We've Moved!
That's right boys and girls, Out of Habit has moved, and been given an name change!
Just mozy on over to Mog in the City , and have look! You'll find all the old post there, so don't worry if you get the sudden urge to re-live the past.
Hope to see ya there! Be sure to change your feed and bookmark info.
Web Fantastic
It's been awhile since I've posted an Web Fantastic, but to make up for it, I present to you a classic.
Done by the wonderful boys at Overtime Comedy using footage from the old, yet forgettible Super Mario Bros. Super Show! ("Swing Your arms from side to side") as inspiration, they shed pearls of wisdom about the networking behemouth that is MySpace, often using poor (and annoying) Toad as a great example of MySpace fanatics and Nazis (though aren't we all inside?). Though I've made the switch to the much prettier and pretty much rock-spider free Facebook, the rules of social interaction, on or off the interwebs, is practically the same. Enjoy!
Recently I've been interested in the import scene, particularly with Japanese GBA and DS games, due to their lack of regional protection, something that consoles are notorious for. Sure I might not know even a dollop of Japanese, besides my quite poor "Otakuese", but a great game, as with most forms of art, is able to transcend the language barrier, and remind us of why we play. For fun. Just play Ouendan or Rhythm Tengoku , and you'll see...While lurking through Play-Asia, I spied a deal I couldn't pass up: MOTHER 3 for $21AUS. As a game that has been on my shopping list for along time, it quickly found it's way through the checkout, and a week later, it's in my hot little hands.
Though I'm waiting for my GBA Micro to arrive before getting stuck into the game, the chapter and a half of which I've played (there are 8 in total) has impressed me. The music is beautiful (having brought the two soundtracks from Itunes, I already expected to be in for an treat for the ears), the sprites and graphics in general are bright and well animated ( a case of art direction over power), and a good balance between story and battle. The only complaint I have so far is the music based combo system, which can be hard to perform, though I imagine that it's something that takes time to master.
If you want to pick it up, but afraid of the language barrier, there are thankfully a few good translation guides out there on GameFaqs and Starmen.net. While it does take away the portability factor, printing it out should help somewhat.
I can't wait to sink my teeth some more into MOTHER 3. Stay tuned for the review :P
Experiment
"Untitled" - Illustrator, 2007
I love playing around with the filters and effects in Adobe Illustrator. Though a majority I'll find will actually have a detrimental effect, a little bit of experimenting and creativity will reap it's rewards, like what you see above.It was a happy mistake.
Exploring I will go!
Have you ever had one of those days where you just feel like exploring every nook and cranny, not caring how far your feet have taken you?
Yesterday afternoon I decided to skip school (yes I know, I'm a naughty boy :P) and explore the city. Despite the fact I've lived here for almost an year now (and been a tourist for many more), I've never really left the comfy confines of the inner CBD of Melbourne or certain outer suburbs. It's amazing the things one person finds just by going off the sidewalk.
The first stop was a group of parks just across the road from the Melbourne Arts Center, right near the Yarra River, on the banks of which I layed on for abit, watching the boats and ducks float by. A truly blissful experience. I also managed to find the Myer Music Bowl after climbing a few hills. It looks much smaller than it does on TV during the annual "Carols by Candlelight" concert. Smoke and Mirrors I guess.
Since I had a few hours to go before school ended, I decided to march on, eventually finding the Royal Botanical Garden. For those who have never been, here's a tip: Go during the summer, IT'S FREAKING BEAUTIFUL! It was a pity that I had a meeting with the boyfriend (a little celebration of the last day for Year 12 Students), or I would've spent ages in there. Maybe next time, I'll make an excursion of it, and bring a couple of friends along.
I think I may have wunderlust.....
Labels: personal
Aussie Music - "Broken Bones" by Howling Bells
Time for another taste of Australian music! This time, it comes from the amazing indie band, Howling Bells.
I now present to you the video clip to "Broken Bones" from their only studio album, Howling Bells. Drop a comment with your thoughts and opinions! Enjoy! ^_^
Labels: music
Now this makes me one sad Mog.......
While the US is already enjoying Beautiful Katamari for the Xbox 360 and European players given the pleasure late this year/ early next year, Australian gamers are left out in the cold, with no release date as of yet.
This is quite disappointing news, as Katamari was one of the few titles, along with Blue Dragon and Eternal Sonata (which is also trailing behind with a release date here), that has convinced me so far to fork over the $600 for the system. Why must we constantly get the short of end of the stick?
For now, it seems, short of importing, I guess I'll just have to stick the equally brilliant "I Heart Katamari" for all my masochistic rolling needs.
They Live......!
Ready for some retro gaming action for your Mac? Well you better be, because it's time introduce Mac Gardens!
Mac Gardens is a branch of Home of the Underdogs, a site dedicated to abandonware games. Abandonware for the uninitiated is any game that has been "discontinued" by the original publisher/developer, leaving it free for distribution by anyone. On the site, you'll find classics from the ye olde days of gaming, such as the first two Monkey Island games, Carmen Sandiego, Oregon Trail, SimCity 2000, Kings Quest, Leisure Suit Larry and much more to help you delve into nostalgia. And the best part? It's all free!
Luckily most of these games can be played on OSX via the virtual OS9 software on PPC Macs, though many operate without/abnormal sound, software such as SCUMM VM for the old LucasArts games can help with this and other performance issues. Intel models, on the other hand, will have to look elsewhere.
So if you want to lose yourself in the days of old, or like me and discover some real beauties, why don't you pay Mac Garden's a visit?
Wii System Update 3.1
Though not huge, it seems the latest wii system update (V3.1) brings a few useful features, mainly in the way of the malnourished internet channel.
First off, USB keyboard support has been finally included for filling in fields (though sadly no mouse support yet), streamlining the process. Another, though quite pointless and novel, is the ability to send links of favorites and currently visited pages to people in your wii address book, via wii-mail. One last revision of any note is the new copy/paste function, useful for URL's.
Apart from a few minor performance tweaks, a revamped internet channel start up animation, and an updated "everybody votes channel", nothing major. Thankfully, it seems, the update is worldwide (so thankfully Aussies like me can get their fill), despite the lack of advertising as yet.
Check out the video below for an overview of what you can find in the update.
Thought I might post some photos taken from Generation Next (30/09/07). Enjoy all!
"Prepping a guest"
"Cheese!"
"Me at the Mic"Labels: personal
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