It's only been a couple weeks, but I'd say Ani-Gamers is already off to a pretty great start in our 2012 reboot. We have a couple of great posts in the pipeline, and today I'm proud to announce the newest member of our staff: David Estrella, an anime fan and game design student who reportedly overdosed on moé anime in late 2009 while seeking to understand the Mysteries of the Universe. He is now a shell of a man, eking out an existence by absorbing rays of pop culture and transforming them, via a perverse form of photosynthesis, into strings of words that may or may not be reviews on the Internet.

If you want to check out more about David, you could probably follow him on Twitter, or just stick around to see his first review later today, an analysis of the churning core of the dread spectre: the K-ON! manga.

One unfortunate consequence of being late with my pre-con posts is that I lose the luxury of (not) clever titles like "See you AnimeNEXT weekend!" As a longtime punster, this is enough to make me consider founding a convention called AnimeTHIS, just so I can rectify the conundrum by writing "See you AnimeTHIS weekend!" The gag would certainly never get old.

Anyway, now that I've blatantly disobeyed the inverted pyramid of journalism, on to the actual meat of the post. Ani-Gamers will, as usual, be at AnimeNEXT in Somerset, NJ, presenting our shenanigans to whichever fools decide to wander into our panel rooms. We'll also be covering the convention, with both Ink and I attending panels and maybe asking a few questions of some of the guests. (Satoru Nakamura in particular looks interesting.) Other cool blogger folks in attendance include The Reverse Thieves (they're actually staying with me for the weekend), Scott VonSchilling, and Ed Chavez, all of whom will be on panels throughout the weekend.

For the five days leading up to the New Year, Ani-Gamers is posting an un-ranked list of our favorite titles from the year 2010, featuring up to two choices from each writer. Be sure to check back throughout the week to find out what geeky stuff our contributors really dug this year! We now present the choices from manga and video game reviewer Elliot Page.

Demon’s Souls (From Software): While this came out in the US in 2009, its only this year that Europeans like myself have had the pleasure of being humiliated by the ruthless gaming experience that is Demon’s Souls. There are just so many things that make me love this game — the atmosphere in particular. The ravaged, demon-filled lands of Boletaria and the few people who still cling to life set an excellent tone for your character’s adventure, making you truly feel like the last hope for the world. Not that saving the world is an easy task — the game’s controller-smashing difficulty is well documented, but it never feels punitive. This, combined with the tight direct-action combat and lack of hand-holding, makes playing the game all the more satisfying, especially when you kill a major demon. I barely have time to mention the game’s amazing online system, where players can leave notes for each other as advice or enter another player’s game to either assist or antagonize them. Plus, Demon's Souls has buckets of re-playability due to the breadth of character options available, and the fact that you will grow to love the pain the game inflicts.

For the five days leading up to the New Year, Ani-Gamers is posting an un-ranked list of our favorite titles from the year 2010, featuring up to two choices from each writer. Be sure to check back throughout the week to find out what geeky stuff our contributors really dug this year! We now present the choices from video game reviewer Evan "BakaTanuki" Krell.

Durarara!! (Brain’s Base): This oddball show is a bit hard to describe within a few sentences. In fact, even naming the protagonist is complicated with so many characters and plot threads. From the director, studio, and original author of Baccano!, Durarara!! is rather similar, as it is built upon a huge and interesting cast of characters, their interactions, and how their own stories all intertwine into the overall weirdness of Tokyo's Ikebukuro district. The series begins with a high schooler from the country moving into Tokyo, and leaves the impression that it will be about his experiences with his new surroundings and how he will be become involved in them. While not completely inaccurate, everything in Durarara!! has some sort of twist to it — often many. Later episodes introduce and focus on other characters, and eventually these pieces all begin to fit into the puzzle. There is a ton going on in this show, and keeping up with it all is part of the fun. Things can get pretty convoluted, but the atmosphere is laid back and fun enough to not really worry about it. Durarara!!'s urban fantasy setting makes little attempt (if any) to stay grounded in reality, and it manages to pull of some over-the-top fantasy played completely straight. The visuals are all quite distinctive with a certain dark-urban aesthetic to it. The music is also very good with both jazz and rock elements throughout. Durarara!! is extremely enjoyable, and I was thoroughly captivated with it as I followed it through Crunchyroll's simulcasting. Despite only being released this year, I am currently on my third viewing and keep finding more to love about it.

Durarara!! is also recommended by Ani-Gamers editor-in-chief Evan "Vampt Vo" Minto and contributor Ink.

For the five days leading up to the New Year, Ani-Gamers is posting an un-ranked list of our favorite titles from the year 2010, featuring up to two choices from each writer. Be sure to check back throughout the week to find out what geeky stuff our contributors really dug this year! We now present the choices from editor-in-chief and podcast host Evan "Vampt Vo" Minto.

