Games
Fantastic Four: 5 Villains Who Could Appear (Who Aren’t Doctor Doom) | Comic-Con 2022
The Fantastic Four are coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but who will the villain be in their first adventure? Don’t assume it’ll be Doctor Doom! Continue reading
Daily Deals: Get a Free Year of Switch Online When You Buy Select Switch Games
Everyone needs Switch Online, but no one likes to pay for it. Today, you can earn a free year of Nintendo’s online subscription service just by buying a Switch game at Best Buy from its supported list. Plus, if you’re dealing with a heat wave right now, check out the deal on a top-of-the-line fan from Dyson. And, the ASUS ROG STRIX GeForce RTX 3080 GPU, often considered the best RTX 3080 on the market, is on sale for under $800.
Free 12-month Nintendo Switch Online Subscription with Select Switch Games
If you want to play games like Mario Kart, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and more with your friends across the world, you’ll need a subscription to Nintendo Switch Online. Usually costing $19.99 a year for the cheapest option, today you can net yourself a free year of the service when you buy select Switch games at Best Buy. And, luckily, it’s some of the best games on the system, including Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Mario Party Superstars, and Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury. When you subscribe to Switch Online, you’ll get access to online play, as well as a library of classic NES and SNES games.
SanDisk Ultra PLUS 128GB microSDXC Card
Add 128 GB to your Switch, phone, or other MicroSD-supporting device for just $22.99 today. It also comes included with the microSD adapter, making it super easy to plug into your PC for transfer purposes. I’ve used SanDisk on my Nintendo Switch systems over the last five years and never had an issue. Plus, this brand is much cheaper than the official Nintendo-licensed SD cards.
WD_BLACK P10 External USB 5TB Game Drive For Xbox
Speaking of storage, how about adding a whopping 5 terabytes to your Xbox? This USB storage device from WD can back up all of your Xbox One library, and you can plug and play with your Xbox Series X or S. However, it’s worth noting that you can’t access Series X or S games from this hard drive, so this option is really the best for those looking to bring their Xbox One library to the next generation.
Dyson Pure Cool Purifying Fan
It’s hot, hot, hot, pretty much across the entire US right now. You’ll want to have plenty of fans around your home to keep cool. Fortunately, Dyson has a deal on its pure cool purifying fan today. This fan circulates air around the entire room that you put it in to help purify and cool you.
The Best of the Best: ASUS ROG STRIX GeForce RTX 3080 OC 12GB GPU for $799
The GeForce RTX 3080 GPU really doesn’t need any introduction. This is the de facto card to get if you plan to run current generation games at 4K, since it’s up to 50% faster than the previous generation RTX 2080 SUPER and doesn’t command the exorbitant price of the RTX 3080 Ti or RTX 3090 (both of which are a mere 3%-5% faster in real world performance). It has an HDMI 2.1 port for passing through 4K @ 120Hz, which it has the power to drive even in resource hungry games like Elden Ring, Battlefield 2042 or Cyberpunk 2077.
The ASUS ROG STRIX model is considered by many to be the very best RTX 3080 variant on the market. It’s usually hundreds of dollars more than the 3080 FE price. That’s in large part because of the incredible cooling potential of the massive 3-slot heatsink combined with the quietest triple fan cooling you’ll find on any RTX 3080. Despite the low noise levels, the ROG STRIX offers a significantly OC’ed 1890MHz boost clock compared o the stock 1710MHz boost on the 3080 FE. This model also comes with 12GB of GDDR6X VRAM instead of the 10GB of VRAM that comes standard and most other RTX 3080 GPUs.
EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 GPU Starting at $749.99
EVGA’s XC3 Ultra model is a “smaller” dual slot heatsink with triple fan cooling and a protective metal backplate. It has approximately similar dimensions as the 3080 FE, so it can fit in smaller or more restrictive cases. It boasts a modest 1755Hz Boost overclock compared ot the stock 1710MHz Boost on the 3080 FE.
