Wanna Be a Lawyer? Try Apollo Justice!

Okay, this game came out quite some time back in 2008, but I only managed to get hold of the game recently. Glad I wasn't too late.


"Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney" is the fourth game in the Ace Attorney Series, and basically you act as a lawyer to help exonerate your innocent defendants from their crimes.

Be warned though, if you have not played the last three installments, PLEASE don't try this game first as it may be a bit tough for beginners. Yes, even the first case, as I felt that it's too hard for a novice.

Other than the "Press" and "Present" features that were already present in the first game, many new features have been included since then. Just in case you are already lost here, this is what the terms mean:

"Press" (right) -- To press is to force more information out of the witness/defendants. They may have left out some of these info during their original testimonies and doing this will shed more light on the case and give players more details. You will shout "Hold It!" in an event of pressing for info.

"Present" -- To present is to catch the contradiction in the witnesses'/defendant's via the help of evidence in the court records.

So I was speaking of the new features in the game. Since the first game, where we have the basic two functions, I present to you these features...

1."Psyche-lock" -- Oh, this. One feature that I hate. Sometimes, people hide evidence from you, so you will be able to detect the person is lying. They will be surrounded with locks like this:

With the help of evidence, you will have to break the locks, so they will reveal the info they have been hiding from you. It gets very troublesome after a while, at least for me.

2."Perceive" -- I like this feature, and very much also. Perceive allows you to catch some unusual actions when the witness/defendant is saying his testmony. If the witness displays a nervous twitch, the player can press the "Perceive" button that is located where the bracelet icon was twice, causing Justice to yell "Gotcha!" Awesome stuff to hit the witnesses/ defendants if they are lying.

If you want to have a taste of how being a lawyer will be, I assure you that this is a very good game to have! Even though trials in real life are much scarier and complex, this isstill surreal enough for a game.

But like I have said before...
Novices to attempt this game at your own risk!!!

29 Jan 2011 -- Me vs The Green Hornet!

Yep, no mistake with the title.

Alif and I went to watch the much-anticipated "The Green Hornet" on Saturday.

And boy, we weren't disappointed.

I thought it was not a bad movie, although some parts were quite predictable. The jokes and the fighting scenes were more than enough to keep us entertained for the 2 hours in the cinema.

Anyway this is what the story is about:

Britt Reid (Seth Rogen) is the 28-year-old slacker and playboy son of widower James Reid, publisher of the newspaper The Daily Sentinel. All of a sudden, James is found dead from an allergic reaction to a bee sting. After the funeral, Britt fires the staff aside from his maid and Kato (Jay Chou), James' mechanic and a skilled martial artist.

Britt and Kato get drunk together and, upon agreeing that they both hated James, visit the graveyard to cut the head off James' memorial statue as revenge. Just then, they see a couple being mugged, and rescue them. But Britt and Kato are themselves mistaken by police for criminals and chased through the streets, but they manage to escape safely.

Britt convinces Kato to be crime-fighters who pose as criminals in order to infiltrate real criminals.

So that's the story. After watching the movie, I have learnt a couple of important things about mass media. In this case, it's newspapers we are talking about. The wrong use of media could lead to serious repercussions. Just ask Britt Reid. The first mistake he made? The use of the Daily Sentinel to publicise his rise as the Green Hornet. It eventually got himself into deep trouble (nearly getting killed) and also the loss of many innocent lives. And he almost made the same mistake again when his friend District Attorney Frank Scanlon tried to persuade him to downplay the crime rate in the city to help his career. Overhype of incidents and distortion of facts are two good examples mass media could be used in wrong ways. Should have used them in my GP test...

Another thing to note is that Jay Chou got pretty much screen time in his first English movie. I guess that's pretty good, as Asians were once treated as peripheral characters in the movies. The fact that Jay, as Kato gets as much screen time as Seth Rogen is comforting to see, as Asians are increasingly treated as equals in the movie industry.

Contrary to public view, Jay Chou actually speaks English pretty well! (Although there are times Alif and I couldn't really get what he was saying and we were left looking at each other, puzzled.) But good effort, Jay.

I think this is one good movie to watch, even if you are no Jay Chou fan. For those who are familiar with the original TV series, this should still be a good show to catch! :D

You Mean You Have No Small Change???

The first post of 2011! :D

But my first post is like more than 2 weeks due...

Anyway, I was shopping with my friend and I thought of helping my father exchange more money to HK currency since I am already outside. So I approached one of the money changers in the shopping mall.

Below is the conversation between me and the counter-assistant:

Me: Hi I would like to exchange for 1000 HK dollars.

Assistant: Um, that will be about $166 dollars. (then hands over a HK$1000 note)

Me: Um, do you only have big notes? Could I get smaller ones?

Assistant: We don't have small notes today.

Me: Uh, okay... not even 2 HK$500 notes?

Assistant: No. Only a HK$1000 note.

Me: Oh, ok thanks. I'll look elsewhere. (then walks away)

My friend then asked me why I had the weird expression when I returned, so I told him what had happened. So he went over to the SAME counter assistant and asked her to exchange for HK$500.

She told him the same thing, well almost, until she said,

"Is it okay if I give you a HK$500 note instead?"

Then I was stunned. One moment she was telling me that she could only give me a HK$1000 note, then the next moment she told my friend she only has a HK$500 note.

That's doesn't sound right. Tsk tsk.

Ayway, we found another currency exchange stand and managed to get my money changed. In HK$100 notes.