I kicked off a new column for Digital Trends last weekend, and we’re calling it “The Everything Guide.” Each week, I take one of the big releases or headlines from the tech/entertainment world, and offer up a long list of online video, stories, links, and other items to get readers caught up with the topic or otherwise provide some fun info related to the column’s theme.

Here’s an excerpt from the first column, which focuses on Grand Theft Auto V:

The first trailer for Grand Theft Auto V debuted last week, causing no shortage of discussion, debate, and speculation regarding the next installment of Rockstar Games’ record-breaking franchise. Even after we got our first look at the game’s teaser, questions still surround the project – chief among them being “When will we get our hands on it?”

While we don’t have any answers for you on that, we do have lots of ways for you to prepare for the game’s arrival, get into a Grand Theft Auto state of mind – all perfectly legal, we assure you – and get up to speed with the franchise that has left an indelible mark on both the gaming industry and pop culture as we know it.

What to watch

When it comes to the tone of the Grand Theft Auto games, there’s no better film to watch than Brian DePalma’s 1983 classic Scarface. Starring a young Al Pacino as Cuban immigrant Tony Montana, the film follows his rise to power in the early ’80s Miami underworld – a journey that will feel awfully familiar to fans of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

Along the same lines, watching some old episodes of Miami Vice will certainly echo the Vice City vibe, and offer a great reminder of how surreal the ’80s were in games, music, and television.

You can read the rest of the column over at Digital Trends…