When one thinks of a system’s killer app (a game that provides a memorable gaming experience while showing off the system’s abilities), it’s not uncommon to think of shooters such as Gears of War and Halo on Xbox 360 or Resistance and Killzone on the Playstation 3. Final Fantasy 7 and 8 could be considered killer apps for the Playstation 1 as they made a significant impact on gaming and helped Sony move an insane amount of units. On the Nintendo 64, it was Mario 64, as it’s 3-d analog gameplay made a similar impact on gaming, However when one thinks of a killer app for the PSP (or for any other system for that matter), the last thing anyone would consider is a puzzle game. However, when the original Lumines hit the PSP back in 2005, its integration of music, video, and puzzle gameplay became an instant hit amongst gamers, almost making it this generation’s answer to Tetris. When this sequel was released, the gameplay proves to be just as addictive as it was the first time, and it had several new features to boot.
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The Advance Wars series was one of the best kept secrets of the Game Boy Advance. Its easy to learn yet hard to master gameplay made both GBA iterations hits among players, and the series’s first DS entry, Dual Strike, wasn’t bad either. However, did anyone else beside me feel that the game’s atmosphere was a bit too cheery and colorful for a game about war? I mean say what you will about Army of Two’s fist pounding, but for crying out loud, we’ve had people high-fiving, bragging with Internet slang, and cheering each other on as if they just won the super bowl rather than participated in something that results in the deaths of thousands. Thankfully the crew at Intelligent Systems shares my sentiment, and has completely changed the face of the Advance Wars series. While the game has been retooled from top to bottom, the turn-based strategy action has thankfully been left intact. While it may turn off some audiences, both longtime series fans and new players alike will eat this game up.
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Resident Evil 5 is in stores now. Of course, what new sequel would be complete with a look at one of its predecessors, if for no other reason than to see how far the series has come? When it was released, Resident Evil 4 had forever altered everything that we knew about the series in the same manner that RE 5 is doing now. Gone were the tank like controls and slow pacing, and in their place are fast intense action sequences with an almost arcade-style feel. While I have featured RE4 as a previous $20GOTW, this Wii edition deserves a special mention in its own right, as it pretty much can be considered as the definitive version of Resident Evil 4 thanks to all the content it contains. Don’t worry folks, this will be the last Capcom related $20GOTW/Maximum Letdown/Lost Classics I’ll do for a little while, I promise.
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In ancient Rome, the Gladiators were basically what pro wrestlers and basketball players are today. People would shell out money to see them, and a big name or skilled combatant could draw insane crowds. Many video games have incorporated the high risk and brutal action of the ancient sport in some way, be it Oblivion’s arena storyline or the forgettable Xbox game Circus Maximus. However, Lucasarts’s Gladius really brings the ‘sport’ home. It’s turn based RPG strategy with a twist, and it’s one of Lucasarts’s best games not named Star Wars. Come to think of it, it’s one of their best games period.
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This past week was my birthday. To celebrate, I have a double dose of my usual columns this week. This first part is an appendix to last week’s Street Fighter special, featuring 3 Capcom fighting games while the second part, due later this week, will deal with some RPGs. Once again, it’s my [belated] birthday, yet you get the gift. Click onward!
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Welcome back to part 2 of our Street Fighter special. In the last part, we looked over some of the franchise’s more infamous parts. In this one, we look at Street Fighter EX, which was a highly controversial entry in the series, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, and as an added bonus, we’ll take a look at a little known Dreamcast/Arcade title featuring characters from the franchise.
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This week sees the release of the highly anticipated Street Fighter 4. To celebrate, Powet presents a special 2-part $20 Game of the Week/Lost Classics/Maximum Letdown Special on some of the highs and the lows of the franchise. This is part one, in which we will feature the original Street Fighter (as an example of why you can’t go home again) and the two games based on a certain movie starring Jean Claude Van Damme which just so happens to have a name and cast of characters similar to Street Fighter. This weekend we’ll take a look at Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix along with one of the more under appreciated bright spots of the franchise.
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2001 was an interesting year for pro wrestling to say the least. The once mighty WCW, who in its prime had dominated the WWF in TV ratings for over 80 weeks had clearly seen better days. Thanks in no small part to backstage politics, fallout from the AOL-Time Warner merger, god-awful angles, and even worse booking, the company that had been home to superstars such as Diamond Dallas Page, Lex Luger, Bill Goldberg, and Sting was on its last legs. With fans deserting the promotion on a weekly basis, the company losing millions of dollars a year, potential investors pulling out, and advertisers pulling ad space, WCW was clearly running on borrowed time. Meanwhile in Philadelphia, Paul Heyman’s ECW was undergoing a similar financial crisis. Since its inception in the early 90s, ECW’s bloody matches, homegrown superstars, and controversial storylines have gained the promotion a cult following, and was credited with supplying the blueprint for what made the WWF popular during its Attitude era. Even so, the fact remained that Heyman just didn’t have the money nor the muscle to compete with McMahon or Bischoff. The loss of their TV deal and the constant talent raids by WCW and the WWF did little to help matters. With worker’s paychecks bouncing on a regular basis, and wrestlers departing for the big time, ECW too would be shortly be becoming just a memory….

…until Vinnie Mac saved both brand names by buying out both companies for next to nothing and retaining some of their better workers. After that, Vince screwed up the whole thing by eschewing the dream matches fans wanted to see and instead presenting some of the worst inter-promotional booking ever seen, but that’s another story. Vinnie Mac had finally done what he had set out to do: monopolize mainstream North American pro-wrestling by either absorbing or eliminating his competitors. No one believed that anyone would ever step up to take on McMahon at his own game ever again. No one that is, expect for Jerry Jarret and his son Jeff Jarret.

Now Jeff was not new to the wrestling business. In fact he was a longtime performer for the WWF after gaining popularity as a local star. He was also part of WCW during its final days, where he even had a run as the world champion (before losing it to David Arquette. Yes, that David Arquette.). Instead of rejoining the WWE after the WCW buyout, the Jarretts began work on an all new promotion. Though it would begin life as an offshoot of the NWA, Jeff’s goal was to introduce an all new style of wrestling, one based around total nonstop action. Thus, TNA wrestling was born (not exactly my first choice for to name my newly created wrestling promotion, but I digress). The promotion would feature a six-sided ring, a revamped cruiserweight division (known as the X-Division), a more respectable women’s division, and a mix of new superstars and veterans. The promotion started out small, but then grew bigger, and gained a TV deal with Spike TV, as well as a video game deal with Midway, which brings up to this week’s $20 GOTW.
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