Latest Articles
gallery | 08/05/06 | Chris Martin
Brand new Call of Duty 3 screens for your viewing pleasure. 4 come from the Xbox 360 version and 2 from the PlayStation 3 version. The game is looking amazing from the screenshots, and it\'s interesting to see the two versions side-by-side. Let\'s see if you can tell which is which without looking at the labels.
editorial | 08/02/06 | Chris Martin
\"In Dead Rising, coming August 8th for the Xbox 360 game console, players follow the efforts of ambitious photojournalist Frank West as he investigates the strange happenings at the Willamette Parkview Mall only to find that more than just the Chinese food in the Food Court has been rotting...\" We\'re so happy for a return of the zombie game that we tied Chris to his computer chair with bailing wire (left over from the last time a gamer defected) and forced him to write about what makes a zombie a zombie. By the end of the three-day period Chris, a little pale from lack of food, fell over trying to lunge at us with ominous moans. He bit a big chunk out of Aaron\'s arm as he tried to post this.
[Color=\"navy\"].[/Color]
interview | 07/27/06 | Shawn Rider
The new generation of gaming consoles helps bring all forms of digital entertainment together. Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo have all made efforts to turn their game systems into media hubs, capable of serving the full range of your entertainment needs. This has put gamers on the bleeding edge of the future of television, and there\'s one tool all of them need to discover: TVersity. TVersity is a media server that runs on your PC and makes your music, videos and photos accessible to a huge number of devices, including your PSP or mobile phone. We got a chance to ask Ronen Mizrahi, creator of TVersity, a few questions about the convergence of gaming and digital media, and he dropped a few exciting tidbits on us (like the fact that the next release of TVersity will support Xbox 360). Get the full interview here.
editorial | screens | 07/04/06 | Aaron Stanton
Web traffic drops during the summer as gaming news runs dry and warm weather draws people away from their monitors. Fourth of July often represents the summer\'s ultimate low in traffic, and pretty much everyone in the gaming industry takes the day off. If you haven\'t had a chance to spend some time outside in the beautiful weather, now is the perfect day to step outside into the cooling evening, put away the games for a moment, and take in a part of life that doesn\'t run on electricity. Tomorrow we can return to the flash of modern life, but tonight and maybe tomorrow we here at GamesFirst are going to stretch out, light some fireworks, and enjoy a good birthday. We hope you consider doing the same. Happy Fourth of July, everyone.
editorial | 06/06/06 | Matt James
Xbox Live\'s ability to record achievements adds an entirely new dimension to online gaming. Suddenly, everything you do matters, and achieving a high gamer score is like managing to break into the top ten at the local video arcade (if you lived in the \'80s). In this article, we sit down with an Xbox 360 controller and a stack of games to find out the best ways to raise your gamer score with as little work as possible. Geometry Wars might be fun, but it\'s nearly a waste of time if you\'re interested in raising your stats. Madden 2006, though? It\'s a goldmine for even the unskilled footballer. And it\'s not the only one.
editorial | 05/26/06 | RJ Brooks
The overwhelming market domination of the PS2 has been Sony\'s biggest strength, as well as their chossen ideology in the PS3\'s console design, specs, and marketing. Ironically, the PS3 is also proving that size is not everything when it goes up against innovation (Nintendo and Microsoft). What has been presented by Sony as \"the next generation\" begs the question: While the PS3\'s tag-line reads \"Go Beyond\" is Sony really taking their own advice? With a system price that exceeds both their competition combined, is Sony prepared to push themselves beyond a game of matching, and truly lead the industry?
feature | 05/26/06 | Shawn Rider
Halo 2 has remained a favorite on Xbox Live even for Xbox 360 owners, and Bungie has continued to maintain a lively community website and roll out improvements. Inspired by a recent posting on the Bungie News blog, Shawn takes a look at the current state of Halo 2 cheating: Bridging, standby, boosting? What is this crazy talk? Welcome to the twisted world of Halo 2 cheating.
