E3 was quite the event, and Gamescom is just around the corner. With so many games on the horizon, it's hard not to get excited. I'm here to narrow down my personal top most anticipated upcoming titles. These are games I will spend hours on and ones that I personally hope will be as amazing as they look.

I wanted to give this game an honorable mention. This is a game that is currently in Early Access and looks utterly fantastic, but who knows what will become of it. It could end up being a huge disappointment and I do not want to set my expectations too high. I may be just cynical, but I would rather take precautions with these Early Access titles. It does look pretty sweet, though, as show by the .gif below.

Some of you may roll your eyes at this one. I mean, all these games have already been released, and I can play them at any time on my Xbox or Xbox 360. Why get excited for a collection of old games? Sure, it may be the nostalgia of playing hundreds of hours of Halo and Halo 2 multiplayer, or being in a dorm room with friends spending hours playing Halo: Reach or Halo 4 multiplayer. It may be the fact that I've played each of these games through multiple times and maybe it's the fact that I've read almost every book that has to do with the series, as well. I love Halo. I am very excited for this more than a multitude of games, and this is the reason I plan to get an Xbox One this November.

Smaller studio titles and indie games this year look to be some great contenders for GOTY 2014. Everything from Transistor, Child of Light, Valiant Hearts, and Shovel Knight have been fantastic. I'm a big proponent of indie games and one that I am looking forward to more than any other is a game called Hyper Light Drifter. This is a game, that through what has been shown so far, really captures the heart and soul of the era of 8-bit and 16-bit gaming. It's a game that looks bigger than itself, and one that I personally just can't wait to play.

Super Smash Brothers for Wii U. Get it? It's a pun. Well at least I can take solace in the fact that Sakurai is as bad with puns as I am. Ever spend 1000+ hours on a video game? Yeah, I played a lot of Super Smash Brothers Melee, so I would be excited for this. What's there to tell? It's Smash. You either love it or you don't. We also can't forget this guy.

You thought Bayonetta was off-the-wall? Bayonetta 2 looks absolutely insane. I watched every bit of footage during Nintendo's Treehouse stream and this is a game I have already preordered. I still believe that Bayonetta is the greatest spectacle fighter that I have ever played and the best the genre has to offer. The one game that can top it? Bayonetta 2. I hope it lives up to it's predecessor. The great thing is that Bayonetta 2 also comes with the original! Which is fantastic!

Persona 3 and 4 are some of the most addicting games ever conceived. The mechanics and level of depth in the games is amazing. Persona 4 Golden was sublime. It was the best port to grace the Vita. Now Atlus has revealed Persona 5. A game I can say I am both excited and afraid of. Why afraid? That is because I know as soon as start the game, I will become a man obsessed, with leveling my stats, forming social links and fusing Personas. As soon as I finish the game, I will feel complete, but also empty, because almost no other game will come close. Does it sound too melodramatic? No. No it doesn't.

The Witcher is an amazing franchise. It is my Lord of the Rings and my Game of Thrones. Everything from the characters, story, and mythos is incredible. I've played both The Witcher and The Witcher 2 about three times, and each playthrough has been quite the experience. I've read several of the books and the comics. I can safely say, this is one of best series gaming has to offer, and The Witcher 3 will be no different. Not only that, but the entire game will be open-world, one on the level of Skyrim and Grand Theft Auto. The game's main quest line has been touted as a minimum of 50 hours long. I get more excited just thinking about it! Another game I've already placed my preorder for and the number one game I am looking forward to. This is a game I will hopefully call my GOTY for 2015.

So what are you looking forward to the most? Let me know down in the comments! I hope you've enjoyed reading!

So I decided to participate in a fellow blogger NerdExp's challenge, and write about a character in media who uses his brain over his brawn; a character that's not built to be one of the chess pieces, but instead is the player himself. After thinking about it, there's one pretty well known character that comes to mind.

*WARNING: SIGNIFICANT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD FOR CODE GEASS SEASON ONE*

Geass: a type of psychic power that manifests itself differently in each separate individual. Lelouch's power is the ability is make an individual do whatever he says. The catch is, it cannot be used on the same person twice. The day Lelouch received this power, he massacred a Britannian squad with it.

