ZOOtech is the manufacturer of DVD-Extra Studio. DVD- Extra Studio allows DVD authors to create seriously interactive DVD content, which makes possible games such as the wildly popular UK DVD version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Our man, Chris, finds out why ZOOtech was honored this year with the "Innovation Award" and the "Overall Winner" of the Sheffield Business Awards, and what this technology means for gamers (at least the bits that aren't still secret).

There's nothing to give you that feeling of being one of the gang,? here at GamesFirst than being able to pull out obscure videogame trivia during conversations. While some might consider jokes about Pong, Zelda, and the need for Princess Peach to take self-defense lessons as an indication that we're nerds, around here we consider it the height of sophistication. How do we keep on top of the game? Well, we read, we subscribe to our own newsletter, and we keep an eye open for the occasional quality DVD documentary like Video Game Invasion. It's an inside look with the right sources and the right heart. Make sure you read our review.

Years after amazing worldwide moviegoers, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon is adapted for the interactive environment. So I know what you're thinking; it's another huge movie that is now also a videogame and we all know that means it's going to suck. But wait! This is a foreign language film not a Hollywood blockbuster, and the movie had cool kung-fu videogames can make cool kung-fu too! And they can't possibly have rushed it to time the release with the movie, the DVD release, or even the two year anniversary. Maybe there is hope after all... nope. Never mind. It sucks. Click here to find out why it disappoints so profoundly.

NextGen Videos brings us yet another installment of their Future of Videogames series. The Future of Videogames 2k4 is a stellar improvement over last year\'s edition, featuring 4 DVDs packed full of awesome game coverage, interviews, walkthroughs and more. If you want to see everything coming out for the next year or so, be sure to pick up this bad boy.

Digital Leisure continues to resurrect long gone laser disc titles for us to play on our DVD player or DVD ready PS2 and Xbox. Crime Patrol 2: Drug Wars is a campy on-rails shooter that takes you back to some Miami Vice, Reagan-era drug policy. It\'s worth a laugh at least. Click here.

Altec Lansing brings us a very affordable 5.1 system for PC, DVD, and console gaming. The 5100 Series Speakers are not just incredibly stylish looking, but pump out some high quality sound, and all for under $200. That\'s not bad at all. Get the scoop here.

Australian production company, Next Gen Video, brings us a DVD collection of game footage from E3 2002. If there\'s anything better than seeing screens from these titles, it\'s seeing them in full motion. The Future of Video Games will make you feel like you\'re at the show, and just like E3, it\'s not a perfect package. Click for more.

Bandai will bring us a seriously bizarre RPG specifically geared towards satisfying us videogame otaku. .hack (\"dot hack\") is an action RPG where you play a fictional MMORPG called The World. Featuring original Japanese dialogue and an extra OVA DVD, this is one to keep an eye out for. Click here.

As we move into the next arena of competing systems, 2001's HAL9000 may be a ways down the road, but there is a wide world of electronic-gaming glory in sight. While most have hopefully known the awesome perfection that is Dreamcast, it does behoove both the serious and casual gamer to look at the upcoming choices and see what each new platform has to offer them.
PS2 has already landed and GameCube and X-Box will within a year. PS2 and X-Box should both be in the $300.00 range and GameCube about $200.00. Like most other technical-equipment purchases, it all depends on what you want your new box to do. The PS2 has made a serious leap forward as a true 'Set-Top Box' offering movie-playback and the promise of serous internet capabilities. X-Box will offer these also and Nintendo's new entry will at least offer online browsing. With DVD players dropping in price everyday and nearly half the houses in the country connected to the internet, these are niceties in a console, but maybe not the prime focus.

So, as I was standing in line at 6:00 a.m., waiting for Big K to open and deliver me my PS2 booty, the hot topic amongst the fellow first-come-first-servers was DVD. None of us doubted the PS2 game system would be hot, but for many people DVD playback was what brought them out to brave hypothermia, and risk social rejection for years to come. (Hey, camping out for a PS2 is a hell of a lot cooler than doing the same for a Furby”you can't even give those things away anymore!) I have to admit I was skeptical.

Hey you, yeah you with the pre-ordered PS2 (who probably won't see it for a few more months)! I want you to slowly put down that VHS copy of Planet of the Apes and run, run I say, from the analog realm of home video. You're going to have a DVD player in just a few weeks. With virtually every movie that you could want to own (see the note on George Lucas at the bottom of the page) on DVD, or that is coming to DVD, you might need a little introduction into the fanatical world that is DVD video.

My wife hates it whenever I make a significant electronics purchase; she doesn't mind the money spent as much as the buyer's anxiety I always experience after plunking down a few hundred dollars for something I know will be obsolete within a few months. The DVD player, the stereo, the camcorder are all sources of great anxiety to me whenever I think about them. Should I have waited for them to go down in price? Could I have gotten a better deal if I had looked around a little more? Did I get the right brand? Because of this tendency to second guess myself, I try to avoid making major purchases of things new to the market. I waited a year to see if DVD would really take hold, and it did. I had intended on breaking the waiting restriction with the Playstation 2. I didn't think that there could be a surer bet. At the beginning of the summer I started putting pennies away in anticipation of October 26th. I would be the first one on my block to own it, and it would be glorious. There was no doubt. After all, Newsweek even ran a cover story on it. Sure, there were rumors about an X-Box and a Dolphin, but what were they in the face of Sony?