Any 360 price breaks?

[Dioxin]

Any 360 price breaks on the horizon? I'm thinking about getting this system, but it would be stupid not to wait a few months if the price is known to drop. Any ideas or suggestions?

[TriPP]

i don't know of a price break this holiday, but they are now including 2 games (forza 2 & marvel alliance) with systems, that's $120 worth of games. i've got both of those games and paid $60+ for each, forza 2 is actually a pretty good racing game and marvel isn't that good, but several dsa have it (it reminds me of an arcade game).

see: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hardware/playmorepayless/

[Zabka]

MUA is an arcade game. But it is fun to play co-op, so long as Reaver isn't one of the four since he will disconnect. It's not an interesting 1 player game.

I haven't heard of a price drop for the 360 ahead of the holidays. It is possible that with the recent PS3price cut surrounding teh new 40 gig model, that they could try it.

My guess, however, is that they jsut cut the price in August, and then sold a ton of them between the price cut and Halo3 launch. As a result, I am guessing it won't happen before the holidays. it would just piss off too many people. Instead they offered a new version of the low end model...which doesn't make sense since you really do need a hard drive.

[Dioxin]

I was thinking the price may drop after the holidays, but I can think of just as many reasons why that wouldn't happen (lower sales during that time, etc).

Oh well. If anyone hears of any good deals, shoot me a message if you think of it.

D

[Tomahawk]

Marvel Ultimate Alliance was a lot of fun. Zab and myself literally lost track of time playing it multiple nights. This is a really great stress-reliever and really fun in co-op.

Tripp you need to get myself and Zabka together one night and you'll see.

Dioxin, although neither game is any reason to buy the 360, they're both good games, that'll keep you interested for long enough to save some cash for Halo 3, GoW, or some other game you're interested in. You could always trade in both and get a bit of credit towards one of the more desired games.

I agree that there probably won't be a price break, but there may be better bundles offered closer to Christmas. Extra controllers, better games, plug n' play kit, etc.

[CHRIST]

I'm 80 bucks short of buying the 360 w/ 2yr store warranty and Halo 3. I will more then likely be getting one this upcoming weekend, but I don't know if I will have the money by then to get Halo.

[Zabka]

I will also point you to COD4. Really nice looking shooter with fantastic game play. At least in the beta.

Halo3 and COD4 can give you your shooter fix for quite some time. Throw in RB6, GRAW2, Orange Box, etc and you have a pretty wide selection to choose from.

I am not a racing fan, but I know that Reaver got crazy into Forza for alittle while.

Tom and I spent many late hours doing MUA as we found that building up some of the characters was just a lot of fun as you got to see the impact of their attacks.

[Dioxin]

So am I better off buying online or in a store? It seems like I can pay extra for a warranty, but there might be better packages online (maybe) and also probably no tax or shipping...

What's the thought here?

[Kamui]

I've always felt more comfortable buying Systems in person rather than online.Although it could be a negative thought,you never know if the system will come defected and then you will end up sending it back out again.
Thats just me though.

[TriPP]

why buy a warranty? everyone that i know that's had a problem with their 360 has had it fixed for FREE by ms and ms usually gives them something extra (game, pts, subscription...) too for the lost time.

[CHRIST]

I wouldn't want to go without it for weeks on end. Rather just go in and switch it out.

[TriPP]

u don't hear of many 360 problems anymore, i think they've got it a bit under control now.

[Dioxin]

OK, screw it. I'm going to buy one on November 17th on two conditions.

1 - I pass my physical exam on that day to become a federal agent. I'm going to hit the gym almost every day until the 17th rotating muscle group workouts. I have to build up some more upper body strength so I can push out a few more push-ups.

AND

2 - I run 4-5 times a week for the next two weeks. The pace has to be 6mph for a full 30 minutes. I can't stop until I get at least over 3 miles AND 30 minutes.


I started this policy yesterday. It has really helped me run. I completely wanted to give up running today and just quit. I was so tired after 10 minutes. But I reminded myself of this goal and pushed through. After I get it, I'll kind of lose my running reward, so playing will have to be conditional on keeping up this pace.



SO, now I need to decide exactly WHICH 360 to get. I know the accessories are different between packages. Did anyone buy the cheaper one and regret it later? Think the more expensive one isn't really worth it? Thoughts?

[CHRIST]

I would really not get the core, your best bet is the elite or Pro/Premium. I don't really remember what the other extras for the elite are besides it having 120 gig HDD and it being black if for some reason that factors in for you.

Also, I don't know what comes with the arcade version, but I think it's more similar to the core.

[Dioxin]

After taking a two second look at the "arcade version" I decided that was probably a crap system. I think it's worse than the core, but I'm not positive. Sometimes, you do get what you pay for.


Alright... it looks like the elite is $450 and comes with:
Xbox 360 Elite console (black)
120GB hard drive
Wireless Controller (black)
Xbox Live Headset (black)
HDMI port
HDMI cable
Xbox Live Silver membership
One-month subscription to Xbox Live Gold
Forza 2 game
Marvel Alliance game



And the pro version is $350 and comes with:
Xbox 360 Pro console
20GB detachable hard drive
Wireless controller
Xbox Live headset
High-definition AV cable
Ethernet cable
Detachable faceplate
Xbox Live Silver membership (probably only 1 month)
HDMI port
Forza 2 game
Marvel Alliance game



So, the elite has a bigger hard drive and a HDMI cable... that appears to be it as far as differences go. Oh, and offers gold instead of silver membership. I don't care about color.

Do I need 100 extra gigs of memory? Can I just use a portable/external harddrive if necessary?
Does the HDMI cable make that much of a difference? For the time being, I will be playing on a big 1080 screen.
How much better is gold vs. silver membership?