When you think about Lelouch's army The Order of the Black Knights and the battles he fought with them, each and every fight ends up like a game of chess. Lelouch uses his pieces and orders them at will, going into certain spots, ambushing foes and coming up with battle strategies. One on one fights with a KnightMare? He almost certainly ends up losing. Even in the battle with Cornelia near the end of the first season, his Gawain was not able to outmaneuver her. Instead, it was the appearance of Darlton, who under that influence of his Geass, that saved him.

In the Battle of Narita, Lelouch uses a bomb that releases radiation waves and causes a gigantic landslide taking out half the KnightMares being used by Cornelia. In the end, however, he is chased down by the Lancelot and almost captured, if it were not for C.C.'s help. When he wanted to save C.C. from Mao, he used tricks like recording and taking advantage of Mao's Geass. Even when Mao took his sister captive, he used Kuruguri as a chess piece, one that captures brawn, in order to save her, going as far as using Geass on himself. He is the perfect example of mind over matter, and brains over brawn.

Indie games have come a long way. Every since a few years ago, and ever since Microsoft and Sony have shown more support for indie games, they've gone past the PC gaming space and into the hands of far more gamers. Here, I want to showcase a few of the indie games that I believe have some of my favorite art thus far. Some of these are upcoming titles, but still look beautiful enough to show off.

Well, there ya go! Some of the best artwork in indie games, both already available and upcoming. I was lazy so I didn't write anything. ENJOY THE PRETTY PICTURES!

Anime is a large medium, and a lot of newcomers may not know where to begin. As someone who loves the medium and has watched anime for years now, I'd like to give my personal top 3 biggest recommendations for newcomers. These are perfect places to start if you are new to the world of anime. Now, before you ask the inevitable question of: Why didn't you include X? I'd like to just say:

Anyway, let's begin!

This is one of  those "just one more episode" type shows. One of those anime you really just need to force yourself to stop watching. The premise is simple. One day, a boy finds a book called the Death Note. Whatever name he writes in the book, that person will die, given that it's their real name, of course. You can probably see the potential just by reading that short summary. If you're looking for a great thrill ride, an anime that will keep you guessing and one you'll probably binge on for a weekend, give Death Note a try. It's one hell of a show.

Similar Anime To Try Afterwards: Monster, Code Geass, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, One Outs

Yeah, I mean, if you look at my avatar, you could have seen this recommendation coming a mile away. Cowboy Bebop is a very character driven series, directed by Shinichiro Watanabe. Everything from the music, to the setting, to the stories in the entire series scream perfection. Each character is incredibly well-made and well written. The show is brilliantly directed, and you really come to care about each and every one of the characters you meet along the way. Cowboy Bebop is an episodic series, which means that each episode tells it's own little story, but by the end, when the underlying plot comes together, and the ride ends, you're left wanting so much more.

Similar Anime To Try Afterwards: Samurai Champloo, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Hellsing: Ultimate, Black Lagoon, Baccano!, Trigun, Gungrave

I've watched a lot of anime in the romance-comedy/drama genre. Most of them are just harems with bouncing breasts every other frame. Sure they can be good for a laugh or two, but they're nothing I would ever recommend to anyone. Toradora is the exact opposite of that. Never has a romance-comedy had such realistic and well-written characters with perfectly paced episodes. Taiga is probably one of the best written characters in the entire medium. The drama is incredibly realistic and believable, unlike most anime who make it very melodramatic and cheesy. If you're looking for a show to tug at your heartstrings with feel good moments, you will love Toradora. It's one of those shows that I didn't want to end.

Similar Anime To Try Afterwards: Rec, Lovely Complex, Clannad, Honey and Clover, Maison Ikkoku, Nodame Cantabile, Sakamichi no Apollon

Most people seem to know each other on a first name basis on MyIGN, so being totally super jelly of that, I thought I'd share mine.

Just kidding, it's Nabil. Don't worry, no one else can pronounce it either. I mean, I've been trying to figure it out for a while now. Regardless, you can all still call me Blade anyway.

