[Berndt]

My wifes birthday this weekend and she wants a 360.
What/where are the best deals?
We want the one with the hard drive, right?
We also want a set of wireless controllers.
I am in the bay area if that matters.
Thanks for your help.
Bill

[jqp]

First of all, Yes you do want the hard drive.

I don't think you will find an XBox 360 for less than $399, but you may find a bundled deal that saves money on things you would buy anyway, like extra controllers and some games. I am not an expert though, I am merely toying with the idea of getting one myself and checking out any graphics goodness and the enhanced Live system.

My gut tells me to just be glad they are available at all (in light of Sony's ever decreasing predicted supply for North America), and get one well before Thanksgiving shopping madness, so that I will be all ready for Halo 3 when it comes out.

Wireless controllers I know not much about, I will no doubt just go with wired myself, so I wont have to wear a tinfoil hat with all those rays floating around.

Please someone else enlighten us further.

[Bob in St. Louis]

My recommendations:
--Don't buy the core system, get the "upgraded up", has the drive built in. (somebody may have a good reason to do otherwise that I don't know about.)
--GET THE WIRELESS CONTROLLERS! Amen brother, coolest thing in the world.
--I don't have highspeed internet, so I can't tell you about the 'LIVE' features.
--Price wise, I believe the console prices are fixed by Microsoft, so they should be the same anywhere. Am I wrong about that?
--Become a member of the Xbox forum. (You'll have to deal with a lot of B.S. people that force you to believe thier opinion is fact, and thiers is better than yours for some reason.) But none the less, your question will eventually get answered.
--These suckers get HOT, don't starve it for air flow.
--The fighter pilot game (can't remember the name. "Over-G?") blows. That's the bad news about paying $60 for games. Your stuck with it.

Bob

[jqp]

I did see that 1 wireless controller does come with the 399 system (w/ hard drive of course).

One consideration is what video output you will want. The XBox 36o is capable of 720p and 1080i, depending also on the game itself. Also the DVD playback can do 480 progressive.

What kind of TV will this play on?

[Bob in St. Louis]

If you buy a system, you'll need games. Here's more of my opinion:

Call of Duty; great game, very good graphics. 2 thumbs up.
Project Gotham Racing; If your into racing games it's a must have. Fantastic graphics, good 'car feel'.
Need for Speed - Most Wanted; The second race game you should get!
Quake 4; I hate it.
Tom Clancy; Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter; Another very good shooter game.

By the way, I wouldn't worry about buying the chargers for the wireless controllers, they don't eat those double 'A' too fast.

Buying the extra remote to control your other A/V stuff is pretty cool. I'm glad I bought one. However, I'm not currently using it to it's fullest extent, so I don't know what all it can do.

Bob

[Woodsea]

Get another wireless, when you buy the HD version.  Get the rechargeable battery packs.  Burnout is awesome.  You two can play against each other.  Put your own tunes on the HD and crank it up when driving.
There are alot of games out their, do some reading, like it was mentioned $60 is a hunk o change, so know what you are buying.  Better yet, rent them online!

[bubba966]

Costco is a good place to buy it if you can but it there.

http://www.costco.com/Common/Category.aspx?Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&N=4014157&Ne=4000000&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&whse=BC

That's about the best deal you're going to get as it's not discounted anywhere. Bundles are the only way to save some $.

[Berndt]

I got the hardware edition from Target for 399.
Extra controller wireless controller and Elder scrolls oblivion.
Man, it is sooooo nice not having to trip over wires!~
The graphics are better even on the same non hd tv with original xbox games.

[jqp]

Congratultions on your new XBox 360!

You and your wife motivated me to go ahead and get one, as I considered the pre-Christmas rush and post-Sony flop rollout rush. Plus I doubt there will be a price drop soon. In any case I do have 30 day price protection...Best Buy had only 1 XBox 360 at this time, and I got it with the 2-year extended warranty ($59) and Call of Duty 2 ($39 -game o' the year for 360).

I recomend the extended replacement warranty for almost obvious reasons: new model, computer hardware, the game controller may even wear out but can definitely get problems. All items in the box are covered, mike, controller, power supply, the computer with hard drive, component/av cable, so it is a good deal.

Now will I need to migrate my gamertag for Live!? It sounds like it.

Will set it up tonight and start a topic for reviews, comments, and tips n; tricks.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Toys-R-Us has ALL games, "buy 2 get 3rd free"!
(just don't buy 2 at $60 each, and your 3rd one at $10! )

Well,.....did you buy a system/console Berndt?

Bob

[Brad]

This won't help for a quick purchase, but overstock.com usually has 10-12% for first time buyers.
That will pay for a game or 2nd wireless controller.

Hoping to get a 360 for the kids (yeah sure Brad - it's for the kids) this holiday season.