Metallicube on 06 December 2009
I'd say as far as deals, check dealnews.com and amazon frequently. I'm pretty big on game deals as well (I almost never buy a game nowadays unless the price has been docked or is part of a deal), and those two sites have probably saved me hundreds of dollars on games in the past months.
For games, I know you said you're probably gonna stick with rented for the more hardcore games, but here are some games I think are essential buys:
SSBB, NSMB Wii, Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime Trilogy, Zack and Wiki, Little King's Story, Zelda TP, Mario Kart Wii.
