I used to own a PS3. I bought one on launch, it YLoD one month after warranty. I rung Sony about it, and as they said I was a "valued customer" (basically, I think it was because it was a launch unit), they honored the outdated warranty and replaced my PS3, free of charge. That one lasted two years, and then it YLoD, again. Sony wasn't as forthcoming with the fruits, this time around, and so I was stuck - tried repairing it myself (well, got my dad to), and that failed, couldn't claim it on insurance, either. So, I've been without a console for a solid year.
I figured the consoles out now were cheap enough to warrant me buying another one... I was looking at the PS3, as I have all my games on it, but my younger brother had claimed those games for himself, now, and I figured that I'd already played them to death, anyway (if I had gone a year without missing them, it wouldn't matter). I looked into the 360, figured it was cheaper than the PS3, and my housemate had a 360 with lots of games I could play, so I decided to go with that.
I was originally going to pick up the 4gb, but my friend (and the horrendous upgrade price for the hdd) persuaded me to go straight for the 250, but I said I would only get it, if I could buy it pre-owned. So, I went down to game, they were doing pre-owned 250s with Fifa 12 for something like £150. Fifa 12 didn't appeal to me, so I swapped it for Medal of Honor, Halo 3, Fable II, Alan Wake, G.R.A.W and R6 Vegas (all pre-owned). Also picked myself up a 12 month live card, and a HDMI cable.
Took it home, discovered that pre-owned shiny-finished consoles are a bad idea, but not much I could do about it. Went to play some of my games, and... oh, no. The disc drive failed whenever put under heavy load (so, installing games, loading the H3 campaign, that kind of thing). I took it back to GAME, they tested it, and agreed to trade units... except they had no units, left. They asked me if I wanted to go down to Gamestation and look at the only unit they had left there (it's the same company, so if I liked it, they could do a stock transfer). I didn't like it. The console was in a horrible state. Pretty sure the previous owner had to used it as an ash tray, dinner plate, and, on atleast one occassion, toilet paper (I exaggerate, but I've seen tombstones in better condition). Out of options, the staff at GAME were panicking (seems not much is often asked of them in their role). After about 40 minutes of playing around with them, the staff agreed to give me a brand new unit (yay!) for an additional £30. They also threw in the two years extended no-quibbles warranty for the console and controller, for free.
Anyway, there's my story of how I got a brand new Xbox 360S 250gb, 2 years extended cover, 6 games, a HDMI cable, and 12 months of LIVE, for little over £200. Pretty good bargain. I also figure that if I get into any financial trouble over the next few months (which, as a student, is likely), the 360 will have very high resale value (still going for £120+ on ebay), so I figured it was a fairly low-risk purchase.
