I say go for it! Mass Effect is an AMAZING series (one of my favorites) so I'm always one to recommend it to others.

You don't need to pay for Xbox Live if you don't play online (which is mostly just for shooters anyways on 360, mostly), you can still download with a silver account which is free.

Wired hook-up is always better (especially with the nasty things I've been hearing lately about Wi-Fi and cancer, ick) but the older model of Wi-Fi g model (I think it's a g?) should be pretty cheap if you can find it. But if you're looking into games like Alan Wake and Mass Effect, you may not need to hook up anyways.

How is Mass Effect 2 not up to ps3 exclusive level? 

He's just spouting pro-Sony rhetoric. Halo and Gears are THE premier exclusive shooter franchises, ME is the highest rated console RPG of this generation, and multiplats still make up most of PS3's top titles.

Absolutely, how else are you going to play the first 2 games of the best new series this generation?
Gears of War!!!!!!!!!!!!

Buy it for $200. I am very certain you could sell it for $300 and make $100 profit.

This.  Remember that Live still has free Silver memberships so you can still download updates, DLC/arcade games, etc...  If you go this route I wouldn't bother with a wi-fi adapter either, I just snake a 50 foot cable down the hall on the occasions that I need to download stuff, then roll it up when I'm done.

That's a helluva deal, and you could sell those games to buy the ones you want, a console + library for $200? HOw is that a bad thing?

As long as the console isn't refurbished I'd say it's a good deal.

The games you mention aren't even multiplayer so there's no need to even worry about Live or a Wi-Fi adapter, it's not like those are actually required.

If it is one of the newer/current motherboards and you have the fundage, YES!

Mike from Morgantown

As I see it. There is no real reason to own more then one of the HD consoles. I haven't played my PS3 in months =/