What little gaming I've had time for lately was marked by a significant moment in my console library's history: I popped my Xbox 360's cherry.

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Despite the lack of backward compatibility with the original Xbox, I asked for and received my 360 as a gift for Christmas 2008 and immediately proceeded to load it with downloadable goodness. Although I'd predicted purchasing plenty of retail games for the console, I never weaned myself off the ease and affordability of XBLA. I could enjoy a game like Shadow Complex for as long as I would any disc-based game, but for a fraction of the prize. Even though I was cutting retailers (such as formerly myself) from the equation, there were just too many reasons, from the day I got my Xbox through 2010 and today, to stay home.

Batman: Arkham Asylum and Portal 2 were the games that got me off the couch. The former has a great demo that reminded me of the stealth aspects of the fantastic Metal Gear Solid series, and the latter is the sequel to one of my favorite 360 games thus far. Accustomed as I was to paying $1–15 for an Xbox 360 game, I waited for the prices on each to fall, paying $20 and $35, respectively.

I've not yet played Batman, but Portal 2 is proving fun … though slightly less so than I hoped. The story is somewhat predictable so far, and many of the puzzles seem oriented toward figuring out what to do instead of how. I'd rather be given an objective to decipher than placed into an empty room with no clear goal. In that respect, more of Portal 2 is like the final stages of its predecessor, when Chell has broken out of the test rooms and is navigating the tunnels of the facility. I didn't like that part, either.

But both games are successfully imbued with liberal amounts of humor. I'm looking forward to the end game sequence and the closing credits song, but in the meantime, even little gestures like the defective turrets' dialogue are uplifting:

What will be the third game I'll buy for the 360? There are none currently on my radar, which perhaps bespeaks of my fall from "hardcore" status. But There's plenty to enjoy in the meantime.

This being the last day of the year, and the last weekend of your holiday vacation, it's a great time to spend those Microsoft Points you received as gifts, or to treat yourself to something fun with which to usher in the new year. Here are my recommendations of games released to Xbox Live in 2010 that aren't to be missed.

Limbo: This platform-puzzle game is perhaps most memorable for its morose atmosphere and the macabre results of failure. With almost no backstory, a boy sets out on an adventure through a woods devoid of color or background music. His weapons with which to defend himself from giant spiders and worse are limited to the player's ability to make him jump, climb, push, and think. At $15, the game is pricey for a digital title, but it's 33% off today only — either way, a fair price for what Wired called one of the best games of 2010.

Cthulhu Saves the World: You may not have heard of indie developer Zeboyd Games, but their previous Xbox Live release, Breath of Death VII, sold 30,000 copies. Created by a long-time gamer and RPG aficionado, the game capitalized on the rich history and tradition of 8-bit RPGs while correcting many frustrating aspects of the genre, such as random encounters. Cthulhu Saves the World is its spiritual successor, with more inside jokes and great gameplay but with a presentation that's been bumped up to 16 bits and a story that will take ten hours to experience, unlocking multiple replay modes. The price tag on this game is triple that of its predecessor and will set you back a whopping $3.

Pac-Man Championship Edition DX: Despite the name, Pac-Man CE DX is so much more than a remix of the 2007 Championship Edition. With "ghost trains" that harken back to the old computer game Snake, a bullet-time effect when Pac-Man is cornered, a variety of skins by which to customize the game's look, and more gameplay modes than you can shake a power pellet at, it's an impressive amount of content and replay value for $10. As the creator of Cthulhu Saves the World wrote:

Pac-Man: Championship Edition DX is a worthy sequel to some of the best games ever created (the original Pac-Man and Pac-Man: Championship Edition) and is probably the best game that will come out this year. Given that this is a year that has included gems like Super Meat Boy & Civilization V, that’s saying a lot.

Return All Robots!: RAR! is a top-down puzzle game in the tradition of the Adventures of Lolo. Players direct a scientist whose remote control will send good robots back to base while avoiding their evil counterparts. Check out our preview for more details and a gameplay video. Again, you'll be supporting an indie developer and getting a great title for a mere $3.

Chime: Released in early 2010, this top-down puzzle game invites you to place blocks anywhere on a playing field such that they form perfect rectangles. As with Lumines, a line regularly sweeps the playing field, clearing any completed pieces. An excellent soundtrack, including a piece by renowned composer Philip Glass, is enhanced by sound effects made when the line encounters your shapes. Play until you've completed the level, or in time trials of 3, 6, or 9 minutes, for only $5.

