Village Gamer

Review Written By: Tami Quiring

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.

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Review By: Tami Quiring

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.

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Grab your steering wheel and put your foot on the gas! Nintendo has come a long way with Mario Kart which first appeared on the SNES in 1992. Mario Kart Wii brings the classic Mario Kart games and gives them a huge facelift with a gigantic array of new game-play features. One of the biggest features Nintendo has incorporated into Mario Kart Wii is the ability to compete with other players globally, regionally, or with your Wii Friends via internet connection. While Nintendo has brought a great deal of new features you will still feel at ease with the very similar game-play as previous versions.

The first hour I was playing, I felt very at home with it. I was rapidly getting used to the steering wheel which my Wii-mote fit right into. With this, I can actually guide my go-kart along the race track! Just using this steering wheel you all ready feel like you’re having fun. Of course, those of us who have played all the previous versions of Mario Kart will immediately want to jump right into the race track that we all know from previous games. Nintendo was gracious enough to include some previous popular tracks in this latest version. How cool is that?! Alongside the old tracks are new tracks that are catered around other Nintendo games and previous Mario games. (e.g. Super Mario Sunshine.)

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