Since February this year I have been out of the United States studying abroad in New Zealand. Unfortunately, due to the region differences/paying for electricity/voltage differences and internet pricing, i opted out on bringing my xbox360 or any video game system rather. I made it a goal on myself to not play videogames as much as I would have back home but damn do I miss them. I managed to have my nintendo DS shipped over that way I had a nice compromise and a fun way to kill time but it's not the same. 
Right before I got to New Zealand I had purchased Mass Effect 2, a game universe that I am falling in love with just as much as I did Halo, and played the living crap out of it, beating it in a couple of days (note that I normally don't blow through games like this but time was of the essence). Of course there were, and have been, other games besides Mass Effect 2 that I longed to play but: 
They weren't out yet 
I owned them but never got around to them 
I hadn't gotten around to buying them yet 
 
All three of these issues remain unsolved while I sit in my flat in New Zealand. I feel like the odd one out, like a kid who hears about some party all the cool kids went to and the cool shit that happened, knowing that he missed out on being a part of it and if he ever does he'll still be behind. Thankfully I have a couple of good games I received as Christmas presents that I didn't touch and am now quite happy I didn't. For instance, I own Dragon Age: Origins but put it aside to play other games and because I knew I wouldn't fully enjoy it needing to leave the country in a month.  
I'm not an obsessive gamer (anymore haha) and I do have a life. I've done a shit ton of stuff here in New Zealand from hiking, mountain climbing, bungee jumping, partying, and so on. Nevertheless, it may be a different country and a "once in a lifetime experience" but the fact remains that I am here studying abroad and am therefore here to go to school. This unfortunately means that sooner or later school eats up time to do fun stuff (bungee jumping and what not) and creates these gaps of time where playing video games would kill time quite well. This was at a time replaced by books but I read all the ones I brought and the ones I BOUGHT and had to stop since I knew I would eventually not be able to bring them back home. 
Gaming is definitely a big hobby of mine. I enjoy them as much as I enjoy watching/making movies (my major) and I miss it. All these good games are coming out or have come out and I either regret that I'm not playing them or feel completely disconnected having NO IDEA what they are. I can't wait to be back home and gaming once again.

With Starcraft 2: Wing's of Liberty now given a release date I must ask, what faction are you most excited about? I mostly aim this question towards the campaign but usually a person's favorite campaign faction is their favorite multiplayer faction. I myself am most excited about the protoss but am quite bummed that I have to wait for the final release of this trilogy to play their campaign.

Hey, so I have always wanted to record video game footage and every now and then I do a little bit of research on the internet and never get anywhere with it. I have a wii and an xbox 360 and was wondering what a good medium for video capturing would be. I'm not looking to get a video card but a device that would let me record from my tv. I have recently discovered something called Dazzle but am concerned as to the quality. I can spend around $200 if need be. I have a macbook pro and final cut pro editing software. Any assistance in this would be great!

Hey anyone! A couple questions I have for anyone willing to answer: 
I have been studying abroad in New Zealand for a few months now and won't be back home until July 1st. This means that i have been away from video games for an extremely long time! I currently own an xbox 360 and a wii and plan on buying a ps3 sometime when I get back. My question to anyone is what good 360 games have come out since february that are worth getting? is monster hunter tri awesome cuz it looks like it? and what games should I get for a ps3? (my friend says get uncharted but i also want to get god of war 3 and demon's soul)  
Cheers 

So I have just joined Giantbomb... obviously. One of my good friends has led a few of us to this site to see a review here and there and I've since then made a mental note. What he failed to mention was the cool interactive, experience gaining, contribution encouraging, quest system on this website. It's really frickin awesome and I'm looking forward to becoming a member of this community.