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

Everyone knows that what Capcom and SNK are to fighting, EA is to sports, and Epic is to shooters, Squaresoft, now called Square-Enix (you know, since merging with Enix), is to RPGs. Or at least they used to be at a time. While their most recognizable title is Final Fantasy, they have created other classic RPG franchises. This article celebrates 5 of them. By the way, this list is specifically focused on Squaresoft and not Square-Enix, just in case you’re wondering why Dragon Quest or Illusion of Gaia isn’t on here.

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Yes, I know I’m asking for heat by covering what is perhaps the least loved Final Fantasy title since 7. However, despite it’s linearity, the game’s story is every bit as epic as the previous entries in the series. Final Fantasy XIII takes place within a place known as Coccon, a sky city which floats above a larger world known as pulse. The mysterious gods who keep Cocoon afloat have the ability to mark various humans, making them into thier servants. These servants, called L’Cie are given a task to complete. If they do, they turn into crystals. If they don’t, they become mindless monsters. A cruel government purges citizens who are suspected to be L’Cie, supposedly sending them to the Pulse. In actuality, they are being killed off in mass exterminations. The main character in this story is a woman named Lightning, whose sister was one of the L’Cie. In true Final Fantasy fashion, you run into other people, each with their own stories and complex relationships.
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If you’re a regularly Poweteer and have perused our forum in the past few months, you might know that a few of the Powet staff will be attending this coming year’s MAGfest X – a convention for gamers and lovers of gaming music.

Well, we just got one more awesome reason to attend the festival this year. Father of the Final Fantasy music genre, Nobou Uematsu will be the featured guest at MAGfest this year, along with his newest band, Earthbound Papas. (since The Black Mages disbanded some time ago)

Uematsu joins a very wide variety of guests to appear at this year’s MAGfest, along with the likes of AVGN, ScrewAttack, Extra Credits and a slew of other guests and bands. (sorry, no Minibosses this year) So if you’ve got a little time in early January and are in the Baltimore area, check this out and look us up!

Supreme Commander 2 is the sequel to Supreme Commander, which is the spiritual successor to Gas Powered Games’ creator Chris Taylor’s classic Total Annihilation. Square-Enix partnered with the developers in order to publish it, making it one of the company’s first forays into real-time-strategy. Like its predecessor, and its predecessor before it, Supreme Commander 2 focuses on RTS action with large amounts of units. And when I say large, I don’t mean swarming your opponent with 20 or 30 infantry. No sir, I mean hitting people up with hundreds of units, land, air, sea, and infantry in an coordinated assault on the enemy. You take control of one of three factions, the UED, Illuminate, or the Cybran. Each faction has its own unique units and characteristics, and the single player campaign will put you in control of all three of them. Various patches have address many of the game’s shortcomings, and new maps and units have been added via downloadable content. Although many critics argue that it’s system isn’t as complex as the original, its deep RTS gameplay will still keep you enthralled for sure.

Looks like Square-Enix and Gamestop have a hard time communicating with each other.

Square-Enix, the developer for Deus Ex: Human Revolution, had originally offered a third-party coupon in the boxed PC edition of the game for the On Live cloud-computing gam streaminge service. However, they neglected to inform major game retailer Gamestop of the coupon’s inclusion, spurring Gamestop to remove the coupon for customer redemption completely.

From Gaintbomb’s original coverage:

GameStop dominated the conversation today, based on reports the retailer was opening copies of Deus Ex: Human Revolution on PC, removing the coupon for a copy of the game through OnLive, sealing the games back up and selling them as “new.”

Gamestop reported that they removed the coupon, as they have been developing their own streaming game service and they did not want to promote the competition. As of the backlash Gamestop received for the action of removing the coupon, Gamestop has since pulled all copies of Deus Ex for the PC and stored them for recall. Square-Enix has publicly apologized to Gamestop for the lack of prior knowledge of the coupons.

No coupons for you.

Moon Diver isn’t just a throwback to the days of old, it’s basically a time machine that takes you back to the good old days of video gaming. You (and up to three of your pals) take control of a super badass ninja and slash the shit out of everything in your way. The plot is your typical ‘save the world’ storyline you see often, but you’ll be too busy enjoying yourself to care. Just like all those old school titles, it’s HARD. Not like Ninja Gaiden or Castlevania thankfully, but it will give you a challenge. If you like classic side scrollers, please check this out. It’s even more fun if you bring along some buddies. There is even some downloadable content available for it as well. Oh yeah, if this looks a little bit like Strider, that’s because its director was Koichi Yotsui, who helmed the legendary Capcom classic.

Can a movie based on a video game ever be any good? If their Rotten Tomatoes scores are to be believed, these films are never critical darlings. Some find fans in niche places, but many are just… you know… BAD. Vinnk and SeanOrange plumb their memories of video game movies to find out if either of them belong to the “so-SO-bad-but-I-still-love-it-even-though-geez-it-sucks” club!

Direct Link: Famicom Dojo Podcast 07: Video Game Movies

Check out the show notes to see the trailers for these films, JewWario’s Mario Monologues, and more thoughts at FamicomDojo.TV:
http://famicomdojo.tv/podcast/7

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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.

The Kingdom Hearts franchise is a series of video games which varies in quality from amazing to barely playable. Let’s look at the series at it’s best and worst.

The concept was a weird one that didn’t seem to mesh at all. Take some Disney characters, throw them in with a bunch of Final Fantasy characters, toss in a few Keyblades and see what comes up. The result, it would seem, was something gamers really took to.

Though the game was Japanese first, it included a ton of Disney characters. The concept in the first game on the PlayStation 2 was basically that each new world was based on a new Disney movie which brought it’s characters into the fold as well. Even amongst the Disney characters the range of types of movies varied greatly, but they still managed to coexist in the rich world that was created quite well.

The game’s Hero is accompanied by Donald Duck, Goofy and Jiminy Cricket. Disney themed worlds are based on Alice in Wonderland, Hercules, Tarzan, Winnie the Pooh, Aladdin, Pinnochio, The Little Mermaid, The Nightmare Before Christmas and Peter Pan. Beyond these worlds other characters from other Disney properties make appearances. We see Mickey, Minnie, the Brooms from Fantasia, Merlin, 101 Dalmatians, the Fairy Godmother and Cinderella, Aurora and Maleficent, Snow White, Belle and the Beast, Simba, Dumbo, Bambi, Mushu, Chip and Dale and Huey, Dewey and Louis.

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