Telltale Games has announced a crossover of some well known game characters that comes in the form of a Texas Hold’em Poker game. Poker Night at the Inventory will take the likes of Penny Arcade‘s Tycho, Team Fortress 2‘s Heavy, Max from Sam and Max and Homestar Runner’s Strongbad. The game is set to release this Fall.

For the tiny sum of $4.95, you can pre-order the game from Telltale Games directly and get a 25%-off code good towards anything else in their store or you can get it from Steam and get an instant 10% off for pre-ordering. The choice is yours!

[Blog Post]

Earlier today, it was announced that GameServers.com would be the exclusive hosting provider offering dedicated Call of Duty: Black Ops servers. Since then, we’ve worked tirelessly with the great guys at GameServers.com to make sure that Tech Olive gets its very own 18-slot Ranked Black Ops server right when the game releases.

As you may have guessed, this Black Ops server will fully be replacing our recently-revived CoD4 server, but this is all for the better. By doing this, we’ll have even more time to waste fragging our dedicated readers this November!

Having tested several Razer mouse pads now, we’ve found that for the most part, double-sided pads mostly serve as a gauging tool for gamers to see which style of pad they prefer for future purchases. After a few hours testing each surface of a double-sided pad, gamers will know what they’re most comfortable gaming surface is. Is the Vespula any different? Does it offer something that previous pads don’t? Let’s have a look.

The Razer Vespula features Speed and Control for its two sides and we’ll start by focusing on the Vespula’s Speed surface. This side offers a slick and almost frictionless surface for only the most hyper-active of gamers. However, this side also has a large drawback: after a bit of heated gaming, especially on warmer days, the Vespula’s Speed side quickly became a bit sticky when I started to perspire. Granted, it’s nothing that will ruin your gaming experience, but still enough to annoy you.

On the other side, you’ve got the Vespula’s Control surface. Personally, I much prefer the Control side of the Vespula because I usually find the Speed surface ends up feeling detached somehow. I much prefer the more textured Control side because — while still very slick and fluid to game with — it offers a greater feel of (as the name implies) control rather than just having the mouse slide around the pad. And of course, this is all dependent on what type of gamer you are. To its credit, the Control side is much better at dealing with your excessive perspiration as you continue to frag away.

The Razer Vespula comes with an optional wrist rest that is connected to a large rubber pad that helps keep the Vespula in place during your gaming sessions. Should you choose to game without the wrist rest, the Vespula does have rubber feet on its own to prevent slipping, but these aren’t quite up to the task and will leave the Vespula shifting around a bit.

After using a variety of Razer’s offerings, the Vespula doesn’t seem to be built as sturdy as the company’s other mouse pads. Of course, the trade off is that it’s lightweight, and due to its smaller size, it makes you think that it was designed more for mobile gaming such as LAN parties. One of the largest drawbacks of the Vespula is that it’s simply too short. More than a few times, I found myself moving the mouse off the top edge of the mouse pad because I thought I had more room to move the mouse forward. The Vespula offers plenty of horizontal gaming space but, unless you’re using a smaller mouse, this could be a problem.

When it all comes down to it, these double-sided mouse pads are only 100% usable and effective for the first few hours of gaming. Once you choose which side you prefer, you’ll be sticking with it. Don’t expect it to be like DPI where you’ll be changing it during gaming to get the competitive edge. If you haven’t used a double-sided mouse pad and aren’t sure what surface you prefer, then this is a purchase worth considering, but if you already know if you prefer a certain kind of surface, look elsewhere in Razer’s store for a pad that is focused on your liking.

Full Disclosure: The first Vespula review unit Razer sent us had issues with air bubbles in the finish [Image]. After contacting Razer, we were assured that no other cases of this had been reported, and that their team would inspect the faulty Vespula to find the root of the problems. Of course, it goes without saying that such an imperfection would be covered by Razer’s warranty terms.

Scores

-Price: 7
The Vespula is competitively priced among other gaming mouse pad offerings, but it’s hard to ignore that there are better overall mouse pads in that pricing range, even from Razer’s own store.

-Setup/Install: N/A
Simply remove from box and place on desk.

-Ease of Use: N/A
Assuming your wrist still functions properly, this category shouldn’t be an issue.

-Performance: 6
The Vespula’s dual-sided design offer gamers the ability to choose which is better for their gaming habits. However, things can get annoying due to its relatively small vertical space and how the Speed surface tends to get sticky even with just a little perspiration.

-Features: 8
Two mousing surfaces to choose from, an optional memory gel wrist rest, and great gaming performance make this a good mouse pad for any gamer.

Overall: 7 Olives

During Treyarch’s multiplayer reveal event last night, we were given a ton of details about new gameplay and structures in the multiplayer side of things that have left us with an even greater burning desire to play the game. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait as no beta was announced. While we all wait patiently for beta news, hit the break to see just what did happen at the press event.

It was confirmed that Black Ops will be adopting a currency system for its multiplayer world. Dubbed “CoD Points,” this currency will allow you to customize everything from your character’s appearance to the appearance of your weapon and its attachments. Also with this new currency system, Treyarch has been able to build new gametypes to play off this twist in the game. Because you’re betting your hard-earned currency on the outcome of these matches, this dynamic creates an intense and brutal gameplay environment that will keep you on the edge of your seat and at the top of your game.

