Here is the deal if you are looking for the Xbox. I might pull the tribber finally as well.

ebgames is part of the MSN dollars 20% promotion.....so, pick up the xbox for $179 plus an accessory for $19.99 plus a game for $29.99. That gives you $229 less 20% which would be $183.20. With the other stuff, you get a $30 mail in voucher for ebgames, which would put you closer to $150 for the xbox, game, extra controller (or whatever) etc.

Once the promotion is over and you have your voucher, you then have about $80 to use.

I am thinking.....any reason (aside from no time to play games) that I shouldn't?

sounds interesting... too bad I already have an Xbox.

What are MSN dollars?

It's got Bill Gate's Mug on it. JK.

It's an MSN promotion, that gives you cash back for shopping @ MSN affiliated eStores by using their msn wallet. Pretty cool stuff, and a good incentive to shop.

One thing I haven't been able to figure out on this deal...does it work for preorders? There's several games that I'm interested in, but they all come out later this year.

If they don't charge your card by the end of the promotion period, it doesn't work.


zerotl check out dollars.msn.com

Sounds like a pretty sweet deal.

You just have to figure out whether it's worth it to you or not on your own though.

I'm tempted, as I really want to play Halo, PDO and Halo 2 when it's out, but in reality that's really the only 3 exclusive games I consider personal "must have" type games on the box. So it's still not worth it for me personally, especially when, like you, I have little time for games most of the time.

*******, thanks for sharing this. I have been scouring Ebay for the past week toying with the idea of buying a lightly used Xbox. I like the idea of buying on Ebay so that you get 2 controllers and possibly some games thrown in at a good price.

But this deal you mention looks sweet. Especially with a new system. I'm a little confused though... you mentioned the price would hover around $150 with the 20% discount and THEN you get $80 in vouchers. Do you actually get the Xbox for close to $150 counting the $80 into that... or is the $80 voucher separate after all the other discounting is thrown in?

I looked over the msn site quickly last night. I'll study it more now and probably figure out my question.

Does your name often come up as censored? Maybe I typed it wrong!!

Josh, just go for it.


Halo itself is worth it. I picked one up a couple of months ago, and Halo itself has made it worth it. I also have Mech Assault, but have been playing Halo every chance I get, which is not to often either (2 small kids, lots of other things to do, etc)

It's a long story


You are right that you will pay the price you see at ebgames, and then get the money back. So while it is like getting it for $150, you still have to use the "money saved" on other things, and at some time in the future.

The only thing holding me back is the idea that I might buy it, and only be able to play it a few times before the next price drop, etc. But I do own Halo and haven't had the pleasure yet. I also wouldn't mind messing with TH4.

I'm going to pass for now. Halo, Halo 2 and PDO will be available in the future and there will be better deals.

Hell, I wouldn't mind waiting and picking an X-box up next gen to complement whatever Nintendo puts out.

I don't care much about having the lastest graphics, so Halo etc. will be just as fun then for me. And hopefully I'll be done with grad school then and have more time and money for games.

Josh Hinkle, it's interesting how you say that you don't have much time or money for games in grad school...

When I was in undergrad, I had tons of time to play games, but no money. Now that I'm working, I have tons of money but very little time to play.

I have a lot of friends in grad school (engineering & business), and they have more time in grad school than they did in undergrad. Not much money though.

So I'm just saying... once you start working, you may find you have even less time than you currently have in grad school.

Maybe so.

My grad school work load has been much heavier and time consuming than my undergrad. But I do go to what a lot of publication consider to be the top grad program (University of Maryland) in my field (criminology).

Plus I worked 20-25 hours a week for most of the year, cutting down on my time even more.

An important aside though, is to state that gaming hasn't even been my favorite activitiy to do in my free time since the SNES era. So with the little free time I have, I usually find something else I'd rather do than play games. Gaming is usually reserved for the times when I'm stuck at home (i.e. rainy days, friends all busy etc.).

Who knows what the future holds, but I can't imagine having less time after finishing school. Now my days are filled with class and work, and then I'm busy reading, writing papers, doing research etc. at night. Hopefully I can get a job that I dont' have to take home with me, leaving my nights free. I don't plan on having kids either, so that will help in the free time department.

I never had so much free time as an undergrad, but in grad school I didn't have as much time. I also had a 25 hour a week assistantship to fulfill, though.

But sadly, I still had more time than I do now.

I SUCK!!!!

After messing around with various options on EBGames website I've decided that the "gotta have it today" bug is stronger than waiting on delivery. So, I'll use MSN's 20% discount and Circuit City's pick it up option. I'll get around $40 in MSN bucks down the road and that's a good deal. Actually, I noticed that EBGames has free two day delivery on certain Xbox deals (but not their normal $179 bundle).

I also see that Fye has rebates on Xbox that brings it closer to $150. But there are no Fye's in Atlanta.

I have a bunch of cash for ebgames.com from their december promotion.

What good deals are there that I can use my $75 or so? (PC & X-box only)

Okay, as I was getting ready to purchase at Circuit City I discovered that they charge tax AND the Xbox bundle does not come with the Jet Set Radio/GT Sega games. Not a horrible thing, but it turned me back to the deal ******* mentioned. It really did work out more to me liking, but I have to wait a few days for it to arrive and I got to urge to play now. Oh well.

One thing about Circuit City, if you wanted to use the MSN Dads and Grads with them... You can purchase the Xbox bundle for $179 and they have a rebate for two games ($40 total). Those games are an NBA game and Project Gotham racing. You can only get the games by buying online and having them delivered with the Xbox... otherwise I would have gone to the store and used this deal.