RISK Factions: The classic board game comes to Xbox 360 with multiple enhancements and features. Though the classic map and rules are available, other modes offer rewards for capturing specific terrain; multiple factions (all identical in gameplay); battle animations; online play; and more. This game has been on sale for 50% off all week; today is the last chance to get it for only $5. Check out the reference to an Apple II contemporary in this cutscene:

Worms 2: Armageddon: You'd never guess how much fun it could be to arm a nematode with a bazooka and send him to kill his brethren until you've tried it. This turn-based, 2D strategy game pits teams of worms against each other, using bizarre terrain (a construction site, a moon made of cheese) and armaments (banana bombs and exploding sheep). This $10 iteration in the 15-year-old franchise is already a few years old, but a $5 battle pack released in the summer of 2010 adds new levels, weapons, and more.

Portal: Still Alive: Valve's release of Portal 2 for Xbox 360, PS3, Mac, and PC has been continuously delayed and is currently slated for April 18, 2011. While waiting for this full-fledged retail game, you'll find it's not too late to crawl out from under your rock and discover what all the fuss is about. Portal came out in 2007 as part of a compilation of games, but an enhanced version of this first-person puzzle game was released as a standalone product for Xbox Live in 2008. Although not a 2010 release, it's the only Portal product available this year — and at $15, it's the cheapest Portal experience you'll find in 2011, too.

With so many games available for the Xbox 360, this list can only begin to scratch the surface. What were your favorites this year?

Anyone looking for quality entertainment software for their computers should take advantage of these two limited-time offers.

The first is the Humble Indie Bundle, which packages together six games: World of Goo, Aquaria, Gish, Lugaru, Penumbra, and Samorost 2. All six games are available for PC, Mac, and Linux, making for 18 unique downloads. Customers can name their own price and even determine the proportions by which it is divided among three recipients: the bundle's six developers; Child's Play, a charity that supplies children's hospitals with games; or the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Child's Play is a favorite charity of mine, so the opportunity to benefit them and receive something in return is a win-win.

Of the six games, World of Goo alone is worth the price of admission. In October 2009, its developer, 2D Boy, conducted a experiment similar to this bundle in which gamers could pay whatever they wanted for Goo. The results are extensively documented and, like the current Humble Indie Bundle findings, reflect that those who use a free operating system tend to be the most generous with their monies.

If donating to charity for a half-dozen games isn't your thing, then how about just one title for free? Portal, Valve's first-person puzzler that has won multiple awards, is a free download through the Steam service through May 24th. It's part of a promotion of Steam's availability for the Mac, launched this week. Any Mac games you previously bought for PC can be downloaded for free, but whether or not you're an existing customer, you can now get Portal for either platform by signing up for a free Steam account.

Portal is a groundbreaking game in its own right, and with Portal 2 coming out later this year, now is a good time to catch up on what you've missed.

Today marks one month with my Xbox 360, which makes it timely to reflect on my experiences thus far. When I brought it home from Christmas festivities, I found the system easy to hook up: the same A/V cables as my original Xbox worked, requiring less rewiring, and a nearby AirPort Express I'd previously installed provided the wired connectivity that my Wii gets wirelessly. I didn't appreciate the need for this additional hardware and cabling.

But once the connection is made, the Xbox's superior online experience is immediately evident. Though Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) games may not be superior to WiiWare, the availability of free demos for both downloadable and retail games gives any gamer hours of free entertainment. I immediately queued up 57 downloads, playing one while others continued in the background. Eventually I turned the system off and let the remainder continue into the night.

However, the transition from Wii to 360 has not always been easy. With the Wii being the only current-gen console in my household for more than two years, I've grown accustomed to its innovative and intuitive controls. Though I was excited to finally have hands-on experience with all the 360 titles I'd heard so much about, I found their controls both daunting and archaic. I actually have to push buttons to make things happen? How quaint! One look at the complex control scheme for Dead Space, and I quit. It's not that I'm incapable of learning detailed controls, but my gaming preferences have shifted sufficiently that I prefer pick-up-and-play approaches.

