Major Nelson had the unfortunate task yesterday to break the news that Xbox Live was going to be raising its prices, and the fury of a thousand rabid fanboys was unleashed in his direction. For one, I don’t really understand what the big deal is, and two, I don’t know why so much of it was directed at Major Nelson himself.

We’ll start with Major Nelson. He runs his own blog separate from any official Microsoft site where he lets people know about what’s coming down the pipeline, hosts gaming discussions, and does a weekly podcast with several other members of the Xbox team.

Since Gavin is being super rad at getting people to follow me on Twitter, I decided to be relevant and discuss the beginnings of me getting into Magic: The Gathering. Since I’m literally just starting out, I’m hoping that this will make the old pros nostalgic for their humble beginnings and get some other people who have never tried it to dive in.

After talking to Gavin, I downloaded Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers for Xbox Live Arcade to get a feel for the rules and how the game was played. I suck really, REALLY bad at it… but I like it.

So last week Christina and I headed down to Harrison’s, the comic store in the mall. The people who work there are super nice and they’ve got nick-knacks for literally any interest you could have, but most of the time I feel bad because we go in, talk to the guys a little bit and then leave without buying anything. This time, though, I knew we’d be buying something.

I finally got to play Scott Pilgrim vs. The World! Apparently, when Microsoft does their “Summer of Arcade” promotion, they don’t allow multiplatform games, so that’s why it came out so much earlier on the PlayStation Network. BAH. Anyway, we have it now!

And it’s awesome. Everything is perfect. The music, performed by rad chiptune rock band Anamanaguchi, fits the mood perfectly and does a really good job at recreating the heart-pumping tunes that flowed from the old beat-em-up arcade machines. The graphics are amazing, being both retro and gorgeous hi-def at the same time.

So Christina and I have been hooked on Food Network lately, and as a result I’ve believed that I can cook just like all of the pros do. Over the past few days I’ve made some pretty good stuff, including homemade salsa (which I call Sunrider Salsa, a reference to the online persona I’ve used for as long as I can remember). Yesterday morning, though, I was reminded just how untalented I actually am.

Christina was scrambling eggs for breakfast and I was frying up some diced potatoes for home fries. Once they were done, I let the oil sit for a minute then went to clean the skillet. I thought the oil had cooled down. It hadn’t.

After talking to my buddy Gavin, I’ve decided to delve into the world of collectible card games. There’s a few reasons I’ve decided to give them a whirl, and a lot of reasons I didn’t when I probably should have.

Right now I’m really hungering for a social aspect with my gaming time. I kinda suck at shooters (and now apparently Street Fighter) so Xbox Live doesn’t do much for me, and most of the people on my server in World of Warcraft are morons (although the social guild I’m in has some pretty cool people). As a whole, I’m finding online gaming more and more impersonal, and it’s not really doing it for me anymore.

Man, I love The Simpsons. It’s always been one of my favorite shows, and until recently I had kinda fallen out of watching it for whatever reason. Lately though, Christina and I have been going back through my old DVDs and I’ve fallen back in love.

The Simpsons is such a great show because it’s STILL funny. The episodes we’re watching are 15 years old at LEAST, and even though I’ve seen them dozens of times I still crack up. Listening to the DVD commentary, they set out to make a show that would age well and they’ve succeeded by leaps and bounds.

On the flip side, we have Family Guy, which is really only funny the first time you watch an episode. Go back and watch season 3 of Family Guy and season 3 of The Simpsons and tell me which one has aged better. If you said Family Guy, you’re a liar and/or have poor taste. Either way, we can’t be friends.

Over the weekend Christina and I, like all of you SHOULD have done, attended the midnight premiere of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. I’ve written about how awesome Scott Pilgrim is several times so I’ll refrain from repeating myself and just talk about the movie.

It was fantastic. It far exceeded my expectations, and my expectations were higher than they’ve been for any other movie. They absolutely NAILED it. Director Edgar Wright really had a vision for bringing the comic to life and he didn’t let the ball drop once.

Dear Mr. O’Neal,

My name is Joe Walker and I have been a basketball fan for many years. Growing up, I have been enamored by many of the greatest to ever play the game. Jordan. Stockton. Robinson. Pippen. Malone. All of these names synonymous with basketball greatness. There is a name missing from that list, and it is yours.

You may be wondering what authority I, a no-name person who writes a blog primarily focusing on video games, have to be writing about the world of sports. I assure you that having no authority has never stopped me from talking about anything.

Today we got to do the food tasting for the wedding. This in itself was almost reason enough to get married. Oh man. They bring out all this food and wine, and it’s all free, and then you pick what you want for your wedding. There were like, six appetizers, six entrees and two kinds of cake.

And later tonight we’re going to see Scott Pilgrim. Booyah. Today is awesome.

You might remember me talking about how great Braid was. You should also know that everything I say is right. Ergo, when I say “Limbo is the best game like Braid since Braid,” you can take that right to the bank.

I’m oversimplifying things a bit, because Braid and Limbo aren’t as similar as I make them seem. They’re both wonderfully engaging, artful puzzle-platformers, but while Braid lavishes you with color and whimsical music with intermittent cryptic narration, Limbo gives you a stark, horrific world populated only with isolation and a thin line between life and death.