Music clips during transformations are instrumentals from Tony Bacala. You can listen to some more of his stuff here. (Warning, its a MySpace page with autoplay.)

A day late and a couple dollars short; the Powetcast cometh! After many technical difficulties the first episode of April is go! Come listen to us talk Nintendo DSi, I Love You Man, Wrestlemania, and much more! Exclamation point!

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Show notes after the jump!
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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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Kotaku is breaking news that the Mortal Kombat team, that has been delivering games in the franchise for 17 years is looking to split with the publisher. Apparently they’ve been denied the bonus for delivering MK vs DC and meeting sales goals due to the publisher going into bankruptcy protection. Top on that they’re one of the few teams that can deliver a game on time while other projects spiral out of control, and they’ve got a right to be frustrated.

Here’s why this might be the best news this week: They’ll be leaving Mortal Kombat 9 behind. Giving up what work they’ve done will hard, but think about what they can do now.

The MK team will be free to go outside of the universe they built and make a game that doesn’t have to have Scorpion and Subzero. 17 years is a long time to do anything, and if you don’t think mixing it up once in a while and doing something else isn’t a good idea, just ask George Lucas.

Meanwhile, if Midway keeps MK (or sells it), a brand new team will be able to re-invent the franchise. The name is still gold in the industry, selling a million copies to dedicated fans at least with each outing. A new team would have the chance to take a chance and mix up the formula and perhaps take the franchise in a new direction, since the story and game play have been kind of running on fumes for the last 6 years.

My favorite MK game of the last decade had to be Shaolin Monks. Aside from providing a new take on the events of MK2, it showed how much more can be done with the characters and universe of Mortal Kombat. It also showed that the MK team could make a brawler as good as any God Of War in my opinion. 50 talented developers would HAVE to be able to keep making great games in a new house, right? And Mortal Kombat can survive a new style of play, maybe a new art style or control scheme would bring it back to the glory days.

Mortal Kombat needs this. Its too big of a franchise to sink under a failing publisher with a crossover. And the team needs this, they’ve been dilligently making games that sell well while Midway falls. Its whats best for everyone I think.

In what has to be the fastest overall series of polls from the annual FANtastic Exclusive event brought to us by the Four Horsemen, the final round is upon us! After the first round of elimination featuring 27 different character designs, each round has gotten successively shorter. The final three rounds have been about a week each so far, with this final round possibly lasting a little longer due to a tight race! We are now down to two designs with the winner getting its own toy and series of variants available exclusively to partnered retailers.

The final four bracket consisted of Vampire Lady vs. The Ministry of Hunters and Wolfbat vs. The Raven. While the Ministry won out against the Vampire Lady, it has been said the margin was as tight as 5 votes!
The Four Horsemen’s last announcement on the FanEx forums stated just days after the final poll began:

“We’re now over 500 votes, and the gap is only 43 votes. Every vote counts. -FH-“

Make sure you make your voice heard on what design you’d like to see win!

Go here to vote and check out the active thread discussion on our very own Powet Forums, here.

Developed by Spanish developer Gaelco (not to be confused with Jaleco), Big Karnak is an arcade game reminiscent of early Capcom hack and slashers such as Trojan and Ghouls & Ghosts, but it takes place in an Egyptian setting. You play as an Egyptian warrior whose lady love has been kidnapped by the god Osiris. You (and a friend if playing co-op) set out to rescue her throughout 4 stages. In each level, you gain a new weapon. This game didn’t have much to separate it from other platformers of the day, but the action took place on 2 planes of movement which you can switch between at certain times to avoid certain hazards. There are bosses which require some strategy to defeat. There isn’t a whole lot to this game, and although it pales in comparison to later games of its type, Big Karnak is a solid early 90s coin-op title. It could have taken off even further if the game received an SNES or Genesis home port with extra features, characters, or extra stages. The host company is still around, but I doubt you’ll be seeing this title pop up again anywhere soon , so if you happen across this cabinet, pop in a few quarters. It’ll be well worth it.

So Nintendo Power has a big front-page splash for a new Silent Hill game that’s coming out for the Wii. GoNintendo elaborates;

“This is a reimagining of the first Silent Hill,” explains producer Tomm Hulett. “It’s not a remake or a port. That’s an important distinction. It really feels like a new game.”

Apparently the story is the same, concerning Harry Mason as the main protagonist and him searching for his daughter Cheryl after she gets lost in the surreal town of Silent Hill. However, certain things have changed. On top of challenging puzzles, you now can find ways to access every room presented to you, rather than some rooms being locked in one phase of Silent Hill and others being unlocked in another phase. No load times have been announced, the Wii control stick and remote are used for separate actions, such as walking and using the flashlight respectively. We’re also told there will be no combat in this new game, and that you can only run from your enemies.

Ok, no load times and more in-depth controls seem like a good deal to me. The issue concerning the locked doors is nice, but takes away a bit of what made the other Silent Hill games different, even if in a frustrating way. However having no combat whatsoever and only being able to flee? How does that make the game any better? “Survival” isn’t just about running away from the threat; it’s about keeping yourself safe from harm. Sometimes you can’t always run and need to defend yourself, even with a crappy knife or wrench you picked up. I hardly see how removing combat makes this game more “survival horror”, but that’s me. I’m sure we’ll hear more about it in the near future.