• Twitter PR: Fabulous and easy to get presentation without sounding dumbed-down. I’d love to take Corrine Weisgerber’s social media PR class.
• Social media will not kill PR, but it does expose industry weaknesses.
• What’s Your Least Favorite Part of Freelance Writing? Mine: Phone interviews.
• Your First Steps to Becoming a Writer: Mine was submitting an article in a newsletter contest. Today — I suggest blogging and contributing articles to article sites, blogs, and non-profit organizations.
• PR Pap of the Day: Funny, but serious.
• Do You Know Your Style Guides? Some, yes. Some, no. Most familiar with AP and Harvard styles.
• Dumb Things Small Businesses Do That You Can’t Afford: One is the worst number.
• 10 Tips on Querying Magazines and Websites.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• 911 is serious business, but these callers abuse the service. 911callers posts recordings of legitimate calls and wacky calls as a lesson in what to do and not to when calling 911.
• delivr: Create free ecards from thousands of photos.
• Old-school Nintendo game done in paper.
• Smub.it instead of use URL shortening services.
• Argh! Guess Your Number figures out my number [Thanks, Steve].
• One Sentence: True stories in one sentence. Funny stuff. Steve’s fault, too.
• Guitar Hero by bike. Hot damn! [Link: Jason]
• Top 5 Black Friday Shopping Tips.

• The economy can’t be down games as video games immune to US slowdown. W00t!
• Video game sales soar in March. W00t again!
• EA extends deadline for Take-Two tender offer, lowers price
• Build your own MAME cabinet.
• The World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies: Microsoft beats Nintendo and Sony. This stinks. What you think?

My husband treated himself (OK, so the rest of us like it, too) to an arcade game… the real thing. It has 42 games from the ’80s, much of what you’ll find on 1980 games.

Emulators make it possible for these games to make a return. Just be prepared… the graphics aren’t what we’re used to from today’s games.

I recommend those at work not to go to the site. It has a reference to adult games. While it’s just a link, the image shows a woman — not exactly something you want a passerby to see. Besides, why are you playing games at work?

Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney, returns for this third series with five new cases where players portray Mia Fey, Wright’s mentor from a past case involving Phoenix. Those who haven’t played the first two series can start with this one without any confusion. Of course, some scenes will have more meaning to those playing the first two in the series. Whether new players will like Phoenix Wright depends on how they feel about interactive stories that require lots of reading.

Each story comes into two parts: The investigation and the trial. During the investigation, players examine scenes, interview characters, move to different locations, and present evidence to prove a point. The stories last for a long time giving players a chance to thoroughly learn a case and pick it apart during the trial to help your client.

The game grows tedious with all the dialogue, but players can’t help but want to reach the truth and get an innocent client off the hook especially since it requires thinking to take the right actions. Object at the wrong time or present the incorrect evidence, and lose points with the judge. When the “health” meter runs out, the judge proclaims your client guilty and the game ends.

The screen shakes whenever a character turns flustered, and this gets very old after a few times. It doesn’t matter if the character feels stressed, mad, aggravated or anxious — shake, shake, shake… enough, enough, enough.

Another frustration point is the constant repetition of scenes when you take the wrong step or missed one. Though you can save the game, there are times when saving won’t make a difference or can’t be sure where to save the game. However, what else can the game do or else it becomes too easy? It might help to let players decide if they want to repeat questioning, present different evidence, or replay a specific section.

On the other hand, the game saves you plenty of work as it automatically enters items into evidence once they enter the story. This doesn’t make the game easy at all as some evidence needs presenting at some point to gain more information as a court record before going to trial. A court record reveals more insight into evidence. You might come across an ID badge, but won’t understand its significance until you present it to someone who can offer more details. The game set up makes it possible for players to focus on figuring out the meaning of the evidence and piecing together the story.

When it comes trial time, every witness presents testimony and then you — as Phoenix Wright or Mia Fey — conducts cross-examinations to discover gaps and lies. During the cross-examination, the witness will repeat each line — one-by-one — to give you a chance to object, press for more information, present evidence that contradicts the witness’ statement, or let it go. A standard statement appears with each response, such as “Hold it!” when pressing or “Take that!” when presenting evidence. This also adds to the tediousness of the game. You can also use your voice in objections, but it’s not required — thankfully. A person with imperfect speech — like this writer — might struggle to be heard correctly.

Two spirit healers accompany Phoenix. One is Maya, Mia Fey’s younger sister, and the other is Pearl Fey, their cousin. Pearl easily gets on your nerves like a kid sister while Maya’s immaturity can grate at times. Nevertheless, the girls have good moments when they come shining through. This says a lot about the game’s characters and their uniqueness. It would help to have another likeable character or two — like Mia Fey — that don’t annoy players in the next edition.

Since Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations involves logical thinking and a good eye, it should attract players who prefer Nintendo’s Touch! Generation games such as Big Brain Academy, Picross DS, and Touchmaster. Like those, this one is easy to learn and use especially since a tutorial helps players get familiar with the interface.

Using sharp anime-style images and animation, the game presents everything with a first person perspective making players feel part of the action. After successfully winning all five cases, there may be little motivation to play the cases again. Thankfully, they last a long time making the game worth its value. Though Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations receives a few objections over its annoyances, it’s guilty of being entertaining, humorous, and getting players to use their brains. Those who want to be lawyers someday or watch TV shows like Perry Mason, Matlock, Boston Legal, or Law and Order will enjoy the playing the role without cracking open a law book.

The ESRB rating for this game is T (Teen) for Mild Blood, Mild Violence.

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Series

• Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney
• Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Justice for All
• Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations

I believe it’s true that exercising your brain keeps your mind sharp. Here are 8 ways to exercise your brain. Nintendo has released a handful of excellent games for its Gameboy DS that attract the Baby Boomers. Thanks to games like Brain Age and Big Brain Academy, my mom who never got into video games, asked for a Gameboy DS! Poor Mom, Nintendo released the lite not long after Mother’s Day when she received her DS.

Nintendo notes these games with an orange G. These reference Touch Generations brand for nontraditional games. These attract Baby Boomers, seniors and folks like me who enjoy puzzles and challenges. Certainly, children can play them, but they often prefer the traditional games. The strategy paid off.

Though I don’t have much time for games, I hope to get my own DS. My son (Happy Birthday) has a DS, but it’s gross as kids have sticky hands and don’t care about keeping gadgets clean. I’m waiting to see if Nintendo plans to release the larger screen of the DS (it’s getting frustrating to see the company keep rolling out variations of the DS: first one, lite and now maybe larger screens — the company hasn’t confirmed).

The article also mentioned Happy Neurons, but I was disappointed to see it’s a service — not something you can download and play whenever. Services don’t work for all of us and they drain our pocketbooks. I emailed the company asking about the possibility of download programs. Hey, maybe Nintendo could turn these games into a Touch Generations game. [ Link: Lifehack.org ]

This Is Broken looks at KFC’s ad for its “NEW! KFC famous bowls.” The submitter correctly points out that you can’t be “new” and “famous” at the same time. One reader says games can become famous before they ever hit the market. True. Look at Nintendo’s Brain Age and Big Brain Academy. My mom was clamoring for the Nintendo DS and the two games just because she read about them months before their release.

Sorry, KFC, bowls don’t get that kind of advance press to earn “famous” in their names.