You know why some chicks playing tennis are worth watching, no matter how bad or boring could turn to be a match? If you don't, look at Anna Kournikova. If you still didn't find out why, then maybe you should start watching chess, because tennis is surely not your thing! Anyway, as a final hint - take a look below, and try to imagine what could be the link between tennis and gaming. Without any help, I couldn't guess that either, but since I know the whole story already, here's what you should know...

...since it happens a lot for various celebrities to step in and help promoting a certain game, why not add some hot tennis chicks into this human equation? How? Well, by offering Top Spin fans a chance to meet Maria Sharapova, of course! Here's an excerpt from the official press release: <-125x125 Button - right->"2K Sports announced today that top-ranked tennis star Maria Sharapova will be autographing copies of Top Spin 3 for Wii home video game system at the Nintendo World Store on August 25. From 12 p.m. to 1 p.m., fans can meet Maria Sharapova and have her autograph their copy of the most authentic tennis experience available for Wii."

As you can see above, the whole thing is expected to happen between 12PM and 1PM on the 25th of August, at the Nintendo World Store, in Rockfeller Plaza, New York, NY. Probably you missed it, but that doesn't really matter for now - if it happened now, it will probably happen again, and if someone would ask me, I would really like to meet Maria Sharapova dressed as a Dark Elf. How would you like to meet her? Don't answer "naked," please! :)

Finally, I should also add that Top Spin 3 has been rated E for Everyone by the ESRB, so you're all free to take the tennis ball and give it a spin with Maria!

If you're looking for video game statistics, you have a lot of chances to grow old going through all the interesting stuff you're going to find, believe me! A few days ago, we were talking about a very important question - "Are Video Games Harmful?," and after laughing a little when seeing the results of those studies we talked about back then, now we're getting really serious, because it's all about money. To be more accurate, we're going to talk about US games sales data released by NPD for the month of July, 2008. Ready or not, here we go...


Since it's all about the numbers, then let's see the video game statistics for July, shall we? Here they are...

1. NCAA Football 2009 (360): 398,000
2. Wii Fit (Wii): 370,000
3. Guitar Hero: On Tour (DS): 310,000
4. Wii Play (Wii): 284,000<-125x125 Button - right->
5. NCAA Football 2009 (PS3): 243,000
6. Soul Calibur IV (360): 219,000
7. Mario Kart Wii (Wii): 175,000
8. Rock Band (Wii): 166,000
9. Soul Calibur IV (PS3): 156,000
10. Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution (360): 148,000

Even more, when talking about the video game statistics for July, we should also remember that sales topped the $591 million mark, a 41 percent increase over last year's same period. The sales for 2008 so far got really near to the $5 billion mark, but didn't manage to reach it before July's end.

Other than the above, I think the numbers speak for themselves. After all, it's sales that push game series forward or into oblivion. I am sure most of us remember at least one or two great game series that were discontinued simply because they didn't arrive at the right time, in the right place, and the public wasn't ready for them yet...

If you were too young to play Fallout or Fallout 2, and you're into serious simulations of the real world, combined with role playing action, then Fallout 3 is surely a title you don't have to miss! No, skip that, they call it "post-apocalyptic RPG," and I think this sounds much better than "simulation." Anyway, no matter how we label it, Fallout 3 is headed this way, and the release date is no longer a mistery, as you can find out in the latest press release from Bethesda Softworks!

To make a longer story shorter, here's what Vlatko Andonov, president of Bethesda Softworks has to say about Fallout 3:"We are very excited to let gamers get their hands on Fallout 3, the latest chapter in this beloved and highly acclaimed franchise.<-180x150 Small Rectangle - right-> To meet the huge demand for this title by our fans worldwide, we are planning one of the biggest launches of any game released this year."

The press release continues without revealing much about what should you expect, but I think the screenshots are showing the visual delight we should prepare for already...

"Considered to have "one of the most realized game worlds ever created. Set more than 200 years following a nuclear war, you can create any kind of character you want and explore the open wastes of Washington, D.C. however you choose. Every minute is a fight for survival as you encounter Super Mutants, Ghouls, Raiders, and other dangers of the Wasteland.