Mass Effect 2 (BioWare): When I first started hearing the video game press rave about Mass Effect 2, I knew I had to finally sit down and play the original Mass Effect. It turned out to be just about as disappointing as the reviews made it out to be — a fun ride chock full of potential that doesn't always deliver. Mass Effect 2, on the other hand, fixes nearly every glaring problem with the original game. That's not to say it's perfect, but it's hard not to enjoy this interplanetary heist story, with its quick-paced action scenes, satisfying leveling mechanic, huge catalog of background data on the game world, and endlessly entertaining cast that sticks with you long after you've put down the controller. Mass Effect 2 is some of the finest gaming I've had in a long time, and if you're at all a fan of sci-fi or RPGs, this is the game to pick up this year.

Mass Effect 2 is also recommended by Ani-Gamers contributor Elliot Page.

For the five days leading up to the New Year, Ani-Gamers is posting an un-ranked list of our favorite titles from the year 2010, featuring up to two choices from each writer. Be sure to check back throughout the week to find out what geeky stuff our contributors really dug this year! We now present the choices from reviewer and columnist Ink.

Ed. Note: We miscalculated the number of contributions we would be receiving from our writers, so we won't be following a one-a-day schedule from this point on. Sorry!

Fable III (Lionhead Studios): What this third incarnation of the Fable franchise does so completely that the former installations do not is create a truly immersive and believable world in which its main character's participation is only a piece of the proverbial pie. It accomplishes this by forsaking the isolated, hero-centric approach of old and broadening the story's focus and consequences to include the needs of all the people around the hero — intimately and in a broader sense. As people in our world continue to grow increasingly isolated from one another, Fable III illustrates how many lives the actions of one person can affect and also serves as a reminder to step into others' shoes before judging their actions. As a poet, I can think of no better video game execution of Shelley's sympathetic imagination.

Once a day for the six days leading up to the New Year, Ani-Gamers is posting an un-ranked list of our favorite titles from the year 2010, featuring up to two choices from each writer. Be sure to check back throughout the week to find out what geeky stuff our contributors really dug this year! We now present the choices from copy editor Sean Kim.

Super Meat Boy (Team Meat): Mind-numbingly difficult, yet surprisingly refreshing, Super Meat Boy manages to capture what truly makes a good platformer. It truly defines the masochistic style of game design, in a similar vein to other indie 2-D platformers: N+, Jumper, and I Wanna Be the Guy, to name a few. Everything about the game is polished, from the sounds that Meat Boy makes as he squishes his way through the levels to the beautiful and often varied environments. The gameplay is spectacular; not only does Meat Boy handle extremely well, the levels are designed with an amazing amount of detail to allow for an exhilarating rush when timing all the jumps perfectly. Make no mistake, though, this game is hard, and I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone. I found myself cursing at the TV on multiple occasions when dealing with some particularly challenging levels. If this type of game sounds interesting, you owe it to yourself to get Super Meat Boy. It is currently on sale for 800 MS points on the 360 and $7.49 on Steam for the PC (Mac version to be released in the coming months)

Super Meat Boy is also recommended by Ani-Gamers contributor Ink.

Once a day for the six days leading up to the New Year, Ani-Gamers is posting an un-ranked list of our favorite titles from the year 2010, featuring up to two choices from each writer. Be sure to check back throughout the week to find out what geeky stuff our contributors really dug this year! We now present the choice from video game reviewer Hayley "Mehket" Myer.

Dante's Inferno (Visceral Games): Mixing classical literature and video gaming technology doesn’t sound like the greatest of ideas, but Visceral Games and Electronic Arts do an amazing job portraying Dante’s journey in The Divine Comedy as hetravels through the nine layers of Hell. The game follows the epic poem with a surprising amount of precision, depicting characters and each level of Hell as accurately as possible. The people Dante meets in the poem are scattered throughout Hell, and the ability to absolve or punish them for their worldly crimes allows the players a brief moment to play God, reflecting on their own virtues and morals. While there are some deviations in storyline, there is much to learn about The Divine Comedy from the otherwise brutal, graphic game, including dialogue from Virgil, Dante’s guide, and the cantos shown to players each time they are defeated by Hell’s minions. The game is not for the faint of heart, as it sticks to the gore and fear that Dante inspired throughout the poem, but for those who like a bit of education in their video games, Dante’s Inferno is a necessity.

Click here for all the 2010 Staff Picks posts.

I mentioned a long while back that we were looking for a new gaming writer, and though I was still looking through applications as recently as this summer, we finally decided on a new contributor to add to the ranks of Ani-Gamers: Hayley Myer, a.k.a. "Mehket."

She is a longtime video gamer and anime fan who began her gaming life on the Sega Genesis with titles like Crystal Ponies and the original Sonic The Hedgehog. Now Mehket focuses most of her gaming time on Japanese RPGs, a topic that she will be covering extensively here at Ani-Gamers. We're excited to have her join the team, and I hope you'll all enjoy the new perspective she brings to the table.

