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

The debut of the Transformers toy line in 1984 featured many different toys that were originally from several different toy lines in Japan (Diaclone, Micro Change). Soundwave, a robot that transformed into a micro-cassette recorder, was among the first figures in the Transformers line. Unlike most of the other Transformers in that first wave, Soundwave had a gimmick that went above and beyond just being able to transform and back. He was able to fit other Transformers that took the form of micro-cassettes in his chest.

This was a really well received gimmick and more Transformer micro-cassette figures would be released over the years that could fit in Soundwave and his Autobot counter-part Blaster. The truly unique aspect of these cassette Transformers was not so much in the fact that they could fit in the chest of another Transformer, but rather the variety and range of things, into which, these cassettes were able to transform all from the very same small form factor.

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Music Used
A Wicked Flame (Act 4)
Shrine Grounds (Act1-1)
Character Select

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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.

Apathy. Greed. Corruption. Power. Hope.
Batman Beyond.
Courage. Honor. Justice.

These are the words that flash by during the opening credits of Batman Beyond. The series takes place in a not too distant future where corporate greed and power have taken over. Bruce Wayne has hung up the cowl, giving up his life as Batman, for reasons only partially explained in the two-part series opener. Further reasons would be hinted at in many episodes, but we wouldn’t really get an idea until the straight-to-DVD movie, Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker was released.
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Earlier this week, I featured one of the more recent Syphon Filter entries. This week’s Lost Classic features an earlier entry in the series, Syphon Filter 3. SF3 was the last game in the series to be featured on the PS1, and it had to be delayed due to the 9/11 terrorist attacks (the original box art featured protagonists Gabe Logan and Lian Xing jumping from an exploding building). Thankfully it didn’t take too long for the game to be released, and players got another explosive chapter in the popular espionage saga.
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This week I’m looking at the new generation of movie games starting with the high quality Wolverine, the creative Ghostbusters, and the action packed Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen.

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Our nation’s birthday was this past Saturday, so in celebration, this week’s $20GOTW and Lost classics will feature games based on Sony’s Syphon Filter, a franchise about keeping the world safe from terrorism. When it debuted on the original Playstation in the late 90s, Syphon Filter gave players its own brand of espionage action. It may not have been Metal Gear Solid, but Syphon Filter was the closest thing players got to playing through an episode of 24. Syphon Filter’s storyline covered 3 PS1 games and a PS2 entry which featured online play. In 2006, Sony bought Syphon Filter to the Playstation Portable, creating one of the best games available on the system.
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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.

Arrested Development was a sitcom on FOX. Wait, don’t go away, its really funny!

The Bluth family was very wealthy. Until father George (Jeffrey Tambor) is arrested for fraud and is sent to prison. The family’s assets are frozen and they’re more or less forced to live like regular people. For a time anyway, the show kinda spirals out of control in strange directions a lot and its hard to explain unless you’d seen all that came before it.

Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman) is the central character of the show. He’s the most responsible and rational member of the family, and thus as the viewer the one you’re most likely to relate to. He’s a single father with a son played by Michael Cera, George Michael Bluth. Michael also has a brother, a professional magician named George Oscar Bluth (nick named Gob, presumabley because theres so many Georges around) and is portrayed by Will Arnett. Then theres Lindsay the sister and her husband Tobias (Portia Di Rossi and David Cross), brother Buster (Tony Hale), and… well the cast is huge, but they all get their time. If you’d prefer a less verbose introduction, watch this clip.

Yes that is the voice of Ron Howard, icon of the sitcom, narrating the series. Howard’s influence no doubt kept the show on the air for 3 seasons, and also inspired some its most notable guest stars, such as Liza Minelli, Henry Winkler, and Charlize Theron.

The Bluth family dealt with their father’s imprisonment and keeping the company in business all while living in the model home for a barren real estate project. While GOB would frequently be seen in a Segway scooter, Micheal’s primary form of transportation was the “Stair Car” which was used for deboarding the company plane.

Various family members take control of the company, and run-ins with the law are frequent. Its a kind of hard show to describe if you don’t start at the beginning. In a way, its like some anime series where if you jump in around episode 300, you have no idea whats going on. Except Arrested Development gets that complex around episode 4 or 5.

Its a rare comedy series that strayed far from the episodic nature of most series. Very few (if any) single episodes functioned as a standalone work, since the layered and constantly developing characters built on jokes from show to show. A joke about “Club sauce” in season 1 is repeated in season 3. More often, a joke would be called forward, making subsequent viewings of an episode funnier now that the truth about a character or event is revealed, such as Charlize Theron’s character Rita and her true identity.

Fox pulled the plug midway through the third season and the final 4 episodes were run on a single night. Rumors persisted that a premium cable network such as Showtime or HBO would pick up the show, and even now theres a lot of talk about a movie. But even if none of this ever comes to pass, Arrested Development stand as one of the most ground breaking comedy series since Monty Python. Consistently funny, very rewatchable, and one of the greatest casts ever assembled. All episodes are available on DVD.

Go ahead and buy ’em. Its far from the lamest thing ever put on tape.

or watch the entire series for free (in the US anyway) on Hulu.

2000 was a good year for Squaresoft and its fans. Square released a parade of hits that year, from Vagrant Story to Chrono Cross, and this game was among them. The Front Mission series is a turn based strategy RPG featuring mechs, which has its roots on the Super Nintendo. However, this is the first time that the series has hit U.S. shores. Front Mission 3 contains 2 different storylines, chess-like gameplay, and deep mech customization. Fans of games such as Final Fantasy tactics and Advance wars will love this game’s strategy action, and robot lovers will get a kick out of the many ways they can outfit their mechs.
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