I picked this book up on our way home from Merging Media 2011 in Vancouver, having heard one of the speakers recommend it during his presentation. Through the wonders of the internet and cell phone technology, I was able to ascertain that our local Chapters outlet had one copy, and called ahead to have it held for me. While agile development principles will not be new to many of you – and truth be told, they aren’t really new to me either, I’ve heard them spoken of at many industry seminars, the way the author ties those principles in with ideas from other sources seemed to stick with me better, for some reason.

Perhaps it’s because I’ve been wrestling with our own new project for months now, and the thought of breaking it into incremental development didn’t really occur to me – it was just this monumental project with many components that would theoretically fit together nicely in my vision of what I wanted to accomplish.

After reading Little Bets and getting a look at project development across industries and disciplines, I now realize that I was approaching our project all wrong – it needs to be broken up with each area visited and re-visited until I can achieve (hopefully) what I originally set out to do.

One of the measures I use for a book’s importance to me is the number of researchable resources it offers. Peter Sims has included a categorized appendix full of further resources, many of which he covered in the text of his book, explaining their relevance to his topic and solving one more piece of the puzzle in how to develop a successful business model, service or product. It was also validating to see that some of the books Mr. Sims recommends were already on my office shelf, which tells me that I am on the right track as far as gathering knowledge goes.

Other reviews of Little Bets have been somewhat negative, stating that it contains nothing new, or that it only applies to the highly intelligent with big budgets. I don’t feel that way. I found Little Bets to be encouraging, offering me the chance to reflect on what it is I personally am trying to do, and that tells me that this book was worth the purchase price and time it took me to read it.

Sometimes all it takes is reading a lot of similar material that is presented in different ways with viable examples of products and companies many of us can relate to, and as a habitual reader and researcher of topics, I believe that Little Bets may have unwittingly become my tipping point in moving forward.

Also encouraging is the fact that the small team I’ve been working with thus far on the new project is comprised of people from different career backgrounds, and we can sit around a table tossing around ideas and suggestions without fear of belittlement, so in that way we had already achieved one portion of the successful creative team. Again, validation that we are moving in the right direction, albeit quite slowly. However, as I’ve said to Scott a few times – I would rather move ahead slowly and get this project mostly right than toss the whole thing onto the internet only to have it fall apart in one massive mess.

While no book can truly provide all of the answers for any given project or situation, Little Bets gives the reader plenty to think about – everything from how we think about projects and problems to how we educate our children and encourage them to become free-thinkers and creative problem finders.

Peter Sims draws examples from university professors who have conducted years of research into the practice of understanding innovative methods and the creative process, such as Professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s work on the concept of Flow. The author also presents research from Dr. Carol Dweck, a Professor of Social Psychology at Stanford University, whose work revolves around human mind-sets.

Pixar, Toyota, Hewlett-Packard, architect Frank Gehry, the US Military as well as Proctor & Gamble are but a few of the examples presented in Little Bets of how changing thought processes and behaviours worked for them, aiding in finding the creative processes that pushed ideas forward.

Little Bets is by no means a research paper with footnotes to support its theory; it is a business knowledge book designed to offer the reader a path to new thinking and new ways to solve problems he or she may be facing. It is a look at how different people approach and solve different problems. It’s about processes that work for them, how they might work for you, and it’s about changing your own thinking processes to break down barriers that may have been blocking your path – turning your little bets into small wins that will eventually transform into big success.

If you are looking for suggestions on how to get around these barriers in your own project, I highly recommend Little Bets – it is decently light reading with lots of informative sign posts to help you along on your journey.

I’ll admit that I was leery of reading this book, mainly because I’ve grown tired of the over-used buzz term gamification, which is a main topic area for this title. I’ll also admit that I was quickly converted – not to gamification of business, but to delving into the contents laid out by Mr. Radoff.

What drew me in was not trying to figure out how to gamify this site or even our new project; it was the amount of research and information that the author was sharing. Jon Radoff has compiled of book that is of great value to both game developers and non-developers alike. He presents his ideas and views in a concise and easy-to-understand manner without overwhelming the reader, even encouraging said readers to turn their progress through the book into a game.

One of the most important indicators that I use to measure the quality of a non-fiction book is how much has it taught me, and are there an abundance of references given for further research. Game On more than surpasses these markets. I used to use a regular highlight pen to remember certain passages in books, but with the availability of sticky notes, I now use different coloured notes to mark items to remember as well as items for further reading. In reading Game On, I went through one full “pad” of yellow notes, which mark the items of interest, as well as a good number of blue notes, which mark items for further research.

Game On: Energize Your Business With Social Media Games begins with the reader finding out more about his or her interests and motivations for investigating social games before moving on to discuss the evolution of games, in particular social games, virtual goods and the experiences people who play games have come to expect from developers.

Mr. Radoff also reminds us that while gamification may be the latest catch phrase of the year, people have been playing games and turning menial tasks into games since the beginning of time. As I’ve noted before, we parents are well known for turning mealtimes into games to try and encourage kids to eat – which one of us hasn’t turned an eating utensil into an airplane, train or car? The author handily points out that the end result of a game is for the player to have a memorable, fun experience, and his book takes readers through the process of figuring out what works and what doesn’t as we seek to engage our customers, getting them to buy into the experience our businesses and products offer to them.

For designers and developers, there are an abundance of charts and checklists for easy reference, as well as a very extensive glossary, resource guide and book reference for further understanding and education. Two very important elements covered within the body of the book are the inclusion of the storied experience along with the importance players place on virtual goods – whether they are given as rewards or purchasable. Games are a form of escape, which places importance on the ability of story to open doors to other worlds with the addition of virtual goods to implant the memories of achievement and enjoyable experiences in the mind of the gamer so that he or she keeps coming back, as well as sharing those experiences with friends and family, thereby assisting your game along its viral journey.

Game On successfully crosses the lines between designer, consumer and observer, sharing information that is both interesting and informative whether the reader is a seasoned veteran in the game development industry or someone who may have a passing interest in the phenomena of immersive game experiences. Mr. Radoff manages to marry in-depth research, real life experience and speculation into a tome whose value exceeds its purchase price.

I can easily and in good conscience recommend Game On: Energize Your Business With Social Media Games to anyone who wants to gain a better understanding of today’s interactive and tech-savvy world. As I said above, this book is not just for business people looking to engage their customers. It’s for game developers, students, designers, business people and consumers who want to learn more about the engaging world of today’s online experience.

Social networks, The Internet of Things, Wireless connectivity and the Cloud are just some of the disruptive forces dramatically changing the way consumers and businesses interact.  Yet, despite technology’s progress, the chasm between what a business typically needs and the value that their IT department provides is widening. The fundamental approach to how businesses apply information technology as well as their operating culture needs to change.

“Cloudsourcing and the Cloud’s utility service models can bring simplicity, flexibility and speed to businesses, with significantly lower expenditures and a much better cost structure,” says D’Sena. “But many companies approach this the wrong way and make things difficult for themselves. This is not an IT project, but a better approach to IT itself. To succeed, a Cloud strategy must be executed through partnerships that are properly matched, and must deliver incremental value to the business right from the start. Cloud CIO Strategy shows how this can be done.”

Traditional approaches are simply no longer relevant.  Companies that rely completely on their internal IT infrastructure are putting themselves on a path to certain extinction. The knowledge and currency lag, ridiculously high expenditures and other management overheads will drive them to the ground. The social and product frameworks that drive consumer ecosystems are also transitioning to the Cloud, so companies that wait too long are just going to be left behind. The most dynamic new players are already taking advantage of opportunities that Cloud models provide, and getting ahead of the game.

This book is meant to be an eye opener for business and technology executives, as well as for the investment and entrepreneurial community in general. Cloud CIO Strategy conveys a sense of urgency and provides the direction and tools to get started. Filled with ideas and examples, the book addresses Cloud concepts and their relevance to business strategy as well as their application in practice. Topics covered include Cloud fundamentals and architecture, the unique characteristics of utility computing and Cloudsourcing partnerships, organizational aspects, distribution of responsibilities, strategic planning, and many other insightful perspectives on leadership, transition and culture.

The book also includes an engrossing commentary on the Cloud’s confluence with disruptive areas like Wireless Payments and Augmented Reality, and their related impacts on online commerce. Cloud CIO Strategy is available in hardcover and paperback from Lulu Press.

Raised as a modern-day kitchen slave in an orphanage run by child-loathing nuns, and now stalked by disturbing strangers, the novel’s 13-year-old heroine Tayna gambles everything on a desperate journey to discover her origins that will lead her to the far corners of two strange worlds: one filled with shopping malls and televisions, the other with Gnomes, Djin and magic.

One part book launch, one part community celebration, and with a healthy dollop of strange, the launch promises to be memorable. How else would you describe a night that goes beyond plain readings, and includes a dramatic interpretation by school kids, an original musical score, an original pop song about events in the book (written by Jefferson and his daughters), and even an original new drink recipe from the book called boh-cho?

“We’re so proud to launch this amazing book and series,” said Indie Ink founder Suzanne Paschall, “Not to mention this bizarre contest Jefferson has dreamed up.” The series is called Finding Tayna, so readers are encouraged to follow Jeff online and at appearances, where he’ll be giving out clues throughout the year. All you have to do is find Tayna. What makes the contest so unusual is the prize: In addition to traditional prize packages, two winners will be immortalized as non-trivial characters in the second book of the series (planned for 2012 release).

“Jefferson’s wonderful sense of fun and magic has involved young people from the beginning,” Paschall says. “His eldest daughter was the inspiration for the protagonist, and all three daughters formed the dinner-table editorial committee, reacting to each chapter as it was written. When a fourth daughter was born, the family decided that there could only be one name for her: Tayna, the book’s heroine.”

Jefferson, a creativity theorist at the University of Saskatchewan, carried this inclusive style of creation into local schools, too, workshopping scenes with classes and inviting students to critique the book in advance, resulting in writing that captures an authentic youth voice, making it unique among the plethora of other young adult fantasy books written by adults.

Advance praise from independent readers is already coming in. Agnitha, 12, from Saskatoon says, “Holy crap, this book freaking powns!” Connor, 11, from Austin, Texas adds, “A strong beginning with powerful, flowing ideas. Exciting and suspenseful throughout…a wonderful novel for experienced young readers.”

