Persona what?

That's right, Persona 4 is out.

You might be wondering what exactly I am talking about. But if you aren't, I congratulate you, for you Sir, are a gentleman and a gamer. I have played many RPG's in my lifespan and I will cram many more down before I make that fatal judgment error that will see me go out in style, but none are quite like the Persona series. 

Persona 3 was one of the best RPG games out of the East in the last couple years. It is difficult to describe without making it sound a little bit cheesy and cheap. It is one of those gems, in the same vein as Yakuza, that shouldn't really work that well but are able to simply pull it off through sheer style and narrative. You played as a high schooler that had to navigate the intricacies of social relationships. Sounds boring, right? 

That is before I told you that you had to navigate your school during the dark time that occurred at the stroke of midnight and had you slaying monsters by evoking your persona. Persona that could only be evoked by planting a soul gun to your head and pulling the trigger. A process that had you watch fascinated as pieces of your soul sprayed forth from the exit wound and were followed by a short silence, the thought, I can't believe they just did that, and the exclamation sweeeeeet!  

Well the sequel has arrived. The guns are reportedly gone but I'm not too sad, although I will miss them, as the narrative promises to be just a strong. A more in-depth analysis on how good this game is when I get my hands on it.

Also, just needed to say this, each character in the game had a different way of gripping their gun before committing soul suicide. Its attention to little things like this that truly make a game shine. 

PS3, Slow but Steady?

I hold no particular console company above the others. I judge the merit of a console based upon what exclusives they have, and how well their system performs. Until recently the Xbox 360 was winning the console war in an overwhelming manner. I am not implying this in a financial sense but purely based on quality. It is generally known that Nintendo has hit the gold mine with their console, but in all honesty, it kinda sux. Sure the DS is a great handheld and is definitely worth its pricey tag however the Wii is performing astronomically well, despite the fact that it has very few quality games. I am getting off topic, a Wii bashing post, with relevant figures will be done some other time. The thing I am starting to ask myself is, if the PS3 is beginning to gain ground. 

Up until recently the PS3 has had very few exclusives, thus diminishing the point of buying the most expensive console on the market. Their online has effectively been bashed by critics as being backward and unimpressive and their sales figures have been pretty abysmal. However 2009 looks to be a fairly good year for the PS3 as it announces a fair amount of exclusives and sees advancements in its online services. Games such as; Drake's Fortune 2, Heavy Rain, Yakuza 3 (the modern yakuza version) are all being presented solely on the PS3. The victory of Blu-Ray as the future media format further benefits the PS3 as a console, furthermore the greater quality in its manufacturing processes guarantees a greater degree of reliability.

The PS3 still needs to make significant headway to even pace the Xbox 360, however it is worth keeping an eye on it as it isn't the total failure some believe it to be. 

Countries for Dummies

I've decided to personify every country.

 

All countries share certain characteristics and act in a certain manner. This makes it possible to identify what they do with certain social stereotypes. This series of posts will examine countries and attempt to classify them into one of those stereotypes. These posts will (frequently) be negative, but then, so are most stereotypes.

(Disclaimer; These posts are highly subjective and are prone to change. These posts refer to the government and don't include the general population, unless their government has been chosen in an open and fair democracy)

The World Game

The world is a bit like a room with a buffet table in the middle. Countries with power are able to freely pick at what they want, gorging themselves at the expense of others. Nations carve out an area and attempt to hold it at all costs. Countries converse frequently and trade amongst each other in an attempt to outwit the other and obtain more resources. The general idea is to consume the most resources and become the fattest possible. Most countries have some sort of weapon to ensure personal safety or to be used as a tool of aggression.

(Edit: The following series of posts will not go forward at this time. Snap judgements of dire situations seems too callous to me at the present time. Perhaps when I have become more of a bitter cynic these posts will commence.)

Potato?

A man has said that he has farmed/grown the worlds largest potato. A picture of this thing is shown below.

But is this really a potato? It's like no potato I've ever seen. Could it be something more sinister? The worlds largest alien spider egg sac maybe.

I can only imagine some monstrous creature developing inside it as I write this and wonder if others have considered the possibility. In all seriousness though, that has gotta be the ugliest potato I have ever seen.

Siiigh. I've gotta stop posting while in the library.

Kiss of Deaf

Apparently kissing is more dangerous then previously thought. Not only can it lead to the transmission of deadly diseases but also to loss of hearing. According to local reports from China, a 20 year old something (as quoted from the article) lost her hearing following an impassioned kiss from her boyfriend.

The "doctor" said "The kiss reduced the pressure in the mouth, pulled the eardrum out and caused the breakdown of the ear." Really? What was the guy doing? Trying to suck out her soul.

This incident has prompted the notoriously reliable China Daily to write "While kissing is normally very safe, doctors advise people to proceed with caution,"

I think we've all learned something very valuable from this incident. Love hurts. Be safe, don't risk it.

Overlooked Game 1

This series of posts will be examining the games that were/are ace, but overlooked by the general public.

Severance

Oh, this game was bad ass. It came out around 2001 and was a 3-d fight-fantasy-gore-fest. But not the kind of gore that makes you slightly disgusted, the kind of gore that has you shouting in glee while you hack your enemies to pieces. Now to put this in context it should be said that this was around the time Baldur's Gate 2 had come out. The graphics were simply mind - blowing. Full 3d animations with real-time combat and a great uhh..... story. Okay the story was pretty non-existent, but when someone like me doesn't really notice, it means the game is so kick ass that it doesn't need one.

