14 DAY TRIAL // Andrei Dumitrescu: For me, ever since I was about 13, summer has been less about going to the seaside or about enjoying my vacation or holiday time and more about clinging to television screens and, more recently, Internet streams in order to watch the glorious sporting event that is Le Tour de France.
This is the biggest cycling competition in the world, an experience that needs 23 days to travel 21 stages. It subjects athletes to some of the toughest climbs and fastest finishes that the sport has.
Teams battle for the overall Yellow Jersey but also for mountain, points and young rider classifications and I have plans to once again replicate the entire experience in virtual form in a series of Gamer Diaries for Softpedia.
Therefore, for the next three weeks I plan to watch the real Tour de France while running Pro Cycling Manager 2012 as much as possible in order to create my own results and success in the virtual space.
And if and when I get tired of the cycling world, I might dabble in some SimCity Social on Facebook and some Sins of a Solar Empire. Andrei Dobra: I’ll spend this weekend accompanied by a couple of great shooters as well as an impressive dungeon crawler.
First up, I’ll jump into the sand-filled Dubai of Spec Ops: The Line in order to see if it can deliver a great story besides some pretty decent third-person shooter mechanics.
When I won’t be leading my Delta Force squad through the Arabian city, I’ll go to the future of Mass Effect 3, as some recent changes to the gear unlock mechanics for its multiplayer makes getting new items a much easier process.
Last but not least, I’ll probably go back to Diablo 3 for a couple of hours in order to see just what gear I’ll get and make room in my inventory by selling things on the Auction House.