Check Out Shownotes Behind the Cut!
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Since the alphabet is the building block of our language, the Powet Alphabet is the building block of what makes us geeks.

I know many followers of the site were expecting me to do Transformers for T. I think one of the great things about this article series, though, is the randomness and variety of topics we span from week to week. I like to see articles that I don’t necessarily expect on familiar and/or unfamiliar topics. I could not think of anything more random and unexpected than just about anything from a Tick story. For that very reason T is for The Tick.

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Maximum Letdown: Battle Arena Toshinden 3 (PS1)
In the early days of the Playstation, Battle Arena Toshinden was all the rage. It provided some excellent 3D fighting action, showcased what the system was capable of, and it provided some eye candy in the form of the lovely Sofia. However, that was then. By 1998, the franchise had fast become a relic of days gone by (and this despite its sequel being published in the arcades by Capcom no less). As franchises such as Virtua Fighter and Tekken were evolving the genre into something greater, Toshinden was consistently failing to offer fighting game fans anything different, and as Tekken was soaring to new heights, Toshinden would slowly fade off into the darkness by the new millennium, and its developers decided to kill it off gracefully with this supposedly last entry (of course there was a Battle Arena Toshinden 4, but it was never released in America, and at that point, no one would care about it anyway).
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Chains, an independently developed puzzle game released on Steam by developer 2dEngine, is a perfect example of how a seemingly simple concept can become addictive and engaging if done right. The best way to describe Chains would be Columnus with a little physics attached to it. As in most puzzle games, you make matches of three or more to make them disappear. You do so by using your mouse to connect them. It’s the game’s levels that provide the real challenge. In one level, you may have to make a certain point total while another forces you to make a certain amount of chains before a hatch opens. As you beat one level, the next will unlock. Unfortunately, there is no ‘free mode’ where you can just play until you lose. You’re merely stuck playing through the levels. Even with this oversight, Chains sets itself apart from other games of it’s type, and on top of that, the game is only $5 on Steam. While it may not be the next Tetris or Lumines, it’s certainly offers something compelling and different for a good value. This would make an excellent downloadable DSi game (Hint Hint).

Since the alphabet is the building block of our language, the Powet Alphabet is the building block of what makes us geeks.

Sailor Moon is not a building block of what makes me a geek. It’s the whole building, and whatever else makes me a geek is maybe a broom closet in that building. I first caught Sailor Moon on TV at age 17 back in 1995 when it was dubbed and playing about a billion times a week up here in Canada. This began my love affair with anime. People would tell me that Sailor Moon was a great gateway anime, and that when they would watch other stuff they would realize that it was only the beginning. Well that never happened for me. I’ve watched a lot of anime in my life, but I’ve just never seen anything that measured up to Sailor Moon. To me it is, without question, the greatest story ever told. So bear with me as I talk about that one element of geek culture that I truly have an unparalleled passion for.

I’ll be giving a full franchise overview for those not intimately familiar with Sailor Moon, but I’ll also try to thrown in some rare content that some hardcore fans will hopefully not have seen before.

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Remember Where’s Waldo? That was a series of books that were centered around finding some goober hiding in a crowd of people. Eventually Where’s Waldo faded into one of those “dear god we were lame back then” gimmicks, but not before there ended up being a TV series (which thankfully didn’t last long). Of course since publishers are all too often willing to spend money for the rights to any intellectual property they can afford regardless of how well it would translate into a good video game (particularly back then), there was also a NES game based on the franchise. Like the books of the same name, Where’s Waldo had you looking at still pictures to find out where he is hiding. There are only 5 levels (and by that I mean still images) and 4 levels of difficulty including practice. On medium and hard you have to scroll to the side to see the rest of the screen, but that’s pretty much as complex as it gets. The graphics are horrible (as the NES really wasn’t big on the type of detail required for this game) making it hard to see Waldo, and the only plus is that Waldo is in a different location each time you play. Shockingly this game was developed by Bethsheda Softworks. Yes, the same Bethsheda Softworks that would go on to create two of the biggest modern single player RPGS ever: Oblivion and Fallout 3. Of course obviously you couldn’t possibly be able to tell that from playing this game. Oh yeah, there was a slightly improved version for the SNES and Genesis, but all that did was upgrade the graphics a bit.

As I played this week’s $20 GOTW entry, three questions immediately popped into my head. How were the people who made Okami make the transition from something so beautiful and artistic to well….this? How did Sega get the green light from Nintendo for this to be released on the Wii of all systems? Most of all, WHY IS NO ONE BUYING THIS GAME? The Wii’s hardcore gamer audience would love this game, as it contains the perfect combination of extreme violence and “what the hell is this” brand of zaniness that made No More Heroes and Killer 7 cult classics. It’s Japanese producers designed this game with a western audience in mind. In fact, as of this writing it’s unsure of weather of not this game will even be released in Japan!
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Since the alphabet is the building block of our language, the Powet Alphabet is the building block of what makes us geeks.

Anyone who grew up in the ’90s should remember ReBoot on ABC. As a budding computer geek, I was fascinated by this show — not only because of its endless barrage of computer in-jokes and references, but because it was the first 3D-animated cartoon ever. This barely compares to what a teenager can do these days with off-the-shelf software, but in 1994 it was the most amazing thing I’d ever seen.

Most people don’t even know that the show survived its cancellation to have an amazing third season, and somewhat middling TV movies. What? You’re one of them? Then read more after the jump! (Or watch the video above!)

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