Keep away from small children and house plants. Someone once said that a good game does not need good hardware. Bollocks to that! That's what people with mediocre systems say to make themselves feel better. No doubt, given a choice, anyone would rather play on this beast of a machine.

Built into an Eagletech Sidewinder Gaming Tower, this monster uses the new Intel Core 2 Quad Extreme chip and screams! That's four processors at full roar! This one comes from ibuypower.com. Usually, with the top-of-the-line, state-of-the-art systems, if you have to ask how much it is, you can't afford it. However I found that ibuypower has this beast well-priced, featuring the Intel Core 2 Extreme Quad core processor. Nice.

Here it is online on the ibuypower site: www.ibuypower.com/ibp/store/configurator.aspx?mid=224

Velocity Micro Gaming PC — starting at $999

Serious bang for the buck. Velocity Micro knows gamers and has a knack for squeezing the most out of any hardware. Amazing video, fast hard drives, powerful processors, and immersive audio are all tuned to perfection in their labs to run together and deliver amazing game play that's hard to
beat.

For you elite hard-core gamers who like to bend the hardware to do your bidding, the company supports massive overclocking and even tweaks custom systems to provide maximum performance with rock-solid stability. Velocity Micro is my recommendation if you want a great machine without missing a
house payment to get it.

Check It out here: http://www.velocitymicro.com

World of Warcraft (PC, Mac) – Approx. $20

The No. 1 online role-playing game. If you have somehow been under a rock and missed it, shame on you. Go play, its better than you can imagine. Did you know that buried in the massive world that is WoW are a lot of Easter eggs? Subtle references to everything from Star Wars to Fight Club are hidden in the game if you know where to look. Here is a big list of where to find them, compiled by players: www.blizzplanet.com/content/91/

Blitz: The League (Xbox, PS2, coming soon for Wii) – Approx. $20

Ram that quarterback into the turf. With Blitz: The League, a really interesting feature is "Clash." As you gain yards and score, or deliver brutal defensive hits, you build up your clash meter. When you have built this up, a press of the left trigger slows down time for everyone except your player. Clash mode on defense allows you to deliver the dirtiest hits. Ouch! That's gotta hurt!

A new virtual world from Sony. "PlayStation Home," recently announced at the Game Developer's Conference, looks like something to watch. Expected to be available as a freebie download in August, PlayStation Home is an online, 3D virtual world where PS3 users can hang out and interact. Home has an uncanny resemblance to Second Life, but with the growing popularity of virtual worlds, it might convince more of us to plop down the extra cash for PS3.

I wonder if you can play your PS3 inside the PlayStation Home reality...