Top 5 Keyboards Available Right Now!

May 11, 2015 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

Whether you are a gamer, or someone who writes a lot, you need a great keyboard that won’t strain your fingers – comfortable padding perhaps, or even a touch-pad to make you feel more modern, and also one of those fancy wireless keyboards.

But where to start? Where can one buy the keyboard that suits his every needs? Well, I rounded up some of the best ones available on the market. Let’s see what I’ve come up with.

Orée Board 2

I don’t want to call it a keyboard for hipsters, but it’s just that thing. It’s entirely made out of wood – hand-crafted in southern France by artisans using only the finest natural materials. It’s just beautiful, and the wood feels incredible – it gave me goosebumps the first time I typed on an Orée Board.

It’s modelled after Apple’s Wireless Keyboard, and you can choose what kind of wood you want your new toy to be built out of – dark walnut, light maple or wild cherry.

Also you can choose from various key layouts from US, UK, German, Canadian English, Canadian French, and Swiss.

Your board can be designed specifically for your needs, just tell the artisans what OS, or device you’re going to pair your new board with and they’ll do the work – tablets, smartphones, for Mac, or Windows.

Its light maple version weighs around 400 grams, and with no rubber underneath to hold it down on the desk I had some problems while I typed away a huge article; also my words-per-minute score has drastically fallen. It’s super comfortable and it feels like your sitting in God’s garden, caressing his trees, but because it keeps moving around on my desk it’s a bit hard to be efficient., and also because the board didn’t quite translate well what I was typing. I had problems with W’s and the spacebar – sometimes they would appear on the screen, and other times I had to press the buttons a couple of times.

Connectivity issues are a thing, unfortunately. It connects via Bluetooth and it has the latest BroadCom BT 3.0 chipset, but it didn’t want to wake my PC from sleep, and I had to use the mouse. It loses connectivity randomly during its use.

It’s a great keyboard, but there are better ones out there.

It costs about $230!

Score – 7/10

Cherry G84-4100

The Cherry G84, or how I like to call it The Petite Giant, is a compact, and cheap board, but don’t let the price tag fool you – it’s pretty great.

Following the notebook trend, small keyboards are just adorable, but it’s hard to find one that it doesn’t fell like it was made for ants. You can hold it in your coat’s pocket – well, a large coat that has large pockets. Weighing at about 400 grams with its cable, the Cherry is really durable, and the plastic it’s built from, although it feels kinda cheap, it ain’t hard on the eyes.

It comes in two colour – light vintage grey, and pure black.

If you’re planning on getting this sweet baby of a board for fast typing think again – its creator, ZF Electronics, managed to cram the whole board with every single key you would need, but remember that it’s a compact keyboard, and at 315 x 190 mm, you’re going to have a hard time typing that essay in an hour.

If you have small rabbit hands the Cherry is a really great option – and you can make some space on the board if you don’t want Windows specific keys.

It costs about $80!

Score – 8/10

Logitech Washable Keyboard K310

The perfect board for those clumsy enough to spill their morning coffee on their desk. The title says it – it’s a washable keyboard. Don’t believe me? Take a look at their promo clip.

As you can see, it doesn’t matter if you are a piggy at the desk and your soaked in ketch-up freedom fries fall on the board, just dip it in water, put it out to dry and voilà, it’s like new!

Unfortunately, while all of this sounds great, the end-product is somewhat of a disappointment. The keys are set too wide apart, making it difficult for those of us who rely on touch-to-type, instead of look-to-type, and after a few hours you’ll definitely need a brake to put your fingers to rest – preferably holding a Piña-colada near the pool.

The keys feel comfortable enough, but even after a week’s use I didn’t get used to its lay-out, and I made constant typos – nd i tink of miself as a greyt tipist.

The selling point is that the K310 is washable, and I think we all have experienced that moment in our life when we looked down at our board, and realized we accidentally made it suitable for life to thrive. But here comes the downside. After you wash it you need to put it out to dry for at least 8 hours. If it’s the only keyboard you have, tough luck, because you’ll have to put it out to dry overnight.

It costs about $60!

Score – 7/10

Diatec Filco Majestouch Ninja Tenkeyless

No, it’s not the villain from the next Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, it’s just your ordinary board.

It’s shorter than your average board because it lacks the 0-9 numbers – using numbers is so overrated!

But the Diatec Filco Majestouch Ninja Tenkeyless, which I will refer to from now on as Bob, is somewhat special. Why is Bob so special you my ask? Well, if you look at it directly from above you’ll see unmarked keys. It’s not for the untrained eye, and it’s designed for those touch-oriented nerds among us that have mapped the board onto their brain – I must admit, I am one of those nerds.

Keys are marked on its edges – some say its better this way because you can lay back on your chair and see the letters better. I say it’s a cheap way to not laser imprint your keys.

It enters the heavyweight championship by weighing almost 1 kg – you better not fake-attack someone with your board, because you may end up killing said person. It’s built from great quality materials, and your board will last you a really long time.

Bob is super comfortable, and you can type at him all day long without straining your fingers. And because Bob is so overweight you know he’ll just stand there on your desk without moving an inch.

My typing accuracy didn’t suffer one bit while using Bob, actually it improved slightly.

It costs about $230!

Score – 9/10

SteelSeries Apex

This one is designed specifically for gamers – good looking, and great quality keys make this a must if you plan on pulling an over-night gaming session!

