Best XNA3 Book Yet

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I teach XNA to undergrad game designers and have assessed almost every XNA book on the market since XNA 1.0. I will shortly be adopting this book for use in the classroom because this is the best XNA book I've seen yet. It covers the basics that are hit class-based approach to most of the code examples. In most 3D chapters, all the code is implemented in Game1.cs, with a separate Camera.cs file being the only external (allowing you to move around the object you've built). This is really helpful to learners, because examples that are separated - it assumes you already know about the basics of OOP, which I think is appropriate. It does have a very handy intro to debugging and editing in Visual Studio (with some good tips). Rob Miles' "Learn Programming Now: XNA GameStudio 3.0" is a little better for raw beginners, and also a very good book, and a nice compliment to this one.

Recommendation: More experienced users should combine this purchase with "XNA 3.0 Game Programming Recipes" two punch that will get any new programmer a very, very long way. Less experienced users should combine this purchase with the Rob Miles book mentioned in the paragraph above, which covers much of the same territory but will give you many additional examples and other kinds of problems to work on.

More than an intro

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I purchased this book specifically because it was the second edition and it seemed as though the authors' credentials exceeded the average book on XNA. Also, I was interested in the math behind game programming. I was not disappointed. You will need some knowledge of trigonometry and linear algebra (matrices, dot products, cross products, and quaternions). The examples were clear and concise. Most of the examples worked as advertised. And the sample code built on previous chapters' sample code in order to drive home the current points without boring you with the implementation details from previous chapters.

I think the 2D collision detection algorithm in chapter 4 could have used a bit more explanation. I think the chapter on input devices could have been moved toward the beginning of the book. And in a couple of places the sample code didn't do what was described in the chapter. For me this was an additional exercise because I made the sample code do what the book said, and learned something in the process.

This book will be a great resource for me in the future.

Great Book for XNA Developers!

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This is a great book for XNA developers! My son and I are working through this book together and we are having a great time learning XNA! The author takes the time to explain complex gaming concepts simply, the code examples are almost without error, and the reader is taken through a wide variety of examples including everything from collision algorithms to writing games for Zune. Definately a great book for the new XNA Developer. My one disappointment is that the student only gets to build one or two complete games, but I still completely recommend this book more for the great examples and clear explanations.