SOPA, So what? You still get a new episode of the Powetcast today. We’re going to talk Tebow in this episode. No really. Not really.

This episode we talk some TV, including Napoleon Dynamite, Workaholics, Portlandia, Alan Gregory, and Martin Luther King Jr. Crazy brings us toy news with Kinnikuman and the latest Matty collector foul up.

Listen live on this page, or subscribe via RSS or iTunes.
Direct Link:Powetcast 112: In The Air, Tonight.
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Today is John Carpenter’s 64th birthday. To celebrate, here’s a remake of his 1982 hit film “The Thing” done entirely in claymation in the style of Pingu.

As of this post being published the film has been seen by 885,887 people, which may be more people than watched the 2011 remake…

Check out more videos like this at leehardcastle.com, which also has these storyboards of Pingu’s The Thing.

Also check out John Carpenter’s The Thing in Stop Motion with GI Joes from a few years ago.

Tonight Fox premiered the first two episodes of the new Napoleon Dynamite TV series. Is this a new hit for Fox’s Animation Domination block or will it go the way of Allen Gregory?

I’m a huge fan of the Napoleon Dynamite movie, so I was both worried and excited at the prospect of a show. Despite the excitement of an animated version of a favourite movie of mine, there’s always the concern that this would turn out to be a piece of garbage that’s an insult to the film, like other animated series based on great movies such as Spaceballs and Strange Brew.

It’s still a bit early to make any final judgements, but I found the show to be pretty funny. Though not as consistently funny as the film, each episode included some pretty solid jokes which made me laugh, which really is all you can ask for from a comedy. The show was reminiscent of the movie, and although some dialogue seemed unnaturally repetitive from what we’ve heard, the general tone seemed pretty consistent, while adding a certain level of cartoon silliness as we can only expect from such a show.

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Welcome, Poweteers, to a brand new original column where we explore the top (and bottom) 5 items we think are relevant to any of a variety of topics that span the imagination. Sit back, read, and respond!

David Beckham is being substituted for Wayne Rooney. What this has to do with video games, I have no idea.

Sometimes in video games, the best way to experience a story is through the eyes of someone else. It’s even better when it’s unexpected. This top five celebrates 5 of the best surprise substitutions in video game history. It goes without saying that there are major spoilers ahead. To qualify, the substitution must not be hinted at early on (a’la Big Boss in metal Gear Solid 3), and must be part of the game’s canon storyline. So games where you choose between two people from the start (Resident Evil 1) don’t count, neither do secret characters (such as Richter and Maria in Castlevania: Potrait of Ruin).
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Indie games usually come in two varieties: games that introduce an awesome new concept (Flow, Frozen Synapse, Amnesia: The Dark Decent), and games that remain fun while refusing to reinvent the wheel (Super Meat Boy, The Binding of Issac, Everyday Shooter). Demolition Inc falls into the latter category. You play as an alien demolition worker out to destroy Earth’s cities to make the world into a recreation center. You’ll use zany weapons such as oil clouds, wheel glue, and even exploding cows to cause mass destruction and chaos. The game’s physics engine has buildings tumbling down realistically, making things satisfying and allowing you to set up chain explosions. The game’s major weakness is it’s lack of levels. A sandbox mode helps extend the game’s life somewhat, but what this game really could use is a map creator for custom levels. However, the game is cheap, so you can pick it up off Steam. It may be light on plot, but the humor makes up for it.

The Star Wars Expanded Universe is really lame … except of course when it involves the greatest species in the Star Wars universe, the Ewoks! This June Dark Horse will be releasing a trade paperback collecting all the issues of the Droids and Ewoks comics.

Originally published from 1985 to 1987 the Droids and Ewoks comics, released by Marvel’s Star Comics, were based on the animated series of the same names. Droids is an 8 issue story following R2-D2 and C-3PO, the gay robots of Star Wars, in their adventures that predate the original film. Ewoks is a 14 issue story featuring the Ewoks as seen in Return of the Jedi, having great adventures on the Forest Moon of Endor. Retailing at $25, this 528 page book is quite a bargain.

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Does allowing gamers to create their own worlds within a game make that game better, or does it just excuse the developers from having to create any content themselves? Vinnk and Sean discuss their first experiences with user-generated content (on the NES!), the wonders of the Famicom Data Recorder, and which games they thought were helped or hampered by being able to draw dongs on the sides of racecars.

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In this day and age of achievements and online leaderboards, the cheat code is a dying aspect of console gaming. However, back in the day, secret codes were king. Whether it was a debug mode for Sonic, a stage select for Vice: Project Doom, or a sound test in Ninja Gaiden, discovering a cheat code was like opening a Christmas gift. However, there was one code that more than any other, would be remembered by everyone.