Size isn’t an issue for gamers, and Apex didn’t cares anyway, because it’s one huge board. It will take control of your desk, and it will assert its dominance not only through its sheer size, but with its beautiful design also. Multicoloured light zones, and macros are just waiting for you to set them special commands.

Low and flat layout, with super comfortable keys make the Apex one of the fastest keyboards around – the spacebar is also candy bar sized.

The first thing that I noticed while typing away at this beautiful beast is colours coming from my finger tips. It’s a little bit annoying at first if you’re not used to this sort of keyboard, They are specifically designed to set up your macros and to have a better visual cue of where they are. You can choose your favourite colour, and don’t be worried that SteelSeries might have missed your preferred choice, because it features a palette of 16.8 million colours!

A gamer would look for the option to fully customize his board, and to save different profiles for, of course, different things. And yup, you can do just this. Set the board however you like then save profiles for Web Surfing, Counter Strike: Global Offensive, World of Warcraft, League of Legends, Call of Duty and so on.

It’s one of the best gaming boards that I have ever used.

It costs $80!

Score – 8/10

Now you may choose the best keyboard based on design, efficiency, how comfortable it is, whether it is for gaming or just to show off at the office.

Tell us what’s your ideal tool in the comments section below.

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How to Transfer Files From Your PC to Your Windows Tablet!

May 11, 2015 By Karen Jackson Leave a Comment

Whether it is your latest mixtape, or those sweet Summer pictures, everyone wants to be able to transfer files from their Windows PC to their Windows tablet, and vice-versa. The faster the better, but you wouldn’t want to lose data on the way so you’re looking for something stable too.

Don’t know how? You’ve come to the right place. Via USB or Cloud, we have a couple of options for you!

OTG Cable With USB to Micro-USB

The most common way is by connecting the two devices through a USB to Micro-USB OnTheGo Cable. It’s no rocket science – plug it in and your Windows PC will prompt you whether you want to open the new device that has been paired with, or not. From then on you have access to your tablet – as in, you can paste anything you want on your Windows-based device: songs, pictures, movies, and even wallpapers.

Amazon has some affordable, and reliable cables for sale:

Option 1

– Price $7

– Compatible with Samsung, HTC, Asus, and OTG devices

Option 2

– Price $7

– Compatible with all OTG devices

Option 3

– Price $2

– Compatible with all OTG devices

Through Cloud

Now, this alternative may seem a little bit tricky, but in reality it’s super easy to use.

OneDrive

OneDrive is a file hosting service that allows its users to upload and sync files to any device that can run OneDrive. We’re talking about Windows-based devices here so there’s no need to clarify this issues.

OneDrive offers up to 15 GB free for new users, and once you’ve installed the software on your preferred devices you can synch photos, music, movies, and other personal information. You’ll always have them on the cloud. Let’s say you buy a new Windows-based tablet, and you want to get all of your memories from your old rusty PC before it breathes its last. Just install OneDrive on your new device, log into your account and voilà – the magic is done!

Additional storage can be bought:

– 100 GB for $2 a month

– 200 GB for $4 a month

– 1 TB for $8 a month

DropBox

It works exactly like OneDrive, and you can install it on any device you want – even if it doesn’t have a Windows OS.

It offers free 2 GB storage – not much if you ask me, but it’s a way to transfer files.

– 1 TB for $12 a month

You can also select the DropBox for Business option. For $14 a month per user, you can get all the storage space you desire, file recovery, and unlimited support.

Google Drive

My favourite way to transfer files is by Google Drive. I already have a Google account paired with Gmail, YouTube, and now Drive.

It offers free 15 GB of storage for everything you want – and you can set it to back-up what files you need to be kept safe, and out of reach.

– 100 GB for $1,99 a month

– 1 TB for $9,99 a month

– 10 TB for $99,99 a month

– 20 TB for $199,99 a month

– 30 TB for $299,99 a month

These are the best options. I’ve used them, and I was happy with the services provided. If you have any other app, cable model, or even method, please tell us in the comments section below.

Every day you learn something new!

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Mirror’s Edge Sequel is Due to be Released Early 2016

May 6, 2015 By Nancy Young Leave a Comment

The sequel to the beloved 2008 Mirror’s Edge is going be released early 2016 – according to EA’s quarterly financial presentation.

It was announced by EA in 2013, but absolutely no info regarding a certain release date, game mechanics, or platforms has been announced – at this point, we only know that it will appear on consoles and on PC sometime between January the 1st and March the 31st next year.

What we do know is that Rhianna Pratchett won’t write for Mirror’s Edge reboot. It saddens and excites me at the same time. First off, because she won’t be on the new team that will tackle the sequel, and secondly because she may be continuing her father’s DiscWorld series – but I’m sceptical about the last one.

According to her Twitter account Rhianna’s script was chopped down at the last minute, and that’s why story-wise Mirror’s Edge doesn’t shine.

“I came in late to ME1, much of it was already designed, my script was hacked up, I wasn’t happy & said so (diplomatically.)” said Rhianna.

And it’s a shame that the producers didn’t let her do some magic – her most notable works include Heavenly Sword, and the latest Tomb Raider.

” Story didn’t seem well regarded well (by reviewers) either. Despite the nature of the project, DICE may blame me for that. Although I think we produced something cool, it was a difficult project for all and I no longer have any contacts there. Let’s face it ME1’s story didn’t review that great (for many reasons). So I consider myself a casualty of that development process.” said Pratchett.

Moving on, if you checked EA’s PDF, you’ll see that Mirror’s Edge isn’t the only video-game to be released next year. A new Need For Speed installment is due to be released sometimes in December of 2015, along with Star Wars Battlefront, that already has a release date planned for November the 17th.

