Gaming Hacks - Hacking the Place Down?

So, the book is awaiting final proof-reading ahead of an October release, thus it's finally time to talk more about Gaming Hacks, the O'Reilly-published book I've been working on since earlier this year. Some obvious facts - it's in the Hacks Series, alongside fun books like Google Hacks and Amazon Hacks. Like all Hacks books, it contains '100 Industrial-Strength Tips and Tools' - hacks intended to be intensely practical, in-depth, and, most of all - actually useful.

Though my name is on the front of the book, and I wrote the majority of the darn thing, you'll see a big list of expert contributors listed inside the book. Who dat? Well, we have IF demi-gods Andrew Plotkin and Adam Cadre teaching you how to make an Inform text adventure. We've got the PlanetQuake Speed Demos Archive guys (Morfans and Radix) talking about how to run the perfect speed demo. We've got Penny Arcade's audio-visual expert Stormy talking about getting the best audio and video set-ups for perfect gaming goodness. We have MMORPGdot's Michael Zenke doing an amazing job with tips, tricks, and exploits regarding the MMO genre.

More? We've got Wired News/GameSpot/etc's Chris Kohler helping you to play Japanese games when you don't know no Japanese, guv'nor. We've got Hugh Hancock from Machinima.com and Strange Company explaining how to make neeto machinima. We've got Unreal modding tips from Make Something Unreal award winners Demiurge Studios. We've got shmup tips and tricks from Roger Post of ShootTheCore.com. My editor Chromatic pitches in with some neat Python and DOOM hacks. Heck, we even have an introduction written by Marc Laidlaw, a former interview subject of mine, one-time cyberpunk novelist, and the writer in residence for Half-Life and Half-Life 2 at Valve Software. And that's even missing off a few more worthy contributors, yikes...

Anyhow, you get the idea. I also contribute material on MAME, Visual Pinball, homebrew Dreamcast shenanigans, the Nuon, Elastomania (!), and lots more besides. Because of the breadth and depth of the task, it's been a struggle to do all the diverse material justice, but now I've seen the book come together, I'm delighted. If you're a gamer, then I guarantee you will find at least a few facts in here that you never knew (and maybe even wanted to!) And, heck, when ToastyFrog proof-read it, it made him go and buy a Game Boy Camera - the first, 4-color step to global domination? I reckon. Looks like you can pre-order Gaming Hacks at Amazon for 32 percent off cover price, too. Not that I'm hinting, or anything.