The book officially launches tonight, June 21 (7:30 p.m.) at McNally Robinson and Friday, June 25 (9:00 a.m.) at Caswell Community School.  A list of sales outlets can be found on findingtayna.com. The hard cover book retails for $22.95. Strange Places will also be available in e-book format in all major online e-book stores.

Overview of Unity 3D Game Development by Example Beginner’s Guide:

* Build fun, simple games using the free Unity 3D game engine even if you’ve never coded before
* Learn how to “skin” projects to make totally different games from the same file – more games, less effort!
* Deploy your games to the Internet so that your friends and family can play them
* Packed with ideas, inspiration, and advice for your own game design and development
* Stay engaged with fresh, fun writing that keeps you awake as you learn

What you will learn from this book:

* Find out how people are using the amazing new Unity 3D game engine
* Develop and customize four fun game projects, including a frantic race through hospital hallways with a still-beating human heart and a catch game with a jilted lover that morphs into a space shooter!
* Create both 2D and 3D games using free software and supplied artwork
* Add motion, gravity, collisions, and animation to your game objects using Unity 3D’s built-in systems
* Learn how to use code to control your game objects
* Create particle systems like shattering glass, sparks, and explosions
* Add sound effects to make your games more exciting
* Create static and animated backdrops using multiple cameras
* Build crucial elements you’ll use again and again, like timers, status bars, title screens, win/lose conditions, and buttons to link game screens together
* Deploy your games to the Web to share them with friends, family, and adoring fans
* Discover the difference between game skins and mechanics, to earn more money from your games

PadWorx Digital Media, Inc., an independent developer of a new category of interactive eBooks for tablet PCs, today announced that it is set to debut a series of eBooks on September 15th that combine text, gameplay and interactive touch screen technology to create a new digital book experience completely controlled by the reader. The series of interactive eBooks will be released on Apple®iPadTM in Fall 2010. There will be two debut titles, the first of which is for teens and adults, with the second title being suitable for families.

“With user interaction on almost every page, our books put the power to bring stories to life into the hands of the reader,” said Jeffery Alan Schechter, director and producer of Padworx Digital Media, Inc. “This is not your typical passive eBook experience. Because we develop our eBooks on our own game engine, our readers get engaged not only with the text of the story, but also with the interactive graphics and the gameplay elements. The reader, the graphics and the text form a partnership to create the ultimate reading experience.”

Schechter, a two-time Emmy-nominated writer and producer who is well-known for creating Contour, Mariner Software’s award-winning story development software system, founded PadWorx Digital Media in 2010 with his partner, Tod Baudais, a game programmer and the head of software for a feature animation film studio. PadWorx Digital Media is dedicated to pushing the boundaries of tablet PC capabilities in order to create unique ways for readers of all ages to experience both literature and entertainment.

Desire2Learn Incorporated (Desire2Learn), a leading provider of mission-critical enterprise eLearning solutions, is the recipient of a Best in Category Award for Learning Management based on the results of the 2010 IMS Learning and Education Technology Satisfaction and Trends (LearnSAT) survey.

For the 2010 competition, only 12 awards were made for “Best in Category.” Recipients were honored at the awards ceremony and presentation held earlier this year during the Learning Impact Conference in Long Beach, CA. Jeremy Auger, COO, Desire2Learn was on-hand to receive the award.

“Congratulations is extended to Desire2Learn on receiving this unique and meaningful award,” says Dr. Rob Abel, Chief Executive of IMS Global Learning Consortium. “It is the only award we are aware of where the end-user institutions and school districts can express their satisfaction with the vendors.”

The survey, conducted by the IMS Global Learning Consortium, in cooperation with Campus Technology magazine, is unique, for an open web-based survey, in its qualification process of the respondents and cross-check to eliminate any vendor responses or “ballot box stuffing.”

The LearnSAT report, and underlying research, is conducted to provide level of satisfaction information in the use of technology to support teaching and learning to a new and rapidly evolving marketplace. Through the LearnSAT report, those responsible for implementing and supporting solutions in this new marketplace have additional information to supplement that supplied by vendors as to the level of satisfaction expressed by current clients.

“We are honored to be the recipient of this prestigious award from IMS,” states John Baker, President & CEO, Desire2Learn. “The award provides external verification of our continuous commitment to our mission of focusing on our clients and providing them with outstanding client service and support as they continue to strive to ensure program and service excellence to their learning communities.”

A unique aspect of this research is that it also looks at trends in how these technologies are being used and supported, as well as the technologies themselves. It is based on over two years of research uncovering best practices for success in Internet-Supported learning. The IMS Global Learning Consortium LearnSAT is the learning community’s number one source for satisfaction and trends in the use of technology to support learning. Further information on the survey can be found online.

Desire2Learn was also the first LMS provider to have attained the IMS Basic Learning Tools Interoperability (IMS Basic LTI) standard. LTI is a standard developed by IMS Global Learning Consortium to allow Tool Consumers (Learning Management Systems primarily) to easily link to and pass user / organization / course information to Tool Providers (other online applications for eLearning such as wikis, simulations, protected content, assessment tools, etc.).

“I’ve been helping new members get started selling stock for years, and this book contains everything they’d need to know to hit the ground running,” said Sylvan. “Beyond sharing the fundamental information needed for creating and selling stock imagery, I’ve included over 50 great examples of successful stock photos along with tips from many of their creators.”

Taking Stock helps readers look at their photos through the eyes of designers, photo editors, and other frequent buyers. It explains how to set up an effective digital workflow and, perhaps most importantly, how to focus on creating truly evocative imagery. It also covers:

* How to license photos as stock
* What type of images are in demand
* Effective use of titles, descriptions and keywords
* Tips on shooting food, people, places, nature, objects, and animals
* Editing techniques to maximize sales

Taking Stock retails for $35.99 (CAD) and is available at Chapters-Indigo, Amazon.ca, Black Bond Books and other retailers worldwide or directly via the publisher, Peachpit Press.

According to the IBC’s info page, “The Know Your Stuff™ tool will help you to build a room–by–room record of your belongings and calculate replacement costs. A home inventory will help you get the right insurance coverage and make it easier to file a claim, should you need to. And with IBC’s free, secure, online storage you will have access to your inventory anywhere, anytime.”

MaRS today launched a new commercialization program called TechStart! Consumer, following an open call for promising start-ups in the consumer digital media space. A total of 15 aspiring ventures have been chosen for the 16-week intensive boot camp program led by MaRS Advisors and subject matter experts from the industry.

The program was created in response to the growing demand of consumer-facing digital media companies seeking advisory services, mentorship and market connections from MaRS to help refine their business models and market penetration strategies. The TechStart! program combines advisory, peer-to-peer interactions and focused sector-specific education into one intensive, fast-paced program.

In the last year alone, MaRS’ client portfolio – the approximately 600 Ontario-based companies actively working with MaRS advisory services – has seen a 61 per cent increase in digital media ventures. Today, digital media companies represent 50 per cent of the broader information technologies practice area.

TechStart! Consumer is composed of 10 intensive advisory-driven sessions that cover a range of important business-building topics including: market assessment; user experience design; business modeling; consumer branding; and market launch.

“We hope that TechStart! Consumer will allow us to further our business model and refine our strategy,” says Kuhan Puvanesasingham, Co-founder of Price My Ride, one of the participating companies. “Not only will we be able to closely work with a broad group of seasoned MaRS advisors and experts, we’ll also be able to share our energy and enthusiasm amongst other participants.”

“The TechStart! Consumer program is the first of its kind in Ontario. Creating a meaningful experience for 15 companies is challenging, but the program has been designed to meet the considerable demand from entrepreneurs for this type of immersive learning experience, working closely with both advisors and other entrepreneurs,” says Krista Jones, the MaRS Practice Lead who is spearheading the program. “We have benchmarked a number of acceleration programs internationally in the design of TechStart!, and we believe that the program will help catalyze, scale-up and enrich our entrepreneurial ecosystem.”

In addition to launching TechStart! Consumer, MaRS is also renaming its ICT practice to ICE – Information technology, Communications & Entertainment – to better reflect the growth of consumer facing start-ups working with MaRS.

“Repositioning our practice name is the right response to a fast-changing marketplace,” says Jones. “It better reflects the types of clients we attract and work with today. ICE is just a more succinct, sharper and relevant way to describe our focus and expertise beyond traditional ICT to include consumer and entertainment-based ventures.”

Winnipeg’s Indigo Rose Software has released AutoPlay Media Studio 8 Personal Edition for use on Microsoft Windows 7, Vista and XP. This new version of the company’s popular visual software programming environment is being offered free for non-commercial users. The program is designed to help encourage the development of free software applications and utilities by students, hobbyists, open-source programmers and freeware developers.

With AutoPlay Media Studio’s WYSIWYG (“what you see is what you get”) object-oriented development environment and powerful, yet easy-to-use scripting language, even beginners can create professional software applications. It’s ideally suited for developing graphically rich multimedia software applications, autorun/autoplay menus, internet utilities, video games and interactive training software – complete with features like database connectivity, dialog boxes, web interaction, data visualization and multimedia audio and video playback.

“We really wanted to give something back to the community,” says Indigo Rose Software President Colin Adams. “There are a lot of aspiring programmers out there that have great ideas for new software products, but they don’t have any way to realize those ideas. By supporting them with free software development tools and an online programming forum, we’re hoping to see these ideas come to life.”

AutoPlay Media Studio 8 includes 21 built-in visual interface objects, including buttons, images, menu bars, QuickTime video, data grids, PDF viewers, web browsers, checkboxes and more. It’s as easy as dropping the objects onto a page or dialog box and then customizing their properties and events.

With over 865 high-level scripting actions, programmers can easily add powerful functionality to their application, like XML parsing, database queries, web server interaction, file transfers and much more. Plus, it’s easy to expand the language with dozens of plugins and code modules – many created by other users. Additionally, the professional script editor features color syntax highlighting, code completion, function highlighting, as-you-type action prototypes, function listings, and context-sensitive help.

AutoPlay Media Studio 8 Personal Edition is compatible with Microsoft Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP. Personal, non-commercial users can download it for free. Business and government users can purchase the ‘Professional’ version of AutoPlay Media Studio 8 for $295 (USD) per developer (or $995 for the 5 developer Team Pack) from most software development tools vendors or online.

