Tech Olive

On top of the two O!Play media players that Asus has, they’ve now discreetly uncovered their third model, dubbed the O!Play HD2. The only specs that we know of so far is that — from the photo — it will have eSATA, USB, and memory card support, but if it’s anything like the other two players, it’ll sport HDMI that will output 1080p HD video and either ethernet, 802.11n, or a combination of both. Stay tuned for more info as it comes in.

UPDATE: We’ve found out that the player will have HDMI 1.3, Composite, Component, Optical outputs, USB 2.0, eSATA, CF/SD/Memory Stick card readers, and a USB 3.0 PC link. I’m sure more info will come at us later in the day so stick around.

via [SlashGear]

There are times when people do something completely unnecessary just to get people’s attention. This is very well one of those times. Using five LSI Mega RAID SAS/SATA raid cards, Patriot was able to cram in a whopping forty 256GB solid state drives into one PC. The rig, which was unveiled at CeBIT, also sports two 1000W Thermaltake power supplies, a server motherboard with dual Intel Xeon 5550 CPUs, and 48GB of DDR3 RAM. It’s said that the system is able to make a copy of a Blu-ray rip in just under a second. We’re talkin’ speeds of around 8GB per second. Yes, please.


via [Tom's Hardware]

After getting an update that “changed radio transmission frequency to comply with federal and state spectrum management regulations,” Portal was given another update today with the following changelog:

“Added valuable asset retrieval.”

There is still no concrete information on what this update has really brought to the game. Perhaps the first one offered directions and this one unlocks the function? At this point, we can only speculate, but it’s clear to see that Valve loves watching their fans squirm.

UPDATE: Follow the break for a newly added (cliffhanger) ending to Portal.

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In honor of Supreme Commander 2’s release, Razer has planned a huge giveaway. All you need to do to enter is whore yourself out on Facebook, but it’s totally worth it. Follow the break to see what we mean.

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This week’s midweek madness sale on Steam features several indie games getting their prices slashed. For $2.00 each, you can buy Altitude, BoB Came in Pieces, Bullet Candy, Galcon Fusion, Gridrunner Revolution, Space Giraffe or Super Laser Racer. If you’re the kind that demands variety, you can purchase all 7 games for a mere $9.99. No matter which option you choose, you’ll be supporting indie developers while getting an amazing deal at the same time. It’s an awesome win-win situation.

A sequel to 2006’s open-world online racer Test Drive Unlimited has been announced by Atari. Test Drive Unlimited 2 is scheduled for release on the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC this Fall. It also seems we can expect great things from this sequel. Atari had the following to say:

“Test Drive Unlimited 2 expands on the traditional racing experience providing gamers with M.O.O.R.®: Massively Open Online Racing®; immersing drivers in a persistent online environment and revolutionizing multiplayer racing communities as players compete, team up, and share their achievements and creations online.

Unlike any other driving game, TDU2 blends the open world experience with realistic vehicles and performance dynamics and for the first time, TDU2 features vehicle damage, weather effects, day and night cycles, and a brand new island to explore.”

[Press Release]

During CeBIT, Sapphire quietly unveiled their version of the Radeon HD 5970, which sports three fans and has 4GB of DDR3 memory. It’s been claimed to achieve a 22,000 score in 3DMark Vantage thanks to an overclocked 850MHz GPU and a memory clock of 1200MHz. As far as ports, it boasts dual DVI connections, as well as a mini DisplayPort. It’ll take two 8-pin connectors to power this baby and the entire card takes up a whopping three expansion slots. There’s no word yet on price or availability, but this honker definitely won’t be cheap. Follow the break for more photos.

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Epic Vid of the Week is a new 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!

So we’ve all been in this situation before. The printer decides to act up and the only thing to do really is to smack it into oblivion…

In a press release that leaves us a bit confused, Activision announced some details that we already knew; Treyarch’s next CoD game is coming this holiday season and Modern Warfare 2’s DLC is still coming, but they also announced something very vague about the future of the series:

The company is also for the first time announcing that a new game in the Call of Duty series is expected to be released in 2011 and that Sledgehammer Games, a newly formed, wholly owned studio, is in development on a Call of Duty game that will extend the franchise into the action-adventure genre.

From the sounds of that, I see some kind of third-person platform in the future of the CoD series. What do you guys think?

[Press Release]

Jonathan Blow, the man behind Braid, has recently announced his newest work. The Witness is “an exploration-puzzle game on an uninhabited island.” Through Blow’s development blog, we have been given some concept art and promises of further details in the future. The game’s release plans are understandably vague currently, with the game releasing “on multiple platforms — whatever makes sense in late 2011, when the game will hopefully be finished.” We’ll keep you updated as information releases.

via [Shack News]