Okay, so my Xbox 360 Elite is almost paid off. Any recommendations for games to check out?

Bioshock, Perfect Dark Zero, Lumines Remix, GoW, Test Drive Unlimited, Forza 2, Castlevania SotN, Dead Rising, Viva Pinata.
through backwards comp: Psychonauts, Jet Set Radio Future, Ninja Gaiden Black, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Conker's Bad Fur Day Reloaded.

Well, I'd be a little more selective and say you really have to check out Gears of War and Dead Rising.

I'm not really one to be recommending anything since I don't have the thing, but if I did have it, I would want Bioshock and October's Orange Box.  I might also give online Puzzle Fighter a chance just to see how much I suck.  But that's about it.

Pac-Man Championship Edition.

I recommend checking out Condemned: Criminal Origins. It's a creepy and violent first person horror game, so I guess if you're not into that type of game you might not dig it as much as I did. Scared the crapola out of me.

If I had XBL I'd check out N+, coming out this fall. I'll be happy with the PSP version, even though I'll probably go blind playing it. The original Flash game, simply called N, is brilliant and turned me on to independently developed games on the pc.

There's not enough Oblivion love on these boards.
Best game I've played in awhile, and I'm usually only into Japanese RPGs.

When Rock Band gets some good songs and their album download model comes into play, the 360's viability will increase by a lot for me (since no PS2 release and PS3 can go screw itself). Right now...It's doing good and I expect Halo 3 to expand the userbase enough to get some more games I'm into (I have no personal interest in playing it). As is...Online Puzzle Fighter, next-gen DOA girls, XBLA potential (Pac Man Champion Edition IS actually tempting) and updated and prettier Ace Combat, Burnout, Katamari and Dynasty Warriors aren't enough to get me to spring.

(although I predict we'll be playing Puzzle Fighter on DS Wifi within a year...Anyone want to take a bet there?)

Amazingu: Remember Oblivion is also for PC and PS3. Maybe people are trying to avoid saying multiplatform titles (I realize I said a few, but I don't play on my PC and I'm not interested in PS3, so...).

I don't have a 360, but I really, really wanna play Bioshock.  Also, Gears of War is nice.  I'm looking foward to that new Turok game as well.  I was anticipating Banjo 3, but I haven't seen or heard anything about it since that one teaser was released a long time ago.

I've started on a Musou 360 rampage, going through DW5E, now SW2, following that with SW2E, DWGundam (all of these are in my possession too), with Warriors Orochi and Bladestorm to follow.

The demos for AC6 and Katamari are what I expected, although now Katamari is playable for me (the earlier ones just messed with my simulator sickness something odd), and I'm even hesitant on how to take this Burnout Paradise with a single open-world.  Not that it stopped me from preordering it.

I think you'll be happy with the 360 if you do get it.  Who knows, maybe more (retro and new) 2D fighter gaming will follow online on XBLA if SNK has much success with Fatal Fury Special and Capcom with the updated SSF2THDR.

Ah, and Puzzle Fighter is glorious!

As for Rock Band, I'm actually aiming to get that on the PS3 ONLY because I want a wireless guitar for it so I can get GH2E:Rt80s, assuming it'll be compatible with RB's guitar, ... regardless of what the reviews say.  I'll eventually be able to find it cheap enough.

http://wii.ign.com/articles/817/817147p1.html  Wii IGN has info from Rare regarding more VC releases, and the team currently making the 'fresh' Banjo Kazooie for 360 (they were considering a 360 remake?) mentioned a BK remake for DS (a la the Diddy Kong Racing game).  It's odd how much love MS allows Rare to give Nintendo, but why shrug off a cash cow?

Don't get me wrong...360 has a lot going for it (outside of the "hardware failure" issues...THAT's a f---ing riot, worthy of Sony), but it hasn't pushed me over the edge yet to jump into next-gen land. All of those franchises, I still have at least one untouched edition on PS2 still.

But hey, throw in some online GG: Accent Core (REAL online GG, NOT that shitty online play of Reload, which no one plays anymore anyway) and Alpha 2, announce "Appetite for Destruction" and "Open Up And Say...Ahh" for Rock Band, toss in some cool exclusives (was anyone else surprised Ace Combat 6 was 360-only?), keep the XBLA goodness coming and I'll bite. It's making an immediate Wii purchase harder, I'll say that much already...

