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!

Did you ever meet a bear? Although I am not living in a region where bears are running free, I had two close encounters with bears, and they both had a happy ending. Since I am here to write this, that should be obvious, anyway. I won't get deeper into those encounters, but all I can say is that I regret I had to deal with brown bears twice, and since it all happened in Europe, I had no chance of encountering the Kodiak Bear. Anyway, Alaska is one of the destinations I have to check in my list with places to visit, but until I get there, I think it's easier to grab a Wii and enjoy Mastiff's Major League Eating: The Game...

Major League Eating is now available via WiiWare, but I think the real thing is even more interesting, so here it is - the records belonging to Takeru Kobayashi, Joey Chestnut, Sonya Thomas and Patrick Bertoletti are now history: 66 Nathan's Famous hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes; 97 Krystal hamburgers in eight minutes; 65 hard boiled eggs in six minutes and 47 seconds; eight-plus pounds of rib meat in 12 minutes!

Now, to the Kodiak Bear facts in the game - if you manage to unlock each character in the game along the way, you'll get the ultimate unlockable in the end, The Alaskan Crusher. Here's what the official press release says...<-120x240 Vertical Banner - right->

"Hailing from Alaska's Kodiak Archipelago, The Alaskan Crusher is considered one of the world's largest terrestrial omnivores. He prefers the brain, flesh and eggs of the salmon, and the internal organs of deer, elk and cattle. He is also extremely fond of berries, grass and other plants.

In order to face The Alaskan Crusher, players must unlock each of the hidden characters in Major League Eating: The Game. Once each hidden character is available, The Alaskan Crusher will be unlocked. Hidden characters are unlocked by winning a match with a specific character as follows:

Win a game with "Crazy Legs" Conti to unlock Tim "Eater X" Janus
Win a game with Erik "the Red" Denmark to unlock Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas
Win a game with "El Toro" Jimenez to unlock Richard "The Locust" LeFevre
Win a game with Juliet "The Lovely" Lee to unlock Patrick "Deep Dish" Bertoletti
Win a game with Patrick "Deep Dish" Bertoletti to unlock Joey "Jaws" Chestnut

Only one eater, competitive eating legend Takeru Kobayashi, has ever dared face a Kodiak bear in head-to-head gurgitory competition, and Kobayashi suffered a crushing defeat on that day five years ago. Will Kobayashi find his revenge? Only time will tell."

Pretty funny, don't you think? I am sure that one of the real Kodiak Bear facts is that such a monster won't ever compeat with a human in any contest, but...who can tell for sure?

Do you like to play with animals? Big cats, especially? Well, when I say "Puma Games" I am not thinking about such things, so those of you who were expecting such things will be disappointed. Anyway, to make a longer story short, "Puma games" is about the world renowned sportswear brand Puma, who just got involved in the first MMOG that is trying to "recreate the game of football and its accompanying luxury lifestyle." Sounds interesting enough to read on? Well, here we go...

<-250x250 Square - left->According to the (boiling hot) press release I have here, Football Superstars, a game created by a UK based company, called CyberSports, "features thousands of human players online in a virtual world competing with and against each other."The big deal is that the game is completely free to download and play, since "PUMA products and branding incorporated interactively in the game play courtesy of IGA Worldwide, the leading provider of in-game advertising. Players will not only have the ability to experience the awesome speed of the PUMA v1.08 Speed Boot but also visit a virtual facsimile of London’s Carnaby Street concept store in-game, to kit their avatar out with the latest PUMA lifestyle apparel."

Just great! Free game with in-game advertising. I don't know about others, but I have nothing against it. Just look at what these people have to say about the entire "operation":

"We are very excited about our new partnership with Football Superstars as it provides us with a unique opportunity to communicate the brand and it’s benefits to a wider audience." (Richard Callaway, Head of Sport PUMA UK)

"We are proud to facilitate the execution of this campaign, which aligns a leading sports brand with one of the most innovative community-based football games. With the engaging opportunities available within Football Superstars, we believe this is the first of many. This strong integration between both parties will set the standard for other brands looking to get in the game."(Giuseppe Bellanca, VP Ad Sales Europe at IGA Worldwide)

These being said, I think that "Puma games" just got a whole new meaning. A better one.