Tech Olive

Howdy, folks. We’d just quickly like to share with you how we rate our products and games that we review. You’ll notice that we have score breakdowns and then an overall score at the end. You might be pondering how we come up with the overall score or even what each score actually means. Fear no more, for we are hear to tell you our evil secrets (or lack thereof). Continue on after the break for all of the information.

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So it seems that those mysterious Google logos from the past couple of days have finally showed their true meaning (and my prediction was wrong). Google has introduced a new way to search by introducing Google Instant. It’s basically a real-time search feature, similar to Spotlight on Macs. Google says that this will save 2-5 seconds per search. It’s a good thing because my time is too precious to be waiting around for a couple seconds.

Try it out for yourself and tell us how you like it!

Thanks, Patrick.

With the massive Tokyo Game Show coming next week, EA has announced that Battlefield: Bad Company 2‘s upcoming expansion, Vietnam, will be fully revealed and detailed at the event. Bad Company 2 Vietnam was originally announced during EA’s keynote at E3 2010, but we’ve heard nothing about it since.

Little is actually known about the expansion, so this will hopefully be a large release of info. What we do know is that the expansion will bring four new multiplayer maps along with Vietnam-era weapons and vehicles to the game’s multiplayer.

via [Big Download]

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!

Last month, a cruise ship known as the Pacific Sun met with a heavy storm 400 miles north of New Zealand. The ship was greeted by 25-foot waves and winds topping out at 60 MPH. The video itself is quite humorous, but I can’t help but think how awful it would be if I were put on a ship that was about capsize. One of the passengers said, “it was like being in a disaster movie. There were screams and people crying as they looked for their lost children.” Out of the 1,732 passengers on board, only 42 were injured.

Today’s mysterious Google logo starts off being a silverish color and then changes to its traditional assorted colors as you type, complete with the blinking cursor. I’m beginning to wonder what’s going on here and I think I know.

I believe this is Google’s way of discretely showing off the abilities of HTML5, but I could be wrong. Let’s hear your thoughts.

P.S. I just realized what I typed in that search bar….

We have a whopping four games to tell you about that are on sale. First up, this week’s Midweek Madness sale features Puzzle Quest 2, which can be had for $13.39, 33-percent off the original price. This sale ends Thursday at 7PM Eastern Time.

Steam’s Weeklong Sale features Football Manager 2010 and Secret of the Magic Crystals at 50-percent off, as well as Space Siege at 66-percent off! These sales end September 13th.

Get ‘em while they’re hot!

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.

If strategy is your game, then this week’s Bargain Bin brings you something special. Two games for (less than) the price of one! The perfect combo deal to break into this fantastic strategy series: Company of Heroes.

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It’s been close to six years since the last Roller Coaster Tycoon title rolled out onto shelves. That was Roller Coaster Tycoon 3. According to a post on the official Atari forums, Atari is now starting to think about and plan their next title in the popular PC series by asking fans what they want to see and if they’re ready for another RCT game.

“We are thinking hard about the next Rollercoaster Tycoon game on PC. We have a question for you, our loyal fanbase. How ready are you for the next Rollercoaster Tycoon? In the years since the last version, what are the key features you’ve dreamed about for the next release? What would make you rush out, buy it, and keep playing it? We’d like to know!”

Nothing has been said on who will be developing the next title in the series or even a possible release window.

via [PC Gamer]

I will admit, I never got around to playing the original Mafia all the way through, but this works in my favor when it comes to Mafia II because, unlike many other gamers, I’m not going into this review expecting some massive improvement on something I’ve never played. So, it’s time to put on my best Italian-American accent and start squeezing helpless innocents for protection money.

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