i think that's what they were going for. when your katamari starts picking up continents, I think it makes a little more sense.

with their method (tank method if you will) you can do things like speed boosts, quick turn arounds, etc, that wouldn't be possible if they were independant.

I think it adds a certain difficulty to the game that wouldn't exist otherwise. It makes sense that a football-field sized mass would be semi-difficult to control

Those people who buy gamerpics and themes have already proven the willingness of 360 owners to pay for things that should be free.

i'd suggest doing what I did...

basically, just go to the 3 most biggest retailers and see what preference you have. You may not have many, which would be best if you want to save money.

I personally didn't want to worry about burn in, so I went with an LCD. That basically cut the possible choices by 2/3, give or take.

at that point, I tried to pick out what types of inputs I wanted the TV to have (like at least 2 component jacks). That may cut a couple more choices out of the picture.

then, find which one you feel has the best picture, and just compare prices.

Yeah, my camera sucks too.. those picture don't do the TV justice.

I feel your pain, my HDTV expedition has been about a two year affair.. on again, off again, an extreme level of wishy-washiness (even for me). But it paid off. After the plasma hiccup, I throw the gauntlet down.. it had to be a >40" 1080p LCD of great quality (meaning crisp blacks and colors) at $2000 or under. I was waiting until that and that was the final word. When I saw the 4x6xF series I knew that it was getting close, but the 46" was $2800. Then, a little bit later I saw it on Amazon for $2030 and it was a done deal. I'm not sure what either of you are looking for, but run down to a BB or CC and give the Samsung series a look-see.

i got a much cheaper set at 1200, 47" 1080p, but to go along with what you said, I was going to get the samsung 40" previously. I too think Samsung currently has the best picture, especially the blacks and color contrast. The question really is if it's worth it to you to pay that premium.

I was under the impression that Sharp, Samsung, and LG has the best pictures, at least to me, with Samsung taking the top spot

I finally had the chance to drop off my coffin yesterday so lets see how long it takes to get mine(or someone elses) back.

[shameless brag]I just picked up my 3 $5 XBL Point Cards. No hassle at all.[/shameless brag]

Re: OXM and Demos.

All of the OXM "exclusive" demos, with the exception of Katamari have been available for free to Live users in other regions (Japan, Europe). This is essentially going to be US owners paying for something that's free in another region. No thanks! I'll just use my alt. gamertag to get it from Japan, and if it's Euro-only, I'll make a new gamertag for that.

Well.. I picked up a $5 card pre-ordering Halo. I don't know if I'll keep Halo though.

did they already charge you the $60 for Halo?

Best Buy will re-charge you for the balance on the card ($15) if you cancel the Halo portion (or return it). Just a FYI.

Sounds good...I'll definitely do this.

Any chance you can link/PM to me the CAG thread?

I did that last night. But instead of going with the family angle, I just said I wanted to be able to play the games I had paid for when offline (which is true, in my case). They know the problem and they will offer you the points without any trouble at all.

One thing to add... they wouldn't "reimburse" me for games I had codes for (like Bankshot Billiards from the 1-year Gold package), only for games which I had paid MS points for.

I swear I looked all over dvdtalks forums for this topic and could not find it anywhere.

For those of you who don't know starting tomorrow the hd dvd player will be dropped 20 bucks to $179.99 and you will be able to get 5 free movies (mail in offer) Here is the link: http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/14081/...Player-to-179/


I have 2 questions, does anyone know the list of movies to choose from, and are these players still coming with King Kong? In a matter of speaking will we be getting 6 free movies (counting Kong)?

I am SERIOUSLY considering this......

There's discussion of this in the HD forum: http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread.php?t=507408

I'm pissed because I bought my add-on at the end of May, so I'm not eligible for the free movies.

I own the HD-DVD add-on, but I think you should seriously consider getting the Toshiba HD-A2 instead. Reasons: 1) Much better audio, 2) you still get the 5-free movies, 3) you won't have to have the incredibly loud 360 on at all times (this really bothers me, but maybe you'd be fine with it). The A2 is $240 at Amazon.

I certainly wish I could swap my add-on and $60 for the A2... Unfortunately I bought the add-on way before the standalone HD-DVD players were so cheap.

The number one reason I'd avoid the add-on is the fact that if your 360 craps out on you then you can't watch your movies either. What about next gen in 3 years? Would you have to leave your 360 hooked up just to use it?

There are way too many cons than pros.

The add on actually works with PCs as well, so that is an option.
It should also work with OSX once Leopard is released.

I believe that in 3 years, HD drives will be cheap enough to include as a standard in every console without unnecessarily jacking the price up too high. That's why I believe Sony's decision to use Blu-ray as the standard drive in the PS3 was premature; they should have waited until the PS4... but their determination to have Blu-ray win the HD war prevailed so they didn't wait.

I don't know about that... It's already been announced (earlier in this thread) that PGR4 is somewhat "crippled" due to lack of space on the DVD format. I think current 360 games could use the space of the HD-DVD format for sure.

Halo 3 - 4-player Online Co-op confirmed

Awesome stuff.

Only one problem with your theory. You're assuming HD-DVD will last.

I didn't mean an HD-DVD drive necessarily. I just meant that the next-gen Xbox will have some kind of HD drive as standard. Xbox 720 with Blu-ray maybe...

Wow. Picked mine up today at 4.99. Hope they don't pull an Amazon, especially since the cards are nonreturnable.