In 1996, Midway released Mortal Kombat Trilogy, a “special edition” version of Mortal Kombat 3 for Playstation and Nintendo 64 which included all the characters and most of the backgrounds from all of the games up to that point. It was to serve as the final chapter of the current storyline before the series received an overhaul of sorts with MK 4. Since then, the series experienced a fair share of ups and downs, until 2002’s MK Deadly Alliance completely revitalized the series. The franchise continued right along with 2004’s MK Deception, which included a plethora of new gaming modes, including an expanded version of conquest, puzzle kombat, and what was a first for 3-d fighting games, online play. Last fall, Midway re-upped again with Armageddon, which serves as the last game of the current storyline and the last game on current generation systems.
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“Bomb.Repeat.Bomb.”

Ted Leo may well be the best singer/songwriter working today.

A lofty claim, but not one that can’t be backed up quickly. Few who would listen to 2003’s Hearts Of Oak would be able to overlook the dramatic lyrics and hyper energized performance, evident in songs like “Where Have All The Rudeboys Gone?”. The album that followed, Shake The Sheets took Leo into even more charged political songs, releasing the album shortly before the 2004 US Presidential race.

3 years and an election behind, Ted Leo is no closer to satisfied, charging forward with renewed excitement and anger. [Read the rest of this entry…]

Perhaps one of the last great Super Nintendo platformers, Kirby Super Star went above and beyond other games of its kind in terms of content. While most games simply offered huge overworld maps, this game divided its content up into 9 different games, each with their own distinct gameplay features. Although it can be beaten in a weekend, the game is still one of the best in the series. For those of you who don’t know about Kirby, he’s a little pink puff ball who swallows enemies. He can then either take on their powers for himself or spit out the enemy for use as a helper character, who can then be controlled by a second player.
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One of the best kept secrets of the original Sega Saturn was the Panzer Dragoon series. It was a mash up of 3-d polygonial graphics (which were ahead of their time even to this day) and old-school rail shooting action. You took control of a dragon rider, and it was your goal to bring down an evil empire. The story might have been all too typical, but it was window dressing for the intense sky-high combat. There were two more entries in the series before the Saturn was laid to rest, and the fate of the series was up in the air. That is, until 2003, when the series returned on the Xbox with a vengeance.
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Maybe you’ve been listening for the last several weeks to the radio program, and actually sat through the credits. Or perhaps you visit the website for archives, and came across one of the various available YouTube trailers. Or, if you’re like me, you just so happened to be watching watching basic cable when one of their spots came on. If not, you probably had no idea that Chicago Public Radio’s This American Life is making the jump to television, airing the first of six episodes tonight at 10:30 pm ET on Showtime.

The most surprising thing to me? Ira Glass, far from having “a great face for radio”, is somewhat evocative of David Foley (if he had aged much better), maybe with a dash of John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants thrown in there for good measure. It’s gotta be the glasses.

Earlier I said it airs tonight, but — if you have a Digitial TV service with OnDemand — the first episode has actually been available since March 1st. I took at look at it yesterday.

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My review of the new movie based on Frank Miller’s "300" graphic novel.

A new box set was recently released for this movie which is based on the ever popular Final Fantasy VII PlayStation video game and it even includes the rare Final Fantasy VII Advent Rising anime special. Is it worth getting? Check out what Cloud has to say in this review to find out if this set’s right for you.

Buy the DVD set from Amazon

Check out some scans of the box art and exclusive postcards after the jump. [Read the rest of this entry…]

Note: Despite the similarities in gameplay (the charging attacks and command ring menu system among others), this game is not in any way related to Square’s Seiken Densetsu series (speaking of which, I featured the third game on last week’s column), nor is it meant to be any kind of sequel or spin-off to Secret of Mana. However, those who played the game will discover that there are plenty of differences which will make this game stand out on it’s on, even if it isn’t mentioned in the same breath as Final Fantasy or Secret of Mana.
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