Del Rey, an imprint of Ballantine Books at the Random House Publishing Group, announced today that Del Rey Books will publish a novel based on the Deus Ex® video game series. DEUS EX: THE ICARUS EFFECT will be written by UK author James Swallow and will release in 2011. James Swallow is a renowned science fiction author whose first foray into writing came with the 2001 Sundowners Series. Since then, Swallow has gone on to pen both novels and scripts for popular franchises such as Doctor Who, Stargate, Warhammer 40,000, and Star Trek. He has also worked on numerous videogames including Star Trek Invasion, Maelstrom, and Killzone 2. In 2009 the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers awarded James with the Scribe Award for Best Speculative Fiction Original.

DEUS EX: THE ICARUS EFFECT is set in the complex and enthralling world of Deus Ex, a cyberpunk-style technological dystopia where all is not what it seems. In the not-so-distant future, the world is a place of great innovation and technological advancement… but also a place of chaos and conspiracy. New technologies push the limits of human potential, even while they threaten the very future of the world. And from the shadows, dark and secret powers are coming together to take control, intent on designs so large, so intricate, they will take decades to come to fruition. But when two unlikely heroes—Anna Kelso, a Secret Service agent, and Ben Saxon, a special-ops soldier—draw uncomfortably close to the truth, the choices they make here and now will alter the course of history… or usher in an age of darkness.

“We’re really pleased to be able to announce this new DEUS EX novel with Del Rey books,” said Andre Vu, Marketing Game Manager, Deus Ex. “The novel is set in the DEUS EX universe and there will be characters and story elements in it, that will overlap with our next videogame DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION, which we hope fans will be very excited about.”

DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION the game currently in development at Eidos Montreal, was recently been unveiled to critical acclaim at E3 2010 in Los Angeles, where the game received over 25 award nominations from gaming media from around the world, securing 13 awards at the show.

DEUS EX: THE ICARUS EFFECT will release in North America and Europe in 2011, the book will also be available in many other countries around the world please keep an eye on the Official Deus Ex: Human Revolution website for further details.

The Ultimate Guide to Video Game Writing and Design is mistitled, but only slightly so. For any designer or writer with aspirations of success in the gaming industry, this book will aid them. However, the book should not be the last guide an amateur buys,i nor the first. The Ultimate Guide to Video Game Writing and Design is not ultimate, simply thorough, with solid advice for both novice and veteran writers. The book’s great weakness is that its authors only seem able to address half of their audience at a time; this is no one’s ultimate guide.

Each half is well-written and concise, if festooned with typos. The first half provides a walkthrough of the process of developing a strong, marketable property, and the second half teaches its readers how to see that property through the corporate minefield. The first half errs on the side of simplicity; it’s difficult to conceive of a would-be game designer unaware of the basic history of video games, or who would need to be reminded of the difference between onscreen and offscreen dialogue. A newcomer will benefit from the learning exercises provided, if they’re the sort of writer who works well with templates, but writers who fancy themselves experienced creators may find Dille and Platten’s fill-in-the-blanks approach demeaning.

The second half of the book contains valuable advice for staying hired at a development agency, but their suggestions about how to ease into the industry are not only basic, but common. Even a reader completely unconnected to the industry will find their advice rather obvious; in 2010, it is unlikely that aspiring designers are not already aware of their need to network and check for jobs online. Fresh hires will find the chapter on the various uses of lawyers, managers, and agents useful, but only if they can afford them, and the glossary will be useful only so long as the references are relevant—and references to plot devices like the Giant Rat of Sumatra may not be relevant as long as the authors seem to think.

The guide may be penultimate, but it does have its strengths. Dille and Zuur Platten both are warm, considerate writers who want their readers to succeed in the field. But the odds of any novice being guided to chairmanship through this guide alone are slim to none. The readers and writers both would be better served through an expansion of this book into a two or three volume set to give the writers the breathing room to be more cohesive, and the vast scope of readers more distinct attention. Dille and Zuur Platten have the necessary skills and ambition to make an ultimate guide to videogame writing; this just isn’t it.

Don Tapscott has a deserved reputation as a prolific, adept, and enthusiastic futurist author. However, his personal realities make him an ill-serving advocate for the ‘Net Generation’.  The book’s opening salvo of corporate approval rightfully informs a young reader of the work’s intended audience. This work is about the Net Generation, not for it, and if the axiom of never trusting anyone over thirty is to be adhered to, the sixty-three year old Tapscott deserves a double-dose of scrutiny.

According to Grown Up Digital, the twenty year span of individuals aged between eleven and thirty-one at the time of the book’s publication has acquired a reputation for being selfish, narcissistic, violent, and, worst of all things, unemployable. Tapscott supplies strong evidence to the contrary from the research conducted by his thinktank nGenera; with approximately ten thousand interviewees of all ages, no one can fault the project’s scope . And he is right–this is a bright generation, with ingenuity and conviction. However, he is perhaps more selective with examples than he should be if he hopes to address the needs and wants of the Net Generation at large. Effie, the Princetonian Google employee mentioned in Chapter Six, exemplifies only the most privileged of current graduates; his chapter on education advocates the proper introduction of technology into the classroom without mentioning how failing school districts should acquire the money to do so. Chapter Six may advocate a utopian, Googlesque workplace, but the capital investment required for such a heaven is too considerable to ignore.

The book does have its strengths; the writing itself is strong and concise, though Tapscott’s fondness for juvenile neologisms remains–Growing Up Digital introduced his readers to the word  ‘cyberbro’, this work gives us ‘N-Fluence’– and his tendencies towards self-aggrandization  are as strong as ever. He reminds us that he has eleven books to his name and a rip-snorting family band, but he can’t be bothered to include the name of the Ogilvy “young Australian” who developed the award-winning Dove ‘Evolution’ television spot (Tim Piper).

After eleven books, his ability to write a readable sociological text is not up for discussion, yet the book suffers from its clashing purposes. The first four chapters pay tribute to the strengths of the Net Generation; his only real concern is a generational ignorance of Facebook filters. This is not unwarranted, and the notion that a respected technological guru wants to shepherd the development of the Net Generation has its charms. But Tapscott is just as happy to tell marketers exactly how to get us to spend our money, and the final chapter, ‘In Defense of the Future’ is founded on concept that the future that young people strive for is one that Baby Boomers have good reason to fear.

Don Tapscott may be for the Net Gen, but I can’t say the same for Grown Up Digital. There’s no particularly strong reason for a twentysomething to read this book, but if you happen to be a middle-aged bureaucrat without a younger friend to connect with over a beer, this is the book for you.

Late last year, I was a participant in a conversation with game design students regarding freelance work. I came across a book today in my morning email travels which, while I haven’t read it (but I probably will), was written by Canadian freelance illustrator and author Holly DeWolf. While many students are lucky and easily find work at established studios, it has been a topic of conversation about how schools don’t really prepare their graduates for the freelance world.

Holly agrees with this line of thought, stating that “many institutions are not preparing students for the realities of the work world. It’s important for freelance creative types to see themselves as a business in order to make it. There is a real need for recent graduates, freelance illustrators and designers plus self-taught artists to have the proper resources they need to make it as a self-employed creative”.

To that end, Holly filled that need in the artistic community with her 2009 book, Breaking Into Freelance Illustration: The Guide For Artists Designers and Illustrators. This book helps readers to develop skills in the business side of artistic practice, addressing many questions which Holly found being asked throughout her many years as a post-NSAD graduate and mentor. This book has received some very good reviews on Amazon.ca, so I can feel confident in recommending this title even though I haven’t yet personally read it. I have a huge stack of books already waiting for my perusal, and I feel that this one needs to shared with students and grads now, not when I have time to finally buy it and read it – especially as someone else just recommended another title I should read.

Don’t forget that the Early Bird discount period for the Banff World Television Festival ends on April 20th – the festival is about far more than just television – check it out. Dentyne Gum has launched their new interactive site with a new AR contest – you could win $25 000.00 with the symbol on the pack of Dentyne gum you’ve purchased. Canada 3.0 Forum has just announced that David Usher (ex-Moist) has joined the great line-up of speakers for this year’s event which will be MC’d by Global TV news anchor Kevin Newman. Taking place in Stratford on May 10 & 11, Canada 3.0 offers a unique opportunity to engage in seminars and discussions about Canada’s future in the tech industry.

Congratulations are due to Waterloo tech company Dejero – creator of the new Dejero LIVE Platform, the company has been awarded a Broadcast Engineering Pick Hit award at the 2010 National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) international tradeshow in Las Vegas. The Dejero LIVE Platform is a ground-breaking new way to broadcast live high-quality video without the high cost or complexity of satellite or microwave transmission. Dejero was selected from 1,500 companies that exhibited at NAB for their introduction of the Dejero LIVE Platform that is set to transform live television.

“Broadcast Engineering is a widely respected industry resource for broadcasters. It is very exciting for Dejero to win such a prestigious award at its first showing at NAB,” said Ron Neumann, Dejero CEO. “This award highlights that Dejero’s solution to go live faster, easier, and less expensively is resonating with the broadcast market.”

With a long history, Pick Hits are the most prestigious technical awards given at NAB. A panel of independent judges, who are working broadcast professionals, toured the show floor for three days, looking for innovative products and technology. The judges then met to make their selections based on several criteria, including the technical and financial improvements the product can bring to a facility’s operation. Broadcast Engineering editors and publishers have no vote in the selection process, and the Dejero LIVE Platform will be featured in a special article from the 2010 NAB Show that will appear in the June issue of Broadcast Engineering magazine.

Dejero’s revolutionary Transmitter is about the size of an average briefcase. One cameraperson and the Dejero Live Mobile Transmitter can transmit from any location in cellphone range. Using patent pending technology, the Dejero LIVE Platform improves live interview talkback – transmitting with as low as 1 second latency.

Toronto – Interactive Ontario has announced that award-winning kids content creators Peter and Paul Reynolds, co-founders of FableVision, will be keynote speakers at INplay 2010, a conference about the art and business of kids interactivity, taking place May 18 and 19 in Toronto, Canada.

Through their keynote presentation: Stories That Matter, Stories That Move, Peter and Paul Reynolds return to their birthplace (Weston/Toronto) to recount their creative journeys, which have now touched millions around the globe with their 200-year mission to use media, storytelling and technology to move the world to a better place.

