From time-to-time I still have trouble convincing people that Japanese rock is the future of the music industry, so I get a big sigh of relief when I see that more and more American labels are signing these talented artists from the Land of the Rising Sun. This past Tuesday the folks over at Good Charamel Records (founded by by Robby Takac of The Goo Goo Dolls) released the I Love J-ROCK compilation album, featuring ten songs from five of Japan's top girl-fronted bands. Not all the songs on here are winners, though.

Finish what you started...

First things first: I loved the first Mafia game. Second I have been waiting a long time for this sequel to come out (I believe I found out about it back in 2007, so I was wondering why it took so long to get to this point.) But it's finally here, yet it seemed that 2K Games wasn't giving people the chance to really play the game before its release date. When the King and I were at the PAX East we were lucky to play the game, but of course we got screwed because it was at the end of the day of the convention, so we got kicked out before we could finish the demo.

Finish what you started...

Well here we go again with the crazed assholes that you hate to love.

Finish what you started...

I'll admit that I've been quite skeptical of the anime world, no thanks in part to the amount of drivel that I had to watch last year. In the beginning of the year I was "tricked" into watching Ladies VS Butlers, a show with no plotline, useless fan-service and a vast amount of drivel that would even make a zombie blow its own head off. When I first got wind of Maid Sama! (or Kaichou wa Maid-Sama! as it's known in Japan) I didn't feel like being swindled yet again to watch a series that, on the surface, looked as if it'd be another lame-ass attempt at doing moé shenanigans with little-to-no texture to it. What a surprise: I turned out to really like this show.

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Holy crap, Clarissa has gone CRAZY! (WARNING: MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!)

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Oh hell yeah, it can be Monday Night Combat at any time. The wait is finally over to play this sexy-ass game. It's fast-paced, brutal and all of the above if you can think of anything more gorgeous!

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Yamada is your average high school student. She's pretty, popular and strong-willed. Like every high school girl she has but one dream: to obtain a hundred sexual partners. Wait...what? That can't be right!

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Well hot damn, if it isn't one of my favorite TV shows turned into a video game!

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Holy crap, it's Hydro Thunder! Oh how I missed you. I remember all the days of sitting in the arcade tossing quarter after quarter into your machine. Along with jumping from that machine to it's brother game Rush, I was always feeding my need for speed and awesome racing. This is a game that doesn't bring back memories for everyone, but it sure gets me to say "Back in the day..." I'm sure glad that this game has come back, although it might be only available as a download.

Finish what you started...

It's sad to see a finely-written series meet their final destination, especially when it's Scott Pilgrim, whose adventures had been filled with video games, rock 'n' roll, ninjas, sexy girls with multi-colored hair and evil ex-boyfriends (and one evil ex-girlfriend). But Brian Lee O'Malley knew that all good things must come to an end, and with the final book Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour he makes sure to pull out all the stops and push its gigantic fanbase towards the conclusion that everyone was asking for.

Finish what you started...