with each gem written by a different author, there's the occasional repeat. Just how many random and pseudo-random number generators does one book need?
Of course the benefit of so many authors is that there is a great variety of ideas on display. Recommended to the serious games programmer.
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