Tech Olive

Amanita Design issued a press release today that would forgive all individuals that pirated their newest game, Machinarium, and offer them a 75% off sale for the game and its soundtrack. That’s a grand total of $5!

If you think the game’s not worth your $5 (I assure you, it is), then head to their site where you can play the first few levels for free, but you better hurry! The amnesty only lasts until August 12th.

[Development Blog]

2K Games has confirmed that Civilization V will be getting a pre-release demo and it’s slated for release in September. While this did raise some concern with the game’s retail release date set for September 21st, we are assured that the demo will hit before the final game arrives on retail shelves.

The announcement failed to go into any further detail, but we were assured that “more details about what will be available in the demo, as well as the exact release date are coming soon, so stay tuned!”

[Announcement]

Logitech announced today the next generation of their G-series line: a new headset, mouse and keyboard to drool over.

“The new G-Series products give every gamer a competitive advantage. Whether it’s a headset with 7.1 surround sound, a mouse with 13 controls, or a keyboard with an LCD that displays critical in-game stats, everything about the new G-Series lineup helps you win, no matter what game you love to play.” — Elliott Chin, Logitech’s senior manager of product marketing for gaming.

The freshly announced G930 headset looks poised to either replace the G35 or hold a nice spot just above it with its wireless technology and $159.99 price tag. Next, is the G700 wireless gaming mouse priced at $99.99, which seems to fill the spot just above the G500 and compete with the Razer Mamba. And finally, we come to the G510 keyboard which, at $119.99, looks to be an updated G15 Rev. 2.

[Press Release]

Since its announcement at the VGAs last year, Batman: Arkham Asylum 2 has gone quiet with only a few teasing trailers. Today, that changed with Game Informer announcing their September cover that features the game. Now titled Batman: Arkham City, the game’s official site lists a Fall 2011 release date but little else is known at this time. It’s safe to say that we’ll have a ton more info to rave about once this issue hits newsstands.

via [Game Informer]

The community collaboration tool from Google that no one uses is bidding adieu to everyone by the end of year, says Google Senior VP Urs Hölzle.

“Wave has not seen the user adoption we would have liked. We don’t plan to continue developing Wave as a standalone product, but we will maintain the site at least through the end of the year and extend the technology for use in other Google projects.”

Not surprising, really. I mean, who honestly uses Google Wave? Better question, what is Google Wave? At any rate, goodbye Google Wave. You were the one Google product that I never used and never really knew what the heck you were all about.

[Google Blog]

For The Mamba Files: Month 8 we’ll be shifting focus a bit from the Mamba itself. We’ll be talking about the charging dock that also doubles as the Mamba’s wireless receiver. Adorned with a nice blue glowing base and a stylish design (with or without the mouse perched atop), one could be forgiven for wondering just how much there can really be said about this device. Well, truth be told, I am left with wanting a bit more from the dock at times and that’s exactly what we’ll be focusing on this month.

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Epic Vid of the Week is a weekly series that showcases an awesome video that we or our readers discover. Some you may have seen before and others you may have not. If you’ve discovered any videos that are worthy of an Epic Vid of the Week title, let us know!

Watch that first step! It’s a doozy!

In a turn of events that are hard to believe, EA DICE not only announced that Battlefield 3 was coming, but they also dropped the bombshell that every pre-order of Medal of Honor Limited Edition would give you a key that guaranteed you a spot in Battlefield 3‘s upcoming beta. While it was assumed that the Bad Company series was the successor of the Battlefield series, it seems we were all wrong.

And if that’s not enough for you, EA also released a new trailer for Medal of Honor that features some new footage and a brand new song from Linkin Park. Check it out after the break.

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While, water-cooled memory isn’t quite a complete fad, Kingston is trying to change that with their new HyperX H2O line. The DDR3 modules utilize a simple tube that water passes through to keep the sticks cool. Kits come in both dual-channel (4GB) and triple-channel (6GB) variations starting at $157 and $235 respectively, with 2,000MHz (also 2,133MHz) speeds and CL9-11-9-27 timings at 1.65 volts.

[Press Release], [Product Page]

An announcement was released through the Xfire chat client stating that the company was under new ownership and that the original development and management team behind it would be leaving. However, the announcement gave no information as to the new owner or what (if any) changes we would see for the near future.

Finally, information released that Titan Gaming (with an announcement on their own homepage) acquired the company for an undisclosed amount of money, but judging by the $100+ million that Viacom paid for Xfire back in 2006, it’s safe to say that is was a lot of money this time around. With little else to go on, we were left with the following news post from Xfire’s homepage:

“Titan will be taking on the Xfire name, with a focus towards ongoing innovation in the gaming space. The Xfire services will continue uninterrupted for its users. Xfire redefined how gamers communicate, Titan intends to build upon this tradition and utilize the Xfire platform to help gaming companies better engage their users. We look forward to continuing and expanding upon the Xfire service.”