[ In the absence of our resident shark who is traveling for the various gaming events going on next week we bring you a guest YTMND from our Community Blogs. Enjoy! -Niero ]

While I could never replace Hamza (squid are a poor substitute for sharks at best) I was a little disheartened to see no YTMND Thursday this week, so I decided to post a few I'd found. I hope this takes the edge off for those folks who are similarly jonesing. Some of these may have been featured before; if so, sorry- move on to the next one. 

• Diglett sings!
• I guess that's not the Aerosmith version.
• This one's called "Use the Nuke button." Probably good advice at this point.
• Jesus plays NHL `94. I always thought He was more into Bejeweled.
• Speaking of Jesus...
• And we'll try to stay on a roll with this one. Couldn't resist. Sorry.
• The realistic NES game craze extends all the way to the moon.
• While we're in space, The Starfox team has some celebrity ringers.
• Sonic is sooo boned.
• M. Bison is ready to roll!
• Zelda Rap. some NSFW language.
• In case you hadn't heard, Princess Peach has giant breasts. I guess it's only natural for Mario to say this then? (Again, possibly NSFW language)
• Hopefully you're familiar with the N.S.M.B. fad. The original can be seen here, and I also thought this Outrun spinoff was pretty good. Even more NSFW language on these.
• Team Fortress 2 teaches you world history!

[Editor's note: Qalamari talks about the influence that Penny Arcade has had on him during his life long videogame affair. -- CTZ]

I've been particularly enjoying this month's Monthly Musings topic. It's been fascinating and often enlightening to see where some other people got their start as gamers. I've been thinking about what started me along my gaming path, but the truth is, at some level I think I've ALWAYS been a gamer. Therefore, it's very hard to pinpoint a game that piqued my love for interactive electronic entertainment.

That being the case, I started thinking in broader terms. I thought about specific genres, like the first adventure game I ever played (a bootleg copy of Space Quest 2). I thought about systems -- I've loved the original 8-bit Nintendo ever since I first wrapped my hands around the controller. But what has influenced my life more than any game or system put together is the realization that I am not alone, and I owe that to the world's most popular Web comic. This is gonna be a long one. Buckle up.