Welcome to the Powet Top 5, 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

Aiight, gather around folks, we need to talk.

Lets be clear now. Video Games aren’t dead or dying. They aren’t on life support or in the intensive care unit either. They aren’t even out with a broken arm, pulled hamstring, or 3-day flu. Nope, video games are just fine. Yeah I know how everyone loves the classics, but now is a good time to be involved with this hobby. We got high quality games like Mass Effect, Assassin’s Creed, and Deus EX being released on a regular basis, a thriving independent scene, and developers stretching the limits of what’s possible in video games. With that said, there are at least 5 big issues that video gaming could use less of. Some of these are on the part of publishers, others on the part of developers, and still others are even on the gaming community itself. Many of you will agree, many of you will not.
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Powet.tv is no stranger to the endless war between fans of Star Wars and Star Trek, as you can see from our podcast dedicated to the topic. Recently the Internet lit up as superstars William Shatner and Carrie Fisher engaged in an epic and kind of silly flame war. It looks like the war may be over, as George Takei, Star Trek’s Sulu, reminds us of a greater threat we should all oppose…

Learn more about George Takei at his official web site.

It’s Flame War Central as the eternal question of Star Trek vs. Star Wars heats up with celebrities representing both franchises lashing out with Internet videos attacking each other! It’s no coincidence that this happens so soon after the Powetcast episode 109: Star Wars vs. Star Trek dropped, as I got inspiration to do this show after watching William Shatner’s original video “Star Trek v Star Wars” a while back.

In the original video, William Shatner, who played Captain James T. Kirk in the original Star Trek series, calls out Star Wars as being derivative and argues there isn’t really any comparison. This prompted Carrie Fisher, who played Princess Leia in the good Star Wars movies, to respond with her own video “Star Wars is SOOO Much Better than Star Trek“, where she argues various silly things to support her franchise being superior such as better merchandising and her hot ass. Finally Shatner has come back with his latest “Dearest Carrie…” where he retaliates and mocks Star Wars for being nothing but effects.

Keep reading for thoughts and the videos in question.

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Remember that Mortal Kombat Rebirth trailer from last year, featuring Jeri Ryan and Michael Jai White as Sonya and Jax, that made waves in the gaming community? The one that was simply a film reel and not a real teaser for a possible movie? Well, if you’ve been living under a rock in the gaming world, since then the creator of the reel (Kevin Tancharoen) gleaned enough credit with Warner Bros. for them to greenlight a web series based on his re-imagining of the Mortal Kombat series. Since the news broke in January, many new actor have signed onto roles as other characters from the series and bits and pieces of what the series will feature have been hinted at.

On April 12th, Machinima will host a live feed of director Kevin Tanchaoen and several others, including actors of the series, playing the new Mortal Kombat game, and will feature at the end the premier of the first episode of the new web series. The feed will go live from 12pm to 4pm PST with the first episode right at 4pm PST.

Mortal Kombat is an anthology of stories inspired by the early adventures of characters like Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Sonya, Jax, Cyrax, Sektor and many others. The series features noted talents including Jeri Ryan, Michael Jai White, Ian Anthony Dale and more. For more details, check out Mortal Kombat Online’s awesome coverage of the series from the start!

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

Admiral Ackbar plays a vital role in the Rebel Alliance’s attack on the second Death Star in Return of the Jedi. But no one cares about that. He’s really only ever remembered as the guy who says “It’s a trap”.

Ackbar is… an Admiral. That’s a pretty big deal. As the Supreme Commander of the Rebel Alliance Fleet he’s the guy who leads the whole attack at the Battle of Endor.

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If you go to Google.com today, you’ll be met with a Google Doodle that celebrates the 30th Anniversary of Pac-Man, a classic game very near and dear to all our hearts. Thats not the kicker though. The kicker is that it is PLAYABLE. Hit the ‘Insert Coin’ button to play. Hit the button a second time for CO-OP! Single player uses the arrow keys. Multi-player adds the WASD keys. Enjoy!

In relation to my most recent Keep Playing: Rewind vid, and in case the rest of you weren’t aware, May is “Zombie Awareness Month”. To represent, gray ribbons are to be worn to “signify the undead shadows that lurk behind our modern light of day“.

Learn more about Zombie Awareness Month at the Zombie Research Society. And always keep your eyes open and shotgun handy.

Yesterday marked the end of an era in free website hosting. Geocities, hosted by Yahoo, officially closed its doors to its hostees after 15 years in business – 10 of which were under Yahoo’s rule.

We have enjoyed hosting web sites created by Yahoo! users all over the world, and we’re proud of the community you’ve built.

However, we have decided to focus on helping our customers explore and build relationships online in other ways. Beginning on October 26, 2009, you can no longer use GeoCities to maintain a free presence online —

It appears users of GeocitiesPlus accounts still are allowed to have their websites up, but can no long access their files, and can supposedly upgrade to Yahoo Web Hosting for free for 5 years. Yahoo now encourages all its former users to switch to its Web Hosting to enjoy its services, for a fee of course.

Of course, who on the internet hadn’t built a crappy little website using Geocities at some point in the past? Nicknamed “Geoshitties” for its small storage capacity and bombardment of ad placement (particularly after Yahoo took over), the free-site provider non-the-less was a intricate part of the internet in the later 1990’s, along with fellow free-provider Angelfire. Truly, the internet has lost one of its key figureheads.