Editor's Note: Welcome to our Halloween Staff Picks 2010. (You may remember our version of this last year.) This time around, we've only got four picks — three from Ink and one from Vampt Vo — but we hope you enjoy it. Let us know if you try any of these titles, and suggest your own Halloween favorites in the comments!

3 Extremes (Movie)

Released in 2004, this movie is actually a collection of three shorts by as many different directors. Each exudes a unique, October-worthy charm that says humanity is the best horror around. "Dumplings," directed by Fruit Chan, deals with special, crunchy-style dumplings that promise to restore an aging actress’s fading youth at greater and greater moral costs. Directed by Chan-Wook Park, "Cut" centers on a film director whose piano-playing wife has been taken hostage in the director’s own home. Bound, the main character is constantly forced to try to appease the antagonist’s twisted demands in order to save his wife. "Box," by none other than Takashi Miike (Dead or Alive, Ichi the Killer), is pure Miike. Really, I only need to say three words to justify my recommendation: carnival, twins, and jealousy. This is currently streaming through Netflix and may be acquired on the cheap ($11.99) via amazon.com.

– Ink

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Ghost Hunt (Anime)

To emulate the effectiveness of the actual ghost stories it tells, Ghost Hunt keeps true to the primary rule: brevity. Though the series spans 25 episodes, there are eight separate “files” or cases investigated by the same team of protagonists. This series loves to play on its own formula, starting early with the is-it-or-isn’t-it ambiguity inherent in paranormal investigation, and then builds each scenario to play upon the convictions of the former. Each character comes from a different background with certain specialties, and the characters as well as their relationships to one another evolve over the course of their investigations. Stories run the gamut from funny and tense to sullen and haunting. FUNimation’s S.A.V.E. edition just came out, and you can pick it up for $21 or so.

– Ink

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Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (Anime)

When it comes down to classic anime horror, few franchises can beat Vampire Hunter D, the film series based on Hideyuki Kikuchi's Japanese novels (Which I suggested in last year's Staff Picks). The first Vampire Hunter D (1985) certainly hasn't aged too well with its dated character designs and Toyoo Ashida's (Fist of the North Star) directing, but it's still a relatively fun time for fans of old-school anime.

The 2000 sequel, Bloodlust, however, is well worth your time this Halloween. Directed by 80s/90s OAV superstar Yoshiaki Kawajiri (Ninja Scroll, Cyber City Oedo 808), it features top-notch animation, spectacular action scenes, and an unsettling combination of Kawajiri and Yoshitaka Amano's distinctive character designs.

On the scare side, it's filled with gruesome monsters and dark, post-apocalyptic landscapes. Plus, the villain, Meier Link, is delightfully creepy, with his languid demeanor and long-faced character design. It might not be a traditional horror movie, but as a horror-themed action-adventure film, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust will certainly be a fun addition to your Halloween festivities. The Urban Vision special edition DVD isn't particularly cheap, but it's a disc that's sure get a lot of use over the years.

– Vampt Vo

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Dead Space (Video Game)

Unfortunately, I have been gaming exclusively on my Xbox 360, so I haven’t come across any good J-horror video games of late. But as far as creepy action-horror titles, I fully recommend Dead Space (Xbox 360). I played the latter at the insistence of a co-worker and do not regret it. Even though the story’s setup, progression, and interactivity nearly mirror that of the older DOOM 3, the third-person POV definitely adds over-the-shoulder terror. Both games use silence and ambient noise to heighten tension, something at which J-horror games are usually very adept, but Dead Space also offers inventory limitations to enhance the feeling of desperation and helplessness as well as close-quarter environments that are great for inducing claustrophobia. One of the Xbox 360’s Platinum Hits, you can pick this title up for $19.99 or less. The prequel is available on Xbox Live, and the sequel will be out in January 2011.

– Ink

Perhaps you've heard of Insert-Disc, our formidable yet sophisticated rivals in anime/game blogging. We've been on some of their podcasts and commented on their blog posts, and they have done the same for us, but today we take it ... TO THE NEXT LEVEL.

Indeed, Insert-Disc's Evan "Bakatanuki" Krell and Kyle "Lwelyk" LaCroix are joining the Ani-Gamers team to provide even more video game, anime, and manga content (though mostly the first one, since we're a little short on gaming writers at the moment). If you're curious, Baka is the founder and a current editor of Insert-Disc and a purveyor of only the finest classic video games, though he's also a fan of giant robot anime and moé girls — yeah, go figure. Meanwhile, Lwelyk is also an editor and resident bad game-player at Insert-Disc, where he seeks to spread the dying gospel of the Sonic the Hedgehog games to anyone who will listen.