You ever eat something that was so fuckin' good, that you could taste it weeks later? I'm here to let you know that it exists, and it's the best fuckin' food ever conceived by man. It's a salad; a Middle Eastern salad called Tabbouleh.

Would you just look at this fine delicacy that makes you water at the mouth. Filled with parsley, olive oil, tomatoes, and Bulgar wheat. Add some salt and it tastes motherfuckin' divine, like a choir of beautiful busty angels have landed on your taste buds in microscopic form. Can I get two tons of this for the rest of my life? I wouldn't eat anything else.

***I will avoid spoilers for the story as much as I can, and only talk about the themes here, but I highly encourage those who want to play this game: don't spoil it for yourselves, play it through once without knowing the themes, story or anything of the sort. You will have a richer experience.***

Underrated games are often overlooked, often not played by the mass majority of the medium. Many games fall into this category. One game in particular gives us a question that remains unanswered: Why do we play games? It can be argued that games are there for fun, to relieve stress.

However, certain games twist that aspect of fun. Certain games just want to make you feel terrible, and provide some perspective. One game in particular that comes to mind - Spec Ops: The Line - the underrated masterpiece of the last generation.

Created to be satire on the MMS - modern military shooter - genre, Spec Ops: The Line comes in and tears away our aspirations of being a hero in one defining moment, and no one ever saw it coming. What do we play games for? To feel like something we're not. Everything from that moment on becomes a downward spiral. The "fun" turns into more of a struggle, and Spec Ops: The Line brilliantly pulls off this aspect.

Many different themes are explored throughout, and the game also touches on certain aspects of PTSD - post traumatic stress disorder - which affects many soldiers on the front lines. You can tell from the demeanor of the main character, as battle chatter becomes more and more profane and vulgar as you go.

The loading screens also become far more twisted after that moment, turning from simple hints on how to play, to lines that taunt the player. "You are still a good person." "Do you even remember why you came here?" "There is no difference between what is right and what is necessary."

What is cognitive dissonance? It is the feeling of holding two conflicting beliefs at the same time. This defines Spec Ops perfectly. The game is speaking directly to you, the gamer, during several parts of the narrative. It forces you along, telling you to kill hundreds of combatants, but through the narrative, it tells you this is wrong, tells you that you shouldn't be doing this, yet we press on.

Certain choices are also given to us. The wonderful thing is that these choices are implemented in the mechanics rather than a list to choose from. These choices are made to help the character, and possibly even the gamer, feel like we have even the slightest bit of control but it's all an illusion. The game's narrative just falls further and further into madness. The mechanics of the game felt stiff, but I personally think they were made that way, almost intentionally, as if to add to the struggle. They were not meant to be fun but they were simple, and effective.

You could tell, from the very beginning when you landed, that something was wrong. You eventually didn't want to kill those soldiers. You didn't even want to be in Dubai. You just wanted to feel like a hero. Well do you? Do you feel like hero yet?

*Picture by elcazadordeaventuras. You can check him out on deviantart here.

For this week's community blog on sidekicks, I decided to go with a classic we all know and love.

So I decided to start a bit of a monthly series beginning this September. I plan to go through every Metroid game, one game a month, and do a full review and critique of each one, since the Metroid series is my favorite series by Nintendo overall (sorry Zelda fans ). There are a couple ways I could go about this with advantages to each one.

The first way I could do this is by starting the games in chronological order. Since Metroid: Zero Mission was released I would essentially skip the first Metroid game. There's really no need to play a game with essentially the same stories twice, and Zero Mission is the definitive version of the game. The main advantage here is that I could have much more to say about certain plot points and notice certain things that may take place in later games as a reference to previous titles.

This one is pretty self-explanatory. Here I would start with the very first Metroid game on the NES, and I would also be playing Metroid and Metroid: Zero Mission, which would allow me to actually look a little more in depth at the differences between the two. The main advantage here is going through the improvements and how Metroid has changed over the years.

I'm not for or against either choice here, as both sound very interesting to do, so I decided to just set up a little poll. Vote in the comment section on what you prefer! The voting will end 12:00 AM on the first of September.