Patience is the key...*twitch*

^ Which Ace Combat have you yet to play?  Zero?

Yeah and I have a campaign about halfway through 5 I've been meaning to finish for the longest time and a "hard" halfway campaign on 4, so I have unfinished business to deal with. But I do want to see this series in next-gen form, since the PS2 games looked really good to begin with. I expect Zero to go Greatest Hits before I grab it (if it hasn't already).

Space Giraffe looks spiffy!

So, after getting my first delectible taste of BioShock, the thought of having to wait two more weeks to play this badboy on PS3 has me on edge -- which is why I'm thinking of finally taking the 360 plunge this weekend.  And I'm looking good and hard at the Arcade Bundle. 

$200 definitely seems like a sweet spot price for what you're getting; I've got HDMI cables already, and the installation of a separate hard drive looks simple enough.  Got some questions for the 360 familiars though, where help post-haste would be super appreciated. (Especially for the first inquiry.)

-How's the Arcade Bundle's rep?  I'll admit that one of the things deterring me up to this point was the high failure rate.  Anyone know if the Arcade system is built with tougher stuff?

-How's the backwards compatability on the 360?  Unlike the PS3, the 360's BC is a thing of interest to me, having never owned an original Xbox.  I'm sure there's a few games I'd like to go back and try out.

-I've got a general idea of the hard drive size I'd like to get, but.... maybe I don't.  20 would seem to do in a pinch, but if mandatory installs for games are becoming as common on the 360 as they are on the PS3, I might opt for a bigger size.  Off the cuff, anyone know of places online that sell hard drives for cheap?

-Is the Xbox Live Gold membership required for things like download patches and XBLA games?  Or would I be able to get by on the Silver membership alone?

-Finally, aside from the recommendations above, what other 360 games are worth checking out nowadays?  I'll almost certainly pick up Gears of War and Dead Rising.  Probably Ace Combat 6 as well; the rest are guaranteed rentals.

At the moment, it seems none of them are made of tougher stuff. They all come with a high red ring of death risk. In spite of a great selection of games, it does strike me as nuts to get a 360 for Bioshock just to get it a couple of weeks before the PS3.

As for games, yep, Gears of War and Dead Rising are a must in my opinion. There are loads of others worth considering but those two are the real standout exclusives to me. Oh, perhaps Halo 3 if you like your fps games. To me, it was more of the same and yet, at the same time, a massive improvement over the first one (never played the second) and the online is great fun.

Patches and the like are available with a Silver. And XBLA games I think, not sure about their online play capabilities though. Gold could be worth a go for a while though - online is so easy and actually a lot of fun, and that's coming from an almost solely single-player gamer.

But, as I said, I'm not sure you need one, as great as I think Gears and Dead Rising are (I stil reckon DR could make it to the PS3 at some point) and it does come with the RRoD risk.

The Arcade is built the same way as the Pro or Elite.  It is just as prone to the Red Ring of Death (RRoD), which bricks the system.  If you want to reduce your chances of RRoD, you should make sure the manufacturing date of the unit is in 2008, since the latest motherboard design changes are in later units.

Microsoft has an official list of Xbox BC:
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/backwar … eslist.htm

Technically, there are no Xbox 360 games that have mandatory installs, because Microsoft didn't ship a hard drive with all consoles, such as the Arcade.  The hard drive is primarily for downloadble content and some caching, and there are lots of it to make you part with your money.

You could just buy a used 20GB hard drive from Gamestop.  The main thing about the Xbox 360 hard drive is that annoying enclosure.  The hard drive may be standard, but having a usable enclosure can be tricky.

Also, there is apparently a hard-coded limit of 160GB for the hard drive.  If you decide with the DIY route, the Xbox 360 apparently will not recognize hard drive space beyond 160 GB.

No.  Gold membership is solely for multiplayer, contests, and premium content availability.  (Silver members have to wait a few weeks).  You can download patches with the Silver membership.  Buying Xbox Live Arcade games is a-la carte anyway, so you pay for the individual games, regardless of membership.