“Clever, creative and inspiring, the dynamic duo of FableVision co-founders and brothers Paul and Peter Reynolds are a bull’s eye for the INplay closing keynote,” says Lisa Lyons, President, Kids Can Press and founding partner/steering committee member of INplay. “ The company name is exactly what they deliver; great content in the form of stories/fables for kids of all ages and a grand vision of the many platforms they can live on, all with a view to bettering the world along the way.”

Located at the Boston Children’s Museum, the FableVision team enjoys an international reputation for its unique brand of innovative, technology-delivered storytelling and learning told through websites, digital games, animation, and books.

Joining Peter and Paul Reynolds as keynote speakers at INplay 2010 is Jon Berrett, executive producer and Christian Jacobs, co-creator, director and writer of the hit kids TV show, Yo Gabba Gabba

More speakers you’ll meet at INplay 2010:

• James Jones, VP, Digital Media & Gaming, Hasbro, Inc.
• Scott Traylor, Chief Kid, 360KID
• Irene Weibel, VP International Co-Productions and Development at Corus Entertainment/Nelvana Studio
• Jacob Blackstock, CEO / Creative Designer / Lead Designer, Bitstrips Inc.
• Amar Varma, Co-Founder, Xtreme Labs
• Judy Perry, Research Manager, MIT Scheller Teacher Education Program
• Robert Ferrari, VP Global Publishing & Business Development, Sanrio Digital & Typhoon Games Studio
• David Kleeman, President, American Centre for Children and Media

E Is For Ethics
Author: Ian James Corlett
Illustrator: R. A. Holt
Published: December 2009
Hardcover 106 pages
Interactive Companion Website: E is For Ethics

I recently came into possession of this book, and if I had to choose just one word to describe it, I’m not sure that I could pick a word which would completely do it justice. E Is For Ethics is certainly inspiring and timeless. While my kids are both long past the age of being read to, they aren’t too old for productive and ethical discussion or debate – something which we still engage in, particularly during our weekly Sunday night family dinners.

Elliott & Lucy

While there are many “self help” books about parenting on the market, I feel that Ian’s book is different because as he says in his introduction, his only qualification in writing this book is the fact that he is a parent. To me this speaks volumes, because it really doesn’t matter how many doctorates or letters you have after your name – nothing can prepare you for being a parent other than the moment you become one. Ian has created real situations involving his two lead characters, Lucy and Elliott, along with supporting family and general public characters put in real life situations to which children can easily relate.

Each of the 26 stories told in E is For Ethics leaves its ending unresolved, leading to multiple results and opening up the chance for discussion on how the story could go. Each chapter, from honesty to respect, offers discussion ideas and quotes from both the famous and the infamous. Ian has artfully found a way through his very short scenarios for parents to gauge how their children perceive the world in general and how these little people think about what is right and what is wrong.

When my kids were young, one of their favourite movies was DragonHeart. As they watched it obsessively, I took the opportunity to discuss The Old Code which Bowen tries to follow. They both knew it by heart, and I believe that they both still try to incorporate those words into their daily lives – although sometimes I do have to wonder at some of the things they say or do. The important thing is that they are free-thinkers, they definitely don’t follow the crowd, and they both have a social conciousness about them. While I certainly won’t take 100% of the credit for that, I know that I gave them a good foundation, and this is precisely the ongoing value of E is For Ethics.

Ethics are timeless, and should you find yourself faced with difficulties in teaching moral lessons to your children, E is For Ethics offers some great starting points, minus all of the psych-speak. Simplicity is often best – because complicated is, well, complicated and unclear. As Ian writes in his book’s conclusion, “…even if you think you know about something or how to do something, there is always a new twist or a new way to try it. And it’s the same way we learn about ethics. Every situation is different and so is how a family deals with it.” One point which I truly admire Ian for is the fact that he is not really telling you what to teach your children, he is simply giving you, as parents, a starting point and then leaves the rest up to you.

Much like The Old Code, E is For Ethics covers those areas which are important characteristics for an honourable, compassionate and productive member of society – many of which seem to have taken a back seat in terms of importance for many people today. For example, last week I was talking with a guy who grew up in the same neighbourhood I did, which was a tight-knit, mainly agricultural community. Our discussion revolved around how much our little town has changed, and how people in general don’t seem to be as honourable as they used to be. We are the current generation running long-time family businesses, and we would like to know what happened to the time when a handshake and your word was enough to honourably seal a deal. Your conduct in business was your reputation, and growing up in a small town meant that everyone knew whether or not you truly were as good as your word.

I feel that in many ways society has forgotten about many of those values, and Ian’s book is a great way to perhaps rediscover those values for ourselves as we discuss the scenarios with our children. One of the greatest gifts we can give our children as they grow up is time, and to borrow A & E TV’s slogan, reading and discussing E is For Ethics with our children is time well spent. I would be completely remiss in not giving this little book a huge recommendation to parents and grandparents everywhere. Even if you aren’t a parent yet, chances are you might become one – pick up E is For Ethics and keep it for the future. You’ll be glad you did. Ian definitely gets five stars from me for E is For Ethics.

* The Old Code from DragonHeart

A knight is sworn to valor, his heart knows only virtue, his blade defends the helpless, his might upholds the weak, his word speaks only truth, his wrath undoes the wicked.

The right can never die, if a man still remembers him. Words are not forgotten, if a voice pronounce them clearly, The Code always shines, if a heart preserves it brightly…

Many books about law are often dry, tortured reading. Not so with Canadian Intellectual Property Law. The authors have conveyed a massive amount of information in an easy-to-read and easy-to-understand method, interspersed with a sprinkling of humour.

The 119 pages of Canadian Intellectual Property Law covers everything from concept to protection, how to find the right IP legal professional, and addresses the many misconceptions about patents, trademarks, copyrights, industrial designs, trade secrets and contractual rights. Knowing the correct protections to obtain and how to leverage your protection to increase income are also important components in this book. While the authors target Canadian-based properties as their primary subject, they do discuss international treaties and how to obtain IP protections in foreign countries. There are also references for getting more information from government agencies about Intellectual Property, and in For Dummies tradition, there are plenty of clearly marked tips, warnings and reminders. The only addition I would have liked in this book is a quick-reference section listing online resources which are available to the general public.

As with all complex legal issues, it is always best to consult with the professionals in regards to IP protection, this book will give creative companies and individuals a head-start in understanding how to protect themselves, and how to find the best IP professional for the tasks at hand. When all is said and done, not taking advantage of Canadian IP Law for Dummies may cost you and your company money it could have earned – if only you’d been aware.

Learning Autodesk Maya 2009: The Modeling & Animation Handbook (Buy Book)

By Autodesk Maya Press

ISBN-10: 1897177526

ISBN-13: 978-1897177525

Review by: Josh Martin

I was lucky enough for Autodesk to allow me to review this book.  As an animation student myself, I wanted to continue learning through the summer while school wasn’t in session.  I’ve read many negative and positive reviews on this book and I wanted to get to the bottom of this book and of course, to further my knowledge of modeling and animation in Maya.

The first thing I noticed when I received this book was the great illustrations throughout it. With the illustrations being in full color, it is easy to follow along and find the subjects the book talks about. I was hoping there would be a DVD that came with the book. My hopes were correct! The book comes with a DVD which includes project files, textures, and even a quick video walk-through on different sections of the book. Of course, the book also has the “all important” index which lists every general term a modeler, texture artist, rigger, or animator would use so you can easily look up different techniques and terms.

The Modeling & Animation Handbook is divided into six projects with an average of 4 lessons in each project.  Structured just like a classroom, you work your way through from polygon basics to full animations.  This handbook was written for those who have a handle of the Maya interface because it is written at a fast pace. The book does recommend if you are new to Maya you should read the Learning Autodesk Maya | Foundation book. However, to help new users to Maya, each lesson has an accompanying video that shows you how to do everything explained in the lesson.

I was extremely impressed with the amount of detail the authors of this book put in. The most important aspect of this book is that it will truly teach you why you are extruding that edge loop or why you are deleting that polygonal face.  You can find hundreds of tutorials on the internet to do just about anything in Maya, but they will not tell you why.  In the long run, learning why will give you the ability to apply the concepts and techniques learned in this book to your own projects down the road.

By the time you reach the end of this book you will learn the ins and outs of Maya when it comes to modeling, texturing, rigging, and animating.  Overall I enjoyed this book very much.  Even if it did take me all summer to work through, but that’s what I got this book for, right?! I would recommend this book to any students or anyone who lacks a decent workflow in Maya. I guess all there is left to say is, when can we get a 2010 edition?!

Finally a book for the weirdos out there who find it hard to fit into a regular working environment and for those of you who work with us. I definitely fall into the “doesn’t do well in a set environment” category, so there is a lot of material in this book I could relate to. The content in this book is also directly related to the next book review I will be sharing with you later this week. Personally I think that if a company doesn’t have at least one or two weirdos in the mix, they aren’t doing things right. Creativity and individuality is what it takes to make the innovation wheel go around, something which many corporations are learning the hard way. Who would’ve thought that weird would be cool in the 21st century.

Throughout this well-researched work, Mr. Putzier lets us know that it’s okay to be an individual in the 21st century. He successfully identifies many personality types and gives tips on how to work with those personalities, thereby helping them to achieve career satisfaction. While I was reading the book, it was very easy to identify myself – and many industry friends – with each turning page.

This handbook is a must for anyone who works with highly creative, highly productive people – and should be a must-read for managers. Mr. Putzier’s ideas are very common-sense, even though at first glance the uninitiated would think he was off his rocker. In this day and age of new work models, it makes sense to strive towards a working environment which is flexible enough to help corporations meet their objectives while keeping their weirdo employees happy and productive.

Weirdos In The Workplace also has ideas for helping those employees who fall into the non-weirdo category cope with the weirdos they share office space with-many of which seem like common sense to me, because I’m one of the weirdos; however to those not used to working with creative people, the suggestions could be a sanity-saver. I would not hesitate in the least to make this required reading for anyone wanting to get into business and/or personnel management, particularly within the creative industry .