I'd like to join the rest of the Ani-Gamers staff in welcoming our newest additions. I'm sure we'll be seeing some great new articles from these two in the near future!

Aside from Vampt Vo’s consistent anti-moé diatribes, everyone here at Ani-Gamers usually tends to review anime they like. After all, sharing the good stuff and making sure it gets around via positive reviews is half the fun! But today is May 1, 2010, and as much as there is inherent value in helping people find new series or movies to admire, the Ani-Gamers staff cannot overlook our equally pressing duty to help our readers avoid the unnecessary wastes of time, effort, and money we have come across in our individual explorations.

There are several countries that designate the first day of May, known as May Day, as a holiday devoted to the celebration of spring or end of winter (as well as various other causes), but the phrase “Mayday” was created to act as an unmistakable distress call that could be readily understood by any person within earshot. As winter has finally abated and the sunshine beckons us away from our DVD players and video portals, let us offer forth on this AniMayday a few rants about specific anime we have encountered that made us cry out in distress and tap out an S.O.S. via the remote control's Stop button.

Evan: These writeups are a little bit lengthy, so we'll be releasing them throughout the weekend. Tonight we begin with Ink's own mini-review of Chu-Bra!!

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Rasputin believed that to be truly free from temptation, one must over-indulge in whatever sin it was that did the tempting. The notorious Mad Monk survived several attempts on his life, including stabbing, poison, firearms, more firearms, and clubbing, before he finally succumbed to exhaustion in icy waters and drowned. But whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right? I don’t know anymore.

Chu-Bra!!, which I had the horror to experience over its 12-episode run on Crunchyroll.com, is a pedophile’s dream-come-true: a moé-driven series, pushup-padded with undeveloped, developing, and overly developed middle-school girls who either have a lingerie fetish or are sucked into the world of feminine underwear study by proxy of bra-and-panty aficionado, Nayu Hayama. Every episode revolves around Hayama and friends discussing underwear’s fit, form, or function; flashing their own and others’ unmentionables; as well as groping each other in some misguided and rarely effective attempt at humor. Any semblance of an interesting notion of plot or character (and there is at least one via Kiyono Amahara) is immediately tossed aside for a boob joke.

The only possible redemption for this complete waste of time lies in the vein of a fan service-laden after-school special that shows female viewers of similar ages how certain aspects of bras can lend to ergonomic comfort. I say this is the only saving grace, because reading too much into the “dispelling social stigmas concerning underthings” line the pedos will feed you is just another excuse to get this series onto DVD and released so they can buy it over the Internet and have it shipped to their houses in discreet, plain brown packaging. Also, do we need to have Amahara, who views lingerie as a sensual weapon used for influencing men, actually SUCCEED by becoming an underwear model? What messages are this series sending to the young girls who watch it? So avoid Chu-Bra!! at all costs ... unless you’re a pedophile. In which case, this anime might just be the knife, cyanide, pistol, club, and icy dip you need to exorcise the panty demon from your moé-driven mind.

To celebrate the new year, Ani-Gamers will be counting down an unranked Top 14 list of sorts. Every day for a week, starting on Christmas and ending on December 31st, one of our bloggers will post their two favorite titles of the year, whether they are anime, manga, or video games. We now present the choices from editor-in-chief Evan "Vampt Vo" Minto.

Baccano!: I had been looking forward to this show ever since Uncle Yo's review many moons ago, so when FUNimation announced that it would be streaming for free on Hulu, I was pretty excited. As luck would have it, Baccano! did not disappoint. Its combination of a complex, nonlinear story, memorable characters, and thrilling action scenes make it one of the few anime series in recent years that compares favorably to Sunrise's masterpiece Cowboy Bebop. It takes a lot of intense concentration to understand all of the connections between the characters in this mixed-up story of immortal gangsters in Prohibition-era America, but the payoff when it all comes together is more than worth the effort. Go for the dub, though – the American actors' voices bring an effortless sincerity to the characters

Pluto: Being a huge fan of both Osamu Tezuka's original Astro Boy manga and Naoki Urasawa's crime thriller Monster, I was naturally enthralled by Pluto, the adaptation of famous Astro Boy story "The Greatest Robot on Earth" by Urasawa himself. The eight-volume manga adaptation follows the German robot detective Gesicht as he searches for an enigmatic murderer who seems to be singling out and destroying the world's most powerful robots (whose ranks include both Gesicht and Astro). The story takes Tezuka's love of technological innovation, concern for robot-human interactions, and unshakable belief in human dignity, and modernizes them all in the distinctively realistic style of Urasawa. Viz continues to release new volumes into 2010 through their "Signature" line.

Check out previous 2009 Staff Picks after the break.

To celebrate the new year, Ani-Gamers will be counting down an unranked Top 14 list of sorts. Every day for a week, starting on Christmas and ending on December 31st, one of our bloggers will post their two favorite titles of the year, whether they are anime, manga, or video games. We now present the choices from reviewer/podcaster Mitchell Dyer (now re-posted under his actual account).

