Gaming Hacks

By Simon Carless

It doesn't take long for an avid--or just wickedly clever--gamer to be chafed by the limitations of videogame software or hardware. If you want to go far beyond the obvious--whether you want to modify your console controller to work on other consoles, create your own text adventure, or modify your Game Boy--there's an awful lot of fun you can have for cheap or free, using the creative exploits of the gaming gurus. Gaming Hacks is the indispensable guide to cool things gamers can do to create, modify, and hack videogame hardware and software. Everything from social exploits and tips to be used in MMORPGs (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) to soldering-iron heavy hardware hacks is covered in this extreme-cool hack guide written by gamers for gamers. Gaming Hacks offers a stunning variety of hacks, exploits, and other creative acts on both modern and archaic console hardware and today's PC hardware--one hundred detailed, ingenious hacks are included. Gaming Hacks also includes detailed software-based looks at MMO (massively multiplayer) titles, FPS (first-person shooter) games, machinima (real-time movies created using game engines), emulation, save-game hacking, and many other miscellaneous subgenres and topics. Gaming Hacks shows hardcore gamers how to configure the best FPS peripherals, hack the Nuon DVD Player/Gaming System, modify their Game Boy, watch movies and listen to music and their Sega Dreamcast, and much, much more. Gaming Hacks shows you how to do things you didn't know could be done. If you want more than your average gamer--you want to explore and experiment, unearth shortcuts, make your games do what you want them to do Gaming Hacks will show you how. You don't need to be gaming guru to pick up Gaming Hacks ; you'll be one when you put it down.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0596007140
• ISBN13: 9780596007140
• Release Date: November 2004
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media
• Length: 436 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.2" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Wonderful launch point for more exploration

This book covers a lot of ground -- check out the table of contents and you'll see something for every flavor of computer or video game, from the Atari VCS to PC-based first-person-shooters and massively multiplayer online role-playing games, to handhelds like Palm and Pocket PC devices, to all of the major console machines you attach to your television. Like any computer book, this is full of ephemeral information that may not age well. In a few years, many of the links given here will cease to exist, and much of the hardware referenced could be difficult to find. Some of the tools which seem cool today will be commonplace, having been built into new revisions of hardware. The author does a good job of anticipating where this might happen, and sticks to generalities while providing specific examples wherever possible. As I write this review, the book has been in print for almost a year, and in my opinion, it remains fresh, relevant, and worthy of purchase. Some of the activity described in this book is in the grey area between legal and illegal activity, and Carless takes care to warn the reader when he/she might be stepping on dangerous ground. Such caveats make this book even more interesting to this reviewer and probably others as well. If you've ever done any of these things, enjoyed it, and wanted to do more, then this book is for you! - played a Japanese game on a USA or UK territory console; - played a "hacked" ROM of an old game in emulation; - wanted to get more out of old games which are boring now; - wondered about nonstandard import adapters and accessories; - wanted to interface your console with your PC In other words, if you're creative enough to want to think outside the narrow box that some manufacturers have put us in, and want more, you want this book, even if you've already done a lot of this stuff on your own. The weblinks alone will provide hours of entertainment, but the book draws everything together into a coherent whole. Cheers to Carless for writing this and to O'Reilly for having the courage to publish this in the age of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act!

