You don't have to pay extra for the manufacturer warranties (other than what they factor into the cost of the item, heh).

All retailer-offered warranties are scams, not just GameStop's. It's easy to pick on GameStop because of their dominating nature in the gaming retail sector, but big box stores like Best Buy are just as guilty of operating these scams.

That's why I said "places like GameStop," because I agree.. they're all scams.

Yeah - I agree. I should have said all non-OEM warranties.

Whoa. Who are you and where'd you come from? And a reviewer to boot... which comes in handy since you skip that 'cool new member' title.

Welcome.

Do the new Xbox 360 premium packages with the two free games have the hardware upgrades? I'm really wanting to play the new NCAA football and I don't have any of the new generation systems. The last system I owned was a ps2 and the laser died in it after two years. I hear the 360 has the best version of Madden and NCAA football, but all of these hardware problems and disconcerting.

When the fack is roster updates coming out for NHL 08

For sure they would have the new heatsink, but I don't think i've heard anything about the 65nm CPU's in anything other then the new Halo systems, unless someone knows differently.

I'll never understand why people waste their money on the official adapter, when they can buy one that works great for half the cost of this.

I remember when i bought my 1st 360 at Sears. Normally they give you the "Do you want an Ext. Warr. for your Purchase? We have 1 year, 2 years....".

Well this time they didn't give me the line and I thought it odd so I asked about it, and sure enough they said they weren't giving warranties for 360's and that I'd have to get one from Microsoft.

Looking back, it makes sense. They knew people were going to be using that Ex. Warr. more on the 360 than probably any other item they sold in their store so not offering one was the best thing for them to do.


I'm mixed on ext. warranties because I've bought some that I never used, and I've bought some that saved me when my purchase went bad.

I bought it because I didn't feel like effing around with an adaptor which I was unsure would work. I got the official one and was up and playing in 2 minutes and I've never had any problems with it at all. I guess I wasted my money on peace of mind.

That and not everyone knows the 360 can work with other adapters.

I believe OperationSports.com says pretty soon....supposed to be this month, but that is passing REALLY quick

Any suggestions for a 360 rental? My girlfriend bought Beautiful Katamari so it's on its way back to GameFly. I was considering Bioshock but I think I might be burnt out on FPS games after I'm through with all the Orange Box content.

I've enjoyed the heck out of skate., if you haven't played it yet.

Any specifics? I'm still trying to get my friend online.

When you say other adapters, what do you mean? To my knowledge, the 360 won't work with any other USB adapters, which makes the official one, though overpriced, a simple plug and play option that attaches to the back of the 360 and doesn't need it's own plug.

Otherwise, a wireless bridge (even the Xbox's one) works fine, but requires more wires, a plug, etc.

I've had success with the 360 working with two differnet USB adapters, as well as the original XBox adapter.

Please specify if you can.

Have you tried Condemned? It isn't exactly a FPS, more like a FPM (first person melee). It is also one of the scariest games I have ever played, and I have played the majority of the horror titles.

Pixy have you played Overlord yet? If not, I would definetley check it out.

I'll check out the demo tonight, it sounds like it could be pretty good. Though I'm annoyed it has a create-a-character mode that has no girl options. Gee, thanks.

I thought the demo was alright.. but it's cheap enough to just buy, it's on my radar, at least.

I thought the demo was vile and utterly and obtrusively obnoxious.

I thought the game was pretty fun.

Have you played Stanglehold? Its a TPS but its fun as hell.

I didn't find the gameplay too appealing but the real nut punch was the dialogue "Good morning EEEEEVIL overlord, you are so EEEEEVIL and we must go out and do EEEEEVIL because we are so EEEEEVIL and EEEEEVIL is fun." Yeah, I get it already, real threatening.

I did enjoy the Stranglehold demo but I filed it away as "No way in hell is this a $60 game." That's a good suggestion for a rental, I'll add that to my queue, thanks.

The game isn't meant to be taken seriously. It is supposed to be a goofy comedy/parody. It is an 'evil' version of Nintendo's Pikmin basically.