Assassin’s Creed II: I wasn’t expecting much out of this Assassin’s Creed because I was so thoroughly disappointed by the original ... twice. I went back to try and pump myself up about "Ezio’s Italian Adventure: The Bloodening" but I was bored to the point of putting on sock puppet shows to amuse myself. Assassin’s Creed II is Ubisoft stepping up its game in a big, bad way, and my expectations have been crushed by a Venetian war hammer. The world is gorgeous and beautifully constructed, while the story is genuinely engaging. But it's the way AC2 keeps rewarding you for your actions, whether it's earning money through an in-game economy and buying new gear, or unlocking secrets in the depths of hidden catacombs, that really drives the experience. Oh, you also get to shove wrist-knives into fools' eyeballs. Sorry Mario – you’re not my Italian icon anymore.

Dragon Age Origins: As I write this, I'm just 15 hours into my first (city elf) campaign. Regardless, I can tell I'll be spending way too much time with this brilliantly-crafted totally-not-fantasy RPG. When I walked out of BioWare's booth at E3 this year, one of my editors was shocked to hear how much I disliked the game – about as surprised as I was that he liked the console port so much. I condemned Dragon Age from the second I saw it. The cheesy, predictable fantasy cliches and played-out dungeon running I wanted to hate so bad, well, simply didn't exist. The loot-gathering sinks its hooks as deep as the stellar story, and it's a role-playing masterpiece I fully plan to experience for another 100-plus hours.

Check out previous 2009 Staff Picks after the break.

To celebrate the new year, Ani-Gamers will be counting down an unranked Top 14 list of sorts. Every day for a week, starting on Christmas and ending on December 31st, one of our bloggers will post their two favorite titles of the year, whether they are anime, manga, or video games. We now present the choices from reviewer Elliot Page.

Detroit Metal City (manga): Detroit Metal City doesn't care what kind of music you like; it's going to mock it mercilessly and make you laugh yourself silly at the same time. Not just metal (my personal love when I was younger), but all other genres and elements of music fall under its gaze. The series focuses on Negishi, a truly contemptible wuss who, come nighttime, dons a set of KISS-style makeup and becomes "Lord Johannes Krauser II," frontman of the titular band Detroit Metal City. He doesn't want to front a death metal band, but you have to pay the bills somehow. The manga is a rousing success not only because of the obvious absurdity of the main characters situation, but also because of the inherent craziness of the music industry, so rich for lampooning. Even better is that it looks not only at the bands themselves, but the managers and especially the fans, who make up my favorite characters in the series. From being one myself I know first hand the craziness of metal fandom and I find myself groaning though the laughter whenever something particularly mad happens.

Red Faction - Guerrilla: To be honest, this is not the best game of the last year. But more importantly, it has been the one that I have found the most entertaining. The premise is simple: You are a rebel (on Mars, bonus points for a cool setting) on the run from fascist oppressors. Smash the state! What follows is a glorious orgy of violence and explosions as you take down The Man in a world with fully destructible buildings and crazy weapons to get the job done with. There is a rifle that melts people for goodness sake! The missions are varied, well designed and, most of all, fun. Even better, there is a very well made set of both local and online multiplayer modes to have fun with, and thankfully the playerbase for the online mode is still active to this day. Have a go, and you'll discover the joy of slapping soldiers with a sledgehammer for yourself.

Check out previous 2009 Staff Picks after the break.

To celebrate the new year, Ani-Gamers will be counting down an unranked Top 14 list of sorts. Every day for a week, starting on Christmas and ending on December 31st, one of our bloggers will post their two favorite titles of the year, whether they are anime, manga, or video games. We now present the choices from reviewer Chris "Kit" Colalella.

InuYasha: The Final Act: Finally, closure comes to one of the most popular anime series of all time. InuYasha: the Final Act takes place right where we left off...sort of. This “series finale” takes only the last twenty-some chapters of the manga and converts them to the anime. The best part about the series is that, for both the Japanese and English dubs, all of the original voice actors were able to return. If you're a fan of this series you are definitely going to want to check this out.

Halo Wars: In my opinion, this was one of the most overlooked games of the year. Halo Wars takes a different approach from its older brothers in the Halo trilogy. Instead this is a real-time strategy game rather than an first-person shooter. You take control of the UNSC Spirit of Fire and its troops as you battle your way through more than a dozen different scenarios each with its own set of both Primary and Secondary Missions. I have to recommend this game to any one who even remotely likes RTS games. Ensemble was able to meld the point and click advantages of a normal RTS with the capabilities of the Xbox 360 seamlessly.

Check out previous 2009 Staff Picks after the break.

