The Black Art of 3D Games Programming.

I'm here on the off chance someone might know something about this book, the Black Art of 3D Game Programming (1995). I purchased my copy second hand in 2010 as more of a novelty, because the foreword was written by Steve Wozniak. I went to offer the book for sale on line, but before I did so I looked on Amazon just to see how much they were...

www.amazon.com...=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1443167918&sr=1-4&keywords=black+art+of+3d+ga me+programming

WTF?. $2000??? Not all of them sell for that much but there are a few listed for that--I want to know why? I suspect it might be to do with the game engine software that is bundled on the CD (which I don't have), but I really don't know why a book of its vintage and content is fetching such a high price??.

I understand that textbooks are expensive--I spent a fortune on books at university, but this just doesn't seem to have enough content that is still relevant in today's games development production chain.

Does anyone know about this book?.

a reply to: ItVibrates

Dont know specifically about the book. I have read back in the day. I have the original D&D books ( Chainmail , Swords and Spells , and Eldritch Wizardry) still in shrinkwrap. Found out that they are worth a small fortune.Why ? Goes along the same reasoning I guess.I have no idea.

a reply to: Gothmog
I managed to find a forum from 1996 where there are posts discussing it, seems it wasnt that great as a reference back then anyway. Some of the CD-ROMS shipped with a virus apparently...

I understand how the D&D stuff is worth a fortune (I wish I still had mine), but this--well put it this way: I'm not the person incline to sell my books, I found this one to be a little useless in my shelf and thought I could swap it for some beer on facebook (we do that here).

originally posted by: ItVibrates
a reply to: Gothmog
I managed to find a forum from 1996 where there are posts discussing it, seems it wasnt that great as a reference back then anyway. Some of the CD-ROMS shipped with a virus apparently...

I understand how the D&D stuff is worth a fortune (I wish I still had mine), but this--well put it this way: I'm not the person incline to sell my books, I found this one to be a little useless in my shelf and thought I could swap it for some beer on facebook (we do that here).

Well I didnt understand how 3 small paper books could be worth that much , either. Maybe I could get a case...
I had an original purchased copy of Wozniak;s book and CD. I did not know it came with a virus. Maybe mine didnt.I gave mine to my brother a while back. Back in the day Steve , Phrozen , the Crew (Crue) were heroes of mine.

That's interesting.

Here's another Amazon link: Amazon Link for $1.40 used

Here's a link from a S. African retailer: S. African retailer 41271 Rand ($2963.00)

I don't know what the difference is...

-dex

a reply to: Gothmog
Only some of them shipped with the virus, here have a 20 year old forum post to tell you all about it:
www.verycomputer.com...

If I sell it you're welcome to drink the profits with me

a reply to: ItVibrates
Thanks

The virus does no actual damage. It adds a 438-byte code segment to the end of any DOS .exe program that is less than 64K in size.

so , no one would have noticed anyway.
kinda like the Frodo Lives virus.

a reply to: ItVibrates

I can't say i've read the book, and it would be be hard to appraise such an item. I imagine that it will be more valuable to some and less valuable to others.

Maybe if you made further inquiries online you might learn why it is so valuable. Maybe there are few left, or maybe few were printed, hence the value. Maybe an appraiser could be harder to find than the book itself.

a reply to: DexterRiley
Thats what I dont get? I know there will be price fluctuations between editions when it comes to "collectors" books, but this thing is puzzing me--and there is a huge difference between the amount of beer you can get for $1.40 (no beer is that cheap here) to $2k worth of beer.

I'm still guessing its whats on the CD-ROM. It must be some libraries that became proprietary or something???

CD-ROM requirements:
OS: MS-DOS 3.11
PC: 486DX or 386 with 387; 4MB RAM; 10MB HDD; VGA or SVGA; 2400baud modem or higher...

a reply to: Thecakeisalie
Well that was the point of posting here, I was going to post in the "literature" forum because I was sure someone here would know about valuing books, but then I saw video games and thought here might be a better place to ask. We do have a very well informed demographic here

a reply to: ItVibrates

Here's something that might help.

Look at the copyright date. Most books have revised editions, but it's the first printed editions that are the most valuable.

For instance:

'Copyright 1985, 1988, 1994, 2001.'

'Printed 1985.'

If your copy of the book was printed in 1985, you may have an early edition and they are long sought after. the copyrights and the revisions can be found at the start of the book, usually in fine print.

Maybe you could contact the publisher?

a reply to: Thecakeisalie
Yeah its a first edition from 1995, I looked at that already, so there is no subsequent years after 95 listed as copyrght--I think if I look up the ISBN I can find when (if) it was reprinted?

Haven't you ever played World of Warcraft and there are people selling stupid items for ridiculous amounts of gold hoping some noob clicks on it to buy it.. well its something like that.

originally posted by: nOraKat
Haven't you ever played World of Warcraft and there are people selling stupid items for ridiculous amounts of gold hoping some noob clicks on it to buy it.. well its something like that.

Ummm no actually, I never played WoW, but I get what you're saying. I've seen some stupid mark up on some things being sold online, predatory capitalism--I hate it.

Cant we all just trade things for beer and circumvent the monetary system??. I'm only going to sell this for beer, or perhaps other alcohol.

That way I have more caps when we end up being forced into a Fallout type monetary system. Prepare for every outcome. Tampons and toilet paper.