1) Tales of Vesperia for an excellent action JRPG
2) Earth Defense Force 2017 ($20) for hammy Starship Troopers clone, in a DW style.  It's not the greatest game in the world, but it's funny.
3) Wartech: Senko no Ronde ($10 new) for an interesting mecha fighting game.  Again, not the greatest game in the world
4) Soul Calibur IV
5) Castle Crashers (Xbox Live arcade) for 4-player beat-em up
6) Samurai Showdown 2 (Xbox Live arcade)
7) Triggerheart Exelica (Xbox Live arcade)
8) Braid (Xbox Live arcade)
9) Bionic Commado Rearmed (Xbox Live arcade)
10) Rock Band 2/Guitar Hero III, if you're into music
11) DDR Universe...Konami makes DDR for this system too

Ninja Gaiden II might be nice, but I only played the demo.  The Orange Box ($30 I think) is also nice.

Also, it's worth noting that I've heard negative reviews of the PS3 Bioshock port. Fuzzier graphics and an uneven frame rate being the main complaints. If you're getting a 360, I'd buy that version of the game.

Thanks for the replies, fellas.  Yeah, I guess I'm just on a major BioShock high right now; what's it say about the quality of a game that immediately makes you want to play more of it just from a demo?  I think I'm also using BioShock as the catalyst that would finally get me to drop for a 360.

RRoD sure worries me, though.  I'll keep the manufacturing date in mind, Stephen.
 

I've been hearing that, at least about the demo - but is that also confirmed for the final retail build?  I've noticed some hitches in the demo's frame rate myself, but Eurogamer's preview of a presumably later build seems to state differently: 

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=233178

"All the while, the PS3 delivers the Unreal Engine 3-enveloping graphics with as much flair as its Microsoft counterpart.  Detail levels are as high as we remember, and the Options menu includes v-lock and frame-lock toggles for players who find fault with the tear-free 30Hz default setting.  Even violent combat ....come and go without a single mood-shattering blow to the frame-rate. Whether you're toasting splicers by electro-shocking the water around their ankles or, later, throwing everything you've got at a Big Daddy and scrambling to avoid its drillbit arm-piece and ferocious lunges, it's smooth."

As far as the next-gen systems go, I play the 360 more than the PS3. I got over 50 hours of gaming fun from Tales of Vesperia (which I recommend).

And yeah, no one is really sure if the retail build is more stable than the demo. I guess we'll have to wait and see...

Well, it looks like NeoGAF's Neiteio is taking the bull by the horns.  Check out the post he made on 2K's forums, which elicited a promised response forthcoming from 2K themselves:

http://forums.2kgames.com/forums/showth … post350821

As of right now, the only game that's on the 360 that's not also on the PS3 that I want is Rez HD.  Other than Rez, my primary reason for wanting a 360 is just for the demos.  The thing has an enormous amount of demos (far more than PS3).  I don't think I'd ever have to buy a game for it since there's so many free demos to play.

Anyway, I have to agree with whoever said it's a little silly to buy a 360 just so you don't have to wait two weeks to get BioShock.  The game's been out for over a year.  What's another two weeks?

As for the 360 failure rate, Kotaku's Brian Crecente just had his 10th system die on him: http://kotaku.com/5056066/ten-little-xb … d-counting

to me 360 is as reliable as any other console, on my first system since launch which is 3 years and never gave me single problem, so there you go.
and you need 360 if you're a gamer.
ps3 is good(I don't count wii, I only play first party Nintendo titles on it), but 360 is the real winner as far as games go.
here's update on must have titles:
REZ HD, Castle Crashers, Braid, Bionic Commando Rearmed, Banjo Kazooie HD, Banjo Tooie HD, Banjo Kazooie Nuts & Bolts, Rock Band/2, Galaga Legions, Viva Pinata/2, PGR3/4, Orange Box(ps3 version is a joke), left 4 dead, Gears of War 2, Fallout 3, Fable 2, Guitar Hero World Tour and many more.
some are not out yet but it's pretty safe to assume they are going to rock.

It's safe to say that you are very much the exception. I'd love to be able to come on here and say the same.

