Game recording/Commentary software folks prefer??

So, as someone who is about to throw themselves into to the already Immensely crowded field of recording my own dumb thoughts while playing a game. I was curious, what does everyone use, microphone people would suggest?

Granted I've attempted a pretty amateur-ish video using the old favourite with Fraps but the main issue is I can't or simply don't know how to boost my microphone so I don't have to nearly mute the game for the levels to work. That, and the wretched white noise I seem to be picking up. Granted my PC has 5 fans so I'm thinking that may be the issue and I'm around head level and 5-6 feet away from it?

I'm open to suggestions and am considering moving things around but am curious what's the best way of doing things.

Edit: As I posted this I am checking out Xsplit.

Check out OBS. It's basically XSplit but free and open source.

@mason20: I use a Snowball like Patrick does. Note he keeps it close for a better sound.

OBS is fantastic software with plugins. I would do every thing that x-split or a tricaster can do, but then again it is free. It also works fine with my I5 and GTX 670 for recording at 720P at 30 FPS, which is fine for most needs.

@ninazu: Ahh, OBS that's what it is! I've looked for BOS, SBO, and SOB and only one of those came up with anything interesting..

Idiocy aside, I've been checking out OBS and it seems to be what I'd like but with only a few attempts in recording videos it is relatively easy but I only have one question. My Videos are a bit pixelated, so is there a way to boost the quality? I am recording the game at 1920x1080. I do apologize for the seemingly beginner like question but sadly that's exactly what I am. I've had better quality with Xsplit but the video seems to have a second pause on the video side every minute or so on simple 2d games and works fine with 3d games?

I've got a AMD 7900 HD card which I figured would be more than enough for Mark Of The Ninja?

Er.. nevermind. I'm a fool and I figured out the solution to the pixelation so the screen isn't a mosaic mess.

What was it @mason20? Your solution might help others.

@ninazu: If it was anything like when I first started using OBS, it was probably him recording in a resolution lower than 1080p and then upscaling to 1080 rather than recording in native 1080.

@thatpinguino: That or he just didn't crank the bitrate up enough. For 1080 if you are only recording locally a bitrate of 10,000 isnt very high for example, but if you're live streaming twitch will moan at you if you use more than 3500.

@ninazu: Ahh, you're right that I probably should've said what I had done but it is exactly like @bollard said. I had the recording at 1080 but I never did anything with the bitrate. As soon as I started cranking that bitrate up it solved the issue.