EVGA’s FTW3 Ultra model comes equipped with a ridiculously large triple slot heatsink with triple fan cooling and a protective metal backplate. This amount of dissipation allows the card to run cooler and quieter than the reference model RTX 3080 FE. This also enables the FTW3 Ultra model to have a bit more aggressive 1800MHz Boost overclock. Lastly and certainly the least important detail, let’s not forget about the RGB lighting. There’s enough there to make this card stand out in both traditional and vertical orientations.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for 40 Bucks
It’s one of the best games of all time, and today it can be yours for just $40. If you still haven’t played Zelda: Breath of the Wild, what are you waiting for? Even five years after release, the price barely dips this low. While you wait for Breath of the Wild 2 to (hopefully) launch sometime next year, refresh yourself on the original groundbreaking open-world Zelda adventure.
Save on Skyward Sword HD for Nintendo Switch (Pre-Owned)
Skyward Sword came before Breath of the Wild, and while it’s not the same breathtaking adventure full of exploration, it’s still certainly worth your time. The HD Switch version makes motion controls optional, streamlines some annoying elements from the original, and gives the whole thing a nice fresh coat of paint. And did I mention you can get it for under $30 today?
Newest Apple TV 4K for $129.99
This isn’t exactly as cheap as Amazon Prime Day of $109, but it’s still $50 cheaper than MSRP and the best price you’ll probably see for a while. The newest Apple TV features two major upgrades. It boasts an A12 Bionic processor that boosts graphics performance, video decoding, and audio processing and delivers high frame rate HDR with Dolby Vision. It also includes a new Apple TV remote. The overall build quality is better than before, but the biggest enhancements are a 5-way clickpad, mute button, and dedicated power button that works for your TV, receiver, and Apple TV.
Razer Anzu Smart Glasses
These Razer smart glasses retail for a ridiculous $199.99. Fortunately, they’re on sale today for a much more reasonable price of $48.96. The Razer Anzu glasses comes with two types of interchangeable lenses; blue-light filtering lenses for PC use and polarized lenses for outdoor use. They also feature a built-in mic and bluetooth speaker for hands-free calling.
Lenovo Legion 5 Pro 16″ Intel Core i7-12700H Alder Lake RTX 3070 Gaming Laptop for $1599
Walmart is offering an outstanding deal on the new Lenovo Legion 5 Pro laptop that is also equipped with the 12th generation Intel Core i7 Alder Lake CPU and RTX 3070 GPU. The RTX 3070 GPU in this gaming laptop also has a TGP rating of 140W, and it performs as well as the MSI Crosshair on paper. In real world benchmarks, the Legion 5 Pro is one of the best performing gaming laptops on the market. It also looks more like a standard laptop, so you might want to pick this over the Crosshair if you’re not into the gamer aesthetic.
XPG S70 1TB M.2 SSD with Heatsink for $109.99
The XPG Gammix S70 Blade is the least expensive 1TB PS5 compatible SSD available right now. Just because it’s the cheapest doesn’t mean it’s the slowest. In fact, the S70 is actually one of the fastest SSDs available with transfer rates up to 7,400 MB/s. It’s on par with the likes of the WD Black SN850, the Samsung 980 Pro, or the Seagate Firecude 530. This is a PCIe Gen4 SSD that was pretty much released specifically for PS5 gamers in order to double or triple the storage capacity of their PS5 without limiting the speed. To make this deal even sweeter, it already comes with a very low-profile heatsink.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe + Free 12-Month Nintendo Switch Online Membership for $49.99 (or Animal Crossing: New Horizons for $50.99)
Nintendo Switch Online is automatically added to cart
Best Buy is offering a free Nintendo Switch Online 12-month individual membership when you purchase Super Mario Kart Deluxe 8 for $49.99. Alternatively, swap the game with Animal Crossing: New Horizons for $50.99. Nintendo Switch Online is required for online play in games like Super Mario Kart or Splatoon, downloading custom maps in Super Mario Maker 2, playing free retro SNES games, saving your game data to the cloud, and much more.
ASUS ROG STRIX GTX 1660 Ti Gaming PC
Walmart is offering this AMD Ryzen 5 3600X GTX 1660 Ti equipped gaming PC for only $799. The GTX 1660 Ti is still a very capable video card that can handle just about any game at 1080p resolution. You certainly won’t find a more powerful video card for this price.