Since I was tagged by cookiemonster426 who was tagged by BlackArachnid41, who was the original genius who came up with this idea, I thought I'd share my own personal gaming preferences. So get ready for some surprises...! Sorta!

PERSONAL PREFERENCES!!!

I play literally everything. I try to, anyway. If one genre was my least favorite genre, it would be puzzle platformers, even though I love the broader platformer genre in general. Besides that particular genre though, I will go through every game I can, just to experience new things. In a lot of games, I generally appreciate fun gameplay over a great story pretty much all the time. I generally like both multiplayer and single player experiences. I switch between them often. Sometimes, I could binge on a great single player game like Skyrim or go for a week or two playing nothing but Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. It depends on my mood and what I feel like playing. I will admit, I don't finish games half the time. I play a lot of games from anywhere between an hour to the ten hour mark before I move on to another. Sometimes certain games just don't grab you like others do.

I'm a Nintendo and PC guy. I was never a big Sony or MS fan. There are certain franchises like Halo that I love to death, but not much of either's exclusive catalog has grabbed me since the days of the PS2. Nowadays I game primarily on PC, even though I grew up as a Nintendo kid. I got into PC gaming a few years ago and went back to play a lot of the old classics I missed out on (THANKS GOG!!!). So you know, GLORIOUS PC GAMING MASTER RACE and all that.

If there's one console out there that I love more than the rest though, it's probably the most underrated of them all, and had one hell of a great lineup. It had many great titles that are some of the best games Nintendo ever came with!

Anywhere from Mario Kart: Double Dash to Super Mario Sunshine to the Metroid Prime games, some of the best games were on the Gamecube. Pikmin was one of the best new IPs by Nintendo and it had my all-time favorite Zelda games on it, Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess. Plus that sexy controller was so comfortable to hold.

FAVORITE GENRES!!!

HATS

I like hats.

FIRST PERSON SHOOTERS

Some may be a little tired of the oversaturation of first person shooters nowadays, but I am far from done with this genre. I love FPS, single-player, competitive, all of the above. I don't like the Modern Military Shooter genre that much, except for Battlefield's amazing multiplayer, but sci-fi FPS like Halo, awesome old school style remakes like Wolfenstein and Shadow Warrior to franchises like Metro, BioShock, Far Cry, and Deus Ex, FPS still remains a genre I love to death and love to play. I still play CS:GO on an almost daily basis, even if it's one or two games and I still play Titanfall from time to time.

METROIDVANIA

That feeling in games like Metroid when you get a new upgrade or in games like Dust: An Elysian Tale where you get that fire spell. From the masterpiece that is Castlevania: Symphony of the Night to La-Mulana, I love the Metroidvania genre. I love the sense of exploration, the enemies you fight and the areas you always have to remember to come back to. I love the secrets you find and I love the level design in many of these games. The Metroidvania genre is one where there aren't nearly enough games.

ROLE-PLAYING GAMES (ANYTHING FROM WESTERN TO JAPANESE TO STRATEGY RPGs)

RPGs are essentially all about great characters, great stories and amazing combat. Maybe not all of them share that aspect, but RPGs are the perfect genre, in my opinion, and give the gamer a little bit of everything. From Mass Effect's amazing world to Persona's fantastic cast of characters, RPGs are a genre I get incredibly immersed in. Games like Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, and Legend of Grimrock are some lesser know RPGs that remain some of my favorites. I love games where you can build and shape your characters, like in Mass Effect and The Witcher. I always tend to use my own name for the main character, whenever I can, like in Persona 4, which really gets you very attached to the world. The RPG genre has a wide variety and includes SRPGs like Valkyria Chronicles and Fire Emblem, which are some the best franchises I've ever played.

SPECTACLE FIGHTERS

This genre for me is almost always synonymous with Platinum Games, creators of Metal Gear Rising, Bayonetta and The Wonderful 101. Spectacle fighters are essentially third-person brawlers. I love fast-paced action in my games, and generally these games deliver it perfectly. Games like Devil May Cry series and God of War are some the best games in the genre. The boss designs are usually epic, the music is badass, and you feel like one hell of a BAMF when you're literally suplexing a Metal Gear ala Metal Gear Rising. The degree of challenge and replayability in these games is just endless.

