Got Steam? Have you got multiple computers at home (or wherever you usually do your gaming)? Are they networked? If you answered “yes” to all of these, then this news might interest you.

Three months ago, Valve enabled ‘Family Sharing’ for all Steam users, to allow customers who know each other to share their libraries of games among one another (with some restrictions). Today Valve have launched a feature that takes it even further, letting users stream installed Steam games on any machine with any other computer on the same local network.

By logging into the same Steam account on two connected computers, Steam will now allow a remote computer to install, launch and play games by streaming them from the computer they were first installed on, allowing less powerful computers and laptops to stream games from a high-end gaming computer (for example) and enjoy the games just like they were installed on that computer, but with performance closer to that of the high-end computer since it’ll do all the work instead. Assuming a solid internet connection, this potentially means even an old junker can now play top-end Steam titles with little effort required.

Games can be transferred from the host computer to another – and vice versa – at any time, even mid-play. Bandai Namco Games has even stated that with a proper set-up, gamers might even “forget” they’re playing the game remotely instead of locally – or so claims a quote attributed to the company on Steam’s in-home streaming page.

While the feature at the moment is restricted to Windows-based PCs, Steam state they will attempt to introduce it to MacOS and Linux versions of the system in the future – given the company’s desire to improve gaming on non-Windows PCs, I expect we’ll hear about this very soon indeed. We assume this will also include SteamOS, being a Linux variant of Valve’s own design – if so, the new Streaming capabilities open up a whole realm of possibilities. Raspberry Pi-based SteamOS Gaming Computer for little more than the cost of a screen, keyboard and mouse, anyone?

Peter Parker runs the gauntlet as the mysterious company Oscorp sends up a slew of super villains against him, impacting his life.

Ok, a couple of weeks late on this review (so sue me, I’ve moved and still setting up my new office…), but here we go with The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Now I enjoyed the first film (For my Amazing Spider-Man review, please click here), but like Sam Raimi’s last trilogy, Amazing Spider-Man 2 falls over in the second installment and actually in a worse way to how Spider-Man 2 did…

Just like the Tobey Maguire films, this one went off the rails with too much going on, now the web swinging and butt kicking of NORMAL crooks was cool, the special effects looked amazing, but the real enemies left me meh.

Peter Parkers (Andrew Garfield) childhood friend Harry Osborne (Dane DeHaan) returns as his father, Norman Osborne (Chris Cooper) is on his death bed, to find out he is afflicted by the same genetic condition as his father that will likely kill him and is handed the research his father was close to finding a cure with.

At least Norman Osborne rightly got his time as the Goblin in the last trilogy, but this time, Chris Cooper doesn’t get any screen time beyond a death bed confession and accusation that Harry is useless and a disappointment…   I was literally wondering WTF when I saw that, and would have said it, had there not been a group of 8yr old’s two rows ahead of me…  (I go to the cinema in the day to get away from bloody kids, grr…) and to add insult to injury here, Chris Cooper isn’t even credited at the end of the film for his part, it was THAT small!

Now it was cool that the genetic illness killing him made him look goblin like, but c’mon, it looked shit…

And Dane DeHaan…  I thought he was exceptional in Chronicle in 2012, but his portrayal of Harry Osborne was awful. I hated the character and just thought he was a whiny lil’ bitch, don’t get me started as him as the Goblin…   I preferred James Franco back in Spider-Man 3…

Ok, lets move on to Electro…

/facepalm

I hated Electro (Jamie Foxx), he looks awful and even if he just wanted to be recognised by people, again, I just wanted to slap him and tell him to man up…

Can I also just say, I hate the CGI on his skin, yes, some of the effect on him fighting spidey was cool, but standing there?   he looked bloody awful and that’s all I’m gonna say there…  (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

Now, I guess we should talk about Spidey (Andrew Garfield) and Gwen Stacey (Emma Stone) huh?  Peter is still haunted by the death of Gwens father in the first film and his dying words (he told Peter to leave her to keep her safe) and Peter can’t reconcile it.