You could play as one of four classes; Barbarian, Knight, Dwarf (Yup, it was a class) and Amazon (Yup, you were a girl). After introducing some semblance of a plot you were unleashed upon your enemies. The barbarian came out swinging, butchering his foes before they could organise any semblance of defense. The knight had you escaping from a dungeon and fighting crafty with sword and shield. The dwarf .........never played him. The amazon.......was boring. I would like to state that I am not racist or sexist in real life, but when playing games, women have one role, captured and awaiting rescue. As for dwarfs, well they are okay for npcs but ummm I like looking my enemy in the eye, rather than at their groin.

The game play was glorious. By current standards the movement is fairly clunky and complicated, but at the time it was pretty good. You could attack freely however, when in the vicinity of an enemy, you were able to lock on and make combat more fluid. The combat is where the game really shone. When you engaged an enemy you could perform a variety of directional attacks; overhead cut, diagonal cut, thrust and roundhouse slash. These could be strung together to create a series of combos. Imagine, if you will, a frantic duel with both combatants parrying and cutting furiously. The fighters are covered with a variety of cuts, slowing their movements while sapping their strength. The barbarian lets out a furious howl throwing his opponent off guard while dealing a furious backhand blow removing the creatures head from its body in a shower of blood.

Check the link (Really, you gotta see this)
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_qZ2_C42IfQ&NR=1

This was the sensation when entering combat and overcoming foes that tested your skills to the very limits. That is not to say that all the fighting was difficult as there are plenty of weak enemies to build your skill level. However once you pass a certain point in the game you have to be prepared to grind your teeth and prepare yourself for some tough times ahead.

I know that my experience of this game is coloured by my memories, and perhaps it is not quite as amazing as I remember it. However, if you are able to get your hands on this game and make it operable on our current software, you just have to give me a call cause I WANNA PLAY IT AGAIN!!!

Yakuza Update 1

The origin of the name Yakuza is obscure, but it is popularly believed to originate from the lowest hand of hanafuda, a popular card game.
8 (ya)
9 (ku)
3 (za)

· Yakuza are sometimes called “hachi-kyu-san”
 
· Their activities include Blackmail, Illegal gambling, Casinos, Prostitution and Smuggling

· Thought to be one of the largest organised crime organisations in the world.
 


Yamaguchi - Gumi
Largest Yakuza Family

Career?

What exactly do I want to do with my life? This question has come up frequently for the past 5 years. I have tried to answer, but it is inevitably buried beneath current commitments and an inability to find a suitable resolution to the dilemma that it poses. I think that I have narrowed in on an industry that appeals to me, journalism.

However the spectrum of jobs contained in that field is still very broad. I can safely say that I have little interest in lifestyle magazines and none in gossip journalism. I find myself attracted to the idea of a career in foreign correspondence covering conflict zones. But why? Well I love travelling and am a little bit of a risk taker. I enjoy analysing and writing about events and find myself interested in the world’s situation and the global issues we face today. I also hunger for adventure and trials that will push me to my limits, physically and emotionally. I however have a distinct worry about this path of life.

Recently a friend wrote about a journal article in which the author described the tragic and horrible situation occurring in the Congo, in regards to the current administration, with undertones of comedy. The impassioned post largely condemned the article and its author for their lack of respect for the people undergoing the suffering that is being caused. I understand where my friend is coming from and how the article came off to be callous and offensive. I am not going to try and defend the authors point of view because I simply do not know enough about the issue, however I must say that part of me realizes that this article was probably published by somebody who did not intend to cause offense, but was simply the result of somebody that has seen things like this for far too long and is no longer able to identify with them on a personal level.

I've done some reading recently about wartime reporting and some of the actions taken by journalists that, from the outside, seem monstrous. One incident involved a BBC journalist pausing an execution because the sound gear wasn't working. The condemned man had to wait while they fixed it. In another Martin Fletcher has his cameraman film a child while it is dying of starvation because it would make a touching story. The last thing the child saw for the last four hours of her life was a giant lens.

I do not condemn these men for doing their job and obtaining shocking footage. Ultimately they desire to do more good than harm with their work; at least I hope this is the case. At the same time it is possible to see that these men suffer soul wrenching choices everyday and don't leave without scars. I do not judge them for their actions but neither do I pity them for the life they have freely chosen. My question is whether or not I want to pursue a life such as theirs. I must state that, for me, life has no ultimate meaning and although I am not a passionate atheist I have significant doubts about the presence of the so-called almighty. I do not know where my life will lead me, nor what I will become, but I hope as Shakespeare put it "This above all; to thine own self be true".

A Beginning

I have finally taken the step and can only hope that I keep walking. I have decided to begin a blog about pretty much anything that circles my mind. This blog will encompass anything from game reviews to internal philosophical debates. I will also hopefully record my future numerous adventures. I am aware that essentially everyone has a blog and am not hoping for an extensive reader base, but I will be content that the pair of readers I have examining my work cover a fair amount of intellectual ground and I would appreciate any constructive criticism (JoJo and Sir Felicitous).

Let the blogging begin.