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There are few better excuses to run around a Steampunk Victorian England than a plague of monsters, seriously, just try and think of one. Ok, fine, ‘political intrigue/ assassination’ isn’t bad, but I don’t think it tops wolfmen (and whatever creatures we haven’t seen yet). This is the world of The Order:1886, and alternate earth where monsters slink in the dark places, King Arthur has returned, and an order of superpowered knights (aided by an explosion of technical advancement) stand to stem the tide. Basically it goes like this ‘monsters, monster, steampunk, monsters monsters, really cool weapons’.  Heard enough?

Cops and Robbers anybody?  Oh, come now, I know you remember that feeling of running free, murdering your friends in an endless and (mostly) harmless series of battles.  No, I’m not talking about your last round of COD, I’m talking that earliest form of multiplayer… childhood.  Its probably why these FPS games are so enticing really… the kids grew up with the ability to reproduce that feeling into a digital realm, and so, we have Battlefield: Hardline.  The ultimate good guys vs bad guys, its time do ‘draw the line’…. ‘hard’.

The first name in shooting family, friends, and strangers in an online multiplayer setting, Call of Duty has been filling headsets with profanity and living rooms with gunfire for most of this century. Redefining the genre, Modern Warfare changed the game, a generation on and the series aims to do so again. Making a statement about the Multi-shooter FPS in the new generation of hardware, its Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (with pre-order bonus!).

Nikon has just announced the release of it’s latest full-frame DSLR – the D810. This is a camera that promises a big leap forward in terms of resolution, putting it in league with medium format cameras, which are considerably more expensive.

Yesterday, Google held a three hour-long keynote at its I/O 2014 developer conference. We posted the run-down so you wouldn’t have to watch the entire thing. While some of the presentation like Cloud Debugging was a little dry (unless you happen to be a developer in the cloud app business), one section stood out: Android Wear. We’ve heard about this Android for smartwatches before of course, but at Google I/O 2014 we saw the system in action and even better, saw some of those amazing Android Wear devices that have been hinted at. The LG G watch in particular got substantial stage time. Android Wear is real, it looks fantastic and it’s coming soon!

Tracking your fitness and calories is even easier now, because Garmin announced today they have partnered with MyFitnessPal. Anyone who has a compatible device like the Garmin vivofit can now quickly and easily compare calories burned vs calories consumed using your device and Garmin Connect. 

Every year Google holds a conference aimed at its developer community. Every year a preview of the latest version of its Android mobile operating system is shown and sometimes there are some surprise appearances —like the public debut of Google Glass at I/O 2012. This year, a wicked fast and new-look Android was revealed (it’s “L” for now, with no sweet-themed name attached), Android Auto was announced for connected cars, Google Fit confirmed the rumours Google is interested in your health, Android Wear showed off awesome new smartwatches from LG and Samsung while Android TV is another crack at conquering your living room. Basically, the theme was Android everywhere. Here’s what you need to know from Google I/O 2014.

Are you the proud owner of an original Galaxy Gear smartwatch, but bummed out that you’re missing out on some of the cool new features of the Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo, like their standalone music app and S Health sleep tracking? Samsung is listening and its now offering the ability to upgrade the original Galaxy Gear’s operating system from Android to Tizen —the OS powering its latest generation of smartwatches.

Last weekend I spent a few hours at the first-ever Microsoft Surface Café. Held at a hip pop-up venue on Toronto’s trendy Queen Street West, the tagline for the event was: “Where creativity comes together.” The workshop I attended on Saturday was headlined by Francis Manapul —the guy who’s currently drawing Batman. He was onstage drawing Batman … and the Joker … using nothing but a Surface Pro 3. If you happen to be in the Montreal area next weekend, Microsoft is opening a Surface Café in that city starting on June 26 and is currently taking applications to attend the creative seminars. If the Toronto version was any indication, there will be some fascinating sessions (along with free coffee and Surface cookies).