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[For his Monthly Musing, Wrenchfarm talks about how disappointing it was to seeAlan Wakesell so poorly. Want to share your own disappointment from last year? Check out theMonthly Musing topic, then go write a blog! — JRo] 2010 didn’t really suck, in fact it was a fantastic year for gaming. Check out the titles dropped in the last year –Mass Effect 2,Super Street Fighter IV,Squablefields: Bad Company 2,Super Meat Boy,Fallout: New Vegas,Amnesia: The Dark Decent,Red Dead,Halo: Reach, continued updates forTF2andL4D, and on and on....

Activision has revealed some of the GameStop exclusive pre-order items for its upcoming titles,X-Men DestinyandSpider-Man: Edge of Time. Get it, like they’re both Marvel character titles so I used “Marvel-ous” in the headline? Right? Right? Anyway… So if you pre-orderX-Men Destinywith the monster game retailer, you’ll get a code to unlock exclusive Havok X-Gene Powers and costumes. This will apparently let players wield plasma-enhanced attacks, stunning enemies by absorbing their energy and increasing damage over time....

As much as his career reached a peak with the tremendously funnyBilly Madison(/end sarcasm), you’ve gotta hand it to Adam Sandler for being a real nice guy. Stephanie and Kevin Hudson, of Manchester, NH, were the lucky benefactors of Sandler’s kind generosity. Stephanie has bone cancer in her right arm which recently spread to her lungs, and her brother Kevin has Hodgkin’s lymphoma, so to say that they don’t have the easiest lives imaginable would be quite an understatement....

Rebellion’sAliens Vs. Predatorhas been slated for February since forever, but today the official release date has beenset in stone. Not only that, but it’s been made known that the game will go theModern Warfare 2route and ship with three different versions — Standard edition, Survivor edition and Hunter edition. The Survivor edition will beAvP‘s version of “Hardened,” coming as it does with a metal case and a code for downloadable multiplayer maps that are being planned for after the game’s launch....

I love the golden era of PS One RPGs. I recal so many games from that time with such fond feelings. One of them was easilyAlundra, an action RPG that I plowed many hours into back in the day. I may get to relive those wonderful hours according toSiliconera, who report thatArc the Ladis also coming as a PS One re-release. Cool! The ESRB has listed both titles as coming to the PlayStation 3, but no word on when yet, of course....

Amazon.com is running another of their Gold Box promotions out of the videogame department today. All day long, you’ll be able to pick up a copy ofTony Hawk Ridefor the still over-priced sum of $39.99. Thankfully, Gold Box days aren’t all about one item. There’s a host of other deals to take advantage of. As usual, the “Lightning Deals” havemysterious cluesas to what the products might be in the hours before the sale price becomes activated....

Damn that Nintendo, always coming up with new ways to make us flat broke. IfLazard Capital Markets analyst Colin Sebastian has anything to say about it, they’ll make us poorer and happier again very soon. In a recent investor note, Sebastian said that the next wave of console hardware would hit before 2011, unless Nintendo makes a key move: “One possible exception to console timing may be Nintendo, which could opt to upgrade the Wii with faster processing power, DVD capability and/or greater storage....

It seems that SEGA is starting a new round ofAnarchy Reignscharacter introductions, starting with a second familiar face fromMadWorld. That is, if you were looking at her face and not her other … things. This is Mathilda, and you might recognize her as The Baron’s psychotic assistant. She spent most of her time mutilatingMadWorld‘s resident pimp and Bloodbath challenge announcer. InAnarchy Reigns, she’s fitted out for both combat and fan-service, with a range of vicious attacks courtesy of her oversized mace and a chest that features frighteningly pointy nipples....

The rock n’ rollGuitar Hero 5/Band HeroDLC train doesn’t stop this April, with Activision pushing out tracks master tracks from Black Sabbath, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Phoenix, and more. Take note that this isn’tmoreBlack Sabbath DLC. Instead, these are the tracks that wereannounced for February release, and then subsequently delayed without any reason given. Well here they are — “After Forever,” “Into The Void,” and “Sweet Leaf” — in all their glory, out on April 29....

Ubisoft has just released a developer diary forAssassin’s Creed 2. In it they focus on the new protagonist, Ezio, another of Desmond’s ancestors. There’s also a fair bit of the plot included so, if you plan on going in completely cold, you may want to shy away a little bit. I’m hoping this sequel can overcome the massive shortcomings inAssassin’s Creedbecause the series has a great concept. I honestly want to know more about the character of Desmond and what’s going on in his world that he’s tied to a chair reliving the exploits of his ancestors....

I was unaware that the correct way to play Xbox 360 with your friends is for each of you to have different games sitting on your laps. Perhaps it’s a symbol of affluence to go along with the prep school uniforms, stately southern mansion, and limo ride to school. I hazard that the logic must go: “I’ve got so much money, I’ve got games I haven’t even played yet in my lap — and so do my friends....

Pictured above are replicas of anAER-9 laser rifleandA3-21’s plasma riflefromFallout 3. Creator Ryan Palser has posted dozens of photos showing the creation of the plasma rifle, which lights up for a very cool effect. A3-21’s plasma rifle is easily my favorite weapon even though it pretty much breaks the game. It’s the super-weapon for which there is limitless ammunition and easy to keep in great repair. The detail work on this replica of it is beautiful....

Activision has announced that it will be bringingBand Heroto the Nintendo DS Lite this year, introducing full band play to the portable Hero franchise for the first time. So how’s that going to work? With the new Drum Grip peripheral (pictured above), players will be able to tap along to 30 master recordings from artists like Blink-182, Avril Lavigne, The Killers, KT Tunstall, and Fall Out Boy. Wannabe vocalists can sing into their DS microphones, and guitarists and bassists can use the Guitar Grips introduced with Activision’sGuitar Hero: On Tourtitles....