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 What’s fascinating about the App Store is that I can enjoy plenty of RPGs for the cost of a single console version. Whether that game is Dragon Age: Origins or Eternal Sonata for the Xbox 360, I can buy between 6 to 8 RPGs for the iPhone, which would probably more than double my play-through time in the process. But are there enough RPGs worth purchasing for the iPhone? In my opinion, there are and what’s even more impressive is that they get better and better. An example of this is VeryPixel Inc.’s Mage Story, which pays homage to Blizzard’s Diablo franchise (as well as Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings and to a lesser extent, Dumbledore from Harry Potter series), while carving out it’s own niche on the platform with unique features, such as network play via WiFi and level design. While I may not agree with its own description of being the first Diablo-style action RPG on the iPhone (I thought Pixel Mine’s Underworlds had that distinction), Mage Story still has solid graphics, improved controls, and the right gameplay balance to level your character at a fair and steady pace. Although experienced RPGers may find the story a bit light and the game length somewhat capped, improvements and additions to the game by the developer have begun, which is always an awesome experience knowing the makers care about their audience by reading the feedback from the community. It’s definitely something you’ll never get from a developer on another platform. Highly recommended. Price: 99¢.
 Would you believe that I play games based on current weather conditions? Seriously, it’s no joke. During the late Spring and Summer months, I’m primarily playing Adventure and RPG games, such as Lost Odyssey and LEGO Batman: The Videogame. In those types of games, I’m going at my own pace rather than just plain reacting like when I play first-person shooters (FPS) or other types of ‘twitch’ games. Sometimes it’s just too darn hot to play a game that will just add to your discomfort. This usually includes games like Street Fighter IV on the Xbox 360 and most games for the Nintendo Wii. Honestly, if I wanted a workout, I’d go play basketball. However, as we’re now in the middle of the Fall months and the temperature is steadily decreasing with each passing day, I’m back on both FPS and Nintendo Wii games. Working up a sweat playing such games definitely helps combat the chilly conditions and saves on using the heater. But now I’m taking it on the road with games like adot’s GeoGeo Wars, an impressive homage to Geometry Wars with unique additions to make an already outstanding game just a tad better, especially on the iPhone. With a variety of enemies attacking you eventually from all sides, you frantically control the ship using a finger to swipe all over the level while auto-fire is active. Furthermore, if you’re in a jam, be aware of power-ups as they become available. Its excellent polish shows as soon as you pick up the game and quickly understand what to do: kill lots of enemies, while trying to survive. Currently employing Open Feint for leaderboards and bragging rights, and soon to have more levels, this game already has more bang for the buck. Recommended. Price: 99¢.
 An original and entertaining take on the Magic 8-Ball novelty toy starring a rude, yet lovable panda reminiscent of probably San-X’s most popular character, Tare Panda. Spangu’s The Bad Panda is a very lazy panda, whose always laying down like Jabba The Hut barely moving and primarily sleeping until you ask a question and shake the iPhone to get his attention, which often produces a short and curt response. Although you have to structure questions for yes or no responses, The Bad Panda’s responses definitely put a smile on your face. In the context of the subtle environment, his quick dismissive motions and gestures provide a contrast between the serenity of solitude vs. the disarray caused by the constant interruption of others… Uh, yeah… There is definitely a philosophical point to be made here if you take some time to deconstruct it. Yet, in its purest form, it is a nice little respite from a busy day, especially if you share it with friends, family, and colleagues. Price: 99¢.
 Nowadays, time is of the essence: there’s just not enough time to do everything we want to do, especially after we do the things we need to do so that we do the things we love to do… Confused? Tell me about it! With work and family, I hardly have time for myself like I did when I was younger. Why is it that the older we get, the less time we have for leisurely pastimes? For me, other than video games and basketball, it was playing paper-and-pencil role playing games. Obviously, just like most people, Dungeons & Dragons was my entry into the world of gaming followed by Twilight 2000 and then Steve Jackson’s Car Wars. However, as evidenced by picking up Iron Crown Enterprises’ Middle Earth Role Playing on an impulse buy at the local comic store, I always kept coming back to fantasy. While this has held true over the years as I played Talisman in college, Magic: The Gathering post-college, and most recently, Dominion, I’ve noticed that the games have gotten shorter and shorter in duration to accommodate busier and busier schedules. Intending to not give up the dream by extending my gaming experience on other platforms, I picked up Rake In The Grass’ Undercroft on the iPhone, which has been a perfect fit. Boasting 20 hours of gameplay with the promise of ‘great replay value,’ encounter over 60 enemies and attempt to collect the over 750 items divided into quests and side-quests as you build a band of heroes from among the five hero classes, which include the usual suspects: warriors, sorcerers, thieves, clerics, etc. Completely turn-based, the overall polish of the game in terms of functionality, graphics and sound is pretty impressive. Plus, Undercroft does all the little things that makes you feel it’s worth every penny. Highly recommended. Price: $4.99.