100 Clever Game Console Hacks for Gamers

If you want to go far beyond the obvious, whether you want to modify your console controller to work on other consoles, create your own text adventure, or modify your Game Boy, there is an awful lot of fun you can have for cheap or free, using the creative exploits of the gaming gurus. Gaming Hacks is the indispensable guide to cool things gamers can do to create, modify, and hack videogame hardware and software. Everything from social exploits and tips to be used in MMORPGs (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) to soldering-iron heavy hardware hacks is covered in this extreme-cool hack guide written by gamers for gamers. Gaming Hacks offers a stunning variety of hacks, exploits, and other creative acts on both modern and archaic console hardware and today's PC hardware. One hundred detailed, ingenious hacks are included. Gaming Hacks also includes detailed software-based looks at MMO (massively multiplayer) titles, FPS (first-person shooter) games, machinima (real-time movies created using game engines), emulation, save-game hacking, and many other miscellaneous subgenres and topics. Gaming Hacks shows hardcore gamers how to configure the best FPS peripherals, hack the Nuon DVD Player/Gaming System, modify their Game Boy, watch movies and listen to music and their Sega Dreamcast, and much, much more. Gaming Hacks shows you how to do things you didn't know could be done. If you want more than your average gamer, if you want to explore and experiment, unearth shortcuts, or make your games do what you want them to do Gaming Hacks will show you how. You don't need to be gaming guru to pick up Gaming Hacks, but you will be one when you put it down.

Covers a lot of ground...

If you're a gamer who is always looking for new information to improve your gaming experience, check out Gaming Hacks by Simon Carless (O'Reilly). Chapter list: Playing Classic Games; Playing Portably; Playing Well With Others; Playing With Hardware; Playing with Console and Arcade Hardware; Playing Around the Game Engine; Playing Your Own Games; Playing Everything Else; Index Like all Hacks titles, there are 100 hints, tips, and hacks that cover the spectrum of gaming, from hardware to software, from consoles to online gaming. If you're old like me, you might enjoy Play Commodore 64 Games Without the C-64 (#2) and Play Atari ROMs Without the Atari (#3). Those will take you back to your early days of computing. If you're into first player shooting games, Tweak Your Tactics for FPS Glory (#94) will help boost your scoring. Carless will even help you play Japanese video games without knowing the language in #97 - Play Japanese Games Without Speaking Japanese. He shows you some basic hiragana and katakana that you'll encounter frequently in those games, and that might allow you to bridge the language gap. The only trouble I see with the book is that it's covering such a wide area of subject matter. Unless you're a full-time gamer, you'll probably find a number of areas in this book that don't pertain to your interests. In some ways, that's OK for a Hacks title, as not everything is meant to apply to every single reader. But this particular title seems to be a bit more scattered than usual. The material is good, to be sure, but each reader may have a different opinion of the book based on what their gaming interests are.

Covers every conceivable computer game type

This book covers everything. You can go old school and get information on Mame games and building your own arcade machine. It covers portable with information on PDA games, hacking your Gameboy, and installing a PS2 in your car. It talks about the online world with combat strategies, how to game the systems to make money, and how to find and avoid cheaters. It's got great advice on how to build high end gaming PCs. Consoles are covered as well. He talks about overclocking them and chipping them to play import games. And that's just a sample. Were this any other type of book I would say that the coverage is unfocused because it's too broad. But it's a Hacks book and these are intended for people with a clue to give them material on a wider range of topics. It starts you off and expects that you will run with it. For example, you get a lot of information about how to create a home arcade machine with Mame, but you won't get the detailed construction plans. The text is well written, though he does tend to use the gamer lingo, so you may need a translator if you aren't up to the minute. Certainly the best book I have seen for people who want to push their gaming experience beyond what you can get out of the box from Electronics Boutique.

Very diverse

Carless shows us the breadth of modern computer gaming. When I got into gaming in 1979, there were basically two types. The new video arcade games like Space Invaders. And text-based games like trek, that ran on mainframes. Well, the arcade games are certainly still with us. Carless devotes an entire chapter to what are now considered classic arcade games of the 80s. But now, there exist emulators for these, runnable on PCs. But recently, massive multiplayer role playing games have arisen, like EverCrack. Um, I mean EverQuest. Carless talks about the various communities built around these games. A curious and addictive subculture. With some members who play, to accrue loot that they then sell to other, newer players. Sometimes using eBay to do so. Think about how abstract and unreal this is. A scenario out of pure science fiction. Until it started happening. This chapter may be the most interesting of the book, for the glimpses it shows of these devotees. Carless also provides suggestions if you want to code your own game. Like using the popular game engine, Machinima, to do so. Easy to learn and to build up a 3d world.