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Gaming Hacks, comprehensive, fascinating and eclectic

I just finished reading Simon Carless’s Gaming Hacks, one of the latest O’Reilly Hacks books, and I can’t remember when I’ve had more engrossing fun with a technical book.

Like all the hacks books, Gaming Hacks is arranged around 100 “hacks” — tricks you can use to get more from gaming. They proceed from the simple to the hellishly complex, so there’s something here for everyone.

That’s even more true than is usual in the Hacks series, though, because of Carless’s incredible, comprehensive, eclectic view of the kinds of hacks that might interest a gamer. Here are some of my favorites:

This gives you a flavor for the book’s subject-matter, but it doesn’t convey wonderful prose style: Carless writes like a great, fetishistic geek, like the Car Talk guys or the folks on The Screensavers, like someone who’s really, really enthusiastic about his subject matter and wants to wise you up to all the truly awesome wonders awaiting you.

Combine that with a stupendous introduction by sf-writer-turned-game-writer Marc Laidlaw, who wrote the Half-Life series for Valve, and a slew of highly knowledgeable co-authors who contributed various tips, and you’ve got the perfect mix of informative, enjoyable and fascinating. This book is staying on my shelf.

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