Please explain. Are you talking about load times? It's been a while since I played it but I think they were pretty bad. On a side note, I still wonder why Portal didn't look as good as it was depicted in the Orange Box intro. It appeared to have richer texturing, a faster frame rate and even a cool motion-blur effect. Surely the 360 and PS3 are capable of handling that.

Although her "must have" list of 360 game has a few too many future games to make it much of a valid must-have list, she is dead right about the massive sloppiness of the PS3 version of Orange Box.  The 360 version runs far better.

Well, I did it.  I picked up my 360 Arcade tonight, along with BioShock for just fifteen bucks.  I also snagged Gears of War, Blue Dragon, and Dead Rising used for $36 online. (Being a late console adopter really does rock when it comes to cheap sales. ^_^)  What really pushed me to purchase was seeing BioShock 360 in action over the weekend.  Right off the bat I could see and feel how much better it is over the PS3 demo; better textures, sharper graphics, and a really smooth framerate.  And though I'm still hoping the final retail build of the PS3 port will turn out for the best, I can at least take comfort in the fact that I'll be able to take part in the BioShock experience without any compromises.  I'll have some opinions on the game after I've sunk some more time in it, but here are my thoughts on the 360 itself:

-The power brick is an absolute monster.  Just looking at its size makes me wonder how much juice is being used to power the system.  Still, I'm surprised by how cool the system is to the touch, even after a straight hour of use.  By comparison, my 40 GB PS3 gets twice as hot in half the time.  Could that be the Falcon motherboard and 65nm CPU at work? (I've got a manufacture date of 7/11/2008, by the way.)   

-When the machine is running a disc, it's loud.  Really loud.  Scarily loud.  I never really believed the often-used jet roar analogy used to describe the drive whirring, but now I do.

-The controller's more comfortable to use than I thought, save for the LB/RB buttons.  The formation of those buttons is not unlike the Gamecube's Z-button, which is pretty awful.  The weight is quite heavy with the wireless's double-AA batteries nested in it.  I've gotten so used to the PS3's ultra-light Six Axis controller, that I use it even more than the significantly heavier Dual Shock 3.

-Sorta sucks how the HDMI input is so close to the A/V input that you can't have both in at the same time.  Not an overly big deal so long as your TV has audio output ports - and a spare pair of A/V cables.

-No wireless out of the box rather blows.  $100 for the adapter?  Are they freaken serious?

not at all, I have many friends who bought 360 years ago and they are still on their first systems as well.
it seems like some people have bad luck or they just don't know how to treat their console.
I saw many pictures of people showing their collections and you clearly can tell they don't know you're not supposed to put your system on a surround system receiver(which gets hot on itself) or other devices that are generating heat.
don't put it in a enclosed space too, it's wise not to put it next to ps3 too.

Unfortunately, I did lose one Xbox 360 system to the RRoD, and it wasn't in an enclosed space.

With all due respect, Isabella, I know how to own a console.

Congrats Angela. Hope you enjoy your 360! I'll be interested to hear what you think of Dead Rising in particular.

notice I said that some people may have bad luck getting bad console or not knowing how to take care of their things, I didn't aimed at anyone here on the boards ^^

Thanks, and will do. :)

Now I'm looking at hard drive options.  I thought 20GB was going to be enough, but it's to my understanding that the upcoming Fall Dashboard update is going to allow for full installation of disc-based games.  So, I'm thinking that even 60GB might not suffice.  120GB, perhaps? 

In any case, the option for running games off the hard drive should certainly help alleviate a lot of wear and tear on the disc drive.

  I know!  Just a thought, I put up an ad on craigslist to find one for $50 and got one within the week.  If you're lucky, you might find one used at gamestop for about $69.99.  'Course, get your 10% off with your edge card and that's not too bad. 

Let us know when you're up to Live.  I'd love to add you as a friend (although I'm seriously thrown off by the new avatar 0_o)

Angela,
I have the 120GB and fill it mostly with Rock Band 2 tracks.  I would say that if you can afford to, buy the 120GB.  You might be able to get one used.

You might be able to find a wireless adapter for cheaper than $100. You basically need to hook the Xbox into something that can act like a wireless bridge.
http://www.amazon.com/Linksys-WET11-Wir … B000066JQU

or

http://www.amazon.com/Linksys-WGA54G-Wi … 404&sr=1-2