Dana Bruno has had an illustrious career as an independent journalist working for the indy online news site, Newsdogs.com. She has been running her own site, BrunoReport.net, for awhile now and has recently become involved with the high-profile Search 4 E case. We were fortunate to have a chance to ask Bruno some questions about her history and her current investigation.

Dana Bruno runs the one-woman-show, The Bruno Report (www.brunoreport.net), which has been getting more than a little notice recently due to her high profile involvement in the Search 4 E. Search 4 E (www.search4e.org) is a project underway from True Crime Press to utilize Websurfing civillians to help solve the mystery of what happened to the even more mysterious "E" (Ed Sobian, Eric Sobel, or Emil Sobiak, take your pick). Currently there is reluctance in the law enforcement community to take up the missing persons case, largely due to the fact that it is hard to determine whether E was kidnapped or ran away, so in a move spearheaded by James Pitt (the well-known author) and True Crime Press, private investigators have been brought in. The allure of large amounts of money and valuable items found by professional and amateur investigators researching the case has helped generate serious interest.

Aaron Stanton was lucky enough to get some quality time with one of the legendary figures of gaming. Known for his eccentric qualities, including adventure vacations and his alter ego Lord British, as much as for his foundational role in creating Ultima Online and continuing participation in MMO projects like Lineage, City of Heroes, and Tabla Rasa (working title), Richard Garriott is THE man right about now. With MMORPGs at an all-time popularity high, and many new titles entering the fray, Garriott was kind enough to chat about his projects, game design, why consoles won\'t succeed online, and much more. Get the interview here.

Richard Garriott. Lord British. I remember reading those names when Ultima Online was first announced, about the time when massively multiplayer games first began to come into realization. The names, both describing the same person, are synonymous with boundary-pressing game design and personal adventure. Professionally he's the founder of Origin Systems, the creator of the Ultima series, the power behind one of the first games to pioneer the concept of massively multiplayer. Having become involved with NC Soft and the incredibly popular Lineage, he's still making waves in the world of online role-playing. In person he's a charismatic fellow in blue jeans who just happens to have a lot of experience turning dreamy fantasies into working reality. I got a chance to speak with Garriot at E3 2002.

Richard Garriott. Lord British. I remember reading those names when Ultima Online was first announced, about the time when massively multiplayer games first began to come into realization. The names, both describing the same person, are synonymous with boundary-pressing game design and personal adventure. Professionally he's the founder of Origin Systems, the creator of the Ultima series, the power behind one of the first games to pioneer the concept of massively multiplayer. Having become involved with NC Soft and the incredibly popular Lineage, he's still making waves in the world of online role-playing. In person he's a charismatic fellow in blue jeans who just happens to have a lot of experience turning dreamy fantasies into working reality. I got a chance to speak with Garriot at E3 2002.

Working Designs is a small development/publishing house that specilizes in finding some of the best Japanese titles available and giving us stateside gamers a chance to get in on the action. They've been delivering high quality games since the Turbografix 16 and have developed a signature style of addictive gameplay and superb writing. Most recently they've given us Lunar and Vanguard Bandits, two of my favorite RPGs on the PlayStation. Lunar 2: Eternal Blue will probably (hopefully) make its way into your PlayStation pretty soon, and Working Desings has two titles, Silpheed and Gungriffon Blaze, lined up for the Playstation 2 launch in October. I had a chance to ask Victor Ireland, President of Working Desings, some questions and get the skinny on their new titles, their creative approach, and those ever-so-sweet RPG translations.

This interview is a followup to an interview we posted with Dan Birlew, author of many strategy guides for BradyGames and their main SquareSoft guy. In writing strategy guides, as with writing reviews or coverage of gaming, certain aspects of the gaming world become very interesting. Birlew obviously has thoughts about more than just strategy guides, and we wanted to pick his brain a little more.

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.

Keiko Randolph is the CEO of PetFish Company, and the driving force behind one of the most unique and technically impressive virtual pets out there. Via the PetFish website, http://www.petfish.com, users can download a huge variety of fishes for their enjoyment and companionship. But the product has an interesting background and exciting future plans. Keiko chatted with us about the past, present and future of PetFish.

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:

Just before E3 we received an email from a new company, Indrema, that is bringing a Linux-based console to the market next winter. With a tentative release date of December 2000, the Indrema L600 should launch with 30 titles, including Quake III: Arena, Unreal Tournament, Heavy Gear II, and Sim City 2000. The system is expected to retail for $299 and features an upgradeable graphics processor by NVidia, and there will be two versions to support both broadband and 56K users right out of the box. In addition, the package will include MP3 player software and a Mozilla-based web browser. The hardware specifications for the system are impressive, and the fact that the graphics processor is upgradeable will at least give the system some real longevity. Upgrades are expected to cost between $50 and $100, and may potentially be produced by companies other than NVidia, giving Indrema good mobility in the ever-changing GPU world.