Dan Birlew is the author of several strategy guides for BradyGames, including Resident Evil 3 and Vagrant Story, and has been assigned to the SquareSoft roster of games. He has and is covering new Square titles like Parasite Eve II, Chrono Cross, and Final Fantasy IX. Birlew has a reputation for high quality work, and a distinct dedication to his craft. GamesFirst!, represented by yours truly, was lucky enough to sit in on a press roundtable discussion with Birlew and Detra Perry, PR Representative for BradyGames. Also in attendance were correspondants from Just Adventure, GameSpin, GameWeek, and The Computer Show. We all had a really nice, and quite long, discussion, ranging in topics from the nitty-gritty construction of a strategy guide, to linquistic and style considerations, to the future of strategy guides and gaming. It was all so fascinating that I followed up the interview with a few more questions, nagging Birlew about some of the deeper issues involved in gaming in general. You can find the GF! Exclusive Followup to the Dan Birlew Interview here, and keep reading to get the rest.

Dan Birlew is the author of several strategy guides for BradyGames, including Resident Evil 3 and Vagrant Story, and has been assigned to the SquareSoft roster of games. He has and is covering new Square titles like Parasite Eve II, Chrono Cross, and Final Fantasy IX. Birlew has a reputation for high quality work, and a distinct dedication to his craft. GamesFirst!, represented by yours truly, was lucky enough to sit in on a press roundtable discussion with Birlew and Detra Perry, PR Representative for BradyGames. Also in attendance were correspondants from Just Adventure, GameSpin, GameWeek, and The Computer Show. We all had a really nice, and quite long, discussion, ranging in topics from the nitty-gritty construction of a strategy guide, to linquistic and style considerations, to the future of strategy guides and gaming. It was all so fascinating that I followed up the interview with a few more questions, nagging Birlew about some of the deeper issues involved in gaming in general. You can find the GF! Exclusive Followup to the Dan Birlew Interview here, and keep reading to get the rest.

Lately I've been spending a lot of time with my copy of Norm Koger's The Operational Art of War, and I have a lot of nice things to say about it. It's deep, it's fun, it's got a great interface”well, OK, it's just a great game. In any case, I was happily playing along in the spiffy 2D mode, feeling nice and comfortable with the familiar board wargame look of the game, when my son looked over my shoulder and suggested we try the 3D view of the game, "you know, the one where the tanks look like tanks instead of chits of cardboard." Figuring it wouldn't hurt to humor him, I switched over to 3D, and”Great Patton's Ghost!--we were confronted with a sight to freeze one's very soul”that of the ugliness that lies at the heart of wargaming. We witnessed wraith-like infantry, indistinct vehicles, Germans wearing green uniforms, Allies grey. It was like World War II on food poisoning.

Yesterday, the arcade nearest to my house officially sold its soul”not to the devil, the government, or even a special interest group with some less diabolical agenda. No, it sold out to the thirteen year old mall crowd and their perceived need for franchise-like arcade huts and the seemingly infinite series of genre clones that go along with them. Don't get me wrong, one of the best things about arcades is the fact that they provide you with the opportunity to play games months before they make it to a console, and generally in better versions.

Lorne Lanning is the President and Creative Director of Oddworld Inhabitants, undoubtedly one of the most interesting and exciting development houses in the gaming industry. Their first two titles, Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee and Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus, have raised the bar for games to come. The award-winning and best-selling titles incorporate an amazing storyline, insanely innovative gameplay, stellar production values, and a whole bagfull of originality. With two new titles in development for the PlayStation 2, Munch's Oddysee (due Fall of 2000) and Hand of Odd (due sometime after that), the folks at Oddworld look ready to create an all-out revolution in electronic entertainment. We got the chance to ask Lorne a few questions that we've been itching to hear the answers to. Here's what he had to say:

The Game.com Pocket seeks to make Game.com a major player in the handheld gaming arena. With a touch screen and calendar functions, it offers a bit more than the Game Boy Color in terms of features, but the GBC does have that \"color\" thing. Get the lowdown on the Game.com system and the Game.com version of Resident Evil 2 in this review from Shawn.