Tech Olive

Electronic Arts has just released the “Pure Time Trial Map Pack” for Mirror’s Edge. The new map pack is now available for the Xbox 360, with the PS3 and PC versions available soon. Costing 800 Microsoft Points, or $10, the pack will add seven new rather odd-looking maps and nine new races. It is rather surprising that the content is not coming free to PC users. However, watching some videos of the maps included, the design of the maps are amazing and just might make it worth the money. Check out the video below.

The new handheld gaming system from Nintendo, the DSi, is set to release on the April 5th, 2009, and will retail for $169.99 USD. From launch, it will only be available in 2 colors, which are blue and black.

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Valve’s Gabe Newell announced in today’s DICE keynote that last weekend’s half-price sale of Left4Dead resulted in a 3000% increase in sales of the game, posting overall sales that surpassed the game’s launch week volume. Left4Dead is not the only game with a sales increase. Team Fortress 2 sales climbed 106% following the recent free update. It was also mentioned that Steam customers increased 1600% over the same weekend of the sales.

See Shacknews for more details.

In an attempt to drive up sales and fan base for both the Xbox 360 and the Halo series, Microsoft has announced that they will be including a free copy of their upcoming game, Halo Wars with the purchase of any new Xbox 360 console. Of course, there are limitations, so read closely. Available only at participating retailers and the offer is only valid from February 26th to March 26th, or until inventory runs out.

I was stoked to finally check out one of Seagate’s high capacity drives and I thought their Pipeline HD Pro 1TB hard drive was a perfect choice to start out with. All I have to say is that this thing is a pure beast. Weighing in at a pound and a half, this drive manages to pack in performance, reliability, and lots of space. Although optimized for DVRs and media centers, the Pipeline HD series still has much to offer for PC users, and I can easily prove this.

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When Facebook changed their terms of use, they were quickly approached by angry users. What caused all this havoc was the removal of a line which read, “You may remove your User Content from the site at any time. If you choose to remove your user Content, the license granted above will automatically expire.”

What Facebook pretty much did was grant themselves the right to all user-uploaded content forever. It no longer mattered if you removed anything from the site, because it would remain in Facebook’s archives, giving them the right to use the content for as long as they like, whenever they like.

After a bombardment of complaints and negative press coverage, the social networking site rolled back their Terms of Use to the previous version. You can read more about the roll back from Facebook themselves at their blog.

The wildly popular, independently-developed Xbox Live Arcade game Braid is finally making its way to the PC. Scheduled for release on March 31st, you can preorder the game for $14.99 (USD) from Impulse. The original price was set at $19.99 but after some complaints, the creator has lowered the price.

”I’ve signed the game with 3 different online distributors. One of them, Impulse, has already announced. The other two haven’t put out their press releases yet, so I don’t want to jump the gun saying who it is.” – Jonathan Blow, Creator

Are we going to see Castle Crashers come to the PC next? Fingers are crossed!

We are now day two into the legal precedings against the guys running The Pirate Bay and just recently, the prosecutor has dropped half of the charges, only charging The Pirate Bay operators with accessory to reproduction. Of course, they continue to fight the charges.

This is a sensation. It is very rare to win half the target in just one and a half days and it is clear that the prosecutor took strong note of what we said yesterday. – Defense lawyer, Per E Samuelson.

Although it is a big step, it is a huge step forward and a massive confidence boost for The Pirate Bay.

EPIC WINNING LOL. – Peter Sunde(Defendant) posted on Twitter.

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According to rumors back in January, it was mentioned that possibly we would be seeing a red Xbox 360 console. Until now there has been no more news about this. However, over the weekend, details have come to light. According to the above image, which was submitted to Kotaku by a reader that works in the shipping/receiving department of a Toys ‘R’ Us, the console will be an Elite priced at $399 (USD). Unfortunately, that’s all the details that are to be found about this new colored console. People are expecting the new 360 to release along side Resident Evil 5.

At a glance, from many factors, one could easily assume that The Magic Toy Chest is a casual kid’s game, something simple for anyone to enjoy. In actuality, it is a complex physics-based puzzle game. Much like The Incredible Machine, for those that remember those games, you are given an arsenal of tools, or box of toys, if you will. With these devices you construct complex solutions to seemingly simple problems.

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