editorial | 05/20/06 | Shawn Rider
Super Columbine Massacre RPG! is, needless to say, kicking up a bit of controversy. Released a year ago by indy filmmaker Danny Ledonne, the game has recently grabbed attention thanks to some high-profile posts on Joystiq, Kotaku, and the likes. Curious to find out what Super Columbine Massacre is all about (as if we didn\'t already know), Shawn downloaded and played through the five hours or so of game. Was it crazy awesome? Or just plain crazy? Check out Shawn\'s article to find out.
feature | 05/18/06 | Monica Hafer
Head-mounted displays (HMDs) are controversial devices: On the one hand, they fill your complete field of vision with generated graphics, creating an absolutely immersive experience. On the other hand, you cannot turn away from an HMD, and many folks feel claustrophobic or motion-sick using the devices. On the third hand, hired models in shiny silver outfits with laser guns and futuristic virtual reality helmets are so cool-looking that we just have to stop and check them out. Monica checks in on the development of the Trimersion HMD system, compatible with game consoles and PCs. Get the full details here.
feature | 05/18/06 | Aaron Stanton
When you put a keyboard and mouse against a console controller, most people would say that the keyboard and mouse would win. However, most people would be wrong. With the introduction of Live Anywhere, a service that will put Xbox 360 players against PC users in the same games, the game industry has found a new perspective on the old debate. After a few minutes with one of the Shadowrun developers, it became clear that their main problem was not making the 360 controller competitive with the PC, but keeping the PC from getting owned by the Xbox 360. Even against experienced Halo and Counterstrike players, fairly average Xbox players seemed to have an advantage on the battlefield. Sometimes, reality is surprising.
editorial | 05/16/06 | Monica Hafer
Even though the Gamesfirst! crew was exhausted from bringing you the latest news from the floor of E3, we were still able to get our second wind in time to attend the invite-only Microsoft and Best Buy sponsored party at the House of Blues on Sunset Strip in LA. GF! brings you the inside view.
editorial | 05/15/06 | Aaron Stanton
Fans of the Shadowrun franchise became excited last week when Microsoft announced the development of a new Shadowrun title. After ten years of being off the computer game market, the intellectual property will be returning to the Xbox 360 and Windows Vista. It\'ll also be the premier title for Live Anywhere, Microsoft\'s new multiplayer service that puts PC users against Xbox 360 users. But without a storyline and game intervals of only 4 minutes each, is Shadowrun abandoning the roots that made it famous? How far can Shadowrun be changed and still be Shadowrun? We take a look at the changes that are being applied to the Shadowrun universe, and whether or not that\'s a good thing or a bad thing.
feature | 05/15/06 | Monica Hafer
Ever wonder what\'s new in the world of broadcasting technology? The National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas features not only the latest in radio and television broadcasting and technology, but also the newest items in Film, DVD, and multi-media. Monica braved the gauntlet of vendors in Vegas to bring you a few of her favorite things relating to both film and videogaming technology.
feature | 05/14/06 | Shawn Rider
Xbox Live Anywhere is propelling Microsoft\'s multiplayer gaming community into a whole new realm, bringing it cross-platform in all sorts of cool ways. One of the major new features of the Anywhere service will be a much expanded Xbox Live Arcade, which will offer games on almost every mobile phone and PDA platform. Bringing the reliability, not to mention the try-before-you-buy mentality, of Xbox Live to the mobile gaming experience could be just the thing to get us to take cell phones seriously as a gaming platform. Get the full story here.
feature | 05/14/06 | Jeremy Kauffman
Big things are in store for Indiana Jones. In addition to an upcoming fourth movie, the new game, due out in 2007 from LucasArts features a revolutionary AI system named Euphoria. What\'s so cool about Euphoria? Imagine watching Indiana Jones struggle with all his might to maintain his footing on a shakey rope bridge. Eventually he falls, catching himself on the ropes as he\'s thrown over and pulling himself back onto the bridge as the shaking subsides. Now imagine that you\'re standing at E3 and some guy from LucasArts follows up the awesome animation by telling you that none of what you just saw was animated in advance. Did we just blow your mind? Well, put on on a helmet and check out Jeremy\'s full article for more about this mindblowingly cool new game technology.
OMFG.