So often you see people take internet forms way too seriously, and while admittedly there is still some of that on Giant Bomb, I feel like the community here is a little more laid back than other places. I believe the following picture is proof of that.
 

Today I downloaded the new (old) X-Men Arcade game on XBLA. And sure, it plays exactly the same as I remember it, but I was met with two surprises.
 
1) The music is awesome. It is perfect arcade beat-em-up music. I'm not sure if it has been remastered in any way, but it's great.
2) The voice acting is HORRIBLE. Maybe it was because I always used to play it in a loud arcade and could never actually hear it, or maybe I just didn't know it was bad when I was eight. Here's an example.
 
  

Happy Christmas and/or other holiday break everyone (Sorry if yours hasn't started yet). For me, this is the best time of the year for gaming. It's the end of the year and I have close to a month off of school and a couple weeks off work, and I can start actually making use of that GameFly subscription (I've been sitting on Alan Wake and MW2 for 2 months now). 
 
So for those of us who don't have the horrors of a real job that doesn't give you a break (yet), what games from this year (or older) are you planning to catch up on? I am planning on starting a second New Vegas run, and maybe I'll actually finish Arkham Asylum.

I don't do a lot of competitive multiplayer gaming. When I do, it's usually Street Fighter, Left 4 Dead 2, and more recently Modern Warfare 2. The reason I don't play a lot of competitive multiplayer is not because I don't enjoy it, it's because people are dicks.
 
Recently I've run into more and more assholes on Xbox Live than ever before. One of the more infuriating incidents was when I was playing Street Fighter, and about halfway through the second round, the other player stopped moving. We both had a sliver of health left and I figured his controller had died, so I thought "I've been there before, I'll just step back and wait for him to plug it in," and sure enough after about 10 seconds he had plugged it back in, and without giving any notice he threw a fireball at me and won. I later went on to win the final match, and was berated by two separate, terribly misspelled hate messages from the guy. 
 
So what's my point? Being nice, helpful, or supportive online to other players is usually either met with silence or hatred, so I figures why even bother anymore. Then I realized why you only hear asshole 14 year olds when you play Call of Duty, it's because everyone else has gotten tired of them like me and stopped trying all together. What kind of an online experience is this? I don't have a lot of friends who game IRL, so it's hard to play with people that I like in parties. Am I the only one who feels constantly oppressed on XBL? Is it at all better on the PSN?

Today marks the two-year anniversary of my Xbox 360. This is the first ever non-nintendo console I ever owned, as well as the first console I bought with my own money. You haven't red ringed on me yet even though I keep you in the improper vertical position. Knowing my luck it will be broken tomorrow, but even if it is I will still look back and be happy with the hours of happiness you provided. So here's to you, Xbox, I'm virtually pouring one out for you, and here's to two more years.
 
I think Dolly Parton said it best, so I'll let her close it out.
  

I always was on the outside looking in on the Call of Duty franchise.  I was always somewhat interested, but the only game I ever played was CoD 2, because it was only $20 when I got my Xbox 360. But this weekend I decided to dive in, and played through Modern Warfare 1&2, and here's what I experienced. 
 
I was unimpressed to begin with in Modern Warfare 1. To be fair, I was spoiled on the big moment, I won't say it here but we all know what I mean. It wasn't until about halfway through, in a flashback mission that took place in Chernobyl, that I really started to appreciate the game. I liked the story fine enough, but it wasn't until the second game that I was really sucked in. I love how ridiculous it got. I breezed through it, and to be fair I was only playing on normal. I felt like I was cheating half the time, and would test to see how fast I could run to the next objective without killing anyone.
 

Last night I had my first hamburger. Not my first one at a certain resturaunt (well I guess technically that's true), but I'm talking about the first hamburger I've ever consumed, in my 21 years on this planet. And let me tell you, I've been missing out.
 
I'm not a vegetarian, but I don't eat a lot of meat. Never have. I'll usually take chicken if I have to, but last night me and a few friends went to In-'N-Out. 

Super Meat boy is HARD. But you probably already know that. I have beaten about 200 levels, gotten 65 bandages and I think I finally hit the glass ceiling. You know why? Not because I don't think I can't do it (I totally can you guys, trust me) but it's because this game is not only damaging me mentally, but it is the first game that I have ever had physical pains from.
 
I find myself in intense hand pain when I'm done because I'm gripping the controller so hard that it hurts. My hands pull a Mr. Burns and instinctively curl up when I'm done playing a particularly hard/long session (heh, hard long session). I even find myself leaving a little dead skin on the controller after, which is super gross and means I'm not washing my hands good enough, which has less to do with SMB and more to do with poor personal hygiene. 
 
The point is, that this game is hard and painful, but I keep going back. This is the mark of a really fun game. Has anyone else had physical pains after playing a game? Or am I just crazy.

Today I was cleaning up my shelf, going through and organizing all my old games when I came across two games that I had to take a second look at. They were Metal Arms: Glitch in the System, and Baten Kaitos. 
 
Both GameCube games, I realized I loved these games when I had first bought them, but I never remembered beating them. So I loaded up Metal Arms and almost instantly the terrible memories came flowing back to me. I instantly recognized the level I was on, because I couldn't beat it back in 200X. Well I sat down and had to play it only about 2-3 times and beat it, very easily. We all hear that taking a break on a hard level then going back is helpful, but I guess I never thought that break needed to be several years.
 
The same thing happened with Baten Kaitos. I was on the last boss of the game, and beat him on my second try. Now I'm going back through my whole collection of games, starting with the GameCube. I am a hoarder and never sold my old games, so I feel like I'm going to find quite a few that I could never beat.