Hailed as one of the most anticipated games for 2008, Fallout 3 has already won numerous awards including Best of Show from the official Game Critics Awards at E3 2008, a selection voted on by an independent group of journalists from 36 leading North American media outlets that cover the videogame industry."

Now, the Fallout 3 info we've been waiting for: the release dates for the game are October 28, 2008, in North America, and October 31, 2008, in Europe. These being said...start the countdown timer, what are you waiting for??!

Less than a day ago, Codemasters' free-to-play MMORPG, Archlord, just got a new free expansion! This takes us into the "third season," since the expansion is called "Episode 3: Spirits Awakening." Since there's not much else to add now, but if you're new to Archlord, maybe it would be a good idea for you to check those Archlord Emotes before anything else. After all, you gotta know how to express your feelings in the game, right?

Now, let's see what's new in this third expansion for this MMORPG, shall we?

"Episode 3: Spirits Awakening adds 30% new game content to the existing game including three extensive new zones and over 80 new skills and abilities. <-180x150 Small Rectangle - right->

ArchLord Episode 3: Spirits Awakening adds a number of new features and free game content including:

Expanded world – 30% all-new game content
All-new zones – 3 new zones for players to explore
New class skills – Over 80 new skills
ArchLord abilities – New ruling ArchLord skills and abilities
New armour & items – New collectible armour sets with unique stats
New monsters & enemies – New monsters and zone bosses

Available now, Episode 3 is available either through an automatic patch for existing players when logging into the game or included within the full free game download on the game's official website for new players at: www.archlordgame.com"

Regarding the automatic update, you should know it takes a while, so if you have the game installed already, and didn't update it yet, you'd better start the update and go out have a pizza and a few beers. That's not what I did, but I think the beer and pizza sound better than firing up the program and going to sleep while it downloads the patch and updates the game files...

According to Ed Relf, Director of Marketing at Codemasters Online, "This is an exciting time in the ongoing development of ArchLord. ArchLord has never been more popular with almost 750,000 players now playing with this number increasing almost 20,000 new players each week! ArchLord is going from strength to strength and we are assessing the need right now to open new servers just to cope with the increased levels of demand for this great, free MMORPG."

I know Archlord didn't get high scores in the reviews published so far, but I also think there are a lot of extremely bad and boring MMORPGs, and this one doesn't go that low. After all, Archlord is my perfect MMORPG - you log in, play 10-20 minutes, finish one quest or two, then get out, since it becomes boring. ;)

If you ask me about Lineage II, all I can say is that I like its looks, and my wife was crazy about it a few months ago. Other than that, as you already know, probably, I am trying to stay away from games that may cause addiction, and since this proves to be true with most MMORPGs, I try to stay away from Lineage II, just as I managed to avoid WoW or Eve Online so far. Anyway, it's always a pleasure to talk about such games, and browse through some of the latest screenshots, because they always look great!

Obviously, we're not only going to talk about screenshots. After all, there's much more to MMORPGs than screenshots. Yes, I am talking about those regular updates that keep such games alive. After all, no virtual world is large enough yet to be self-sufficient from the release of a massive multiplayer online title, and today the time has come for Lineage II to receive a new update, called "Gracia."<-125x125 Button - right->

NCsoft Europe just announced the release of the Gracia - Part 1 update, and the promises that come with it sound pretty well, and I am thinking about leveling up at almost twice the speed previously possible here. After all, we all know that time is money, right?

According to Tim Tan, NCsoft’s North American producer, "Gracia represents a huge change to Lineage II. The increase in levelling speed allows players to create new characters and advance nearly twice as fast as before. This will allow players to experience the meat of Lineage II quickly, giving them the ability to visit new and exciting areas and cool high-level content much quicker than before."

Apart from the great idea of speeding up leveling, Gracia - Part 1 also comes with a selection of "new and improved skills, many new items, and improvements to the Cruma Tower, as well as other hunting zones," so now you have a few more reasons to give this game a try, if you're not into it already!