OPEN-WORLD, CRAFTING, AND EXPLORATION

I spent a good 100 hours on Terraria and another 50 or so hours on Minecraft. We need more games that deal primarily with crafting, because they are just fantastic and some of the best games I've played. Open-world and exploration is another type of sub-genre of gaming that I love to death. I love open-world games that give you the freedom to explore, like Skyrim, or even games like Wind Waker that give you a sense of adventure. Red Dead Redemption, Saints Row 4, Sleeping Dogs, Just Cause, and the GTA series are great examples. Some more limited than others, but games with an open-world, games where you can explore and especially games with all those elements, plus crafting, are incredibly addicting and fun.

NOTABLE GENRES I DIDN'T INCLUDE BUT REMEMBERED TO INCLUDE AFTER READING OTHER BLOGS THAT INCLUDED THEM:

Real-Time Strategy

Platformers

2D Brawlers!

Card Games!

With this over, I want to tag a few people to write their own blog! Let us know your preferences.

MK1982

SECONDSERVING

SMAUGTHEMAGNIFICIENT

REMEMBER TO TAG THREE MORE WHEN YOU'RE DONE!!!

THANKS FOR READING EVERYONE!!!

If there's one man who deserves a prize for being the best teacher around, it's Sakata Gintoki. I'm even using a very, very, very loose definition of teacher. He also has the best troll face you've ever seen.

Eikichi Onizuka also deserves a shout-out.

Now that's gangsta.

Video game crossovers aren't done very often, but they damn well should be. With them we get some amazing titles like Super Smash Brothers, Project X Zone, and Playstation All-Stars. I'd like to list a few of the games I think would be excellent for making crossovers, and that just seem to fit so well together. You also get to see the terrible titles I came up with.

We all already know that Fire Emblem x Shin Megami Tensei is happening, but considering the heavy character focus of the Persona series and the most recent Fire Emblem game, Fire Emblem: Awakening, Persona would be a much better fit for a crossover. Imagine a game that has the Persona 4 social link system, combined with support conversations and the SRPG battle system of Fire Emblem. Oh my gods, I think I just created the perfect game.

When I think Minecraft, I think Lego. Why hasn't anyone made an open world Lego crafting game like Minecraft? You don't even have to create a whole new game, but just make a huge texture pack for Minecraft in the style of Lego. It's just the perfect fit. You can also have templates for your creations, and if you meet them, they come to life! Animals, spaceships, vehicles, and other creations could be made. You could spend hours just experimenting with different Lego pieces.

This one's a given. They are both amazing spectacle fighters, they are both creations by the amazing Hideki Kamiya, and they both feature completely over the top action, setting and characters. How can you not put these two together? Heck, if you've played Bayonetta, she makes a direct reference to Devil May Cry with the infamous quote "flock off, featherface!"

This one is another given. I can guess that the original Tomb Raider games were inspirations for the Uncharted series, and the Uncharted series was the inspiration for the Tomb Raider reboot. The games have borrowed from each other so much that a crossover just makes so much sense. A Crystal Dynamics x Naughty Dog co-developed game where the two worlds collide. Naughty Dog writes the story and dialog while Crystal Dynamics works on the gameplay. It's a match made in heaven.

If there's one crossover that I've always wanted to happen, and one that will probably never, ever happen, it's Halo and Metroid. There's no reason for it, it doesn't have to make any sense at all, but, damn it, it would be just completely badass. I can imagine it taking place on any of the Metroid worlds like Zebes or Tallon IV or one of the Halo planets like Reach or Harvest, or hell, take the whole thing and make it a death match game, and it would still be amazing.

So what would you want to see in a crossover? Super Ezio Galaxy? That could work. They're both Italian. Let me know in the comments below!

'Nuff said.