If ever there was a knockout book about changing your life in a positive, measurable way, The Power of Impossible Thinking is it – or at least at the top of the heap of self-help tomes. This book is filled with examples of society’s collective thought patterns and expectations, and ways to change them in your own life. If you are a businessperson trying to find original ways to grow your business, you’ll know that almost everything’s already been tried at least once. If you want to circle around the herd and forge your own path, read this book. Don’t just look at all the angles, look for the angles that don’t show. If you want to change the way your life is going, this book is for you-because it’s all in the way you think; afterall, the way you think about your reality is your reality, and only you can change it-with a little help from Mr. Wind and Mr. Crook.

The first page of this book lists a few simple questions followed by a simple statement that maybe changing the way you think will give you the answers to the preceding questions. This is followed by a promise from the authors that this book will show you how, and true to their word-they do. The authors delve into the world of neuroscience in a detailed manner, but they do it without causing you to reach for the nearest dictionary or making you fall asleep. Their approach is quite the contrary-they make you want to keep reading; simply because what they are saying makes so much sense.

The Power of Impossible Thinking is one of those books that is constantly sparking new ideas in the reader’s mind, as if the “light” doesn’t just turn on, it keeps getting brighter. By the end of this book, the reader can’t help but want to start putting these new ideas into practice. Throughout the text, the authors pose questions to the reader, making him or her take a look at the way they think about things and how they can be changed. The brief point by point chapter reviews help to nurture those ideas as you move onto the next chapter, and the next.

As you progress through this book, you will come to a quick realization that this is not just another stuffy life management book which promises to fix all of your problems. It is, however a handbook you can read and re-read many times. This isn’t a book you read once and then put on a shelf; it’s one you will want to read often-to keep the dust from settling back on all of those old mindsets you are working on changing.

The audio CD which is included with the book offers a quick review of the book’s main points (note, I am not sure if a CD is still included). Condensed into approximately twenty minutes, it can fill that drive time to the office. The author interview section of the CD offers more insight into the author’s points of view and gives the listener further understanding of how these men have implemented the power of impossible thinking in their own lives. For those who want to further reading into the subject, the book contains many bibliographical footnotes and references for the reader to investigate.

Needless to say, I am a fan of the Power of Impossible Thinking. I’ve put some of these practice to work in my own life with successful results, and for anyone else wanting to make some radical changes in their lives, this book is one of the best places to start.

The Next Global Stage-Challenges and Opportunities in Our Borderless World
Author: Kenichi Ohmae
Publisher: Wharton School Publishing March 2005
Hardcover: 312 pages

In some ways, I was a little disappointed with this publication, yet in many others I was pleased to see Wharton School Publishing live up to the expectations I have of them in regards to the quality of their books. What I found disappointing in The Next Global Stage is that it is often repetitive. While certainly, there are points which may need reinforcing, I feel there were better ways the author could have approached the topic, and spent more time discussing global business for smaller enterprises instead of the large corporations.

The author did find a good balance of positive and negative factors to consider in regards to taking businesses out on the global market, but I found that the book focused too much on what governments were doing to enhance their share of the global strategy, and didn’t focus enough on individual businesses and what smaller companies could do to increase their global market share. We are not interested in outsourcing, which is covered extensively in this book. We keep our technical support in-house; primarily because we are global, and can offer support to those seeking our services in many languages, and usually from within their own country. The Next Global Stage, while doing a very good job of explaining how the global market is helping the economies of the countries this book focused on, it did not, in my opinion, adequately discuss the downfalls of outsourcing areas such as technical support services, and the public’s perception of this practice.

The Next Global Stage is very useful in many aspects of emerging technology and various governments who are working towards making it easier to do business across borders, but for companies such as mine, which have been global since opening day, I was hoping for more information on what we could improve upon. I found many of the charts and graphs confusing and hard to understand, and found my patriotic ire rising when the author describing my home area to be a “commercial extension of Washington State.” While I understand the meaning behind what he was saying, as a Canadian, I have a strong aversion to being referred to as an extension of the USA.

In spite of my mixed feelings about this book, I would recommend it to those who are wanting to enter the global stage. It does contain useful information, and gives the reader a good idea of the “power regions” in the world of eCommerce, but the usefulness lies in the reader’s ability to see between the lines and find ways to apply the knowledge gained from this book to his or her own company. I think this book would be of more use to larger corporations, but it can still at the very least spark discussions and aid in planning a global business strategy on a smaller scale.

Design of Things To Come-How Ordinary People Create Extraordinary Products
Authors: Craig M. Vogel, Jonathan Cagan, Peter Boatwright
Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Wharton School Publishing June 18 2005

Design of Things To Come is a must-read for anyone involved in business. This book not only goes through the innovative process, it covers other important information such as the wide variety of trademarks, from logos to trade dress. The authors have put this book together, and shared their knowledge in such a way that the principles they discuss can be used by practically any business to grow its market share.

This is the type of quality book I have come to expect from Wharton School Publishing, and one that I will make use of for many years to come. As a business owner, I was pleased to see many of the processes I have been doing correctly, as well as seeing many areas where we could improve – and the many ways in which they could be improved. The book is in no way overly-repetitive, and is written so well that it does not need an ample supply of diagrams to illustrate what the authors are trying to say.

Every page of Design of Things To Come contains useful information, and outlines innovative practices which can be easily adapted to the business at hand. The authors, in my opinion, have produced a goldmine for those of us who want to push our companies forward to the next level and beyond. Their advice on team building, motivation and rewards is invaluable. This is especially important for companies such as mine, which are globally situated and depend heavily on team work. This book also served to remind me of marketing and research practices I had learned way back in school, but had pushed into the background. Design of Things To Come has enabled me to get a lot of my primary focus back and work towards realigning, restating, and in some cases redeveloping areas of my business which were falling through the cracks.

I read this book through, from preface to index not once but twice, searching out tips and ideas I may have missed the first time. I know I will be reading through this book again, especially those areas I’ve marked as being of vital importance, such as target market motivation for wanting to use our products. Design of Things To Come is a book I would recommend to anyone (except the competition) who wants to better understand not only their innovation teams, but the buying public. Whether your product is for the general market or business to business, Design of Things To Come will help lead your company along a long and profitable path to success.

There is much about this book which I liked, particularly the fairly in-depth look at the Korean gaming culture and how it differs from that in the west. It was also interesting to read about the political movements within games and how they have been used as protest platforms. I feel that as a person who is both a gamer and a person who works in the gaming industry, This Gaming Life brings to light many of the reasons why people play video games – for the challenges, social experiences or to simply escape the stresses of every day life. One of the other reasons given by the author is that gamers game to stave off boredom.

Jim Rossignol raises some very valid points on how the activity of playing video games has grown to become a central part of today’s culture, such as the social components in today’s games and the scientific studies being conducted to better understand the effect of video games on the human countenance. He examines at length the pros and cons of becoming engrossed in games, as well as some of the educational aspects. Topics also covered are the varying levels of importance some game development studios put on gamer interaction with development through gamer-made mods or playing the game in ways not expected by the developers. This is something which I have heard discussed at many game development conferences – that gamers will always find some way to play the game that was outside of the project vision.

The one aspect of this book which I didn’t enjoy was the amount of time spent discussing the game play and player experience in EVE Online. In some ways I felt that due to this, the book became more about EVE than about the lives of gamers on a whole. While the book is meant to speak about Mr. Rossignol’s own experiences in the game world, the first chapter or so of This Gaming Life leads the reader to believe that the book will look at the inner psyche of the gamer community. In this aspect I was somewhat disappointed in the book’s content, as there was so much material left uncovered.

All in all, though, this is still a book I would recommend, particularly to those who are or want to be game developers. Through the coverage of such topics as Second Life and the EVE Online convention in Iceland, This Gaming Life does bring to the forefront the importance of games to the people who play them. Also of importance are the possibilities of becoming involved in the game development industry by beginning as a modder, an activity which carries its own importance within the gaming community, and which Mr. Rossignol demonstrated through the founding and growth of the UK studio, Splash Damage.

If you are interested in buying this book, you can find full purchase information at Amazon by clicking the book cover image above.

Update: Video Game Play & Addiction has received a 2009 Silver Award from Mom’s Choice Awards in the Resources category.

This book impressed me from the moment I cracked the cover and began reading. Kourosh Dini has written the most comprehensive, wide-view truth about game play and addiction book that I have read to-date.

In no way is this book stuffy or full of statistics and scientific mumbo-jumbo; instead, Dini uses a common-sense approach to the topic, but he does not limit his discussion solely to children who are addicted to video games. He begins by talking about the positive aspects of gaming, and why humans like to game – to learn and to enjoy the aspects of play in our lives. Play and Addiction gets extra points from me because the author discusses the fact that our school systems are very outdated and no longer meet the needs of our tech-savvy children.

Parents are also encouraged to be an active part of their child’s game play – observe, participate – learn and play together. I think that this is a very important section of the book, because as parents in a high-achievement oriented business world, time to play and connect with our children can often become a lower priority. One of the biggest benefits of following Dini’s suggestions is that we remain able to converse with our children, to know who they are, what they are doing, and why they like to play the games they do.

Dini freely admits that the possibility of addiction is always on the horizon, but he also encourages parents to look beyond the end-resulting addiction or obsession and investigate the underlying causes. In other words, seek professional assistance if necessary, but don’t just blame video games if your child is having emotional difficulties which inevitably led to the addictive levels of play. His approach to investigating these problems reminds us that as parents, we are have a responsibility to our children to assist them however we can to make their way through each level of life.

The author has successfully intertwined his past and present as a gamer, a parent and a psychiatrist to compose a book which in my opinion, should be read by parents of gamers, teachers, game developers and even those who oppose video games. At only 151 pages including footnotes and bibliography, Video Game Play and Addiction can be easily read over the space of a few hours (I’ve read it twice), and Dini’s writing style flows easily from one topic to the next, making for a very good read. He also offers a wealth of sources and resources for further investigation by parents on the topics he has covered in his book – again, suggesting that a parent be pro-active when it comes to their children and games.

As I’ve said above, I highly recommend this book to parents, teachers, game designers and even game opponents. I may even lend this book to my own Mother to have a read-through – after all, it’s my parents’ fault that I’m a gamer; they’re the ones who brought home the Atari 2600 all those years ago. Oddly enough, I play games for many of the same reasons which Dini addressed in the first few chapters of his book, so I believe I can truthfully say that the author knows of that which he writes.

