Hipster Anime Fans! Anime Detour 2014 in review

Once again, Anime Detour takes over the Doubletree by Hilton in Bloomington, MN.  Last weekend, 5,000 people descended upon the hapless hotel staff to party, congregate, and discuss the intricacies of "the manga was better."  This year was awesome, in so, so many ways.

Five Under the Radar Games

Holy cow.  There's a lot of games out there that most people overlook.  Too many people follow the advice of this guy, and it's a real shame.  If you follow Extra Credits on youtube, you've probably seen their series of games you might not have tried.  They are a great resource of options, and I've found a handful of good examples, as well.  All of the games that I mention have their share of fans, just not many.  For some, this is a perfect time to try them out.  Either way, you'll be hard pressed to find games in here that aren't worth your time.

Whoa! Something new!

I just added my Twitch.tv stream as an additional page to Treasure Bin.  Whenever I'm playing a game I can stream, I will probably be doing that.  It might be fun, it might be boring as all get out.  But either way, I'm up on there!

Also, I'm going to have some big news coming up in the next month or so, something big that I've got planned.  Stick around, and I promise you'll like what you see!

Review: Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate

Developer: Capcom

Publisher: Capcom

Players: 1-4 (ad hoc on 3DS, online on Wii U)

Rating: Teen (Blood, Crude Humor, Fantasy Violence)

Platform Reviewed:  3DS



Monster Hunter is a fairly well known series by this point.  It has seen 12 releases across six different platforms, and a 13th game is on the way.  Even Japan's "Samurai Blue" Soccer Team played Monster Hunter in their downtime before their big win over Australia to take the Asian Cup in 2011.  So it's a pretty well known and well established franchise.  Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate came out in time to be a part of the Wii U launch lineup, and included a release for its handheld sibling, the 3DS.  But how does it hold up in the realm of giant monsters?

Account security and gaming: I don't wanna be hacked!

Last week, someone commented on my How to fix WoW article, asking about account security.  Ironically enough, this comment was from a spam bot, but this is a great topic that's definitely relevant to what has happened over the past couple of years.  There are some really easy ways to reduce your risk and minimize the damage in the event your accounts are compromised.  Here's a few tips on what to do.

A Decade of Construction: Anime Detour 2013 Recap

Wow, what a con  This past weekend, 5,000 people gathered at the Doubletree Hotel in Bloomington, MN, for what is one of the largest anime conventions in the state.  It was an exhilarating, awesome, epic weekend.  And I was in the thick of it.

Review: Spec Ops The Line

Platform: PS3, Xbox 360, PC

Developer: Yager Studios

Publisher: 2K Games

Players: 1 (offline) 2-8 (online)

Rating: Mature (Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language)

Reviewed on: PS3

Playstation Plus has a knack of pulling out the occasional awesome title.  Just last week, they added Spec Ops: The Line to their list of free games.  And boy, is this a title to add!

Import Review: Mobile Suit Gundam Extreme Vs

Players: 1-2 offline, 8 online

Platform: PS3, Also available for Arcade

Rating: CERO-A (suitable for all ages)

Publisher: Namco Ban-Dai

A friend of mine was in Japan a few weeks ago, and brought back a bunch of games for me.  One of them was Gundam Extreme Vs. And man, is this game awesome!

Review: Aliens Colonial Marines

Release Date: 02/12/2013 Rating: Mature (Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language)

Players: 1-2(Splitscreen co-op) 8 (online)

Platforms: PC, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U(release date to be announced)

Platform Reviewed on: Xbox 360

Now, I was a late comer to the Aliens franchise.  I admit it.  I used to hate scary movies.  Now that that's not the case, I love what Ridley Scott did in 1979, and James Cameron expounded upon 1986.  Those movies did more for science fiction than anything else out there.  I wish I could say the same about Aliens: Colonial Marines...

The Stack of Shame

Within the game journalism community, there's a problem that is affectionately known as the "stack of shame."  It refers to the issue of having so many awesome games to play, but not enough time to play them all.  Sadly, this problem doesn't plague only journalists.  Members of the gaming community can find themselves mired in an ocean of games to play. It's everywhere, and it's starting to turn into an elephant in the room.  But it doesn't have to be like this.