To celebrate the new year, Ani-Gamers will be counting down an unranked Top 14 list of sorts. Every day for a week, starting on Christmas and ending on December 31st, one of our bloggers will post their two favorite titles of 2009, whether they are anime, manga, or video games. We now present the choices from contributing editor Karl "Uncle Yo" Custer.

Batman Arkham Asylum: I say "Batman," you say "Arkham Asylum." Before the quick-to-learn and gadget-immersed gameplay gets discussed, before the fitting graphics get discussed, even before we question how Harley Quinn found an outfit from Hot Topic in her cell, we have to talk about the reuniting of Mark Hamill as the Joker and Kevin Conroy as Batman. This dynamic duo lent their voices to the title characters since the early nineties of Batman: The Animated Series, which laid down the foundations of dramatic, animated noir storytelling. B:AA is a return to the good old days with the processing power of today. For the first time ever, you aren't a blocky black pixel who punches things: you can BE THE BAT to the hilt. One of the most compelling, creepy and satisfying games of the year. I even overlook the disappointing boss fights because of detective mode and the joys of throwing three Bat-a-rangs at once.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2: Marvel comic readers remember the Civil War as one of the great years in comics, and to be able to choose sides and play alongside the shattered Avengers is just as much an honor as it was in the first game. Though buggy on the PS2, the Xbox version of this game is loaded with extras and alternate costumes, as well as the sheer joy of getting into intense political dialogues as...the Hulk. Fusion powers make the team-up of Deadpool and Thor just a click away, and the engine that was tested so well in X-Men Legends is finally tweaked to be smoother than ever. Now when I call Johnny Storm "hotpants," the name makes sense and the joke sticks like Spidey to a brick wall.

Check out previous 2009 Staff Picks after the break.

To celebrate the new year, Ani-Gamers will be counting down an unranked Top 14 list of sorts. Every day for a week, starting on Christmas and ending on December 31st, one of our bloggers will post their two favorite titles of 2009, whether they are anime, manga, or video games. We now present the choices from columnist/reviewer Ink.

Soul Eater: Soul Eater revolves around a bunch of kids, classified as anthropomorphic tools of destruction (weapons) or those that wield them (meisters), whose end goal by training at the Death Weapon Meister Academy (DWMA) is to keep the world safe from witches as well as those that feast on human souls for the sheer guilty pleasure of it. The art, while a bit CGI-heavy, offers viewers surrealistic backdrops, and the fight scenes are as interestingly executed as they are engrossing. With the first 3 episodes dedicated to getting to know the 3 main pairings of weapons and meisters, character development isn’t missing either. And it only gets better from there. Do yourself a favor and watch the subbed version; the voice acting is far superior despite the major talent brought on board by FUNimation.

Continuity: A student project created by Ragtime Games, Continuity (www.continuitygame.com) isn’t the three-dimensional puzzle game Valve’s Portal is, but it is just as tricky at times, requires some serious and inventive thought to complete, and is ultimately addictive. This Flash-based game requires players to move (simple run/jump controls) a figure through anywhere between one and eight sliding panels – which can also be maneuvered – to find their way through mazes to get a key and then get to the exit door. Simple, right? But mental tricks are a plenty: sure there may be as many as eight panels, but not all of them have to be used, and inter-panel interaction may require some bending of timing/physics rules on the player's part.

Check out previous 2009 Staff Picks after the break.

To celebrate the new year, Ani-Gamers will be counting down an unranked Top 14 list of sorts. Every day for a week, starting on Christmas and ending on December 31st, one of our bloggers will post their two favorite titles of 2009, whether they are anime, manga, or video games. We now present the choices from copy editor Sean Kim.

Borderlands: Guns, guns, and more guns. What more could anyone want on a desolate alien planet? Borderlands is all about mindless self indulgence of power. There's an ancient treasure on the planet of Pandora and four treasure hunters are dead set on finding it. The stylish mix of FPS and RPG elements makes for an extremely fun ride as you explore the desolate planet, killing anything in your path. Despite the lackluster story and relatively easy difficulty, Borderlands is a wonderful experience for up to four people.

Street Fighter IV: Capcom’s latest venture into the Street Fighter franchise produced Street Fighter IV, a beautifully rendered "2.5D" fighting game, and the first numbered Street Fighter title in a decade. With a roster of 25 characters, plenty of challenges, and online play, Street Fighter IV is a must-have for fighting game fans. The enemy AI is spotty at times, and can be difficult for newer players to beat, but the game is still quite enjoyable. However, the major drawing point for me was the thrill of competition in the online mode. Be sure to be on the lookout for the sequel, Super Street Fighter IV, coming out in 2010.

Changes are afoot here at Ani-Gamers as we welcome two new members to our illustrious staff. The first is Sean Kim, a college student who spends his free time geeking out on PC/Xbox 360 games and watching anime. Sean will be a Copy Editor, though he plans to occasionally submit content of his own as well. Our second new addition is Elliot Page, one of the drinking, gaming, and animal-wrestling hosts of Luke and Elliot's Bearfighting Extravaganza podcast. He will be contributing manga reviews.