 While I never considered myself a ‘metrosexual‘ in any sense of the word, perhaps there were some tendencies that I had at one time or another, which merited such labelling. Yes, I was and probably still am a bit of a neat freak: I need things to be organized before I can even do anything. While this can also be attributed to being a procrastinator, it expanded into a basic philosophy that all things in my life needed to be put in a certain order. Whether it’s the decor of my house, how bottles of hand sanitizer with sticks of lip balm were organized in the glove compartments of each of my vehicles, or the need to color coordinate tops, bottoms and shoes, regardless of the ordinary quality of the pieces, there was a thoughtful ‘neatness’ to it all. However, now that I’m married and have a son, my home decor sensibilities has given way to my wife’s insatiable proclivities for Daiso products and I only carry one bottle of hand sanitizer and one stick of lip balm in my work bag. Yet, the wardrobe issue is still just that: an issue. First recommended to me by my wife, I gave New Vision Interactive’s My Style Fashion Assistant a spin, which has worked out pretty well for me so far. First, I can take a picture of each top, bottom, and pair of shoes I own as well as any outerwear (I love hoodies) and uniformed looks, which includes suits or anything with sportscoats from my closet. Next, I can plan ahead to know what I will wear during the week as well as into the future with the built-in calendar. This also helps keep track of how often I wear a specific piece or look, even critiquing myself in the process as I review archived dates. But the best part of this application is knowing that if I do find something I like as I window shop online or in person, I can take a picture of the piece and mix and match it with what I have. It really helps, especially if you don’t want to buy a duplicate piece that you already have. As the product’s marketing text states, you do “save time and money by shopping smarter.” Nice clean and easy to use interface. Price: $3.99.
 Do you know what’s scarier than a thin, scrawny disheveled, pasty little girl whose face is hidden by her hair and comes at you like Boris Karloff in the original 1932 Universal release of The Mummy? It has to be the panic caused by the emergency closing of the Bay Bridge. There I was Wednesday night making pretty good time from the East Bay to San Francisco until I hit the MacArthur Maze. Suddenly, everything was black at the entrance of the span with cones and cops strewn all over the place. The only things illuminating the bridge itself were the lights outlining its frame and the brake lights of the last hundred cars trying to get over to The City. 2 hours later, as I finally reached the driveway to my house, all I could think about is the horrific experience of stop-and-go traffic with impatient, overaggressive drivers edging through lane after lane, who thought they were making progress. Surprisingly enough, from this experience, it seems the baton for jackass drivers, outside of delivery truck and taxi cab drivers, has passed from BMW to Toyota Prius owners. I guess it’s not too much of a stretch after all: the majority of both groups are self-righteous, condescending buttheads anyway. Yet, I survived it all and was able to tell my tale here because honestly, I was able to play Bendroid’s Mystique. Chapter 1: Foetus for a good portion of my commute. A 1st person horror-survival game reminiscent of Silent Hill, this nightmarishly atmospheric and moody game focuses on you waking up in a bathroom (sound familiar?) and not knowing why or how you got there. Blood stained walls lead you to escaping out into other areas to put the pieces of the puzzle together. But you have to be careful as a sinister environment can only lead to potentially disasterous conclusions. Plus, there is a thin, scrawny disheveled, pasty little girl whose face is hidden by her hair and comes at you like The Mummy. But unlike me, you won’t have the side effects of a massive traffic jam to hide behind. Highly recommended. Play the sequel for more. Price: Free.