A sense of isolation exists in Metroid Prime. One that's brought about by the beautiful atmosphere and level design. From the moment you land on Tallon IV, you are treated to a sense of loneliness, one that's amplified by the music and atmosphere. From the Chozo Ruins to the Magmoor Caverns and the Phendrana Drifts, the game is beautifully designed and the art style just captures its brilliance. The backtracking in the game, which is a trait many Metroidvania games share, never feels forced, but a joy to do, just to experience the different parts of the planet. So many little things made this game wonderful. The way the rain hit your visor, the hidden artifacts, the scanning for more lore in the world.

What's best about every Metroid game? Progression! Getting those sweet new powers as you traverse your way around the world! Metroid Prime does it brilliantly. Every time you gain a new power, whether it's a new suit like the Gravity suit, or new power like the Ice Beam. You feel like a badass every time you get an ability and use it, which is one hell of awesome aspect the game has. The mechanics of the game are just fantastic. They may be simple, but the game has some of the tightest controls of any first-person shooter I've played. I'm not someone who enjoys controllers when it comes to games with shooting mechanics, but they made the mechanics perfect for the GC controller, and it felt completely natural.

The boss fights in the entire game are just absolutely enthralling from beginning to end. That fight with the Parasite Queen, the first boss, was just a taste of the fights that were to come. Thardus and Flaahgra were just awesome fights. The best boss fights are the ones where you have less odds of winning and Metroid Prime made it feel that way each and every time. Some of the designs on a lot of the enemies including the Space Pirates and Elite Pirates were fantastic. The game was made with care for the lore. Retro definitely worked hard to make the game a blast to play.

Of course, one last thing I can't forget in any Metroid game is the iconic Samus Aran. Samus may not be as popular as other Nintendo characters, but she's certainly one of best. Those suit designs in Metroid Prime were just fantastic, especially my personal favorite, the Phazon Suit. Prime will hold up as one of the best, if not the best Metroid game ever made, and one of the best games ever made.

So I've been tagged by RCC97 who was tagged by mikeerik to write about a few anticipated games. I wrote a blog about a month back about this topic, and not much has changed, but hey, an excuse to find more gifs is alright with me. The rules are simple. Write about one 2014 game, one 2015, one game that comes out whenever you want, and the game you're most anticipated for, whether it's past, present or future. Due to lack of time, this will be shorter than my other blogs .

2014

I love Platinum Games. I love them more than most people. If I went into game design, Platinum would be my goal. The game I need more than other this year is Bayonetta 2. The game looks insane, looks off-the wall and has that Platinum charm I've come to expect. The gameplay just looks sublime, and this will be a game I play more than a few times, just like the first Bayonetta, one of my absolute favorite games ever. "Did you miss me?" You better believe I did.

2015

I have read three of the Witcher books, played the first game twice and the second game 3 times, and filled my brain with so much Witcher lore, that's it's utterly ridiculous. The Witcher 3 is the final chapter. Me and Geralt have come a long way. I pre-ordered the game, and I am ready to sit down and play it until it's over. I may lose friends, family members, my job, and probably end up starving, but it'll all be worth it. I need this game.

Extra Game

I've had the demo of this game for about a week now, maybe a little more, and I have 10 hours into it. The demo of this game provides you with 5 characters and one stage, limited items and one gameplay mode. I still have put 10 hours into it. Why? I don't know. It's that good. Of course I'm talking about Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS. This is a game I need to play, and a game I'll probably be giving up a huge part of my social life for (ha, who am I kidding, I barely had one to begin with.) Bring on the Smash Bros!

Most anticipated game to date

Luckily, that's already up there.

For this I'll be tagging a few users.

cookiemonster426

Arcterran

assassinita

Xbro

SmaugtheMagnificent

As a lot of you know, IGN can be a bit annoying with its avatar policy limit, so I figured I would write a little tutorial on how to get passed that. I'd like to thank ksquall1 for this amazing workaround. Here we go.

Step 1: Create a profile on majhost.

Step 2: Find a gif 140x140 or smaller and 100kb or smaller. Name it, gif1.gif. It doesn't matter what since you will be replacing it anyway. Make sure you create two folders since the .gif files will have the exact same name at the end of this.

Step 3: Upload your gif to majhost into a folder you've created. If all goes well, you should have something like this right now.

