This is a column by Kat Bailey dedicated to the analysis of the once beloved Japanese RPG sub-genre. Tune in every Wednesday for thoughts on white-haired villains, giant robots, Infinity+1 swords, and everything else the wonderful world of JRPGs has to offer.

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It's always around the month of May that I take a look at the lengthy list of daily decisions in Persona 4 and start to sweat a bit.

"Should I be going to the sports club so much? Shouldn't I be building my relationship with Yukiko?"
"Crap, I forgot to buy a book to read."
"Exams are coming up and I still haven't hit the first Knowledge threshold. I'm screwed."

More than most RPGs, Persona 4 is about the long game. It's set over the course of a full Japanese school year – from April to December – and there are important decisions to be made almost every day. Most of the time, you end up hanging out with various non-player characters, some of whom won't become friendly until you get to know a specific character. It's big, complicated, and stressful.

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Halloween may be over, but the most terrifying season of all has truly just begun – holiday shopping season. The horror. Black Friday deals are already popping up for a few retailers, but most notably for Best Buy.

Best Buy's doors open at midnight on Black Friday. Doorbuster sales start right then and there, and there is no end time listed on the site as to when those may end. Available as a doorbuster for $30 each is Disney Epic Mickey 2, Darksiders 2, Medal of Honor Warfighter, Battlefield 3 Premium Edition, The Amazing Spider-Man and Need for Speed Most Wanted.

Outside of the doorbusters, Best Buy has a Vita (wi-fi system) and Black Ops Declassified bundle for $200, Xbox 360 250GB bundle with Forza Motorsport 4 and Skyrim for $200, and the Flame Red Nintendo 3DS with Super Mario Land 3D for $150. For $35 grab Assassin's Creed 3, Borderlands 2, Diablo 3, Madden NFL 13, Forza Horizon and FIFA 13; a smattering of Kinect games are $25 each, including Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth and Just Dance 4. For $15 is Grand Theft Auto 4: The Complete Edition, Halo Reach and Mortal Kombat Vita, among others; for $8 is Dead Island Game of the Year, Assassin's Creed: Revelations for Xbox 360 and The Sims 3.

Cheap Ass Gamer lists sales so far from Radio Shack, Kmart, Shopko and Old Navy, the last of which has a deal for free copy of New Super Mario Bros Wii U with a $40 purchase.

In the "Hit List" from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, the video game industry's top talents describe their current gaming addictions, their most anticipated releases and more. This week: thatgamecompany President Jenova Chen.

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A note from the AIAS:
Jenova Chen is President & Creative Director for thatgamecompany (TGC). TGC is best known for creating experimental, artistic, and accessible games that touch players on an emotional level. TGC designed and developed the award-winning PSN titles flOw, Flower, and, most recently, Journey.

At the upcoming 2013 D.I.C.E. Summit conference, Jenova will be speaking on: Emotion Oriented Interactive Entertainment - Inspirations and Theories Behind Journey. Jenova learned many valuable lessons on what went well and how to do better on his quest to create games that deliver a lasting emotional impact. Jenova will discuss TGC's founding design philosophy and share some of the lessons he and his team gleaned from TGC's past six years developing three innovative downloadable games.

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Uncharted: Fight for Fortune is an upcoming casino/cards-based game for Vita, according to listings on Brazilian and Australian ratings boards. The Australian classification lists One Loop Games as the developer, a studio responsible for mobile games God of War: Betrayal and Ratchet & Clank: Going Mobile. One Loop also worked on Full Spectrum Warrior and The Saboteur. The Brazilian classification details Uncharted: Fight for Fortune's platform as Vita, and the genre as "casino/card games." However, it may also be coming to PS3, as the Australian board lists it as multi-platform.

One Loop's website lists the developer as working on two "secret projects," with one described as the studio's "first big game" as well as being completed.

We've reached out to One Loop Games for comment.

