Avril Mc Kinley

Considering this game centers around discovering the identity of a serial killer with a rather unorthodox killing method, you might wonder why I’d use the word light hearted to describe this game? Well compared to the previous game Persona 3, this game remains light hearted and fun in it’s direction and pacing despite the rather gloomy premise. It’s also possible to get a happy ending if you work hard enough compared to the third game which was highly satisfying but bittersweet.

Wikipedia summary:Persona 4 takes place in the fictional, rural Japanese town of Inaba, which lies among floodplains and has its own high school and shopping districts. Unexplained murders have taken place in the small town, where bodies are found dangling among television antennas and their cause of death unknown. At the same time, rumor has begun to spread that watching a switched-off television set on rainy midnights will reveal a person’s soulmate. Following the rumor, a group of high-school students discovered a fog-shrouded world accessed through television sets infested with monsters called Shadows. They also discovered each of their Shadow Selves, symbolizing their suppressed personalities. Confronting their Shadow Selves awakened their ability to summon beings known as Personas. Using Personas, the students form an Investigation Team to investigate the connection between the TV world and the murders, and possibly capture the culprit.

The social links are back once again in this game and the love interests feel a bit more real this time around. The dungeon designs are suited to each victim and which can be scary or hilarious depending on how you look at it. The countryside setting is a nice change and there’s a cameo from Persona 3 too.

This was a really good film! Great direction and pacing and the casting was really well done, particularly the actors for Katniss and Rue who I felt outshone everybody. I haven’t read the books yet so I can’t comment on how faithful it was but purely as a standalone film thought it was brilliant.

After watching my fiancee play bits and pieces of this game, I couldn’t resist and decded to try it out for myself. I’m a big fan of sci fi games but the best ones tend to be shooter games which I am horrendous at! Seriously, I panick easily and can’t aim to save my life (although i’m on Mass Effect 3 now, so I’ve gotten a bit better). Luckily this game has three things that saved me:

a) Auto targeting powers that I can throw from a distance.
b) Team mates to pick p the slack
c) An easy/casual mode for people who play for the story.

The story is why I wanted to play it. The graphics are gorgeous and the characters are likeable and feel very real. Politicians are realistic too in the fact that no matter what I do, their all a pain in the ass constantly getting in my way.

The big thing about Mass Effect is that the choices you make affect you through the entire saga o think hard because you WILL have to face the consequences. People can and will die, even you as the main character can die at the end of the 2nd game.

The details of the universe Bioware created is another unique appeal. Conversations take place around you with NPCs (Non Playable Characters), news reports and advertisements are broadcast and your team mates will converse with each other giving a real fullness to the game.

This game originally came out on the playstation 2 and while I actually own a copy of the original and got very close to the end, I bought and completed the series on the PSP. Why did I get the same game on a different console? Two reasons:

1) The game requires a lot of level grinding which is easier to do on a handheld console as you can whip it out whenever your out and about and have some time to kill and you don’t feel like your wasting solid free time.

2) They added in an option to play as a female protagonist.

Persona games are known for their awesome story and Persona 3 was the first game to introduce the concept of social links. There are certain characters with their own story lines within the game that you can help and get to know. This is optional, you can play through the entire game without them but for each relationship you max out, you get the option to summon a powerful persona.

This is also the first game where you’ve been able to play as a female protagonist. It’s always interesting when games differentiate their treatment of male and female characters and while the plot is basically the same, there were enough changes to make me feel like I was playing a girl.

Instances such as your male team mate Junpei responding more hostilely that a girl got the leader postion  over him and when getting close to Akihiko, he’ll ask you if you could avoid fighting, because he worries you’ll get hurt.

The female friendships are done really well and people I found annoying and irrational when they were my love interests, become fun and very likeable as my female friends.

Different operating systems require knowledge of  different programming languages:

iOS - Objective/Xcode
Windows - C#/Silverlight
Android - Java/C#/C++

Web Apps - HTML CSS and jQuery 

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You know, I moaned about having to come in during inter semester break especially as we had our dissertation draft hand in that same week but I’m glad I did. As with all projects, even if your confident you understand what’s expected of you, you should always go to the briefing. We got some pretty solid advice.

Here’s my short stack of notes:

The PDP is an essential part of the NMP with these two modules becoming almost fully integrated so don’t fall behind and update regularly. Try changing up the format of your posts such as audio recordings or video logs if you’d like.

Get concepts and ideas down on paper first. The outcomes will come later.

Create a problem (brief) to create a solution (design). Know who you are selling to, you demographic is vital.

Push your boundaries! Play to your strength but do not play it safe. Try and experiment, you have the time but don’t be complacent. Do your research and enjoy it. Give your work a narrative.

Know what you love, love what you do. 

Make yourself a timetable, set goals for each week. Keep a diary on hand and record all important dates or make/buy a wall planner to keep yourself right.

Think about how much you can learn in this amount of time that will get you ahead of the rest.

Do something ever day whether t’s for 2 minutes or 2 hours. Be consistent.

Deadline: 11th May at 3pm

Total number of weeks is 11 without Easter. Do not fall back on Easter to catch up on your work, you will not do it!

Pygame

Renpy

Love

http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/4288-10-mindblowing-augmented-reality-apps-and-videos

http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/3DS/Denpa+Ningen+RPG/news.asp?c=37402

Now that we’re finally into the 2nd semester, the timetable for professional contexts 3 becomes a little less predictable as we get to pick and choose what classes we go to each week. The list isn’t final as there are still classes that will be added to the schedule, but for now this is what I’m considering signing up for:

Monday 6th February

10.00-12.30pm: Alan Turing Project (Ideas)
1-2pm: Self Employment lecture

Monday 13th February

 Illustrator Recap and Advanced Techniques