This week marks the first of our weekly news, reviews, and previews podcasts. With the assistance of our good pal, Val Townsend, we\'re blazing a whole new trail for the old GF! Celebrate the boon of indy media with us by downloading or streaming the podcast.

This week\'s topics include:

• Microsoft announces Xbox price and release date
  
• Nintendo announces Game Boy Micro price and release details
  
• Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is delayed
  
• Dungeon Siege II Review
  
• Dragonball Z Sagas Review
  
• Conker Live & Reloaded
  
• The Battle for Orion\'s Belt Beta signups

Because this is the first week of the \'cast, we\'re going to rundown some basics about Podcasts to help you get the most out of our hard work.

What is a Podcast?
First of all, let\'s be clear: You don\'t have to own an iPod, use iTunes, or have anything at all to do with the \"iLife\" (although these devices and software have made some enhancements to accomodate podcast listening more easily). A podcast is really just a way of distributing audio files using RSS newsfeeds. You\'ve probably heard something already about RSS feeds and \'news readers\' or \'aggregators\'. We like to keep track of our newsfeeds using either our email client, Thunderbird (available free at http://www.mozilla.org), or a web-based feed reading service such as Bloglines ( http://www.bloglines.com ) or even My Yahoo! ( http://my.yahoo.com ).

Of course, the feed readers we\'ve listed above are mainly for reading written articles. (Try plugging the GF! RSS Feed into one of them.) For podcasts there are more elegant ways to download and listen to your music. And that brings us to our next bolded header.

So how do I get these podcasts?
We like to use iPodder (also free at http://www.ipodder.org ). iPodder is a handy little program, works on all platforms, and can be configured to do all kinds of neat things. Consult the vast helping hands of the Internet via Google search for all the info you could ever want about using iPodder, but it\'s easy enough to figure out. The program comes pre-stocked with some podcast feed addresses. Simply copy and paste the URL for the GF! Podcast into the address box, click on Add, and you\'re in the business. For your convenience, here\'s the address of the GF! Podcast Feed:

http://www.gamesfirst.com/gfPodcast.php

Isn\'t there something easier?
Got iTunes? Just do a search for the GF! Podcast in your iTunes player and you should find it just fine. Sync that puppy to your portable music device, and you\'re in business.

Don\'t got iTunes? Just download the MP3s onto your portable music device. Or try iPodder again. Or one of the other RSS readers and podcasting-specific programs that will conveniently gather audio files and sync them to your preferred unit.

Hmm... This is kind of a skimpy walkthrough...
We know. We suck. But there are loads of other folks out there talking about this podcasting thing. A great place to start is the Wikipedia page on podcasting, and then work your way around to some of the major podcasting hubs like http://www.Podcast.net , http://www.ipodder.org , or http://www.podcastalley.com .

Good luck, and feel free to direct any questions, comments, rants or raves to mailbag[AT]gamesfirst.com




The GamesFirst! Podcast is written by the GF! Staff Writers and Contributors. Val Townsend handles all production and audio engineering. The GamesFirst! Podcast is always free for download and sharing.