New Apple AirPods Pro for $179.99
The current generation Apple AirPods Pro is one of the best sounding “truly wireless” earbuds you’ll find, especially at this price point. “Truly wireless” earbuds have no wires whatsoever; even the earbuds aren’t hardwired to each other. In addition to the excellent sound quality, the AirPods Pro is the only AirPods with active noise cancelling technology. That, combined with the inherent nature of in-ear earbuds, means that the AirPods Pro will provide better noise isolation than over-ear headphones like the Bose QuietComfort or the Sony WH1000XM5. If you’re thinking of getting a pair of new AirPods, we highly recommend jumping on this particular model.
Dell S2721DGF 27″ 1440p GSYNC Gaming Monitor
This excellent monitor has hit a new price low for Black Friday. It’s one of the best 27″ gaming monitors you can buy for under $500. The S2721DGF boasts a high quality IPS panel (better than the VA panel found on the popular S3220DGF model). It features wide viewing angles and excellent color rendition including 98% DCI-P3 color coverage, a super fast 1ms response time and up to 165Hz refresh rate through the DisplayPort. It’s also FreeSync Premium Pro and G-SYNC compatible.
The 10 Most Underrated Anime to Spice Up Your To Watch List
There’s never been a better time to be an anime fan than right now. We’re living through an age where brilliant Japanese animation has become more accessible than ever. Thanks to streamers like Crunchyroll, Funimation, and Netflix, we’re inundated with incredible anime to watch.
The downside of that is you’ve probably already gone through all the best anime of all time like Akira, Sailor Moon, and Dragon Ball Z, along with contemporary hits like Attack on Titan, Ranking of Kings, One Punch Man, and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. So we’re here to deliver on some of the more underrated, and in some cases, criminally underseen anime that we love. There’s kaiju, a smash-hit series spinoff you might have missed, some cult comedy, and even a couple of unreal anime anthologies featuring shorts from your favorite directors.
10. Godzilla Singular Point
Where to watch: Netflix
While there are three canon Godzilla anime movies available on Netflix right now, we’re spotlighting their extremely rad kaiju adventure series Godzilla Singular Point. The action takes place in Japan, 2030. A strange radio broadcast brings together a ragtag group of kids who — along with one of their creations: Jet Jaguar — begin to uncover a hidden world of monsters. Featuring many of the most famous Toho kaiju alongside the titular fan fave creature, this is an awesome sci-fi romp which will delight both new and old fans of Godzilla, king of the monsters.
9. Super Crooks
Where to watch: Netflix
This Netflix anime series went a little under the radar when it was released in 2021, perhaps because of its unexpected origin working as both a prequel and adaptation of a Jupiter’s Legacy spinoff comic. Far better than Netflix’s live action take on that Mark Millar and Frank Quitely comic, Millar and Lenil Yu’s Super Crooks delivers a slick Ocean’s Eleven style heist story. But instead of the charming underdogs of that story, our thieves are some of the world’s most diabolical supervillains. Led by Johnny Bolt, a wannabe superhero turned supervillain, the crew gets into all kinds of criminal shenanigans, slowly finding their footing in the world of both super-villainy and super-thievery.
Read our review of Super Crooks.
8. Mermaid’s Scar
Based on Rumiko Takahashi’s evocative Mermaid Saga manga series, this romance anime horror story is inspired by Japanese mermaid folklore. In those legends, anyone who eats the flesh of a mermaid gains the gift (or curse) of immortal life. There’s a flip side, though. Not everyone who eats it keeps their human form. More often than not, they become monsters. Mermaid’s Scar follows Yuta and Mana, two wanderers who have their own connection to the mermaids. Their quiet yet tortured lives are thrown into disarray arrive in a new town where they hear rumors of an unexpected person who may have consumed the magical flesh. All in all, there’s nothing quite like Mermaid’s Scar.
7. Summer Wars
Where to watch: Funimation
The legendary director Mamoru Hosoda followed up his beloved sci-fi romance The Girl Who Leapt Through Time with this refreshing 2009 tale of a malicious artificial intelligence and the high school student who has to stop it wreaking havoc on the world. Blending the slice of life reality of growing up with exhilaratingly rendered online action, we follow Kenji as he tries to halt Love Machine, the sentient computer virus he accidentally unleashed. This is a uniquely entertaining and original take on the teen movie driven by groundbreaking animation.
