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!