Rather than waste your time explaining each of the gametypes, Treyarch has done us all a favor by putting together a fantastic reveal trailer for this new evolution of Call of Duty multiplayer:

Offering the first large release of info on this project since it was announced earlier this year, Telltale Games posted some new details regarding their upcoming Back to the Future adventure game series. Concept art (above) and a promise of the series containing 5 “episodes” brings excitement for this project up to a peak for any fans of Telltale or the BTTF movies.

Telltale also announced that Bob Gale, the original screenplay writer of the film trilogy is actually working with Telltale’s team to give the games that authentic and familiar feel. Add that to Christopher Lloyd and Michael J. Fox allowing their likenesses to be used and you’ve got one exciting series.

[Blog Post]

During an interview in the UK publication of PC Gamer, Gabe Newell mentioned that Valve had three or more big surprises coming over the next 12 months. And, in typical Valve fashion, that was all the information we got. Let the speculation begin.

“”We have three pretty big surprises in the next 12 months at least. I can guarantee you people are going to be surprised at stuff we do. That isn’t going to stop any time soon. I’m just laughing because… people will be shocked again.” — Gabe Newell

Our hopes? Well, you remember Portal 2‘s delay back in June? Perhaps Valve delayed Portal 2 so they could pull another “The Orange Box” move by surprising gamers with a package deal of Half-Life 2: Episode 3 bundled with Portal 2 and a few Team Fortress 2 goodies perhaps? With our luck, all three of these surprises will turn out to be console-related and will mean nothing to PC gamers anyway. What are your expectations?

via [CVG]

To make the lefty gamers feel more at home here, we have an extra Razer DeathAdder Left-Hand Edition gaming mouse lying around that we will be giving away to one lucky reader! And if you haven’t already read our review, then you definitely should. To enter the giveaway, all you have to do is leave a comment in the original giveaway post and you’ll automatically be entered into a random drawing. Sound good? Good. Be sure to get your comment in by 11:59PM EST on Friday, September 3rd.

Some Basic Rules

- Only U.S. residents are able to enter. Sorry, foreigners.
- 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.

Microsoft announced today a new Xbox 360 Controller,which has a D-Pad that apparently doesn’t suck. Now, you’re probably wondering why we’re covering this bit of console news, but to explain, the Xbox 360 controller can also be used with a PC and we here at the Olive absolutely love that fact. There are simply some PC games that are just better with a gamepad.

Now, more about this new controller: It has a better D-pad that transforms. It can be the traditional “disc” that we all know and hate or with a small twist of the D-pad, it can turn into a “plus.” Other significant changes include the color of the ABXY buttons, which are now assortments of different shades of gray. The color of the new controller is a matte silver with black trim and black trigger and bumper buttons. The “dome” has a chrome finish rather than just a normal gray color (same with the D-pad), and the analog sticks are still concaved, but instead of the small dimples, the edges are raised slightly to avoid annoying thumb slip-off.

The controller will be available on November 9th. It will only be available as a Play-n-Charge kit bundle for $65. Hit up the break for another photo and a short video featuring Larry Hryb, Director of Programming for Xbox Live.

via [Major Nelson]

In a new post on their official blog, Treyarch has announced that they’re hosting what sounds like an online press conference of sorts. Being called the “Black Ops Multiplayer Reveal Event,” Treyarch is asking fans to submit questions to the game’s Twitter or Facebook pages to be addressed during the reveal event. Unfortunately, the blog post doesn’t mention what time the press conference will be.

“Do you want to be a part of the Black Ops Multiplayer Reveal Event? We’ll be sharing a TON of great info with the press & community about Black Ops MP on September 1st, but we’d like to hear some of your burning MP-related questions. Simply ask your questions in the comments below, on our Facebook Page, or via @JD_2020 on Twitter. For the most commonly asked questions, we’ll be fielding them at the Multiplayer Event, and will promptly provide answers here on CallOfDuty.com/BlackOps – So ask away!”

[Blog Post]

Back in my early days of gaming, I remember going to a friends house and catching glimpses of his older brother playing this top-down military strategy game that captivated me. I never learned of this game’s name, so I was tortured by this mystery for many years.

Fast-forward about 8 years and I stumble across that very same game on the internet. I was speechless and knew that I would have to put this game through the tests. Was it worth the wait? Could this game possibly have been as good as it looked all those years ago? Time to answer some questions.

Surprisingly, the game survived the test of time rather gracefully. Still remaining undeniably playable, the game even manages to be impressively difficult and challenging without causing too much this-game-is-impossible-I’m-going-to-kill-my-neighbors kind of rage that so many classic games tend to inflict.

Instead of building a massive horde of faceless and nameless minions that carry out your genocides as you would see in just about every other strategy title, you’re given a group of soldiers that you must use tactically and intelligently to get the upper hand in later levels.

As you progress through the game with your soldiers, they will level up, and become better soldiers, but only if you can keep them alive! That’s one of this game’s most unique traits. Cannon Fodder changed things up a bit in the gaming world with its novel approach to the soldiers that are used in the game. Instead of getting a team that you had to keep alive or soldiers that would respawn at some point during or at the end of a mission, you can actually finish the levels with as few as one soldier. Then, before your next mission, you would get fresh recruits to replace the fallen. The draw back here, of course, is that the fresh-from-training soldiers are back at level 1.

For its time, Cannon Fodder was fantastic. Even today, it is more than playable for any fans of classic RTS games, especially fans of games like the Commandos series. And, while time has killed some of this game’s wonder and excitement that I experienced while watching others play it, it is totally worth playing for any die-hard strategy gamers.