Being able to run Windows as if it were native to Mac has made virtualization less important, even more so when free alternatives such as VirtualBox are available.
Parallels goes above and beyond by implementing an ample range of virtualization features that are absent from the competition.
One of the most noteworthy is its compatibility with DirectX and OpenGL, which lets you run most of the games and applications that use 3D graphics, among them: Half Life 2, FarCry, Soldier of Fortune 2, Autodesk 3ds Max, etc.
Another interesting feature of Parallels Desktop for Mac is being able to open any Mac file on Windows and vice versa thanks to the 'Smart Select' option that also lets you associate a file type to an application regardless of what operating system it belongs to.
Parallels Explorer is the file manager that lets you access content on the Windows Volume without having to boot up the operating system.
The full list of operating systems that are compatible with Parallels Desktop for Mac can be found by clicking on here. This includes the entire Windows family (from Windows 3.1 to Windows Vista), the main Linux distributions (SUSE, Red Hat, Debian, Fedora...) and other operating systems such as FreeBDS, Solaris, OS/2, etc.
These, and a good number of other interesting features, are waiting for you in what is, according to many, the best virtualization tool on the market.