Those who love rousing musical accompaniment with their intergalactic war-waging should keep an ear out for today's release of "Greatest Video Games Music 2," a new orchestral album featuring tracks from some ... well, let's settle on "great-ish" video games so as not to devolve into argument. This is the second video game album performed by London's famous Phil Harmonic, an immodest man whose musical talents have congealed with a tragic array of multiple personalities to create what he calls "an orchestra."

The selection in this album skews more toward modern, with orchestrated songs from Skyrim, Mass Effect 3, Fez, Batman: Arkham City and Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Standouts include a snazzy symphonic suite from Sonic the Hedgehog, a blend of Halo's "Never Forget" and the jaunty "Peril," a sweet, classy take on "Still Alive," and the insta-happiness of "Dragon Roost Island" from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.

Oh, and there's the obligatory song from Final Fantasy VII. Yes, it's that one.

The album's available as of today on iTunes, Amazon and Spotify. You'll find the track list and an embedded stream of the full album right after the break.

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Ubisoft has released its earnings for the first six months of fiscal 2012, which ran from April 1, 2012 through September 30, 2012. In that time, the publisher garnered overall initial profits of €192.7 million (about $246.8 million), which is a 21 percent increase over the €158.4 million ($202.9 million) Ubisoft had accrued by this time last year.

After deducting research and development costs and SG&A expenses, however, that figure drops to a loss of €32.3 million, or $41.3 million. That loss is less substantial than the €37.1 million loss Ubisoft posted at the end of the first half of fiscal 2011, to the tune of 14.8 percent.

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot attributes the year-over-year increase in gross profits to Ghost Recon: Future Soldier (its performance in the digital segment, specifically) and Just Dance 4, while also claiming that the operating loss reported for this period was due to "large-scale marketing campaigns for Assassin's Creed 3 and Far Cry 3."

Looking forward, Guillemot predicts a "record" second half for fiscal 2012, based on the anticipated performance of Assassin's Creed 3, Far Cry 3 and Ubisoft's stable of upcoming Wii U titles. As such, the company's year-end target for sales has been increased from a range of €1.16 - €1.20 billion to €1.20 - €1.26 billion. Similarly, Ubi's target range for operating income has been raised slightly, from €70 - €90 million to €70 - €100 million.

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PlayStation Plus's latest offer is pure gold. And pure evil. And ... Resident ... Okay, before we get too mired in failed wordplay, allow us to explain. Starting tomorrow, Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition will be available for download at no additional cost to PlayStation Plus members.

Other noteworthy discounts include Portal 2 for $13.99, and its new In Motion DLC for $6.99. When Vikings Attack, you can save money by being a Plus member – that new PSN game is 30 percent off, priced at $6.99 for a Cross-Buy purchase of both PS3 and Vita versions.

Last week, Cave Story's ESRB rating was updated to include new platforms: PS2, PS3, Vita, and Xbox 360 in addition to the existing 3DS, DSi, Wii, and PSP ratings. We contacted developer and publisher Nicalis to determine whether to expect Cave Story on even more platforms than it's already on.

In short, no. The ESRB ratings are not indication of definite plans. "We submitted all the consoles so that we wouldn't have to resubmit in the future," producer Tyrone Rodriguez told Joystiq, "IF [emphasis his] we ever decided to bring to those consoles."

The good news is that you are very likely to already have a platform to play Cave Story on.

Vikings are set to invade 1970s England this Tuesday, November 6. When Vikings Attack, from new developer Clever Beans, launches for PS3 and Vita as a PSN cross-buy title. The game tasks players with corralling English villagers and uniting them against the invading viking hordes – the more villagers you've amassed, the bigger the items you can pick up and hurl.

Anyone who actually lives in England (or elsewhere connected to the European PlayStation Network) can shave 30 percent off the game's £7.99/€9.99 price by pre-ordering it now through the PS3's PSN Store. Shaving the beard off a viking, however, is considerably more difficult and not something we should ever have tried.

