Persona 4 - PS2

Well, I didn't think I would play this one so soon, but it was like opening up gifts on Christmas morning - I just couldn't wait. I played Persona 3: FES not too long ago, so the concepts of the game were still fresh in my mind. Turning on Persona 4 for the first time took me back to the end of the P3 in a rush as the animated intro started. The beginning the title theme is similar to the last score in P3. It was effortless continuity from 3 to 4. I started the game and I knew that this would be another 100 hour journey into the world of Shadows and Personas.

From the start, let me warn those that have never played these games that you don't get any control of the character until 90 minutes into the story. Lots and lots of story happens and you're not too sure when a battle will even begin. I'd say you don't fully get to a first battled until 2 hours and 15 minutes of the game. So please be patient! To me, it's like watching a movie, and I am loving it so far.

Similar to Persona 3, this chapter in the SMT world begins with a young man pondering through a train car's window. Pan to something ultra-violent, and then back to signal lights blinking and you have iconic Japanese Anime sequences. It's campy, but hey, it works. The young man is transferring from the big city to a small town of Inaba because his parents works overseas and they entrusted him to his uncle, who works as a detective in town. The young man quickly makes friends with Yosuke, an absentminded boy who works at the local electronics depot, and Chie, a super jubulent Kung-fu loving girl who is turning into one of my favorite female video-game character in recent memory. Now THAT was a geeky statement.

(Yosuke, someone who literally ran into you on the first day of school.) Let's talk about some differences between part 3 and part 4. First of all, the Dark Hour is gone. Instead, you can enter the world of Persona's through the TV department of the Junes building in the day time, usually after school. Secondly, during the dungeon stages, there is no longer just one giant Tartarus dungeon but instead sectioned off areas where you can delve into. After a battle ends, the way you attain Personas is different. The new lottery for cards causes a lot more eye strain. But there's a lot more. Thirdly, there are two more sections added to your personal status, putting it into five: Emotions, Knowledge, Courage, Diligence, and Expression. If that's not enough, you still have to level up your social links. So there is a lot to learn and a lot to do.

Igor, your guide into the Persona World.

Yukiko, another classmate of yours that is born and raised in Inaba. Her parents own an inn on the edge of town. It's where all the murders have started.

Google's Monopoly City Streets - Online

Well here goes another twenty hours wasted. Google introduced their Monopoly Streets game about two weeks ago and it has been a craze on the Internet. Like monopoly, the object of the game is to be richer than the next person. Buy streets, place houses, collect rent - these are still concepts in the game, but the big seller of the game is that these are REAL streets and you're competing with people from the entire globe!

I won't go in depth about how the game works, but the hardest part about the game is finding LONG streets so you can place as many buildings on them as the eyes and see (or the screen can stretch). You make money by collecting rent from the buildings and you can only collect rent once a day, so it's a strategy of how you use your money from day to day. Since the new rule is that every street after your first five, you will get taxed 3% of your net worth, it's advantageous to keep five or less streets. I tend to keep about eight streets, so I'm taxed about 9% every day, but I do like to know I have more streets available if people attack me. Attack, meaning people putting prisons and waste treatment plants on your street, which stops you from collecting rent.

But in any case, I started with my first street: Jackson Street in Oakland, California and started buying streets in Canada, Ohio, and even Chico, Ca. I wanted to buy some streets in Japan, but they were all taken. That's the fun of the game, you can be an absentee land-owner to real streets of the world. I never knew how many little mountain roads there are in California until I started playing the game.

Well with a little bit of math, a little know-how in geography, and a lot of effort in playing competitive games, I am finally in the TOP 10 of my local area, Alameda, California. Of course, I'm #10, but I still am proud. I'm level 5 (or 7), meaning I am worth $1,000,000,000 billion dollars. My goal is to reach level 7, then I'll call it quits. Until then, let the money bags roll in!