On a more somber note, one of our new writers, Josh Christophers (a.k.a. Phreak) will no longer be contributing to Ani-Gamers. We wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors!

We hope you're looking forward to the new content that Sean and Elliot will be bringing to the site!

All Hallow's Eve is quickly approaching, and you just can't figure out what to do with yourself when the lights go out this Saturday. You could go out trick-or-treating and have everybody ask (a) why you're asking for candy when you're 25 and have a full neckbeard and (b) why you're dressed as Sailor Moon again, to which you can respond with righteous indignance (and an explanation of the subtle color scheme differences between your Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus costumes).

Or you can read Ani-Gamers' list of the scariest stuff in the geek world. Whether you're looking for an anime or a live action movie, a video game or a manga, our five illustrious staff writers have got you covered, with nothing less than the very best that Halloween has to offer. So head beyond the break for some great, hand-picked Halloween frights.

Ink

1. Ju-on, a.k.a. The Grudge (movie): This movie embodies everything creepy about J-horror: setting, audio, visuals, characters... and the American remake scared me enough to keep the lights on for three months straight (no exaggeration) by taking away everything "safe" one's mind could possibly cling to when absorbed in a film. The premise: a gruesome murder/suicide stains the house with its angry/vengeful presence, which will hunt down anyone who dares enter.
2. When They Cry ~ Higurashi (anime): Quite possibly one of the most disturbingly creepy and well-executed anime I've ever had the pleasure to be addicted to. Take four innocent-looking girls in a rural village paranoid about a curse, add a stranger, add some Hitchcock, and then put it all in a blender and repeat five times. This had me guessing as to the linear nature of the stories until the very end, and the visuals/voice acting (great dub!) are chilling. How chilling? One of my friends looked at the back of the DVD case, saw a picture of one of the girls laughing, and promptly turned down any possibility of watching it.
3. Fatal Frame / Fatal Frame 2 (PS2): While they stand alone, honestly, they're better in succession. Good horror's sneaky like that. The basis for both games: find out what happened to a missing loved one while not succumbing to the ill will of the myriad traumatized ghosts that inhabit the house/village. Your only weapon is an exorcimsal camera. Personal drama and a dramatic history (for both character and setting) make these games engrossing enough to get the blood pumping, elicit a startled jump, or provoke a scream of surprise.

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Kuro

1. Cowboy Bebop - the Movie (anime): This is my number one choice for good reason. It's a movie that brings the hilarious scenes, dramatic fights, and everything else a person could ask for from a Cowboy Bebop movie and blends it perfectly with the mystery and drama of Halloween. To sum up the story, Faye, en route to catch a low-level target, witnesses the explosion of the tanker truck that she was following, thus releasing a deadly cloud of some mysterious disease into the air that kills hundreds of people. Now it's up to Spike and company to get to the bottom of whatever is going on.
2. Kakurenbo - Hide and Seek (anime): This is my hardcore Halloween pick of the three. In an abandoned city in Neo-Japan, children play a game called "Otokoyo." It's basically hide and seek, but there is a twist: all of the children who have played the game have mysteriously disappeared. The absolutely beautiful cell shading, sound effects, and background music used throughout the story really lend themselves to the dark and mysterious city in which Otokoyo takes place. For people on a bit of the squeamish side, this OVA will provide a good psychological thrill ride without all the blood and gore of typical horror.
3. Battle Royale (movie): Here's a movie and it's sequel that might be one of the biggest cult classic movies out of Japan since Godzilla. The plot is simple: a random Japanese class from a random school is chosen by lottery. The 30 to 40 kids in the class must then partake in the event know as Battle Royale, essentially a timed death match on a deserted island, with only one winner. It's much more than a bunch of kids killing each other though. The amount of mind games and political propaganda in this movie really get a person thinking about what can really happen when the government has all the control.

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Uncle Yo

1. I Luv Halloween (manga): Tokyopop's OEL manga program shows off its gruesomely dark side in this hilarious take on a sadistic suburbia haunted by the sickest creatures imaginable: children in search of candy. With uniquely disturbed, violently apathetic characters and magnificent detail from the artist, this three-book series is great for a brutal laugh or just some other-worldy nostalgia.
2. Blood - The Last Vampire (anime): This is NOT Blood+; this is shorter and faaaaar more ambiguious. It's also violent as hell and just as scary. (The bishōjo-tone of the series is butchered here for the sake of making the monsters as menacing as possible.) This was the only anime to ever have a fight scene to a brass band playing in the background, and I'm sad that the trend never caught on. Begins with blood and ends with fire; what else is going to pump you up for wandering the neighborhood after dark?
3. Silent Hill (PS1): The classic start to the deeply disturbing series of video games about a Lovecraftian world that haunts and torments the people inside with the reincarnated demons from their own twisted lives. Unlike Resident Evil (that glorious horror-survivor), Silent Hill is about helpless believable people with few clues and even fewer weapons. The gloomy, cold fog, the iron gates, the fire rising from below, and mutha-f*&%ing Pyramid Head. Halloween is only complete once you've survived the demons that inhabit Silent Hill.

