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!

Do you feel like dancing in the street, but outside is freezing cold, and you also have to wait for some friends to knock on your door? Well, that shouldn't be a problem, as long as your PlayStation 2 is in full working state. SouthPeak Games and B-Boy will take care of the rest...



<-250x250 Square - left->Katie Morgan, Executive Vice President at SouthPeak Games, went as far as saying that "B-Boy is the only game that gives players the opportunity to become premiere breakers. The game's fantastic playability, dead-on authenticity and high production values give it a style all its own. While it remains true to its roots of the scene, it maintains a feel that gamers will love."Well, most of the time, producers say their games are great, original, and offer you thousands of hours of gameplay, but this time, I agree. Probably you won't get to play B-Boy for thousands of hours, but it surely looks great, and the concept is a pretty original one.

Obviously, all you have to do is prove your skills by challenging world's greatest breakdancers. With over 800 motion-captured moves, the game is really a unique experience, including Crazy Legs and the Rock Steady Crew, while featuring 22 authentic venues including Red Bull: King of the Ring, Freestyle Sessions, UK B-Boy Championships and IBE.

I know there's a lot to say about this game, but best thing to do is see it, and the best place to start is the B-Boy official site. Enjoy your breakdancing sessions with B-Boy!

The Sims is the best selling PC game of all times, with a total sales number exceeding 100 million units worldwide, but that doesn't mean all products related to this franchise were successful. EA-Land, previously known as The Sims Online, is one of those products that didn't live up to the expectations...

<-250x250 Square - left->... and now The Sims Online is turning into Sims Offline. A rebranding? No, because EA-Land is shutting down, so... no more Sims Online, from now on!Launched in 2002, The Sims Online went down almost instantly, but was relaunched by EA last year, as a free online game known as EA-Land, with an optional $9.99 subscription.

The official post on the EA-Land's blog says "EA-Land / TSO has attracted a very special group of players (of which you are one) and we certainly appreciate your participation in the EA-Land community. The lifetime of the game has drawn to an end, and now we will be focusing on new ideas and other innovative concepts in the games arena. We'd like to thank everyone who has taken part in this online community as a unique experience in the virtual world."

So this is it - another one bites the dust! If you were one of those that paid subscriptions for the game, you will either get a $15 off at the EA Store, or a 3 month subscription to Club Pogo. RIP, EA-Land!

First of all, I have to give you a warning - if you can't stand loud music, then you should move to another article. Anyway, playing the Rock Band game could help you get started with the rock genre, and have a lot of fun at the same time, so it's your choice, in the end. To make things clear, I am crazy about rock music, but I am not limited to it, so writing about a game involving a lot of great hits of the genre is going to be a very pleasant experience for me, I hope at least as much as your experience of playing Rock Band. These being said, let's move on and see what's so special about this game, shall we?

<-250x250 Square - left->Some voices even claimed that Rock Band was the best game of 2007, but I am not the one to judge that. Anyway, considering the fact that Rock Band has been developed by Harmonix, the company responsible for the successful Guitar Hero and Karaoke Revolution franchises, this game also promises to turn a party from listening to music and dancing into a full rock show, where you can live out your fantasies by playing the guitar, bass, drums and vocals.

If you didn't manage to figure it out already, I have to tell you that Rock Band doesn't simply come as a game in a box. No way! For about $170, you can get a special bundle including the game, a guitar controller, a drum controller and a USB microphone. These being said, it's obvious what can happen with them...

Rock Band is not a game to play by yourself. This is something YOU MUST play with your friends - decide who's the best with each instrument, grab the mike, and prepare to re-create hits from Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter" and Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" to Metallica's "Enter Sandman"!

Obviously, beginners won't be able to play their parts at first sight, and that's why the game also comes with three solo campaigns for the guitar, drums and vocals, each with nine tiers of five songs that increase in difficulty as you go along.

Once the team is ready, you can try Rock Band's marquee mode, Band World Tour. This way, you can create custom characters, choose a home town, and then start playing gigs as a band, from single songs to entire custom setlists, mystery setlists, or even marathons which require you to play 5 songs or more, up to all 58 songs included in the game, all in a single session(the Endless Setlist).

Rock Band is more than just a game - if you want to get into music, it may be a very good way to get started without a human teacher, especially for drummers. Considering this and all the above, I can say this game is a bargain, but if you don't believe me, no problem - you can always check other Rock Band reviews and see I am not the only one who's crazy about it!

Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI, also known as Sangokushi 11, is the 11th game in KOEI's famous Romance of the Three Kingdoms series. Released for PC on March 17, 2006 in Japan, and later Traditional Chinese version on July 27 in Taiwan, the game had no PC version for English speakers so far, but that's subject to a change in the near future...

<-250x250 Square - left->KOEI just announced that the historical simulation Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI is going to become available for Windows-based PCs in English throughout North America on the 29th of July, 2008!

"Following KOEI's successful launch of Warriors Orochi for Windows-based PC earlier this year, the response to bringing more of KOEI's popular franchises to the platform has been overwhelming. For PC releases, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms series has always been at the top of our fans' wish lists. We are looking forward to bringing Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI to Windows-based PC this summer," said Amos Ip, Senior Vice President at KOEI Corporation.

The action is set during the end of China's Han Dynasty and the 2nd and 3rd centuries A.D., RTK XI is the most captivating game of the series, blending classical Chinese ink-paintings with debates and duels rendered in realtime 3D animations.

I am sure there's a lot to discover while playing this game, but there's still a bit of a wait ahead. Well, at least we know that the SRP is $19.99, so you won't have to break the bank to buy RTK XI!