I'm looking for a Christmas present:

A book that simultaneously introduces how to program C++ and shows how to write games (perhaps using some high-level library). Preferably, the book would come with a CD/DVD.

Any suggestions? I see there are many books titled something like Beginning Game Programming etc.

thanks

you ask for a big topic, possible to big for one book

have a look to SFML,

http://www.sfml-dev.org/index.php

it has good documentation and a wiki, samples and forum , for beginning this topic just right

Games are usually built using some "platform," because it makes no sense to start from scratch on anything.

Surf to find some of these places, then find their demos and tutorials, and ... "go into sponge-mode." No, don't try to absorb all the minute details of any one of them: instead, step back and look at the big picture. What are their concerns, and how do they address those concerns?

Somewhat on/off topic here, may I also recommend that you look at cross-platform tools, particularly http://www.haxe.org. Just so that you're always thinking outside whatever box you're in. (Everyone's point-of-view in this business is always "pigeon-holed.")

I can't imagine any book that attempts to teach both C++ and game programming simultaneously, being any good.

For C++ programming, I recommend Stanley Lipmann's The C++ Primer.

For beginning game programming, the following two dead-tree books (both focusing on PyGame) look credible:

• Making Games with Graphics
• Beginning Game Development with Python and Pygame: From Novice to Professional