It's no wonder, then, that a month later, I've yet to put a single disc in my console. In a recent episode of the Major Nelson podcast, the observation is made that a new Xbox owner who downloads the top XBLA games will be set for awhile. Such has been my case. Not counting freebies like Dash of Destruction and Aegis Wing, I without hesitation bought Bionic Commando: Rearmed, Pac-Man Championship Edition, and Portal: Still Alive. A demo of Braid assured me it, too, was worth purchasing, and I was delighted to discover a remake of the original Apple II game Prince of Persia. It didn't take me long to beat Bionic Commando and Portal, but I still play Pac-Man every day. I knew these games would appeal to me more than Halo, BioShock, or Mass Effect, and so far I was right; for less than $50 USD, I've gotten hours of accessible and replayable entertainment value. But what's surprising is that, after reading reviews or playing demos, the six retail games I originally listed as reasons to buy an Xbox 360 are now ones I have no intention of buying. And, given the use I'm currently getting out of my 360, I don't see that I need to, either

The 360 is more than just games, of course. I've never purchased movies or television shows via iTunes, but upon a friend's recommendation, I did buy an episode of Scrubs from Microsoft's Video Marketplace. I also registered Rivet (upgraded this week to v2.0), a Macintosh program that lets me stream most audio and video from my Mac to my 360 (though I had to upgrade my OS to Leopard before Rivet would run). I like that the New Xbox Experience allows me to peruse the Xbox Marketplace from my computer at work and queue downloads for when I get home; it provides more opportunity and immediacy for acting upon various news and thoughts I come across during the day.

Without many multiplayer games or even a Gold membership, I've not yet engaged in any online competitions, but that's okay. I've always enjoyed sharing the couch with my fellow gamers, and I don't know that I'd enjoy the remoteness of online play.

In the meantime, I am a very happy, if unconventional, Xbox 360 gamer.

Of the previous generation of game consoles, the Xbox earned the least of my attention. I'm not a fan of first-person shooters or of sports games, so its appeal was sorely limited. I enjoyed the few exclusives I tried, such as Shenmue 2 or Panzer Dragoon Orta, but in my book, two games generally do not warrant the purchase of an entire console.

It's been easy for me to exclude the Xbox's successor from my current entertainment setup, as my main criteria was that I would only purchase an Xbox 360 that came with a hard drive, and I would not spend over $300. But now, the current and limited availability of the discontinued 20 GB Xbox Premium 360 meets those minimums, which has me reassessing my purchasing decisions.

Considering that my library still has unopened or unfinished Wii and PS2 games, buying an Xbox 360 does not make a logistical sense, as it will not add hours to my day. But I'm becoming unable to deny that it has enough games to justify wishing my day had more hours — especially since many of them are RPGs, which we previously discussed the 360 is prime for. Here are the retail titles that I'd be first to try:

1. Lost Odyssey — an RPG from the creator of Final Fantasy and with old-school gameplay mechanics.
   
2. Blue Dragon — the last RPG to consume 80+ hours of my time was the eighth installment of Dragon Quest, a franchise I've supported for 20 years. Blue Dragon uses the same visual designer as Dragon Quest, and the same composer (Nobou Uematsu) as Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger. Sounds like a winning combo to me.
   
3. Silent Hill 5 — another entry in a series I've always enjoyed letting me scare me crapless.
   
4. BioShock — as noted earlier, I'm not a fan of FPS, but the environment and mechanics of this game sound intriguing.
   
5. Fable II — I always wanted to play Peter Molyneux's first game in this series, but never got the chance.
   
6. Dead Or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball 2 — the first DOAXBV was just silly, and the sequel sells for only $10.
   

Even more so than the above big-budget titles, the downloadable content for the Xbox 360 draws me in. My time is limited, and the short, fun games offered by the Xbox Live Arcade are reminiscent of a simpler time in gaming history.

1. Bionic Commando Rearmed — I have fond memories of Capcom's NES original, and the Game Boy Color remake. As with Mega Man 9, I'm interested to see what they do when revisiting this classic.
   
2. Lode Runner — I grew up playing the original on my Apple II, which was one of the first games I bought for the Virtual Console.
   
3. Portal: Still Alive — I bought the "Still Alive" single and am eager to try the game to which it originally lent itself.
   
4. Braid — both the ChatterBox and Major Nelson podcasts have spoken highly of this game, saying it's a puzzle in a platformer as much as Portal is a puzzler in a first-person shooter. As much as I enjoy classic games, I'm also all for new experiences, and Braid sounds like it could be one.
   

Other arcade-style games I'm eager to try include Crystal Quest, Tron, Discs of Tron, Jetpac Refuelled, Marble Blast Ultra, Space Giraffe, and Pac-Man Championship Edition.

I've done my part to convince myself to buy an Xbox 360; now it's your turn. What games best represent this generation of gaming and can't be found anywhere but on the 360?