Also a new Plants vs. Zombie game will mark consoles and PC sometimes between January and March of 2016.

Until then, I’ll let you drool over Mirror’s Edge 2014 E3 trailer.

Faith – I can’t wait to see you!

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Steam Punk Augmented Reality Shooter From Magic Leap

May 5, 2015 By Deborah Campbell Leave a Comment

Google-backed Magic Leap is making the internet go crazy with their latest YouTube trailer titled – Just another day in the office at Magic Leap. Their augmented reality steam punk shooter is fresh, and crisp, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves and fall in the band wagon just yet. It’s not the first time we were promised a superb AR, or VR game only to be left outside in the rain – the only place where nobody can see you cry.

“This is a game we’re playing around the office right now (no robots were harmed in the making of this video),” said Magic Leap PR head Andy Fouché.

CEO Rony Abovitz was supposed to appear at a TED talk to speak about the game two months ago, but they pulled out unexpectedly – the reasons are still unknown to why the event was cancelled.

The video game bears Dr. Grordbort’s emblem – it’s a line of steam punk guns, comic books. It was created by an artist at the Weta Workshop, who is known to be a long-time partner of Magic Leap.

The whole game is basically a first person shooter where the player can use real steam punk weapons to fend off a swarm of crazy bloodthirsty robots that possibly want to enslave humanity. YOU are the only one standing in their way.

Pretty cool mechanics if you ask me – turning decorative guns into virtual weapons, and the virtual enemies are projected in into your physical space. Although this mean that you must buy the said decorative weapons from the Weta Workshop, and you’ll need a pretty big space for you to play in.

The prototype has been kept under a tight sealed lid, and nobody actually knows anything about its technological capabilities. What we know is that Google, Qualcomm, Andreessen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins have invested $540 million.

At first glance, you can say that Magic Leap is trying to build Google Glass on steroids, but we all know how Google’s product resulted – a mediocre device that didn’t fulfil even the tinniest of promises.

A similar product is Microsoft’s HoloLens, and we’ve seen it in action at Microsoft Build 2015 – also, check out our article regarding the top announcements made at Microsoft Build 2015.

Here’s the YouTube trailer that involves having way too much fun at the office.

Besides just having mindless fun, you can see that Magic Leap’s gear can interact with Gmail and YouTube, and you can plaster the apps anywhere. Probably even make them follow you around.

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Attack on Titan Video-Game to be Released for Nintendo 3DS

May 5, 2015 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

The Attack on Titan video-game will be released this May the 12th for the Nintendo 3DS, and it will sell for $39,99 on eShops, says Atlus, the publisher.

Some of us were hoping for a new season to be announced for the much loved anime, but we’ll have to be pleased with this I guess.

Its title Attack on Titan: Humanity in Chains is the literal translation from Japanese – but in Europe, it will be known as Shingeki no Kyojin: Humanity in Chains due to copyright claims on the whole continent.

There is no release date for Europe, only for North America, and Asia, but Atlus has high hopes that it will release an announcement soon regarding the game’s future on European soil. Both American and European customers will receive a free Attack on Titan theme with their purchase.

The story revolves around the idea that giant humanoid titans plan to bring the human race to extinction by hunting them down – they don’t just do this for the fun of it all; the titans are eating every single human they catch, regardless if their hungry or not.

The anime tv series that aired in 2013 was based on the manga series written, and drawn, by Hajime Isayama in 2009 – and it focused on how the military of the only city to survive, tries to fight back and defend their people.

The main protagonist Eren Yeager, his adopted sister Mikasa Acherman, and their childhood friend Armin Arlert, join the military after their quadrant has been invaded by titans who killed and ate their family. A Collosal Titan broke through the city’s defence, and made way for the swarm of titans. Eren saw his mother being eaten right in front of him, and with that motivation his only goal in life is to wipe out the giants that ruined his life.

Titans aren’t so easily killed. They have tough skin, and can regenerate quickly; only a quick and strong attack on their weak point can eliminate these brutal monsters – at the nape of their necks, a swift blow is enough.

The thing that makes Attack on Titan so unique and loved is the setting of doom, and utter despair that humanity faces. At the brink of apocalypse their only choice is to fight back and destroy these invaders – although their counter-attack missions prove to be utter failures. The army’s only weapons are reminding us of old Victorian London – flintlock pistols, cannons and swords. Pair the setting with a high amount of drama, cheesy acting, and sometimes annoying whining, and you have the perfect anime.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Attack on Titan, and I’m a geek when it comes to the series, but please, if next season is ever to come out, drop the whole melodrama, and make it less obnoxious – it has tremendous potential, and it can be one of the greatest animes ever made.

Here’s the teaser trailer.

There is also a live action movie planned for Summer of 2015, take a look at the trailer down below:

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League of Legends Doc – Why Are eSports So Popular Now?

May 5, 2015 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

eSports stands for Electronic Sports, or competitive gaming, and it was a pretty big thing in the early 2000’s with all the hype from Counter Strike 1.6, Starcraft, and Warcraft III, but it died for a couple of years due to poor management, high taxes, and gamers struggling to get a pay check – professional gamers that is.

In the last 5 years or so, eSports have taken the podium once again, with more and more gaming fans tuning in to watch matches – whether it’s from their comfortable home via Twitch.tv and also ESPN, or going to an actual event like the annual League of Legends World Championship; this is partly due to Twitch.tv that offers a great streaming service that is designed for gamers, but it doesn’t limit to that, and because MOBA games like LoL, Dota 2, and HoN are immensely popular now . In some circles, you are actually considered uncool for not playing MOBA’s. Why didn’t this trend start 10 years ago?