Step 4: Get the link for the .gif file and upload that .gif as your new avatar on IGN in account settings.

Boom, so far so good. Now onto the next step.

Step 5: Make a new high quality/file size .gif or find one. You can use ezgif.com or Photoshop. I have tested this with larger dimensions and it works so you don't have to use any tools if you do not want to. There are no restrictions. Considering the small size of the window on MyIGN, however, your new avatar may be too small to see. I recommend 140x140 or dimensions that are exactly square.

Step 6. Rename the .gif the same name your old gif. I recommended gif1.gif, but any name will do as long as it's exactly the same.

Step 7. Upload that .gif to majhost, in the same folder and it will replace your old .gif.

BOOM! The final product:

If you check below, it will certainly look far better than the ,gif above too. The only caveat is that sometimes majhost is down. So I recommend having a backup .gif or avatar just in case this happens. It rarely goes down however, and has only happened to me once in the course of 10 days. Sometimes it will go down for an extended period, but it's not very often.

I hope this helps the lot of you if you've ever wanted a .gif as an avatar, but MyIGN simply won't let you do it. Feel free to let me know if you want one made and provide a gif for that too. I'll be uploading more in future blogs as I make more! Here's a few avatars I've made for use. All yours!

So I was tagged by NaughtyOttsel22 to write a blog about my top 5 favorite anime. I realized I don't really have a Top 5, per se, but I will write about what I believe to be anime that I personally enjoyed the most while watching them. An homage to the many who did not make it in: Toradora, Baccano!, Cross Game, Maison Ikkoku, FLCL, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Full Metal Panic!, Evangelion, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Trigun, Planetes, Gintama, Hajime no Ippo, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Katanagatari, Rec, AnoHana, Outlaw Star, Black Lagoon, Ergo Proxy, Silver Spoon, High School DxD, Lovely Complex, Uchouten Kazoku, Nodame Cantabile, Chihayafuru, and Usagi Drop.

No other series has successfully filled the "just one more episode" trope more than Monster. It was a thriller that I binged one when I first started, so much so that I finished around 40 episodes in a week before I slowed down. You better believe I would have gone a lot more too, because it's all I thought about when I was in class or working. It's the perfect thriller and one of the best, and in my opinion, certainly beats out Death Note as the best thriller in the medium. It's that good.

This is Cowboy Bebop in feudal Japan. Shinichirou Watanabe pretty much took Cowboy Bebop, his shining star, and remade it with new characters, a new setting and a new plot. You know what? He did it fuckin' perfectly. It may not reach the level of Bebop, but the entire series ended up being absolutely amazing. It's something to be respected. I love feudal Japan settings, and I love good character development and interesting plots. Watanabe delivers here. Each episode was perfect.

Alucard spelled backwards is Dracula. That couldn't ring more true in this modern day vampire story. Alucard is possibly the best vampire character ever made, and one of the best characters in anime. You would think a series like this would end up predictable, but it keeps surprising you, keeps the suspense and keeps the rivers of blood you'll be accustomed to seeing, since the very first episode. If you've ever thought anime just wasn't gritty enough for you, watch Hellsing Ultimate. Vampire, Nazis, Catholics and Protestants; where could you go wrong? "The dead are dancing and all hell is singing."

I love Shinichirou Watanabe. He's a genius. This is a series I actually ended up watching much before learning Watanabe was the director. It ended up as one of my favorite series way back, and learning that just made it more special for me. It's a simple story about friends who form a jazz band at their high school in the 1960s at first, but becomes so much more than that. The character development, the themes of friendship, betrayal and raw emotion in this series is among the best you'll see in a drama series.

Yeah, three out of five of my favorites are by Watanabe. That's how fuckin' good he is. This series, this one right here, is perfection in animated form. I love the characters, the stories, the setting and everything about Cowboy Bebop. I own three different DVD sets and a wallscroll, and I plan to get the blu-ray collection. There's nothing that's come close, and the anime that do come close? Well those are by Watanabe too. Cowboy Bebop is my favorite anime ever made and the best anime ever created.