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Phreak

1. Clive Barker's Jericho (Xbox 360): I always believed that something was very wrong with Clive Barker, and with this game's release I found out that I was totally correct. Only "The Barker" could come up with a storyline filled with evil and religion, all intertwined to blur the line between good and evil while making us think, "could even God make a mistake?" The A.I. is about as intuitive as being shown around the Alaskan wilderness by a dumb, deaf, & blind man, but the atmosphere is dark, brooding, and bloody.
2. The Suffering 1 & 2 (PS2): The Suffering follows a character named Torque, whose twisted fate is primarily shaped by decisions that the player actually makes. These games were one of my first introductions to good vs. evil decision-making, as they present players with moral choices between killing and helping other people. Again, the atmosphere – a strange prison swallowed by hate and evil – really made this game worth it for me.
3. Candyman Trilogy (movies): Starting to see a pattern here? Yes, I love Clive Barker. He has a twisted mind that he manages to show us in vivid detail through his written word. The transition from book (in this case it was a short story) to movie tends to dilute the original's flavor, but with Candyman, this was not the case. They couldn't have picked a better Candyman; Tony Todd's voice and build are perfect for the character. The line "Believe in me.. Be my victim.." Fantastic! I always thought that staring into a mirror and saying some name a certain amount of times was all B.S., but after Candyman I seriously didn't look in a mirror again for 6 months.

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Vampt Vo

1. Boogiepop Phantom (anime): When people think Japanese horror, live-action films like Ringu and Ju-on jump to mind, but Boogiepop Phantom is one of the many under-appreciated gems in the anime horror genre. The first few episodes revolve around people with subtle mental problems and their encounters with the mysterious entity Boogiepop. As the show goes on, its vision into the blackest heart of humanity manages to terrify without gruesome monsters or ageless curses.
2. The Legend of Zelda - Majora's Mask (N64): Alright, so maybe it's not overtly scary, but Majora's Mask is easily the darkest Zelda game ever made, with its theme of imminent, moon-induced destruction and its disturbing, childishly sinister villain. And what's more, it's got a whole slew of masks for Link to wear! So if you're not up for dressing up yourself this Saturday, why not play dress up with everybody's favorite sword-toting Nintendo hero?
3. Vampire Hunter D (novel): Hideyuki Kikuchi's original novel is all about one of the most terrifying of the night's creatures: vampires. The titular protagonist D is a half-vampire hired by a young woman to protect her and kill the vampire who bit her, thereby freeing her from his curse. The story is filled with tense fantasy storytelling and some surprisingly high-octane action scenes. Kevin Leahy's translation is a little awkward, but it's still a fun, quick read.

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That's it for us! What are your favorite Halloween anime, games, movies, and books?

Today we've got a very special New Staff Welcome, in that it is welcoming not one, but two new members of the illustrious Ani-Gamers writing staff. Chris "Kuro" Colalella is a writer with a passion for all things geeky who brings experience on an online anime/gaming radio show to his reviews. Who knows, maybe you'll hear him on the Ani-Gamers Podcast sometime soon...

Josh "Phreak" Christoffers, on the other hand, is an unlikely combination of hip-hop and otakudom, resulting in an angry, angry man with a love for anime and video games who will be bringing us both news and reviews.

What are you waiting for? Let's give our new bloggers a warm welcome!

I'd like to introduce everybody to our newest member of the team here at Ani-Gamers. Dorian "Ra1don" Bogdanovski is an Xbox 360 and PC gamer with a particular interest in indie games, so he will provide his perspective on the gaming market through occasional video game reviews. He's also a casual anime fan, but we're confident that our collective obsession with the medium will turn him fully to the dark side soon enough.

My other big announcement is that Karl "Uncle Yo" Custer, formerly a contributing anime reviewer here at Ani-Gamers, will now be our Anime Reviews Editor. In this position, he will continue writing his fantastic (and funny) anime reviews while performing some editing functions for reviews written by other Ani-Gamers staffers. Congratulations, Karl!

EDIT: Okay, so I spelled his alias wrong. Blame l33t.

Joining us today is a brand new member of the Ani-Gamers team. Wasted Ink, better known simply as "Ink," runs his own personal site featuring poetry and artwork, and he will be bringing his literary critique of anime and games to our blog. Expect anime and video game reviews, as well as a new column examining the literary merit behind various shows, games, and movies.