I have mixed feelings about Grand Theft Childhood – it was not what I was expecting in a book whose subtitle offers help to parents who don’t know very much about video games, yet it was in its own way very in-depth and in the end, I can see it being helpful to uninformed non-gaming parents. While the studies and procedures are valid – the authors spend the first four or five chapters quantifying their research and comparing previous studies done by others – I feel that they rely too much on the processes and not enough on the advice they promised, which they don’t get to until Chapter 9.

Throughout the book, the authors show that kids are much smarter than we give them credit for when it comes to reality versus game environment. While there is that small percentage of the population who are effected by extenuating circumstances, that percentage is very small even when the playing of violent video games is added into the equation.

There is also a chapter about the government trend of trying to restrict or ban violent video games, and another on the rating system. As with every generation, there has to be some form of media which is adversely influencing our children, and this generation’s bad boy is video gaming. I was pleased to see that an abundance of feedback from the kids who were studied was included in this book – who better to help parents understand the attraction of video games than the kids who play them?

All in all, the book in and of itself is good – it dispenses usable information and in the end does offer advice and a chance for understanding to parents. I just found it unfortunate that the bulk of the first four or five chapters read more like a standard clinical report than a “self help” book. The end message of the book is one which hopefully readers will take to heart, particularly if they are parents – be involved with your kids. If you don’t understand the gaming and computing culture, then educate yourself. Grand Theft Childhood is a good starting point, and parents will find many ideas for topic starters if they are not game-savvy. Grand Theft Childhood is also a very useful source of information for those work within the game development industry, and even with the reservations I’ve voiced above, I still recommend it as a decent read.

While this book has been out for a number of years, its content is very relevant to today’s game design. Authors Dave Morris and Leo Hartas have produced a volume of beautiful game environment artwork accompanied by in-depth interviews revealing the inspiration behind them. From the world as it was to the world as it may become, the artists behind the digital worlds we inhabit share their thoughts on the advances which have been made in game development. The importance of creating fantastical scenes while retaining some level of realistic relationship with the player is but one aspect of game art design covered in The Art of Game Worlds. Also discussed is using art, setting and lighting to elicit emotional responses from the gamer during play, as well as how the artists strive to add that “wow factor” with every new product.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about the development processes for environment design. The amount of knowledge shared by industry greats such as Chris Bateman, Ernest W. Adams, Mike Jeffries, Yusuke Naora, Cathy Campos and many more, makes the price of this book well worth the expense.

Mafiaboy – How I Cracked the Internet & Why It’s Still Broken
Michael Calce with Craig Silverman
2008

Mafiaboy – How I Cracked The Internet & Why It’s Still Broken reads more like a “what I did last summer” essay combined with a school research project than a true authoritative look at the problems inherent with security and the internet. I found Mr. Calce’s tale to be built more on ego and teenage swagger than on remorse. Granted, he did learn some good coding skills in his early career, but I find it hard to believe that an otherwise seemingly well-behaved kid had no foresight into the wrongness of his activities. At times I did wonder who he was trying to convince – himself, his family, or readers – that his foray into piracy, hacking and bot herding was nothing more than an innocent quest for knowledge gone wrong.

While I understand the lure of power and being able to do something no one else (or very few) can do, Mr. Calce broke the law, and he deserved all he got. Although he cautions others against following in his footsteps as the end result is not worth the brief intoxication of power, my respect falls on the side of the RCMP and FBI agents who put an end to Mafiaboy’s thoughtless attacks. I do not feel that his inclusion of very basic internet security information in any way redeems the millions of dollars in damage and lost time he caused.

I freely admit to harbouring ill-feelings towards script-kiddies and bot herders – feelings developed through firsthand experiences as our own network fell victim to botnet DDoS attacks. That said, I tried to not let that experience influence my opinion of this book, and I think that for the most part I succeeded. I was able to read this book more from an educated point of view in regards to internet and network security rather than as a neophyte. However, try as I might, I found very few redeeming qualities in Mafiaboy. He alone did not crack the internet as the title seems to imply – there were many before him and many more after him who saw the internet as their personal crime-filled playing field. I don’t understand why Mr. Calce felt that a full-blown book was required in order to “clear the air” other than to draw further attention to what he did and perhaps earn himself a little notoriety and fame within a new generation of young internet criminals. Despite his words to the contrary, I view Michael Calce’s book as nothing more than a way to make money from his crimes.  Perhaps this is why there is yet another version of his book being published in 2009 – but the new title is “Mafiaboy – A Portrait of the Hacker As A Young Man” – perhaps others took exception to the boastful claim in his title – or perhaps there was another reason, but either way, it’s a new title I won’t be picking up – reading this story once was more than enough for me.

On The Way To The Web: The Secret History of the Internet and its Founders
Michael A. Banks
2008

On The Way To The Web is one book which I highly recommend to anyone who wants a definitive history on the internet. The amount of research and time which was obviously spent on compiling and organizing the short but colourful history of this wonder known as the Web is very worthy of recognition.

For those of us who remember the coming of the internet, On The Way To The Web is a journey back in time, revisiting many events, products and ideas which seemed so futuristic and impossible twenty years ago which have now become common place or fallen by the wayside. I personally had forgotten all about ventures such as GameLine – the innovative download service for Atari 2600 games and game updates. While I’m sure that many of today’s gamers think that XBLA, Wii Shop and PlayStation Network were all 21st century inventions, GameLine was here first. Reading about GameLine again, I have to wonder where our games industry would be today if Atari hadn’t experienced the downslide it did right at the time of GameLine’s launch.

Like spelunkers finding their way through a deep dark cave, technology innovators such as Bill Louden, William Von Meister and others lead the way forward from the days of ARPANET, primitive BBS systems and proprietary communication software to the birth of ISPs, TCP/IP, global email, portals and that entity we all love to hate, AOL.

On The Way To The Web presents a comprehensive time line of where we started and the complicated path we took to get to where we are today in our global internet community. This book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand how we became such an inter-connected society, the wonders and miracles of communication technology.

Creating Games in C++ : A Step-by-Step Guide
By David Conger and Ron Little
Paperback: 464 pages
Publisher: New Riders Games
February 2006

Creating Games in C++ : A Step-by-Step Guide has to be the greatest book to use when you want to start learning how to program games for Windows. This book is definitely aimed more towards the users who have not a clue where to begin or even start to learn how to program in C++ to make a game.

As you start reading, David and Ron will begin teaching at the very beginning of everything. Unlike other books, they do not assume you already know how to program fluently in C++. If you don’t know C++, great! This means you will get the full impact of the book. If you know very little C++, great! You can still learn too! By the end of the first few chapters you will feel like a C++ programmer because the book will make you a C++ programmer. Why stop at feeling like a C++ programmer? By the end of the book you will feel like a game developer! Did I mention that by the end of the book you create an actual game? Yeah. It’s true.

I’ve noticed in the book that they explain everything in full detail meaning it does not leave one single line of code unexplained. Also, the book comes with a fully loaded CD-ROM with all the code in the book, all the developing tools, a copy of a game engine that you will learn to use in the book for free, sound editing software, a programming environment, and much more! How can you go wrong there?!

If you take a look at the cover of this book, you see a controller which resembles a fairly popular design. This controller registers in your mind as “Games in 3D” when in fact there is no teaching of 3D game development. Instead they teach you 2D game development which is where you should start. Although the cover of the book is a little misleading, you will still be creating games which are in 2D and they always say you need to build up on top of knowledge and 2D is where you start first.

After you’re done reading the book, don’t get rid of it! There is still a glossary that you can have to always look up a game word that you might not know and need to know. The book also has a full index for reference too.

This book is recommended for people who want to learn C++ game programming and have no idea where to start. Get it. Read it. Make it. Play it. Enjoy it. This book gets a five out of five star rating from me.

Get Rich Playing Games
Scott Steinberg
2007

Get Rich Playing Games has got to be one of the most useful and entertaining “how to” books I have read recently. I can usually gauge the usefulness of a book by how much yellow highlighter I go through, how many post-it notes stick out from among the pages, and by how many research leads I garner. Scott Steinberg has penned another winner, and in my opinion the value of the information he shares in Get Rich Gaming far exceeds the cost of the book – which is very reasonably priced, by the way.

Get Rich Playing Games covers almost every aspect of the game industry, from pre-startup stage to getting the product on the shelf and beyond. Scott Steinberg doesn’t only focus on the game developers and designers, though. Throughout the book he discusses the important roles other people in the industry play, from the number crunchers and audio designers to the journalists who write the reviews. What I consider important about the inclusion of these different vocations within the videogame industry is that almost anyone who has the passion to work within the industry can probably find a career position for which they are perfectly suited. Not everyone has the knowledge, talent or passion to be an engineer or an artist, and Get Rich Playing Games shows that you don’t have to be able to paint the next fantasy art masterpiece to work in gaming.

As with Scott’s other books, he has enlisted the opinions and experiences of those who have been involved in the gaming industry for a very long time and know of which they speak. Throughout Get Rich Gaming, and especially in the Expert Insight section, readers are given the chance to tap into the collective intelligence of the videogame industry without leaving home. Scott Steinberg talks with the CEO’s of the biggest companies, such as Bruce Hack of Vivendi, and he talks with those who came up through the gaming ranks such as Dennis Fong and Jonathan Wendel. You can read about both the good and the bad experiences of industry gurus such as Will Wright, Richard Garriott, Morgan Webb, Tommy Tallarico, and Jane Jensen to name but a few.

Get Rich Playing Games is an honest look at the methods which worked, and those which didn’t. It shows that with the drive for success, a roadmap is an excellent plan, and so is having a sense of humour, but what I think is the most important lesson in this book is – if you don’t take a chance and leap, you don’t know how far you will go. Scott shares an honest – and humourous – view of his own leap of faith into the gaming industry, and he tells it like it was – sink or learn how to swim. Unlike many of you reading this review, it took me decades to find my passion – or perhaps the passion was there all the time, I just hadn’t opened the right door. I highly recommend that those of you currently toying with the idea of working in the videogame industry take the time to read Get Rich Playing Games, you will garner new insight and you will definitely learn how to focus your talents and interests into finding a place among those who have achieved success in this great industry.

