Leisurely Geeks

Kotaku‘s artictle by Jason Schreier  goes into great detail and includes some great screanshots of the Steam client in Big Picture mode. So, I will keep it simple. This will be a great way to game…Period. Yes having your PC hooked up to your  TV is the way to go with this service. But, even without doing that, it will be handy. I know that many games I play on PC through the Steam client work great with a controller. I’ve played Batman: Arkham City, Dead Island, Skyrim, Fallout 3, Saints Row:The Third, and a bunch more games using a controller. And even on my 24 inch monitor I lean back in my chair for lengthy sessions. It just feels right to do so with a controller in hand. So this is where this mode comes in. The UI design is fantastic. The client includes a browser and a great text input interface that should have happened years ago on consoles. Biggest thing might be the browser. 1. Having an easy browser to get into from the Steam Overlay is much better than Alt-Tabbing out of a game (even when not using a controller). 2. A full browser on a pc can access other services such as Hulu and Netflix. And lastly Steam will soon be supporting other apps through its client. So your PC hooked up to your TV could replace consoles as well as other media streaming options. All with an interface you can see from your couch. Even if you don’t want to do this for your big gaming PC, a semi-decent laptop will play more steam games than you think (especially many indie/older  titles) and likely fit into the living room better. Sounds fun and it’s nice to have options.

By all means, check out Kotaku’s article for a more in-depth look: http://kotaku.com/5941793/valve-is-bringing-steam-to-your-tv-today-watch-out-consoles

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• Valve Is Bringing Steam To Your TV Today. Watch Out, Consoles.

Logo courtesy Rifftrax.com

I’ve known about Rifftrax for a while now, but, I just found out that a bunch of their stuff is on Hulu. If you don’t know what Rifftrax is, it is essentially the guys behind Mystery Science Theater 3000 continuing to do their thing. Which is intelligently making fun of a movie while you watch it. These guys (Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett) are a polished insult machine. Their site has a huge library of media options. Including Video on Demand, as well as just the Audio you can sync with some of your favorite (or not so favorite films). The Hulu selection is but a sample of what movies they cover. They have covered everything from short 1950′s safety films to the Twilight series. Often they also include guest “Riffers” such as Joel McHale, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Neil Patrick Harris, Jonathan Coultan, and Veronica Belmont. In case you are interested they also stream live events to your local movie theater through Fathom Events. Check out Rifftrax on Hulu here: http://www.hulu.com/studio/rifftrax?sort=name or their site here: http://www.rifftrax.com/

Sample:

Since the new Batman comes out this summer. I thought I’d remind everyone of the funny side of Batman. Thanks to Saturday Night Live on Hulu.

I like long walks on the beach, the smell of fresh cut grass, and puppies…