Free to play games that don’t suffer from the plague that I love to call microstransanction hell are catching really quick to the public. Take for example Team Fortress 2, it was a great game that I bought, but after a few years it went free on steam, and its user-base increased substantially. Sure, you can buy hats, and dyes to colour your gear, but they don’t affect the game in any way.

Pair free to play with catchy, and fun game mechanics, give the community the ability to buy whatever they want in the game as long as it doesn’t affect matches – as in skins for champions, cool new hats, announcer packs, dyes that colour your weapons purple, or maroon, name tags that change your title to Waldemar the Unconscious Hobo – and you have the perfect recipe to strike gold.

That’s what League of Legends did, and it’s the most played video-game in the world. In January of 2014 Riot Games, the company that developed LoL has shocked the world by announcing that 27 million gamers play LoL on a daily basis, and 67 million players monthly.

There are beginners that play the game for fun, there are those who do so only to win a match called tryhards – who relinquish every bit of fun just to taste gold; and there are those pro gamers that constantly come up with new tactics, new ways to dominate and climb the ladder.

No wonder there are so many people playing the game that want to become pro and attend championships – if you and your team win the LoL Championship event, well, let’s say you don’t have to work for a couple of years. First place consists of a $1 million prize, and the second one is $250k. Sure, you’ll think that the money is going to be split into 5 ways, but what you don’t take into consideration is the fact that eSport teams are being sponsored by huge companies like Intel, Kingston, AMD, Nvidia, ATI, Razer and other tech behemoths.

Although it’s a pretty big community now, it doesn’t have the respect it deserves, and this is were the League of Legends documentary comes in. You may know Patrick Creadon for documentaries such as Wordplay, I.O.U.S.A, and If You Build It – Patrick is one of the few filmmakers who released films that ranked within the Top 100 highest-grossing documentaries of all time, and that’s no easy feat to do.

” eSports teams don’t have the respect that they so badly crave,” Patrick says. “These North American teams are not unlike the 1980 United States hockey team going up against Russia [in the Olympics]. Our movie really captures a similar story.”

All Work All Play is the name of the documentary that chronicles the Intel Extreme Masters torunament of 2014/2015. It focuses more on the team-based game LoL, rather than the solo affair Starcraft 2. And it tells the story how eSports are currently being dominated by South Korean teams.

” You’re not watching the game or playing a game on a PC; you’re going to an arena!” says Patrick. “That’s more than half the fun: seeing it with other people who are like you that love this thing that you also love.”

And he couldn’t be more right. You gather your friends, and you go watch the event in a huge arena with other gee- err gamers like yourself, everyone rooting for a different team. Or you could huddle up at a buddy’s place, buy a ton of beer, order some pizza, and have an excellent Sunday.

It’s not a documentary that points the camera at people and just gets footage and edits it, Patrick set up his own account and played the highly loved MOBA, he interviewed countless pro gamers, he attended events, and he poured his heart and soul into this doc, and go figure, it was well received at the Tribeca Film Festival.

It’s not a documentary about gamers, it’s a documentary about humans that love their hobby. After the first screening at the Tribeca Film Festival, a woman fromt he audience had an half-hour long phone call with her younger brother who absolutely loved the game. Creadon says that the women stated she didn’t have almost anything in common with her younger sibling, and it was always hard to find common ground, but after seeing the movie she suddenly realized who he is. “She said the movie really made her feel closer to her brother,” Creadon says. “At the end of the day, eSports is really just about people and [the movie] is really a human story.”

That’s the beauty of it, but it truly saddens me that we, gamers, aren’t respected for our hobby, unlike footballers, golfers, and other major sports. I got some pretty hideous snide remarks last week when I met with some friends that brought some people with them that I didn’t now. Somehow we started talking about gaming, in general, and how they considered gamers to be the scum of the earth, a plague to society, and how they should all just get a job and grow up.

All Work All Play is a must watch to gamers, and non-gamers alike.

Other documentaries that also dwell in the gaming industry, and are worth a watch are…

Free to Play: The Movie

A documentary that follows 3 professional gamers on their quest to compete, and win the million dollar prize in the first Dota 2 International Tournament. It’s produced by Valve and it showcases what gamers sacrifice in order to achieve such a feat, and what challenges face them on their path to e-glory.

Looking for Group

Created by Blizzard Entertainment, it tells the tale of how World of Warcraft was developed, and how it become one of the most beautiful, and played MMORPG’s in the past decade. How countless friendships have been made, and even how people met and formed a relationship, eventually leading to marriage. I won’t forget that day when after clearing for the first time Black Temple, my guild leader who was playing from South Africa, proposed to his girlfriend of 4 years. I still talk to them from time to time – they have a baby daughter now, they bought a new house, and their planning on visiting Europe this summer.

World of Warcraft was one of the first games to get World Events right – like how realms where supposed to complete daily objectives, and gather items to open the Gates of Ahn’Qiraj.

All Work All Play will be available on :

– July the 21st in North America ( US, Canada, and Mexico), and Central and South America

– July the 28th in Europe, and Russia

There is no official release date for the Blu-Ray.

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Mind-Bending Surrealist Games That You Must Play

May 4, 2015 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

Update 1/26/2016: We felt like there were so many other games worth mentioning in this surrealist games list. Some we simply could not leave out, so here’s an updated series of games you might want to try out in the near future.

