Separated at birth?

Russian heavyweight contender Nikolai Valuev.

Soda Popinski from Punch-Out!! (NES).

My gamerscore, as of this very minute, is a palindrome...15,051.

I have another dozen games heading my way. If they all show up by tomorrow, I will have acquired 46 games this month. That's a bit silly, even by my standards. Unfortunately, there are so many good ones out there that I want to pick up. I've heard Soulcalibur IV is awesome, I'm dying to try Burnout: Paradise, and I still haven't picked up Mass Effect. And that's just the ones I'm thinking about most for the 360 right now. The thing is, I'll probably never play many of these games. Unless, of course, I wind up with a LOT of extra time on my hands. At any rate, if you want to see how sick I really am, I track my acquisitions here.

On the gaming front, I'm getting to a point in The Godfather: The Game (X360) where I'm going to see a bunch of achievements pile up in rapid succession. This is actually my second playthrough (I've finished the Xbox version) and I'm enjoying it just as much this time around.

When I finish that, it's on to Sid Meier's Civilization: Revolution (X360). I played through one civilization as the United States (as a resident of Central Illinois, I am contractually obligated to enthusiastically endorse anything and everything bearing Abraham Lincoln's likeness, hence my choice) and won a cultural victory. The game itself is awesome, but since I had already put a significant dent in The Godfather, I decided to put it aside for awhile.

In the meantime, these games are also getting a look:

Kingdom Hearts (PS2)
Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES)
Castlevania (NES)

That's about it from here. Here's hoping that my new replacement phone, my new games, and my Wyld Stallyns t-shirt are on my doorstep when I get home. Take it easy, kids!

***EDIT***
My box didn't show up today, so it's 35 in July and an 11-game head start on August.

So, my buddy Steve and I decided to buy a bunch of NES games from this seller on ebay. He had a pretty good rating (98.3% positive, I believe), so we didn't worry about buying 15 games from him. Unfortunately, we didn't pay attention to his shipping prices. Fifteen NES games apparently equals $43.75. Now, I just got an entire O2 system, five complete games, and a Virtual Boy stand shipped via UPS for $15. Needless to say, I'm going to pay this dude, take my medicine, and never buy anything from him again. I, my friends, am an idiot.

Now on to bigger and better things. I will soon be welcoming my baby sister to the world of Xbox Live. She's a long time gamer (just like me) and is becoming a collector too...she just doesn't know it yet. At any rate, I'll soon be playing, from Illinois, with my sister who lives in Hawaii. I know playing with people across oceans is old news, but stuff like that never ceases to amaze me (hell, Pong still amazes me).

As far as my recent gaming habits go, I've been playing a lot of The Godfather: The Game on my 360. I've finished it on the Xbox before, but that version didn't have 1,250 achievement points and the ability to give me a two-star sandbox badge on my 360 blog (and my next completed game will give me ten complete retail games). After that though, I'm not sure. I keep batting around the idea of playing through the Kingdom Hearts games, I've got Super Mario Bros. 2 and Castlevania hovering around my NES, and I've got several 360 games I've started, but need to play though. We'll see what happens.

Does anyone know anything about the game L.A. Noire? Early trailers for that had me ready to go out and buy a PS3, but I've heard basically nothing since. Anyone? Bueller...Bueller?