Being a gamer since I was four, once I got my hands on an Xbox 360 in sophomore year of high school, I got hooked pretty quick.  More so than just the playing the games, I enjoyed chatting with friends and playing with them with the convenience of not always having to leave the house.  In most of my free time I'd be found playing something on Xbox Live, often with friends, but at times just enjoying competitive online play by myself.  Though my interest in the Xbox has mostly dropped out, here is some of my favorites that I played over the years:
	Halo 3- By far my favorite, and probably the game I was most skillful at, I loved Halo 3 for a number of reasons. Due to its popularity, I could almost always get a friend to play it with me until its sequel came out, it was the only shooter I was really good at, and even if friends weren't on I could play in intense ranked matches alone or spend hours building maps (mostly race tracks) in forge mode to show off later.  Between custom made rules for new game types and player made maps, this game acted like an online playground for me and many friends of mine.  In fact, this game is the reason I bought the Xbox in the first place.
	Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2- Also high on the list, MW2 was more my go-to-game when playing alone online, rather than with friends.  Though I spent a lot of time playing this one with friends it wasn't nearly as entertaining as Halo 3. Nonetheless, it’s probably the only game on the list to compare with Halo 3 in time that I spent playing online by myself.
	Halo Wars- Probably the 20 bucks I ever spent on a game (Halo 3 was only 15 when I bought it), Halo Wars was pretty simple for a strategy game yet I played it quite a bit. While I never beat the single player, the multiplayer was simple and entertaining enough for me to get hours out of the game. After Halo 3 and MW2 got boring, this game became a first choice for me and friends.
	Call of Duty: Black Ops: Though I didn't care for the normal multiplayer as much as much as MW2, I spent hours with friends and occasionally alone fighting hordes in the zombies game type.  Unique game types in wager matches like One in the Barrel and Sticks and Stones were pretty fun to play with some friends too.
	Oblivion/Skyrim- Not sure which I liked better, but Oblivion (left pic) and Skyrim (right pic) both kept me entertained for hundreds of hours despite the fact that they are single player only.  Something about being able to customize your on classes on your character just kept me coming back to these games.