Back to Bed

Back to Bed is a great example of Salvador Dalí’s surrealist painting applied directly into a video game. Adopting the very abstract graphic elements of surrealism, the PlayStation 4 adaptation of what was once a mobile title brings even more mind-blowing and impossible physics as you follow Bob’s trip through his own subconscious.

Bob suffers from narcolepsy. Bob sleepwalks. Bob dangerously treads onto suspended platforms, stairways leading into nothing and upside down floors. The game plays on the idea that waking up a sleepwalker is dangerous for their health and that the only way to truly help them is to guide them safely back to bed in order to prevent them from hurting themselves.

You take control of the only other character in the game – a dog donning a human face that doesn’t seem to respect the usual laws of physics either and brings the sense of companionship to the protagonist of the game. But he is not, really; the dog is Bob’s mere embodiment in the subconscious realm, fittingly named Subob.

Bob must help himself from falling into the pits of the dream world abyss as his sleep walking body slowly moves through bizarre levels that contain the even more bizarre presences and obstacles of the game.

In essence, Back to Bed is a surreal 3D puzzle game that will progress you through several dreams, each divided into 15 levels. And it’s one of the titles that take the concept of surrealist games literally – as the artwork is almost taken out of surrealist painters’ works.

The game is available on Steam, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PS Vita for $5.99.

Rememoried

Rememoried is an explorative first-person adventure game that takes you through an entire series of dream-like places where nothing is the truly ever clear. Memories mix and blend into one another, morphing the scenery as you gradually move through it and start solving puzzles.

Memories turn into dreams and the only way to move forwards is to forget them. A flooded forest-like place with hanging picture frames and eerie gigantic eyeballs in the sky greets you as you enter this world for the first time.

The very unclear goals of the game can only be uncovered by closely observing your surroundings and through hints that the various unnamed narrators give you. The dreamscape locations and unexplainable layout of world elements depict the confusing nature of dreams: impossible by the laws of physics, sometimes repetitive and yet forever changing.

Each level is another puzzle to solve. And with each puzzle you may find yourself discovering new game mechanics, wildly different places to explore and eerie – yet beautiful – graphics to behold.

Along with an amazingly good soundtrack, Rememoried is one of those beautifully designed exploration surrealist games that do not even need a complicated story behind it to make a beautiful gaming experience. There is no mention of who is speaking or how you got here; very much like the way things are in dreams.

The game is available on Steam for $4.99 until January 29^th and $9.99 after that date.

Killer Is Dead

A very different kind of game – at least in comparison to the titles listed so far – Killer Is Dead comes from no other than Goichi Suda himself, the name behind other big titles such as No More Heroes or Killer7; also commonly known as Suda51.

Killer Is Dead is not a quiet, ethereal place to be, but wildly confusing and certainly one of its kind. An action game in the real sense, employing hack and slash elements, Killer Is Dead puts you in the shoes of a hired assassin known as Mondo Zappa that uses a katana and a robotic arm implant to execute his enemies.

But every single time you feel like you got the story figured out, a flashback happens or you’re surprised to find yourself in a very unlikely place. A seemingly innocent looking candy house suddenly turns upside down as you find its very-similar-to-Alice (the Alice in Wonderlands Alice) inhabitant to be cursed to transform into a gruesome crustacean-like monster.

Mondo himself goes on his own eerie track of remembering his unexplainable past as the story is a long chain of confusing memories. Physically impossible traits and locations, visits to the dark side of the moon and repetitive dream-like sequences slowly uncover the dark past of the protagonist.

And all throughout the game, you’re constantly be on a personal quest to figure out whether you’re supposed to be laughing with the game, whether any of it is to be taken seriously or why the sheer awesomeness of some moments quickly drips into a hilarious, yet downright creepy depiction of twisted characters and places.

Three personal playthroughs of Killer Is Dead, and I still can’t settle on one particular constant feeling of the game. It’s a confusing mesh of all of the above and only you can be the righteous judge of whether it’s for you or not. Comic book-like visuals along with a soundtrack that sounds like it’s mostly played backwards along with a few, select CGI or stop-motion cutscenes only add to the emotion explosion that will rattle inside of your thoroughly confused and undecided heart.

And as a side note, I had to completely delete the nature of optional missions found in Killer Is Dead from my head in order to not tarnish the good opinion I’ve been left with regarding the game. It’s only fair that I let you know. Even if the game’s good features managed to delete the impact of awful ones such as the side missions for me, it may not do the same with you.

The game is available on Steam, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Journey

As a 2012 release that even to this day remains a PlayStation exclusive – made available for PS4 later, in 2015 – Journey is the kind of video game that everyone who managed to play remembers it with a warm heart. Even if not many did get to experience the amazingly soothing and different adventure that Journey was. But by all means, if you happen to be the happy possessor of a PlayStation, do try Journey out – it is an irreplaceable 2-hour long experience.

You take on a cloaked and hooded character whose name and background are not really relevant. A vast dessert stretches to infinity ahead of you while the scorching wind makes ripples in the ground and the sun transforms everything into golden dust. You start by walking towards the only distinct construction in the emptiness of the scenery and as you reach its peak, a great mountain of light rests as far as your eyes can see.

Walking turns into running; running turns into sliding as you try to go down a sandy slope. Sliding turns into graceful flying motion as you head towards the source of light without really knowing why. There are no words to guide you on your journey, no verbal explanation as to what this place is. All you encounter seems to be the remnants of a lost civilization and a vague story that slowly gets pieced together through hieroglyph-like paintings. But a white guiding presence makes its appearance every now and then to keep you going.