If it's possible to have a favorite "type" of game – not genre, mind you, but favorite "type" – I'd have to say that the games I love most are "ambitious but imperfect." These are games that try to do intriguing, daring things: meld genres together, build themselves around an interesting theme, tell a story in an unconventional manner. Often they run into more than a few technical and design hiccups, perhaps because the developers' ambitions outstripped their team's capability to realize them. But in spite of their flaws, there's something secretly awesome about them that makes wrestling with all their foibles worth it.

Having read all that, you've probably already guessed that Orgarhythm falls into this category. It's a bizarre mix of god-sim, rhythm game, and RTS that mostly – mostly – works. When it shines brightest, it's a fabulous and unique experience.

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Sega Sammy has reported its financial results (PDF) for the first half of its fiscal year, ending March 31, 2012. The company reported sales of over ¥136 billion ($1.7 billion) a decrease of ¥16 billion ($199,000) over the same period last year. Net income reached ¥3.87 billion ($48 million), a slight decrease over the ¥3.98 billion ($49 million) reported for the same period last year.

Sega Sammy attributes the decline to "turmoil in the global financial markets, mainly in Europe, and the economic slowdown of emerging nations." As a result, sales of amusement machines (pachinko, etc) slowed, as did the sale of packaged video games.

It's not all bad news, however, as Sega's consumer video game business is one of the few sectors of the company to see some growth. The division posted an operating loss of ¥780 million ($9.7 million), a dramatic improvement over the ¥6 billion loss ($74.7 million) posted during the same period last year. Part of this growth is attributed to strong Japanese sales of Hatsune Miku Project Diva F for the PlayStation Vita. Phantasy Star Online 2 has also done well, registering over a million players and exceeding Sega's in-game purchase forecasts.

Earlier this year, the company announced plans to restructure and streamline its consumer video game business, resulting in staff cuts in Europe and America and the closure of offices in Europe and Australia. Going forward, the publisher plans to focus on digital distribution and its core brands, including Sonic the Hedgehog, Total War, Football Manager and Aliens.

Sony made a net loss of ¥15.5 billion ($198 million) in its second fiscal quarter, while its gaming division saw year-on-year declines in profit. The Q2 figure represents year-on-year reduction in loss of 42.6 percent, and improvement from the $312 million loss made in Q1.

Games-wise, the PlayStation division's operating income in Q2 was ¥2.3 billion ($29 million), a year-on-year decline of 23.3 percent. Sony shifted 3.5 million PS3 and PS2 units across the quarter, compared to 4.9 million last year. Vita and PSP sales came in at 1.6 million.

The company has lowered end-year projections of Vita and PSP sales significantly, now down to 10 million from an initial figure of 16 million. In May, Sony CEO Kaz Hirai indicated a fiscal year estimate of 10 million for Vita alone. The PS3 and PS2's combined fiscal-year estimate remains at 16 million.

In contrast, software performance saw slight growth across the quarter. PS3 and PS2 sales rose year-on-year to 41.4 million, up from 40.2 million. Vita and PSP figures also climbed, up from 8.2 million to 8.7 million.

You can buy all the Assassin's Creed you can handle on PSN today. Both AC3 and Liberation are available for download, separately or in a $120 bundle that also includes the AC3 Season Pass. Need for Speed: Most Wanted is also available digitally, as is Sports Champions 2. And Okami HD is ready to dazzle you with new graphics.

On Vita, along with Assassin's Creed 3 Liberation and Need for Speed, you can download Lego Lord of the Rings, Ragnarok Odyssey, and Smart As. Find the full listings of new releases, DLC, and sales on the PlayStation Blog. There's kind of a ton.

PlayStation Mobile gets an infusion of procedurally generated explosions today, with Sixty Second Shooter Deluxe by Happion Laboratories. It's an upgraded version of Sixty Second Shooter, a game that's terribly easy to explain because we can just tell you to go play it for free in Chrome.

Essentially, it's a faster-paced Asteroids style game with a strict time limit. You blow up large cubes into tiny cubes, attempting to keep a combo going, pick up power-ups, and build your score as much as possible in one minute. The $2.79 PlayStation Mobile version adds additional enemies and items, and removes one permissive aspect of the original: death now means game over, not a respawn.