Now we all know the actors are together in real life and this comes across on screen and somewhat redeems the movie.  Peter and Gwen are really sweet to watch on screen, especially on their date.

Peter and Aunt May (Sally Field) are also a joy to watch aswell and sally Field nails Aunt May much better than Rosemary Harris did in the last triilogy.

Then there’s the side story of Peter finding out more about why his parents did their midnight run for the border, leaving him with Aunt May and Uncle Ben and just HOW MUCH they were involved in the troubles at OSCORP.  Now in the comics, this surfaced that they were SHIELD Agents, undercover at OSCORP to expose Norman Osborne’s genetics work.  In this, the story of them leaving could have been totally left out of the film and him finding his dad’s secret lab would still have worked (and saved a not so great action scene on a plane)

Anyway…   So did I like the movie?   Yes, it was ok, the action scenes, for the most part, gave me a buzz and showed just HOW lythe and agile Spidey can be, but like the last trilogy, it’s trying to do too much, too quickly and shows that they really want to be part of the Avengers line, when clearly there’s nothing from Marvel to make this a thing…

On that note, would i like to see Andrew Garfields Spidey in Avengers 3?   Yup!   Fuck Yes in fact!

Will it happen in this humble journalists opinion?   Nope…

So, Rating time…

6/10

Let’s hope the Sinister Six don’t over shadow Spidey completely in The Amazing Spider-Man 3 in 2016

The Microsoft Surface tablets live a troubled existence. Ostensibly tablet devices designed by Microsoft to show how Windows 8 (and later 8.1) are designed to work on a Tablet, the devices originally came with; then later made optional a series of Covers (such as the Touch Cover and Type Cover) that added physical keyboards to the mix. Combined with the tablets featuring a kickstand to keep the screen upright, it often felt more like Microsoft were actually aiming to build hybrid devices – laptops with a removable screen that just HAPPENED to be usable as a tablet – rather than tablet devices in their own right.

The Surface Pro 3 takes it even further.

Microsoft’s belief is that up until now, tablets and laptops have been mutually exclusive devices, suiting different use cases. Unveiled today at a purpose-built event at New York City, Microsoft say their next entry to their Surface line of tablets is designed with one particular purpose in mind – to bridge that gap. So no longer is it enough to sell tablets with enough optional accessories to be usable as laptops – Microsoft’s new goal is to have their tablet replace your laptop entirely.

In order to achieve that goal, Microsoft first started by upping the 10.6-inch screen – as seen on the Surface Pro 2 – to 12-inches, or one whole foot wide. The display also comes with a 2,160 x 1,440 resolution, topping traditional 1080p HD displays on the market. The combination leads to a 4:3 viewing ratio – the same as a typical TV before Widescreen became commonplace – which Microsoft says is “critical” to compete with a typical laptop screen.

Despite the enlarged screen, Microsoft also seems to be committed to making the overall device smaller and lighter to use. At 9.1mm thick, the Surface Pro 3 shaves a millimetre-and-a-half of thickness from the Pro 2; while it weighs just 800g. The lightness of the tablet was demonstrated by placing it on a pair of scales with a MacBook Air on the other side, demonstrating it to be lighter than Apple’s famously ultra-thin laptop in a thinly-veiled dig towards one of the biggest players in the Tablet Computing market.

But if Microsoft really want to make this a laptop-killer, it needs the power to match. For this, Microsoft is equipping all the Surface Pro 3 tablets with Intel Core processors (more on that later), not only improving the power of the tablets beyond that of previous Surfaces, but also pushing it into the realm of – yes, you guessed it – your typical medium- to high-end laptop. Microsoft ran a number of high-end apps; and even a 3D-rendering app on-stage during the presentation to prove its capabilities. Adobe also came on-stage to show off a new version of Photoshop, “specifically optimised” for the Surface Pro 3, which even has 200% bigger icons to make it work equally well when touched with a stylus or with fingers. Adobe claim that the updated app also contains an enhanced feature set that has been made possible with the power of the new device.