This mystical and emotion-fueled trip is simply enchanting and employs simple elements of puzzle-solving gameplay, focusing on the Journey more than anything else. The ambient effects and soundtrack compliment the speechless and almost cinematic experience even further.

You can purchase Journey from the PlayStation Store for $14.99.

Year Walk

Year Walk is a game based on an old Swedish folk story that says that whomever manages to complete the Year Walk ritual may then peer into the future at the cost of their Christianity. Coming as a once-mobile game and ported onto PC in 2014, Year Walk is a title that has gathered the attention of many; and for good reason.

Set in 19^th century Sweden, Year Walk is a first person game that mixes elements of two-dimensional and three dimensional sceneries, and follows the story of a man who lives in the woods. He has feelings for a woman who is not as ready to offer him hers, and thus he decides to go on the Year Walk, against her warnings.

Foreboding and, at times, frightening moments await the player in what comes next. Built upon a rich web of folklore tales that you can read in the game encyclopedia as you progress, the game will take you through puzzles and tense experiences as you encounter strange creatures and unexplainable phenomena in the deep, dark woods.

Many things await you to uncover them while some secrets are left hanging – depending on your involvement in the game. Featuring a very abstract approach to things, Year Walk takes onto a very artistic way to present a video game; dripping with atmosphere and surrounding everything in mystery, it is surely one of the most intriguing surrealist games out there. As long as you’re willing to get shaken by a jump scare or two every now and then.

Year Walk is available on Steam for $6.49.

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Surrealism is one of the most influential art movements of the past century, and Salvador Dali, Kansuke Yamamoto, Rene Magritte, to name just a few, have influenced not only musicians, and filmmakers, but also video-game designers, and developers. Surrealist games are a thing of the present, and boy, aren’t they just fabulous.

Actually, surrealist games have been around for a while now, and we can pin point their start in 1993 when Myst was released, but only with Psychonauts has the genre started to garner a fandom. I remember my first time playing Psychonauts, when I was just a wee lad, and thinking what a stupid game this is, but oh, I was so wrong. I got sucked into its universe so quick, that it trapped me in front of my PC for days.

But enough reminiscing, let’s talk games!

Jazzpunk

Released on February the 7th of 2014, Jazzpunk has received overwhelming positive reviews, and critical acclaim, as one of the best, and most funniest surreal video-games to emerge in the last 10 years. Jazzpunk is a single-player fist-person adventure game that tasks you to meddle with the absurd, and try to find a logical solution to your current predicament.

Each mission has its specific goal, an objective that you must finish in order to advance towards the next phase, or level if you may, of the game, but it doesn’t block the player on a certain path, no, au contrair, it offers the player limited freedom of exploration – I said limited because it’s no open world video game, but its levels are quite spacious.

The game is focused on a top-secret espionage agency that is being run out of an abandoned subway station in Tokyo, sometime around the 1950’s. You are in control of Polyblank, a spy that is tasked with various absurd missions like smuggling pigeons, cross-dressing, killing a pig with an ukulele, and of course you wouldn’t be a spy without assassinating a cowboy.

In an alternate reality plagued by corporate espionage, and sentient Martinis, Jazzpunk offers comedic relief in a surreal Cold War World.

Its available on Steam for $15.

Bastion

Well Bastion is one video-game that marked my gaming experience. An action role-playing game that sets the player in the surreal post-apocalyptic world of Caelondia. A catastrophic event fractured the city into different plateaus, as well as its surrounding areas, changing it completely. The majority of Caelondia’s inhabitants have been reduced to dust, while other alienesque species have taken control of certain zones.

The player is The Kid, and you are tasked with searching for special shards of rock in order to power-up Bastion. Enemies will attempt to put a dent in your quest of restoring Bastion as a safe-haven, and you must fight back using your weapons – you can carry two at a time, and also perform a special attack.

In his journey the silent protagonist valiantly fends off invaders, and collects the Cores. The Kid is taken to places he has never been before – some are more dangerous than others. Cities, forests, bogs all located in, what seems to be, the sky.

The whole game is superbly narrated by Ruck, another survivor that points The Kid in the right direction.

If you are a gamer then you’re most likely accustomed to this type of gameplay, where the player sees the world from an isometric view, but I can bet my life on it that you haven’t experienced a sound track more exquisite. Just take a listen to this song – I went on and bought the whole OST, and I still listen to it on occasion.

Available on Steam, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4 for $10,99!

Psychonauts

Released in 2005, Psychonauts is one of the best video-games ever invented, and as a surrealist game, it stands as one of the contenders to the throne. The genius mind of Tim Schafer was behind Psychonauts, who is also known for Grim Fandango, Brutal Legend, the Monkey Island franchise, and to have spent over a decade at LucasArts.

Psychonauts received critical acclaim, and garnered a huge fan base that just loved everything that revolves around the game, and its main protagonist named Raz. A young and gifted boy who dwells in psychic abilities. He leaves the circus in order to join a camp that trains, and protects those who have similar powers – Raz’s main goal is to become a Psychonaut, a feared spy.

It’s an awesome adventure game that also includes traditional key console platformer element – best played with a gamepad.

This classic physic odyssey is a must-play for every gamer!

It’s available on Steam, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, and Playstation 3 for $9,99!

Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP

I bought this gem on a Humble Bundle deal, along with Bastion. At first I was a little bit confused about the gameplay, and how you can interact with objects, NPC’s, and straight-forward what you need to do in order to advance in the game. But all was washed down the moment I discovered a fellow wood cutter that led me to the entrance of a cave, where I fought a vicious shade.

This indie adventure video game teleports the player to a mythical little realm. You are tasked to relinquish the evil that resides in the world, and bring peace once again. Battle using your sword, and solve magical musical mysteries using sworcery.

A scenic, and atmospheric video-game that deserves the title of The Best Art Game released in the past 10 years, is one hell of an experience. Some may find it unnecessarily cryptic, with too many puzzle elements involved, while other will love every moment of confusion. This surrealist game can be perfectly described in one word – dreamlike.

All of it is encompassed by the beautiful soundtrack that Jim Guthrie created. Here’s a sneak peek of what you should expect.

It’s available on Steam, iOS and Android for $5,99!

Monument Valley

You’ve probably heard of this game from the last season of House of Cards. But Monument Valley is more than a cheap gimmick made in order to sway hipsters. It’s actually a beautifully well made game.

This puzzle game was compared by critics to M.C. Esher’s drawings, and also to Sword & Sworcery.

The player needs to lead the princess Ida through impossible mazes filled with optical illusions and mind-baffling objects. You will see that objects in-game are referred to as secret-geometry. The game is presented in isometric view, and your character journeys from hidden passage to hidden passage in order to be forgiven for something, and also progress to the next level.

The critics praised it for its ingenuity, its beautiful environment and attention to details, also its gorgeous soundtrack, but they noted the game’s difficulty being way too easy, and that it is a short length game.

Monument Valley is available for iOS, Android, Kindle Fire, and Windows Phone for $3,99.

Myst

Myst is all about a world where everything that you see is somewhat different. Logic, and reason doesn’t have its use in this graphic adventure puzzle video game, because they will only slow you down. Adventure has absolutely no bounds, and you will travel to an island that emits an eerie feeling of mystery, and at times, of utter despair.

The player takes control of an unknown character who is referred to as The Stranger. After finding a book called Myst, the character places his hand on the last page, and is suddenly transported to the island the book was talking about. Now you are tasked to explore, and find a way out.

Back in 1993 when it was released, it received praises from critics and gamers alike, making it a surprise hit over night.

The Masterpiece Edition can be found on Steam for $4,99.

Alas, our journey has ended. In this writer’s opinion, these are the best surrealist games right now. Hopefully, we’ll see more and more as time, technology, and the arts, advance.

What is your favourite one? Don’t be shy and tell us in the comment section below, maybe I missed on!

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NASA is Keen On Analysing the Remains of a Supernova

May 4, 2015 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

NASA wants to probe the remains of a supernova that exploded 20,000 years ago – examining the Cygnus Loop may result in one of the biggest, and fruitful, experiments in our history.

The mission will involve a probe which will analyse the contents of the Cygnus Loop. A sounding rocket will gather data emitted from the stellar event – to be more exact, x-rays are still being emitted, and scientists think that they can find crucial information by analysing them; crucial information that can lead to a better understanding of what supernovas are made of.

Also, scientists hope that by studying Cyngus Loop’s contents, they will shine a bright light on one of the biggest questions that has plagued our world. What is the Universe made out of? The new data that NASA will acquire will most likely sprout a ton of new questions regarding our stance in the universe, and our fate in the infinite unknown.

On May the 2nd, NASA launched OGRESS – Off-plane Grating Rocker for Extended Source Spectroscopy – from White Sands Missile Range, in New Mexico.

A following voyage is planned for 2018 on the star Capella.

But NASA isn’t the only one trying to breach the universe’s hard, and mysterious, wall. Elon Musk, the famous tech billionaire with a huge passion for spaceflight, and all space related things, is known for trying to be one of the pioneers that would make human life multi-planetary. Unfortunately he is encountering some technical difficulties, regarding his rockets taking off, and then actually landing them, without the whole utter destruction thing – here’s a YouTube video of the Falcon 9 landing failure.

Also, Dutch entrepreneur Bas Lansdorp is leading the private spaceflight project called Mars One – a non-profit organization with its roots in the Netherlands that plans to form a colony on Mars by 2027. The plans are that on 2027 the first humans will arrive on Mars, and every two years additional teams will be added. The goals is that by 2035 there would be 20 people living on Mars.

Slowly, but surely, humanity is entering a new space era, and in 100 years Mars will probably be a tourist destination.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos also has a company with interests in space. Called Blue Origin, the company is doing the same research in reusable crafts like SpaceX, and on the 29th of April they have successfully launched, and landed their space-ship. Although everyone is bashing them for the design of the ship. Yes, it looks phallic, but do we really care? It’s taking people up-to-and-back from the heavens. Take a look at Blue Origin’s first flight.

It saddens me that companies don’t team up, and share their research. They are doing a great job, undoubtedly, but let’s be real for a second – they are seeing this as a huge opportunity that will make them even more rich in the future. Frank Herbert was right, corporate driven houses will conquer space, not governments.

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Here are the Top Announcements Made at Microsoft’s Build

May 4, 2015 By Michael Turner 1 Comment

Microsoft’s Build was exceptional this year. Android apps on Windows Phone, a new browser called Edge, and the awesomely jaw-dropping HoloLens. I can say without a doubt that 2015 was, is, and will be a great year for Microsoft.

Just in case you missed the conference, you can watch all the sessions on their official website.