 Growing up in the U.S., you hear about mahjong one of three ways: your Jewish friends, your Chinese friends, or, barring that you are from either of those two groups yourself, your “other” Asian family. While I do fit this last category, I must tell you that everytime I have seen other people play mahjong, the rules are different or has some mind-numbing variations. Yet, all in all, the game is usually played like gin rummy where you hope to get sets of three of a kind or three consecutive numbers in the same suit by drawing, discarding, and/or saving your opponents’ discards. It’s definitely a fun and exciting game requiring both a hint of luck and some skills, which you can improve over time. However, looking for a similar translation in videos games has been difficult as most mahjong games are puzzle/solitaire games, which are not at all the familiar game I know and love since I was a kid. Enter the iPhone: Taiwan-based Joymaster Corp.’s Mahjong Fairyland was released earlier this year, but with marked improvements in their updates as a result of listening to their userbase, the game is now to a point where anyone can learn how to play it in mere minutes. With a fairy tale theme with cute characters, play the classic 16-tile game, which is popular in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, the Philippines, and parts of Southeast Asia. Excellent graphics, smooth touch and swipe controls, and some light customization will keep any level of player engaged. Price: $1.99.
 Growing up, the younger of my two older sisters had a big influence on me. As we were only 8 years apart, we had our ups and downs fighting as siblings do, especially since she was the baby of the family until I came along. In between getting on each other’s nerves, we did have our peaceful moments, which strangely enough came to us in the most tense of times: watching scary movies. While my sis would watch any scary movie imaginable, I believed she was quite the connoisseur knowing the difference between camp versus a real thrill fest. After all, we had Bob Wilkins (R.I.P.) and John Stanley to thank for Creature Features on KTVU as we were growing up. So, we were battle hardened so to speak as the 80’s came and went producing some of the finest (Poltergeist and The Thing) and worst (Silver Bullet anyone?) flicks in the genre. Yet, through it all, we both knew the best way to scare someone is by telling them a scary story in the dark, especially at night, with just a flashlight or a candle providing the only source of light. With Halloween fast approaching, I’m reminded of my sister once again through an application like Ghost Stories From Around The World by Joe Kwon, Inc., which takes user submissions of supposedly true accounts and adds them to an easy to navigate archive. It’s pretty ingenious really: new content provided by users just like you and me that is used to populate an entire paid application. But the real winners here are the users themselves, who now have a creative outlet to make good scary stories just in time for Halloween. A well-made app with the promise of new content daily, I wish my sister was alive to enjoy it with me… But I’m sure she already has in spirit. Rest in peace, sis! Price: $1.99.
 Are you looking to spice up your library of word games? Yes, I said ‘WORD GAMES!’ Millions of people cannot be wrong, right? If I hazard to guess, there are probably more people playing crossword puzzles, word search, Jumble-type, and Scrabble-like games around the world than World of Warcraft and any combination of the current Top 10 video games regardless of platform… Is that sweat on my brow? I must be feeling the heat of Tetris, but I still stand my ground. Do I have evidence? C’mon, I run a self-funded indie website with friends. Yet, deep down inside, you know I speak the truth. So let me throw some more knowledge at you: Yes, you can spice up your word game library with this little gem from Phonagle, outWord. In this game, your location determines how close or far you are from letters that you can use to create words. Play against other users in your vicinity who can also pick up desired tiles. So you must be quick when obtaining desirable letters as you never know who lurks. On top of that, using red letters and creating long words helps you score big to outdistance your previous high scores or those of others. Overall, a fun original game born out of an excellent concept and well executed. Highly recommended. Price: Free.
 Whether it’s eating pan fried milkfish at home, sauteed white fish in Choo Chee Curry at Zabb Cuisine (Thai), or even grilled salmon at Riva’s Fish House, my family loves to eat fish. Obviously, in this day and age, we consume fish in moderation because of recent toxicology reports where mercury levels in fish have risen almost exponentially. Plus, we’re conscientious on what kind of fish we do eat because of overfishing and how it has harmed the environment, which has led us to buy products like albacore tuna because of it’s sustainable fisheries. Now, I wouldn’t call myself a conservationist or an environmentalist, but considering we do love eating fish, we just want to make sure they’re still around in the future. A good way to have an impact is using the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Guide, which is an application that helps you make sustainable seafood choices at your favorite restaurants or local market. Using it’s Seafood Watch Program information, Monterey Bay Aquarium’s trusted recommendations are provided to you in a quick and easy regional guide outlining the best seafood in each area of the country. Updated regularly, a huge plus for sushi lovers is the Sushi Guide, which not only gives you the best choices of seafood to eat, but also lists fish by Japanese name along with it’s common name. Highly recommended. Price: Free.
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