Atlus

Upwards and Onwards

HIGH Using Deep Forest Lore the first time

LOW Getting stuck (twice) after falling for false in-game information.

WTF Four great games and this series is still largely unknown?

A Year in the Life of Horny, Magical Teenagers

HIGH The Mystery Gang mocking their own corny "Persona!" cries while plastered.

LOW Cut-and-paste dungeons.

WTF Marie's "poetry."

Old Friends Return in a Most Unexpected Fashion

HIGH Labrys' elegant, touching story.

LOW The white story text can sometimes be hard to read.

WTF I forgot how much I missed these characters until Arena reminded me.

First, a disclaimer—this is NOT a review. Just saying. So, Persona 4: Arena... like, WOW. As someone who wasn't really a fan of the BlazBlue fighting games, I wasn't overly excited about the thought of those devs taking one of the best Japanese role-playing games from the last decade (if not the last... ever) and making a fighting game out of it, but I just received a review copy and I've been playing it for the last few days.

Given the present dearth of strategy and role-playing games on the young Vita, exposure to some classic Atlus games couldn't come at a better time. I recently had a chance to play nine of these games for the first time on Vita and I came away from the experience realizing that, even if most of these games are ports of earlier releases, no one picks up on and supports unique properties the way Atlus does. This is the company that published oddball titles like Hammerin' Hero and Eggs of Steel, after all.

The Devil (Survivor) is in the Details

HIGH Fusing a kick-ass demon after 30 minutes of planning and multiple steps.

LOW The voice actress for Midori has as much appeal as listening to chalkboard scratching.

WTF So God imposed different languages on humanity as punishment for not living virtuously? Mind blown.

Playing video games can be a very expensive hobby and even more so for those of us who consider ourselves not only gamers, but also video game collectors who maintain a library of artistically interesting and historically noteworthy games. With limited disposable income, the average gamer can only purchase so many titles at full price per year. So with that in mind, this is a blog feature devoted to finding the best deals on gaming essentials for would be collectors and anyone looking to play a good game at an affordable price.

The Holy Grail of JRPGs Finally Comes to America

HIGH The game's story and characters are engaging and sure to hold players' interest.

LOW Battles can be very slow.

WTF How did they ever get away with calling the villain Joker? I guess no one told DC Comics...

He's Dreaming of Electric Sheep

HIGH: How Vincent finds out the antagonist's identity.

LOW: The cathedral bell won't stop ringing. EVER.

WTF: What the heck is the Stage 3 boss supposed to represent? No, wait, don't tell me.

Gamer moms and gamer dads, assemble! The mighty Aaron of the GameEnthus Podcast joins us for a lengthy conversation about the joys and challenges of integrating our parenting and gaming lives. How did we introduce games to our kids? How do we deal with M-rated content? How do we decide when to take the controller away? We also offer some unique kid's game recommendations you won't find anywhere else. Plus: Our take on a game your kids should definitely NOT play: Catherine. With Chi Kong Lui, Brad Gallaway, Mike Bracken, Richard Naik, and Tim "The Master Thespian" Spaeth.

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