Review Written By: Tami Quiring

Game Boys: Professional Videogaming’s Rise From the Basement To The Big Time
Author: Michael Kane
June 2008

Games Boys: Professional Videogaming’s Rise from the Basement to the Big Time by Michael Kane is the best inside look at the competitive videogaming industry I have read to date. He peels back the layers of this very complex subculture and lays it all out there for anyone to read – from the gamers themselves to the parents who try to understand. Game Boys has it all – the celebratory victories, the heartbreaking losses, the passion of its supporters, and he doesn’t leave out the backroom dirty laundry either.

This book is an informative, exciting, unsanitized read; he does not sugarcoat the competitive gaming industry; instead he offers an outsider’s perspective of a largely misunderstood section of today’s society. Author Michael Kane has managed to translate the excitement of competition into his words, and sometimes I found myself reading faster through the competition gameplay to get to the moment of victory – even though I already knew the results of many of the matches he wrote about.

As a participant full of passion for the videogame industry, there were so many times I found myself identifying with CompLexity GM Jason Lake and harbouring feelings of resentment towards Craig Levine. Like Jason Lake, I believe in the grassroots foundation of this wonderful industry, and even though Craig Levine has done much to get competitive videogaming out there into the main stream of today’s world, I often felt that Levine’s tactics were less than honourable, and I am of the generation when honour was at the forefront of how you conducted your life. These are elements which make for a great book – eliciting emotion and appreciation from the reader, making the reader care about the characters in the story.

Michael Kane has artfully included every aspect of our advancing technological world – global friendships and rivalries, heroes and villains, supportive families and families who feel the gamer is wasting his or her time. Corporations who only look at the biggest and the best for exposure, instead of looking at and supporting the grassroots events and players who keep the industry churning forward on a daily basis. Event promoters who are in it for the dollar, and to heck with the injury they do to our industry by scamming the players who have poured their heart, soul and often their last dollar into feeding their passion for gaming in hopes of making it to the winner’s circle.

I commend Michael for the honesty of his words, even the ones which cast a less than idyllic light on the e-sports industry, because the end result shows that our cyberathletes truly are no different from the mainstream sports athletes. They train, they play, they do things they shouldn’t, but when it comes right down to the final seconds it’s all about the game and the opponent in front of them. Game Boys shows how far we as a competitive market have come, but also shows how far we have yet to go. Michael touched very briefly on the girls in gaming, and while some things have changed since Game Boys went to print, much has stayed the same, from the disdain which meets many girl gamers head on, to the insults and unwelcome photos hurled at them on XBL. While the industry is still very much a boys’ club, the girls are rapidly gaining ground – perhaps in the future we can look forward to a book on Game Girls to compliment Game Boys – what do you say, Michael?

The Daily Miracle: An Introduction to Journalism, Second Edition
Written By David Conley
Paperback: 392 pages
Publisher: Oxford University Press; Second Edition
March 2002

The Daily Miracle is a very comprehensive textbook, designed primarily for students just beginning their studies about the world of journalism. Anyone considering journalism as a career should first read this book. The author has written a comprehensive history about journalism, and also takes an in-depth look at the changing face of the media industry. The Information Age has forced journalism into a high-speed medium, and Mr. Conley has laid out the pros and cons of becoming a reporting journalist in this rapidly changing world.

This textbook is laid out in such a way that it will continue to be a good reference manual for many years. The index contains a brief description of each chapter, allowing a reader to skip to any part of the book when looking for specific information. The appendices and bibliography contain a wealth of places to look for further information, both in print or online.

The second edition of the textbook was updated from the first to include changes in both broadcast and computer-assisted journalism. He ties this in with the origins of news reporting and the changing face of the industry over time. Mr. Conley’s book concentrates more on applying the techniques of journalism than just telling the reader what journalism is about. Each chapter is designed to focus on a skill area, and for that reason alone the book is a worthy investment even for the seasoned journalist. Mr. Conley also pays attention to the importance of ethics in a journalist, and how they affect not only the reporter’s career, but also the public’s perception and trustlevel in regards to that reporter.

Mr. Conley not only lays out what a new journalist can expect when embarking upon his or her career, he delves into what the industry will expect of the new journalist. Each chapter uses examples of current reporting practices, backs up the information with statistics, and also looks at the careers of prominent journalists world-wide. He also caps each chapter with a list of questions and exercises for the reader, and completing those activities will not only help broaden the student’s understanding of the industry, it will help him or her decide if this is the correct career path to follow.

The Book of Games Volume 2
Authors: Bendik Stang, Morten A. Osterholt, Erik Hoftun, Jorgen Kirksaeter, Hans Christian Bjorne
Publisher: gameXplore N.A. Inc.
Paperback: 448 pages
October 2007

I was privileged to be sent an advance PDF copy of The Book of Games Volume 2 by author Bendik Stang, and having now completed my reading of this volume in one evening, I am eagerly looking forward to the print version. The Book of Games Vol. 2 has matured exponentially over its previous incarnation, which I feel is very appropriate as Volume 2 has a very pointed focus on the maturity which the videogame industry as a whole is experiencing. While I am still disappointed in regards to the lack of coverage in regards to the Guild Wars properties, that is largely due to personal bias, as I am a casually hardcore Guild Wars player. Now that I have my only truly negative viewpoint out of the way, let’s move on to the good stuff.

I was extremely impressed with the amount of research which had obviously gone into the production of Volume 2, as well as the new features which had been added for the individual game listings and ratings. These additions show that the authors listened to those who took the time to give them feedback on Volume 1, and as such have made themselves a part of the gaming community in a way which some authors never achieve, no matter how knowledgeable they may be on their topics. Another interesting sidenote was seeing another book which I am in process of reviewing featured in a sidebar in this book. As a journalist with a heavy research addiction, I always consider how useful a publication will be to me on my endless quest for knowledge, and The Book of Games Volume 2 passed that consideration with ease. There are many, many sources for further reading and education.

While The Book of Games Volume 1 was a handy reference for the parents and relatives of gamers, Volume 2 fully opens up the changing videogame industry, from development to tournaments and beyond. The authors have successfully put the industry into a nutshell – one which gamers, teachers, parents and even grandparents will appreciate. This volume has every component of the videogame world between its covers, and takes a look at every aspect in a well-worded, well-researched, and well-presented manner. Every chapter contains evidence of how videogames have become an integral part of our lives in the 21st century – from those who pick up a quick game of solitaire to those who travel the pro-gamer circuits. One photo I could immediately relate to was that of Norway’s Olav Undheim, winner of the 2007 World Cyber Games Grand Final Warcraft III Tournament. I saw that match, along with all of the other events held on that final game day in Seattle this past October. I was there when Olav hoisted that $ 20 000.00 cheque over his head at the medals presentation – and that’s what this industry called videogaming has at its core – a vibrant, global community – one which we experience at our own annual LAN tournament, and one which The Book of Games Volume 2 has opened to the world.

I think that this book will do more to bring an understanding of the videogame culture to non-gamers than any collection of web sites and media articles could possibly do. Parents everywhere will benefit from this book, while gamers will embrace this book for the validation it brings to our gaming culture. The Book of Games Volume 2 is an excellent counter-weight to those who vocalize loud and long their negative views on the gaming industry as a whole. I challenge those who, without really understanding what videogames are truly all about to pick up this book and read it. Understand what draws those of us who game into our multi-pixelled worlds. The artwork is amazing, the music is incredible, and the passion insurmountable. As the owner of a company which has been trying unsuccessfully for three years to obtain a business license for a digital media centre for youth in our hometown, I would love to see the members of our Township council who oppose us, as well as those in the licensing department who insist on calling us an arcade, read this book. The Book of Games Volume 2, I believe, will become a very useful tool for those of us who are not only proud members of the gaming culture, we support the up and coming designers of tomorrow and all of the possibilities the world of gaming has opened to them, whether they become game designers, engineers, architects or even doctors.

I whole-heartedly give The Book of Games Volume 2 a five star rating, and if there have been this many improvements in the series just between volumes 1 and 2, I can hardly wait until I get a look at Volume 3 which will be out in November 2008. To the authors I say “this is a work to be proud of, a job very well done.”

Authors: David Thomas, Kyle Orland, Scott Steinberg
Paperback: 108 pages
Publisher: Lulu.com
October 2007

The Videogame Style Guide is essential reading for anyone who wants to get into any type of serious videogame journalism. As pointed out by Dan Hsu, the Editor in Chief for Electronic Gaming Monthly, if the world of videogame journalism has any hope of maturing, it must find the uniformity of style that is so essential to engaging and maintaining an intelligent readership. The authors, while stating that the Style Guide is a work in progress – meaning that it will be updated as styles change or new terminology is entered, have given journalists an excellent reference guide which can be used in conjunction with any other publication’s in-house style guide.

Not only is the Videogame Style Guide full of alphabetical listings in regards to industry-specific terminology, the appendices also offer many other points of reference on the industry from websites to other published books. The listings of important systems, games, people and companies in the videogame industry past and present offer not only a pertinent “who’s who” directory, but also starting points for a variety of articles and studies.

Overall, I found this publication to be very useful and it will continue to be so as I write future articles about the gaming industry. If you visit the website linked in the title of this review, you will see that the Videogame Style Guide is available in two formats – free for download as a pdf file, or purchasable as a published book. If you write any articles at all, you should at the very least download the pdf and give yourself a starting point in learning the correct forms and terminology to use when composing articles, as they will greatly increase your chances of having your articles published by the myriad of news journals available to the gaming community.

Videogame Marketing and PR – Volume 1: Playing to Win
Author – Scott Steinberg
June 2007

I bought this book quite some time ago, and I’m regretting not getting to it sooner. Having read a previous title by Scott Steinberg, I should have known better. Videogame Marketing and PR is packed with literally decades of knowledge and experience. Mr. Steinberg not only imparts freely with chapter after chapter of methods and ideas which he has practiced in his own career, he has presented a collection of brief articles from many of the key people in the videogame industry. From these men and women come gems of wisdom, because they have literally been there and done that. While there are many books sitting on shelves in many stores which can tell you all about how to market, none of them carry the unique situations which sets the videogame industry apart from other retail markets.

Videogame Marketing and PR is almost like having your very own personal set of industry mentors sharing with you the methods they have used to get to where they are today. Mr. Steinberg is a very personable author, infusing humour into his wisdom and along with catch phrases and quotes, he manages to get the reader’s mind into gear and thinking about his or her product, company or project. In a world where consumers are bombarded almost every minute with product messages, it is important to find a formula which works for you, and as is mentioned in this book, there is no one single way to do things that will work for all products or all companies.

