Tournament

PES 2010 (or Pro Evolution Soccer 2010) has some of the most realistic soccer gameplay in the iTunes App Store, but it suffers from a lack of FIFA licensing and perhaps a slowish pace. Like many soccer games for iPhone, you can play in tournaments or league play, and you'll be able to select from teams all over the world, but the player names don't match up with their real-world counterparts, which will be disappointing for many fans. PES 2010 is also a bit slower-paced than most soccer games on the iPhone, but this is not necessarily a … Read more

The U.S. will likely experience a slight dip in productivity over the next three weeks as the attention of many workers turns to the climax of the college basketball season: the NCAA Basketball Tournament. For many people, the annual NCAA basketball pool is as much an office tradition as the summer picnic and holiday party.

Google Docs makes it simple to create a tournament-bracket spreadsheet with a form that uses drop-down lists and text boxes to record people's game picks. (You can also print the spreadsheet for making your game selections the old-fashioned way.) All picks are displayed … Read more

Listen up, college-hoops fans: I have good news and bad news about this year's version of the CBS Sports NCAA March Madness On Demand app.

The good: Unlike last year's version, it doesn't require a Wi-Fi connection to stream live games. Now you can watch over 3G or even EDGE.

The bad: CBS hiked the price from $4.99 to $9.99. But let's face it: For any hard-core NCAA fan, that's peanuts for the privilege of watching every game in the tournament on demand.

On the other hand, if you can live without the … Read more

Tournament Strategy and Odds Calculator provides a helpful tool for figuring out your odds of success in a Texas Hold-em game. While the calculator is a great learning tool, the program falls flat in other departments.

The program's interface initially felt welcoming, with a few simple command options and in-depth instructions in the Help file. However, we were turned off when we couldn't join a poker game immediately. The program claimed it was "Searching for a Game," though it quickly became obvious we would need a Free License to play. However, the only way to get … Read more

DreamQuest's 100% Free 500 Card Game for Windows is an excellent teaching and playing program for this classic Australian game. With helpful tutorials and professional play, you can quickly master "500," a blend of spades and euchre that is Australia's national card game.

The program's interface instantly won us over, even though we had no prior experience with 500. Its colorful, professional design was matched by a fantastic tutorial that taught us the rules and nuances of the game. This single-human, three-computer-player game was quick to pick up and fun to play. We enjoyed choosing … Read more

OnCourt is a comprehensive program that tracks every conceivable angle of professional tennis to help you make predictions. It has incredible depth and could be a tennis lover's dream.

The interface is filled with so much tennis jargon we needed the Help file and its examples and definitions to walk us through. In no time, though, we were studying up on our favorite players, learning their strengths, weaknesses, and history on a layout that looked a little like a scoreboard. We easily jumped between helpful statistics on a player's ability to win on various court surfaces and against … Read more

100% Free Chess Board Game for Windows provides users with challenging chess matches and also works as a teacher. This program's helpful tutorials and easy game play will make users of all skill levels happy.

We had an easy time navigating through the program's cartoonish interface, thanks to its well-labeled command buttons and onscreen instruction. The Help file comes to users as an excellent text-based tutorial, which explains rules and strategy. We liked the program's cast of opponents, whose skill level is noted next to their animated image, because each proved to offer different strategies and ability … Read more

When March Madness rolls around for college basketball fans, you can be the first person with a pool bracket ready to use thanks to this nicely designed app.

Turbo Tourney launches a colorful but functional window with a complete tournament ready to fill in. Adding schools to the pairings is a snap, although the method isn't initially intuitive--instead of entering names directly into the main display, you must first click an icon on the toolbar to pop up a box with all the pairings. The box includes drop-down lists with all the regions and school names, so entering is … Read more

Everyone has an NCAA bracket. It's like underwear. So few people come back home without it.

The problem is that the regular season of NCAA basketball might as well be sponsored by Xanax. It used to be wonderful and then players started leaving after one year of (not) attending college in order to turn pro. (See how many of your friends can name last year's Kansas starting five.)

In any case, the whole point of your NCAA bracket is to gain some superiority in your workplace of painful mediocrity.

So, because the Tournament starts tomorrow and because I … Read more