Let’s start with…

Android Apps On Windows Phone

It has been rumoured for a long time now that Windows will support iOS and Android apps. The apps won’t translate directly to the Windows-based device, but developers have made it easier for those who wish to do so, by releasing a number of tools for app creators.

Windows Phone has struggled in the market – a device without Android apps, or iOS apps isn’t that popular nowadays; but now, with Microsoft’s intention of making Windows-based devices the home for universal apps, Windows Phone will be like a diamond in the rough, waiting for developers to shape it into a beautiful gem.

Windows Phone Equals Windows PC

One of the biggest announcements that was made at Microsoft’s Build was Windows 10 Continuum – sounds future’ish, right?

This is Microsoft’s big plan to turn your ordinary phone into a personal computer. Besides getting a free upgrade to Windows 10, Microsoft’s new OS will have some cool new features too. Yes, you can scale it down so it is mobile friendly, but that isn’t the only awesome thing. You can even up-scale your mobile device, keeping the capabilities of your personal computer, to the big screen without a hitch.

Continuum stands for continuing everything you were doing like searching for a place on maps, reading an article, watching a video, or even playing a game – on the big screen!

Goodbye Internet Explorer, Hello Edge!

Internet Explorer was really great in its time, but not wanting to evolve like Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and even Opera – I hate Opera – has made it one unstable little fiend. But no more, says Microsoft.

Project Spartan was kept under a closed lid for a couple of months, and finally they have announced what’s it really about – a new browser called Edge. A browser that isn’t going to crash because I opened another tab? Well, that’s a step up!

It will be on par with Chrome, and Firefox not only because it will feature a new architecture, but the Edge will also feature Cortana, and it will support browser extensions.

HoloLens, or ” The Story About the Boy Who Decided to Never Leave His House Again!”

Although it is a work in progress virtual gear headset, it doesn’t seem to be all that buggy. Watch a little bit of their on-stage demo, and tell me that you don’t want that awesome toy for yourself. You can scale everything. Fancy cooking dinner, but also watching the latest Game of Thrones episode? No biggie. Scale the media player on the wall in front of you. Not in the mood of getting out of the bed to read the newspaper? No problem, scale articles in the ceiling so you can lay in bed all day.

When they say that you can scale everything, I hope that they mean it. I want to scale the dog to humongous proportions, not only because I want to scare my friends when they try out my HoloLens device, but who wouldn’t want a huge dog?

Plaster apps on your walls, make those apps follow your around, create your own virtual environment. The downside is that you’ll live in your own bubble, without decorating anything in your home, but if that’s the price we have to pay for advanced technology, then so be it!

Some Love for DirectX 12

Although nothing major was presented at Microsoft’s Build this year regarding gaming, Square Enix showcased a demo featuring DirectX 12, and it was superb. The clip, titled Witch Chapter 0 [cry], can be seen on Youtube.

Those look like real tears, and more so, that women looks so real it’s kinda’ scary. The rig that pushed the graphics to the max in the presentation consists of a four GPUs that were capable of presenting 63 million polygons – that includes the whole environment.

That’s about it. There are some other announcements, but they weren’t so big. The not so important, but stil great announcements at Microsoft’s Build were:

– Azure Learning platform which is a machine that constantly learns and improves itself;

– Surface Hub, a 4k, 84-inch tablet, mounted smart table;

– Microsoft wants 1 billion devices with Windows 10 – a respectable goal, or a child’s dream?

The most important announcement that wasn’t made at this year’s Build was the release date of Windows 10. It’s still a mystery to all of us.

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Haptic Glove Adds Touch to Virtual Reality Headsets

April 29, 2015 By Cristopher Hall Leave a Comment

Every week we hear more and more awesome news regarding virtual reality headsets. This time, I’m going to tell you about the new haptic glove that adds touch to virtual reality headsets!

Researchers at RICE University have created a new sort of glove, a haptic glove, that uses air to inflate bladders located underneath your fingers to offer a more realistic experience – imagine that you can grab a weapon, let’s say a sword, and wield it in a virtual reality game!

“What we’ve made is a glove that uses air to inflate bladders underneath your fingers, so you can hook this up to a video game and when you reach out and grab a virtual object, it feels like you’re actually grabbing that object,” said mechanical engineering student Thor Walker.

The glove wears about 350 grams – it’s more than enough for users to not feel it bothering them.

” We had our own constraints based on testing to determine the amount of perceptible weight that could be strapped to your fingers, arms, legs and limbs — the maximum weight that is perceptible to users — and we came up with 660 grams on the forearm and much less than that on the back of the hand or on the fingers.”, mechanical engineering student Koch Kevin has stated.

The glove is only right-handed at the moment, and being wireless it was designed specifically to be unobtrusive – it’s going to make you forget you’re even wearing a glove.

It’s a good thing that other companies are jumping on the band wagon. Oculus, HTC, Valve, Samsung and Sony are prioritizing on their headsets – offering a one of a kind audio, and visual, experience is their main goal. We’ll most likely see more gear popping up from other developers in the near future.

Virtuix, the company behind the VR treadmill, is sponsoring the whole project with the intent of making it available for commercial use, and not just a prototype discarded on a shelf somewhere at an University.

Virtuix and the haptic glove’s developers have an agreement on not sharing how it was built, and only to offer software support for those who want to create apps, and games to use with the new touch glove.

It’s gotten a cool name too – Hands On Omni Glove. Take a glimpse at the video down below, and see for yourself the magic RICE University students have unleashed upon the world.

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OTG Cable With USB to Micro-USB

Through Cloud

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