According to Einstein, if I am not wrong, the 4th World War is going to be carried on with sticks and stones, if the 3rd one is started. Fortunately, the wars all over the world didn't turn into a world wide conflict, despite the so-called "war on terrorism" and its consequences. About six months ago, the 3rd World War was unleashed on computers, and this Fall will also start on gaming consoles. What am I talking about here? It's about World in Conflict, of course!

The action is set a bit back, placing the conflict in 1989, during the social, economic and political collapse of the Soviet Union. We all know this happened peacefully for the entire world, despite various local conflicts, but in the game, the plot uses an alternate history scenario where the Soviet Union pursued a course of war to remain in power.

While being generally considered a real-time strategy game, World in Conflict is a RTS which also includes gameplay typical to real-time tactical games. The part I like most is the lack of base-building and resource gathering parts you find in most RTS games, because I usually suck at those, and I end up beaten really bad by the AI. Anyway, back to Mr. Parker, now.

Who is Mr. Parker? Well, you are! In the game, I mean. First Lieutenant Parker is an United States Army officer, under the command of Colonel Sawyer, who was on leave in Seattle, when Soviet forces launch a surprise attack against the US.

During the single player campaign, you get to defend various key points, while the Chinese also enter the war, on the Soviet side. Well, this is not something to talk about, really - you have to experience it, and World in Conflict is a game you have to play, not read about!

While the initial release didn't allow you to play the Soviet side, a new edition, called World in Conflict: Soviet Assault, is going to solve the problem. Now you can finally invade the US and, hopefully, have a successful invasions. Oh, I miss Panzer General 2 and the invasion of the US in that game!

If you were wondering about system requirements, the official list says a 2GHz processor with 512MB of memory and a video card with 128MB video RAM and DirectX 9.0c support should be enough to play the game in Windows XP, I think at least a decent dual core CPU, 2GB of memory and a high end video card are required to allow a gamer to fully enjoy this game which deserves a Perfect 10 score, especially if we consider the upcoming Soviet Assault edition...

Afraid of starting your own business? Apart from money, you surely need some practice, before anything else, and while business simulation games may not teach you a big deal, they will surely help you get relaxed. Just hink about this - it's not about building a media empire, a restaurant, managing a hospital or a prison, and not even a zoo! Did I say "zoo?" Well, that's close...

This time, we're talking about managing a pet salon, and your competition with the evil Pet Corp. The purpose? To turn your small corner spa, Paradise Pet Salon, into a huge success, while having fun at the same time!Although it may sound like a child's game, I know a lot of adults who are into playing games without blood and gore, and since I am not crazy at all about Zuma and those like it, I suggest them to try Paradise Pet Salon.

The system requirements are decent, with Windows ME being on the supported operating systems list, and a 600MHz processor with 128MB being just enough to run the game!

Some people don't like contests. OK, I understand that, but I'll never understand those that say "I never win" to justify that. I don't like football, for example, but I don't say it's a bad, ugly, or boring sport. Anyway, I love city building games, although I wasn't able to find enough time to play my favorite, Sim City, in the last months, and it's obvious that I wasn't able to try any new games from this category either. Anyway, I won't miss the contest I will tell you about today, you can bet on that!

Here's how to enter the contest, because that's why you are here, right? First, you should know that the contest is open to all registered members of the CITIES XL website. Next, you should grab your camera and then submit your pictures with residential buildings in the dedicated contest forum.

Here you have the official rules:
- Every picture must have been taken by you: if you win the contest, we will ask you to take some more shots using different angles. We will need these angles to model the building for the game.
- We reserve the right to not consider buildings for intellectual property reasons or other rules violations.
- We are only displaying your pictures , and therefore Monte Cristo is not responsible if your images violate your country's laws.
- Buildings must be residential: from a simple house to a 20 or more story residential building (we may in a future contest ask you for other building types).
- We reserve the right to remove any building that doesn’t fit the above requirements.

The prize? Well, for now it's only known that "the winning buildings will be modeled and textured by our graph artists and included in CITIES XL on day 1," but there may be some surprises waiting, too!

Since 2003, the Golden Joystick Awards is bringing together an impressive number of gamers to choose the best games of the year. For example, last year's 25th Anniversary Silver Jubilee Golden Joysticks had over 750,000 votes on the Internet, and a few thousands in the audience of the event. Obviously, there were also some hot chicks in the audience, as it happens with most public events involving computer gaming, cars, boats...you know that, I am sure, so let's move on and see what's in store for the 2008 edition, shall we?

<-234x60 Half Banner - left->If you want to see your favorite games climbing to the top, then you'd better vote now! Where? Obviously, at the Golden Joystick official site, so be ready to pick the best one for the following categories:

Ultimate Game of the Year
The Sun Family Game of the Year
Nuts All Nighter Award
BBC 1Xtra Soundtrack of the Year
Bliss Handheld Game of the Year
Editor’s Choice
The One To Watch Award
4Talent Mobile Game of the Year
Nintendo Game of the Year
Online Game of the Year
PC Game of the Year
PlayStation Game of the Year
Xbox Game of the Year
Publisher of the Year
Retailer of the Year
UK Developer of the Year

Oh, just one more thing! I know you may be busy, we're all busy, so we need more than just voting to push our favorites to a higher ranking. What about winning a "stack of the latest gaming gear worth more than L10,000?" Now, that's much better, don't you agree? :>

I said it before, and I am saying it again - no matter if we like it or not, MMOs are the way of the future, when talking about gaming. Since in most MMOs you get to kill monsters as a human, elf, dwarf, orc or another similar humanoid race, it's a good change to see a MMO where you get to "fight fire with fire." Freaky Creatures is a different MMO, but has been under development for ages, and there's still a little wait lying ahead of us, but today news popped up that Alienware and Abandon Interactive established a promotional relationship to support this game's launch!

First of all, we have the Freaky Creatures Beta Sign Up Sweepstakes, a program that gives us the opportunity to be one of the first to experience the game, as well as to win an Alienware Area-51 m15x Notebook computer, among other prizes. The Beta starts this summer, and all you have to do is signup on the official Freaky Creatures site.

"Freaky Creatures is an innovative online game that provides a deep and engaging experience for those who are new to MMO gaming, as well as giving advanced players a solid gaming experience. The game's rich 3D world, cool characters and intense battles make it a perfect match for Alienware's high-performance product line. We are excited to support the Freaky Creatures launch into the PC gaming community," said Winnie Wong, Director of Communications at Alienware.

With over 50 different initial parts, 20 powers and 4 objects that can be placed into your creature's lair, this game allows you to customize your monster as you wish, so I will leave you now, because I have to take care of my little Frankenstein! ;)