Tech Olive

In a move that has both shocked and enraged fans of Team Fortress 2, Valve announced “The Mann-conomy Update” which is effectively an in-game store that allows players to pay real money (ranging from $0.49 to $4.99) through Steam’s new Steam Wallet system for hats, weapons and other such items to pwn other gamers with.

Of course, by playing the game, you can still stumble across the random drops of items as before. This is just simply a new way for Valve to milk your parents’ credit cards to obtain such items. Heck, according to Valve, gamers will be able to sell their items for actual money as well. To find out all the gritty details, check out Steam’s landing page for the update, the update’s FAQ and their announcement blog post.

via [Joystiq]

This month on The Mamba Files, we’ll be doing a bit of rehashing on previously covered topics. Why? Because this month’s focus is on what needs to change with future revisions of the Razer Mamba. Of course, you may not agree with all the points and changes proposed in this article, so be sure to tell us what you’d change in the comments!

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In honor of Super Mario Bros.‘ 25th birthday earlier this month, we’ll be celebrating with a Retro Review of the classic NES title. Released in 1985 and developed/published by Nintendo, Super Mario Bros. captured the hearts of millions of gamers around the world by selling over 40 million copies, which makes it the second best-selling video game of all time (Wii Sports is first). 25 years later, it is still a fan favorite amongst nostalgic gamers and today, I’ll be taking a trip back in time to see just how good this game was.

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We’ve all been waiting for this confirmation, as we knew it in our hearts. Today, our wish comes true. Activision issued a press release that confirms the addition of co-op players-against-zombies gameplay like we saw in Treyarch’s last CoD game, World at War.

“Zombies have been such a hit with our community that we were committed to bringing brand new zombie experiences to Call of Duty: Black Ops. We’ve taken extra special care to retain the essential ingredients of our Zombie game, and have also crafted a nice surprise for the fans.” — Treyarch Studio Head, Mark Lamia

Also mentioned in the press release is the fact that four “updated” zombie maps will be imported from World at War and included with the purchase of the Prestige and Hardened editions of the game. Since PC gamers are getting nothing but the bare-minimum retail release, it’s safe to assume that we will receive these maps as free DLC, though this is unconfirmed.

[Press Release]

Yes, that is a birthday cake shaped (sort of) like an olive with two candles topping it off (because we’re 2, duh). If you weren’t keeping track (we know you’ve been crossing off the days on your Google Calendar), today is Tech Olive’s 2nd birthday! Two years ago today was a day when I was bored out of my mind and blindly decided to start up a blog where I would blabber about tech stuff, eventually bringing Tim on board to make it twice the blabber. In these two years, 1,986 posts have been published, 1,751 comments from our loyal readers have been left, 171 reviews of products and games have been written, and too many double cheeseburgers have been eaten.

It’s been a good two years and hopefully the next two will be twice as better!

Happy Birthday, Tech Olive!

Continue on after the break for another photo of Tim and I blowing out the candles!

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During E3 this past June, publisher GameForge announced that they would be coming out with a Star Trek free-to-play browser-based game. Today, they have announced a title for the game as well as a few other details.

Star Trek: Infinite Space, as it will be called, will be released sometime next Summer and it will be based off of the Deep Space Nine TV series. It will also be developed by Keen Games.

[Press Release via Joystiq]

To celebrate its move to Mac, Steam has the ever popular Source engine-based sandbox title Garry’s Mod on sale for a mere $5 until September 30th. This gives you a few days still to grab this great deal.

And remember, you’ll need a game that runs on the Source engine in order to use Garry’s Mod.

[Game Page]

Electronic Arts has released a new DLC pack for The Sims 3. Dubbed Barnacle Bay, this new update is a pirate-themed expansion that includes new objects, new locations, and new characters.

“An island nestled in the Simuyan Sea, Barnacle Bay is a vibrant vacation getaway with stunning beaches, campgrounds, parks, and a curiously modern downtown. First settled by pirates, fisherman, and artists – the world’s inhabitants now enjoy relaxing at Smuggler’s Beach and letting loose at The Wanderer’s Watering Hole. Will Your trip be a vacation or a staycation?”

It’s only available from The Sims 3 Store for 1,650 SimPoints. View a quick trailer of the new DLC after the break.

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Though not heralded as a Tomb Raider title, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is an isometric top-down downloadable platformer from Crystal Dynamics. The overall role of this title is a bit unclear, but perhaps the intent of this spin-off series is to fill the void between the release of proper Tomb Raider titles. So, what exactly is this game all about? Is it even worth the time of Tomb Raider fans? Let’s dive in.

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The Bargain Bin is a weekly feature that helps out gamers in the tough economy. How does it help? Once a week, it offers a great and cheap game ($10 or less) to keep you going until your next paycheck.

Today the Bargain Bin brings you savings on a game that is less than a week old! Savings, aliens, co-op, guns, leaderboards, and achievements. It’s almost too much to take.

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