This book is an invaluable resource for anyone considering going into not only game development, but for anyone working in area of the industry. It will help the non-marketers on staff understand what is needed to make titles and companies successful in the never-ending battle for market share and profitability. In my opinion, Videogame Marketing and PR should be on the required reading list of anyone entering the industry, regardless of the employment track they are following. I am greatly looking forward to the second volume in this series, Videogame Marketing and PR: The Essentials, because I have a feeling that Volume 1 barely touched the surface of all that readers can learn when it comes to videogame marketing. We are in a creative industry, and this book encourages us to create our own marketing success and to reach for the upper pinnacles of this young industry by using the knowledge of our predecessors and contemporaries as our foundation.

Fantasy Clip Art: Everything You Need to Create Your Own Professional-Looking Fantasy Artwork
Author: Kevin Crossley
June 2007

I found this book quite by accident while browsing away an afternoon in Chapters Book Store, and as I have a latent desire to learn how to draw creatures, I bought it. The volume is accompanied by a CD containing hundreds of fantasy clip art pieces. All images are simple outlines in PSD layered format and compatible with Adobe PhotoShop, Adobe PhotoShop Elements and Corel Paint Shop Pro.

The author spends the first part of the book giving a brief look back at human imagination and the need to express ourselves, going back through time to the advent of cave paintings. He follows this with a quick introduction to the file contents of the compact disc and plants the seeds in the reader’s mind as to how the image files he has provided can let your imagination roam free in the world of fantasy art.

The art files contain high-res files of characters, accessories and backgrounds. There is also a file folder full of low-res images for those those who may have older computers. The Characters folder contains 25 pre-drawn files of Orcs, Faeries, Ogres, Horses and more. The Accessories folder contains everything the well-equipped fantasy creature could need from hats to shoes and every weapon in between. In the Background folder, you will find 8 detailed backdrops for your fantasy art piece. As each file is layered, you can adjust elements of each image to suit yourself. You can also remove layers or copy layers over from another image file to make your own unique images based on the art provided.

Information about the art files is followed by a quick two-page briefing about the basic technology needs for creating digital art. Followed by this is a short tutorial on the PhotoShop tools you will most use for editing the images and then colouring them. Next up is a quick colour theory lesson covering Primary, Secondary and Tertiary colours along with an explanation of the colour wheel, colour opposition and balance.

Once your brief tutorials are done, the author takes the reader through the “meat and potato” sections of the book – digitally painting the pieces. He begins with the simplest form of digital painting, blocked-in colouring using the Paint Bucket Tool. Following this, the author goes through a detailed tutorial in regards to colouring and shading using the brush tool. Even those with the most basic of PhotoShop skills should be able to follow this tutorial and produce a very well done piece of artwork. Mr. Crossley also discusses the use of limited colour schemes in your characters. He explains that by using a limited scheme, the beginning artist will be able to focus more on shading and lighting while not worrying about a large myriad of colour, while the ensuing tutorial on shading and highlights brings the whole process to life. The next tutorial is how to use many of the alternative tools available in PhotoShop, such as the Image Adjustment features: Hue, Saturation, Lightness, Burn, Dodge and more. Mr. Crossley follows this lesson with one in the reflective properties of metal, so that you will be able to make your warrior’s helmet and weaponry shine and appear to have more texture. He also covers this process for hair, fur and bones.

Now that he’s covered all of the basics, Mr. Crossley moves on to step by step instructions on how he colours his fantasy characters as well as a lesson on speed painting, which is very difficult for beginners to master, but something I personally am almost always awed by. Mr. Crossley gives one last lesson about creating a fantasy army scene before he encourages the reader to let his or her imagination run loose with the graphics files. He explains how he personally created each graphics file, in hopes that the reader will begin creating original pieces now that the process has been explained, and he again encourages the budding artist to mix and match pieces of the files to create fantastic creatures. With this encouragement the first part of the book ends. The second half of the book is taken up with detailed information about each image file on the CD – how many layers it is, what is on each layer, and more. As a bonus, he has even included a card template, so that the reader can even create a fantasy card game or collector set.

Overall, I found this book to be very useful, and I am hoping that by practicing often with the provided graphics files, I will begin to find a way to unlock my currently limited drawing abilities and start to draw my own completely original pieces. I would recommend this book to anyone who is just beginning the process of learning to paint digitally and even to those who are a bit more experienced.

Chris Crawford on Interactive Storytelling
Author: Chris Crawford
Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: New Riders Games
October 2005

This book opened up a whole new pattern of thinking for me. The information Mr. Crawford conveys in this publication is invaluable to any writer seeking to break into new areas-particularly gaming and other applications utilizing interactive storytelling. Writing for this genre requires a whole different mindset from traditional genres and Mr. Crawford succeeds at moving the reader towards that mindset.

Time and again I see in game reviews how a particular game has “awesome graphics and great gameplay but the story and dialogue” were severely lacking. With Mr. Crawford’s extensive experience in the gaming industry, he very capable gives aspiring writers every tool he or she will need to get a very good start in the industry. Throughtout the book, he stresses how important it is for the “artsie” thinkers (the writers & artists) to work together with the “techie” thinkers (the programmers) and I think this is a valuable lesson that many current game producers have yet to learn. Mr. Crawford reminds the entire programming industry that one sector of development cannot succeed without the other. He more than adequately investigates and chronicles how the different development teams can work together and bridge the “communication” gap between the “artsies” and the “techies.”

This book, while not exactly a tutorial piece, offers many examples and exercises to move the writer along in thinking like an interactive storyteller. The only real drawback may be the detail Mr. Crawford goes into. While I personally don’t have a problem with this, I work with several young people who, while they are very keen on gaming development, probably wouldn’t spend an adequate amount of time studying the information contained in the book unless it were required reading in a course.

Personally I feel that any writer who wants to pursue and develop stories for interactive programming should study this book. It’s not enough to read it through once, twice or even three times. This is a book which needs to be worked through section by section, until writing for this relatively new genre becomes second nature. This book will have a permanent home in my library; it is very rich in information-hats off to Mr. Crawford for producing a very timely manual.

The Book of Games, Volume 1
by Bendik Stang
Hardcover: 448 pages
Publisher: gameXplore N.A. Inc.
November 2006

The Book of Games is a comprehensive look at hundreds of the current top video games on the market. It is obvious that alot of time and research has gone into this volume, with attention paid to detail. From first page to last, this book is full of information relative to the video game end market. Its pages are filled with vibrant full-colour screenshots from the games covered, and in the individual game listings, the screenshots offer a very accurate view of what to expect during gameplay. This includes not only the high quality graphics for the games themselves, but also shots of what to expect in regards to violence in the game.

The title page for each game genre has thumbnail shots of retro games, showing the progression of game development. As a longtime gamer, I would have liked to have seen more material on the history of video gaming and the advances which have been made in the industry. Naturally, such a focus could easily fill a volume all on its own, and was not the purpose of this publication. The chapter on the future of gaming carries some interesting predictions. First and foremost is the prediction that those parents who purchase a Wii will themselves get involved in video gaming (if they aren’t already). I find this an interesting prediction, because that is exactly what Nintendo hopes will happen, and the reason for its basic yet futuristic control system. This very prediction was discussed at a recent panel night hosted by the Vancouver chapter of the International Game Developers’ Association. I was pleased to see the interactive future of video games given more than just a passing glance, along with the practical side of video game usage in scenario training. As someone involved in the video game industry, this is important to me primarily because of the general public’s opinion of video gaming. They often are not aware of the benefits of this industry, and The Book of Games does a good job of passing along this important information.

Each game genre is indexed into alphabetical sections with colour-coded page edges and a brief description of the genre. There are accompanying appendices at the end of the book which further break down the game genres according to age ratings for ESRB and PEGI, so it is practical for those whose countries follow these rating systems. The games list is also cross-referenced alphabetically and by platform. Also included is a glossary, which will be especially useful for the non-gaming geek parents of the world. There is also a calendar of notable dates in the game industry for 2006; unfortunately I noted one small error in the calendar: the release date for Guild Wars: Factions was April 28, not March 28 as stated in the book.

Going back to the genre sections, I noted that some sections were a bit on the thin side while others held abundant game listings. A section which I would’ve expected to see more listings for was RPG. Two of the biggest selling Multi-Player Online roleplaying games for this genre were not listed at all. In May of 2006, Guild Wars: Factions became the top-selling PC game in North America and Europe, surpassing World of Warcraft, yet Guild Wars warranted nothing other than a thumbnail screenshot in the feature chapter about the MMORPG genre. Neither Guild Wars nor World of Warcraft were listed in the indexed RPG chapter, where only five games of a huge genre were given coverage. While Warcraft was given more coverage in the MMORPG feature chapter, I feel that the chapter could’ve gone more indepth on a genre which is so hugely popular on a global scale. The feature chapter about the making of Age of Conan was a somewhat interesting read, particularly as the game is so highly anticipated, largely due to its being one of the first large-scale games written for Vista.

The short feature chapter about the cross-over of games to movies, while giving an honest opinion about the growing trend, again could have gone further indepth. The fastest growing industry is New Media, and the lines are blurring between the traditional industries, largely due to the technological advances. Two of my screen-writing friends are currently working on a Uwe Boll movie, so this chapter held some special interest for me. I felt there could’ve been more mention of the cross-overs and mass-marketing benefits the video game industry is seeing from the inclusion of cartoons, comic books, movies, and of course television.

The feature chapter on gaming consoles again could’ve gone a little more indepth, comparing those early consoles (Pong, anyone?) with how far the industry has come. There was no mention of the early consoles which really opened up the home video game industry such as Atari and Sega. I know that I said earlier in this review that the history of gaming really wasn’t the scope of this publication, but this is one area I felt should’ve been further expanded. I understand that the Book of Games is expected to become an annual publication, so perhaps many areas will be expanded in the future.

Overall, I found this to be an enjoyable book to read, and one that will prove useful in the future. I think it would make a nice gift for most gamers, and at the very least will get them away from their consoles for awhile. There are a few online references given where readers can watch a video battle between Sonic and Mario as well as check out some other game research sites. The volume is full of good information and well laid out; I am giving it a thumbs-up recommendation and feel it worth the purchase price.