Well I hope you enjoyed this list. I'm not tagging anyone. Feel free to write about this if you want, or let me know your personal favorites in the comment section!

So while I have a few other blogs set to go for a few weeks, I thought I'd start a little bit of a new weekly series, one that pertains to gaming music, using tracks from both the original soundtracks and OCRemix (which you should totally check out and subscribe to their YouTube channel btw).

For the first track, I want to start with one of my favorite remixes of one of my absolute favorite tracks in gaming, Corridors of Time from Chrono Trigger called "Time Chills." It's an amazing remix and hope you'll enjoy it as much I do.

Original composors: Nobuo Uematsu, Noriko Matsueda, Yasunori Mitsuda

Remixer: mv

Thanks for listening! Let me know what you think in the comments!

Did you know?

There are many faces of Chicken.

Fried Chicken

Chicken Cutlet

Chicken Tenders

Roast Chicken

Chicken Fries

Chicken Nuggets

BBQ Chicken

Remember:

In all seriousness, thank you Tom! This was a fantastic tournament and I can't wait for the one next year!

#GoldenEye42015

In 1986, something magical happened; a game was released! It wasn't just any old game either, it was Metroid, the very first game in what became one of Nintendo's absolutely best franchises. I went back and played this old gem to see how it holds up today. Welcome to the first review of my monthly Metroid retrospective series, one of the original Metroid.

The game starts out like any other Metroid game. In this one, you land on Zebes in order to stop the Space Pirates from replicating Metroids and using them as biological weapons. You fight three bosses in the game, Kraid, Ridley and the Mother Brain. This is the basic plot, which isn't really explained in the game itself, but requires a bit of extra reading. Back when the game was released, this plot was placed on the back of the box.

The meat and potatoes of the game is the gameplay itself. Zebes is an open-ended area where you can explore to find upgrades in order to fight the bosses. Upgrades include the Wave Beam, Ice Beam, Long Beam, energy tanks, missile upgrades, and of course, the Varia Suit. Now what I am here to discuss, is does the game hold up well to today's standards? Well, yes and no. Allow me to explain. I did have fun with the game, and I can't fault Nintendo since this was back in 1986, when gaming was still much younger than it was today.

The biggest thing in the game that makes it rather irritating to play is the lack of a map. In newer Metroid games, a map is a given and help you track where you've been, even if you have to find a map room and download the area. In this game, where level design is somewhat samey, it makes it even more annoying. I broke down and got a map around an hour into the game, because it became very irritating. That made the game much more enjoyable.

The game is also excruciating difficult at the beginning, even to the point where you revive with 30 health. I save-scummed thanks to the Virtual Console. Somewhere in the middle of the game, once you get your Wave Beam and Screw Attack abilities, the game does become far easier, maybe a little too easy, in fact, especially when you grab the Varia Suit. Both Ridley and Kraid were a breeze due to a couple tricks you could use. The most challenging boss was Mother Brain, which took me a few tries to defeat.

In terms of level design, it's very samey until you head to a different area, say from Norfair to Brinstar to Tourian, The artstyle changes, but many areas are a little copy and paste, but this wasn't an issue for me. Obviously the limitations of the NES would not allow for areas to be that much different. It was expansive though, even though the game itself was smaller than the average Metroid game. Enemies were varied, and many kept me on my toes. Collectibles were well hidden throughout and did require some exploration to find. I do have to criticize the game for one thing: once you beat a boss, there is no reason to look for missile upgrades anymore, since you are given a ton of them. I went from 65 missiles to 215 after defeating Ridley and Kraid.

The music itself is fantastic, and hearing the Brinstar theme in a midi sounding format was awesome. It was very retro, and just a joy to hear. Music in the whole game was great, from boss battles to secret areas and that definitely one of the biggest highlights in the game. It fits the game, almost too perfectly.

Overall, I would say the game does hold up pretty well, even though it has these caveats. It was fun, and it didn't overstay its welcome, which would have put me off if the game was much longer. Having never played Metroid on the NES, I'd say give the game a shot, if you're interested, otherwise, you may not really be missing anything, and I would move on from this one, since it certainly is not the best of the series.