Microsoft will release the Surface Pro 3 in three flavours, offering different Intel Core processors – the i3, i5 and i7 in order of power – to allow users to compromise between performance and price. All of them will sport a number of USB 3.0 ports and a redesigned kickstand, which rotates between angles starting at the standard 22 degrees up to 150 degrees – a departure from the fixed viewing angles of the previous two iterations. They will also come with Microsoft’s popular Type Covers in multiple colours.

While the devices hit stores in America on Wednesday, global release plans and price points are not yet known. Taking the American prices, however, the entry level i3 device – with minimum storage and RAM included – will cost $799; the equivalent of £480 here in the UK. Customers who want an Intel Core i5 will need to dish out $999 to $1,299 (roughly £590 – £770) depending on Storage and RAM, and the most priciest i7 model – with the full 512GB of storage and 8GB of on-board RAM – will set you back over a grand in our money, with the US price of $1,949 equating to over £1100 this side of the pond. We hope to have news on the European launch dates and price points as soon as they become available.

We’ve known about it since February, but finally, D-day (Deactivation Day) has arrived for online services on Wii and DS games. At some point in the next 24 hours, Nintendo is turning off the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection Service as used for Wii and DS games. This means you’ll no longer be able to use the WiFi on Wii and DS to play those games online, download new content, or access leaderboards.

That means no more Mario Kart DS races; no more Professor Layton downloadable puzzles; no more online Multiplayer in Super Smash Bros. Brawl or the original Monster Hunter 3. And while it was originally suggested that DSi-enhanced games would not be affected, this seems to have been wishful thinking, as even Pokémon Black and Pokémon White and their sequels (along with the other DS-era Pokémon Titles) are being disconnected (Nintendo UK’s page about it only lists games with Downloadable Content as being discontinued; the American site is a little more comprehensive, although some titles have different names between regions).

While the games will no longer be playable online or be able to receive downloadable content, local Wireless is unaffected – so you can still wirelessly race, battle, puzzle against or otherwise play with your mates within a ten-metre range; and use Download Play if your game offers it. The games will also continue to have all their offline play features. Meanwhile, Pokémon fans worried their Pokémon collections from Generations 4 or 5 are permanently locked to stay in that generation need not worry – using a 3DS, it’s still Possible to move Pokémon from some DS Pokémon Titles to the Pokémon Bank and then to Pokémon X and Y, thanks to the Poké Transfer app for 3DS which remains functional.

Online services that do not use Nintendo WFC, such as Netflix and Youtube apps, also remain functional on their respective devices (for as long as the companies behind those apps continue to support the Wii or DS, anyway); and Internet Browsing is still also possible. Meanwhile the Wii Shop Channel is also remaining up and running for the moment, so WiiWare and Virtual Console games can still be downloaded, gifted and so on. Even so, it’s clear where the real focus of online for Nintendo is now – Wii U, 3DS, and the Nintendo Network, all of which will continue their normal lives long after their predecessors are cut off later today.

It may seem hard to believe, but as of tomorrow (15th May 2014), Diablo 3 will be two years old. Cake and singing songs just isn’t in the style of the popular dungeon-based Hack-and-Slasher, however. Nor is a single day of celebration enough. No, Blizzard has something better in mind.

To celebrate the game’s second anniversary and the community that made it all possible, Starting tomorrow and running until May 22, players who log in to defend Sanctuary will receive double Rift Fragments as well as a +100% boost to their chance to find Legendary items.

While the buffs will apply to all characters; and will stack with other buffs a Player may have to add further bonuses to their drop rate etc, those with a console version of the game are unfortunately excluded – this event is for PC & Mac only. However, as Console releases already have better drop rates than the PC equivalent, this is hardly a big loss. What MIGHT be a big loss is the timing, as many Diablo 3 players are complaining the week-long event falls into a period where many students are completing major exams – thus limiting the time they have to take advantage. However, the most hardcore of Diablo 3 players are already clearing their schedule to make room for a whole week of non-stop action.

Whether you’re a casual or hardcore Diablo 3 player, looks like Diablo’s demons better prepare for a lot more bloodshed than usual.