Tech Olive

Steam has reduced the price of the Codemasters Racing Pack to $17.50 for the weekend. The pack includes DiRT, DiRT 2, GRID, FUEL and ToCA Race Driver 3. Alternatively, you can purchase just the games you want from the pack, as they are each 75% off individually, but the pack is still the best deal. No matter what you decide, it’s an awesome gig for some awesome racing games that no gamer should be able to pass up.

[Store Page]

The game merchandise specialists over at IP Factory have partnered with Valve to bring gamers an awesome bunch of props and figures through Gaming Heads. First in the line is set to be a statue of Team Fortress 2‘s Heavy, as pictured above and also in RED Team variation. Their first line of 12-inch statues are supposedly limited edition and their pre-orders are planned to start May 3rd.

Gaming Heads is very proud to have signed a license with Valve to produce a range of different collectible lines from Valve’s portfolio of franchises, including Half-Life, Portal, Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead 2.

The Valve collection line up will include:

• 18 inch statues from Half Life 2
• 12 inch statues from Team Fortress 2
• 12 inch statues from Left 4 Dead 2
• Life size props

Anyone else making plans to sell a kidney? You only need one, right?

via [Big Download]

Valve has released the first of five planned L4D2 special infected plush dolls in their online store. For $49.99 you can grab yourself a cute, plush Boomer that actually plays 10 different in-game Boomer sounds! Be sure to stay on the lookout at Valve’s online store for when the others release over the next few weeks.

While we’re still expecting the first teaser trailer today from GTTV, it seems the story has broke and Activision has announced that the next Treyarch CoD game will be Call of Duty: Black Ops and is set for a November 9th release this year.

“We can’t wait for our community to experience Call of Duty: Black Ops,” said Mark Lamia, Studio Head for Treyarch. “We have focused our entire studio on this game, with dedicated multiplayer, single-player and co-op teams creating the most intense, gripping and riveting experience possible for our fans on all fronts.”

[Press Release, Official Site]

I think we all know about the Microsoft Courier in one way or another. The rumored, dual-screen tablet PC has been floating around for quite some time, but Microsoft has said that while the Courier is an idea of theirs, it won’t be coming anytime soon:

“At any given time, across any of our business groups, there are new ideas being investigated, tested, and incubated. It’s in Microsoft’s DNA to continually develop and incubate new technologies to foster productivity and creativity. The “Courier” project is an example of this type of effort and its technologies will be evaluated for use in future Microsoft offerings, but we have no plans to build such a device at this time.” — Frank Shaw, Microsoft’s VP of corporate communications.

There you have it, folks. No Courier for you.

via [Engadget]

BioShock 2‘s next installment of multiplayer DLC comes in the form of the Rapture Metro Pack. Offering six new multiplayer maps (one pictured above), three new achievements and “Rebirth,” BioShock 2‘s equivalent of Prestige allowing you to return to level 1 by choice and in return, you’ll receive a special mask to wear.

The Rapture Metro Pack is coming soon for Xbox 360, PS3, and Games for Windows Live for 800 MS Point or $9.99. The pack includes six brand new maps including areas rebuilt from the single-player game for MP modes. We also have three new achievements and trophies and have added the Rebirth Feature for players who have reached Rank 50 – using Rebirth, you can rank your character down to Rank 1 and receive a special mask.

No details yet on the DLC’s projected release date.

via [Cult of Rapture]

Just a friendly reminder for those that might not know (and if you do know, remind your friends), we’re celebrating the all new Steam interface with a giveaway! All you have to do is leave a comment in this post and you’ll automatically be entered into a random drawing. We’ll contact the winner via email and he/she will get a Steam game of his/her choice worth up to $25 (£16.24). Sound good? Good. Be sure to get your comment in by Sunday, May 2nd at 11:59PM EST.

Some Basic Rules

- Anyone is eligible to enter.
- Only one comment will be counted per reader.
- Please don’t use multiple email addresses. We have evil robots that check.
- The winner will be randomly selected and then immediately notified via email for further action.

View the official rules here.

An anonymous reader asked on our Formspring page:

When the nvidia logo is fading in during opening credits (in games like borderlands). What do the green letters on the sides say?

Sadly, the text you see in their splash screen does not make up some secret message. Instead, it’s just Nvidia tootin’ their own horn. After taking magnifying glasses to our screens and nearly going blind, we have managed to make sense of the following words:

“EXTREME GAMING”
“DONE EVERY PLATFORM”
“SLI READY GPUS”
“PURE VIDEO HD EXPERIMENT”
“GEFORCE UPGRADE”
“POWERING 3D GRAPHICS”

Spaces were added here to ease readability. Original text offers no spaces

If you have no idea what we’re talking about, here’s the Nvidia splash screen:

Soooo, Seagate is up to something and we really want to know what it is. Coming May 4th, “Seagate is going to change the way you think about portable storage forever.” We can’t wait to see what it is and we’ll definitely be on our heels to cover it. In fact, there having a huge giveaway to celebrate and the winner will get a glimpse of the big surprise before anyone else, as well as some other consumer electronic goodies.

What do you think the surprise is? Shout out your guesses!

[Seagate]

This week’s episode of GTTV will feature — among other things — the first teaser trailer for the next Call of Duty game. Finally, we’ll be done with rumors and speculation and have solid confirmation of the game’s basis.

via [GTTV Promo]