6. Welcome to the N-H-K
Where to watch: Funimation
Living his life as a near shut-in, Satou has become a hikikomori. His days are defined by the walls of his tiny apartment and his overwhelming belief in a conspiracy that a nefarious organization called the N-H-K (Japan’s public television station) is behind his struggles. Luckily, he meets a beautiful girl named Misaki, who makes him sign a contract to learn how to live in the outside world. Things take an even stranger turn when an old high school acquaintance moves into the apartment next door. Welcome to the N-H-K is a true tragicomedy masterpiece!
5. Thus Spoke Kishebe Rohan
Where to watch: Netflix
It’s hard to put into words just how fun this JoJo’s Bizarre Adventures spinoff is. In case you’re not caught up, Rohan is a stylish mangaka first introduced in Jojo’s third season, Diamond is Unbreakable. Thus Spoke Kishebe Rohan takes him out of that sprawling series and thrusts him into a nightmarish world of horror. Each of Rohan’s tales is darkly hilarious and features unique takes on classical horror tropes. At the heart of it is the over the top cartoonist and his iconic fashion sense. The only problem with this show is it needs more episodes!
4. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Where to watch: Funimation
Funny, sweet, and silly, this constantly evolving adaptation of the light novels of the same name is a show unlike any other. It follows the titular first year high school student who wishes for more weirdness in her life. Our in-character is Kyon, who finds himself reluctantly roped into a web of madness when he’s seated next to Suzumiya on the first day of class. Together they found a club called the SOS Brigade to search out aliens, espers, and time travelers at their school and beyond. Unbeknownst to Haruhi and Kyon, all three of the supernatural folks are closer than they think and they’re all very interested in Haruhi…
3. Robot Carnival
Where to watch: Prime Video
This lost gem has one of the most epic opening sequences of all time as the titular robot carnival comes to town. From there this predominantly dialogue-free anthology delivers wonderfully animated takes on Frankenstein, a City Pop style cyborg romance, the evolution of man, and more. This is a true masterpiece of finesse and experimentation, offering every viewer something to chew on. With stories written by Katshuhiro Otomo and music by Studio Ghibli icon Joe Hisaishi, this is an absolute treat that’ll expand your expectations of anime.
2. Welcome to the Space Show
Where to watch: Prime Video
One of the best anime movies of the 2010s, Welcome to the Space Show takes a Studio Ghibli style narrative and flings it into the wilds of space with a psychedelic visual flare. A group of elementary school students head to the forest to spend a few days in their empty schoolhouse. The beautiful and calm escape is a tradition, but their languorous days are disrupted when they find what seems to be an injured dog in the forest. After helping the pup heal, he reveals his true nature: a space-traversing alien who takes them on a journey of a lifetime in this joyous feature.
1. Memories, “Magnetic Rose”
Where to watch: Tubi
This cult anime anthology features three sci-fi stories from the minds of two of the greatest directors of all time: Satoshi Kon and Katsuhiro Otomo. While the whole movie is worth a watch, the true standout is Magnetic Rose. Directed by Kōji Morimoto based on a screenplay and story by Kon and Otomo respectively, it’s one of the most atmospheric and beautiful space set stories we’ve ever seen. A spaceship, the Corona, responds to a distress call deep in the cosmos. On arrival they find a gorgeously ornate yet distressingly abandoned space station. Its halls are haunted by memories of its previous owners, but that’s not all that resides there. Creepy, stunningly animated, and sparking off a wonderful anthology, Magnetic Rose worth a watch.
What other underrated anime movies and shows have flown under the radar? Tell us in the comments below!
The Best Trailers From San Diego Comic-Con 2022
IGN has you covered with all the best trailers released during San Diego Comic-Con 2022, including a first look at Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, a deep dive into Gotham Knights’ Batgirl, a new trailer for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, and more. Continue reading
Best Xbox Series Controller 2022
There’s a bevy of controller options for the Xbox Series X/S and here are the best ones to use. Continue reading