1. You get a headset, controller, and all the necessary cables (including HD cable). I think you get a month free but I'm not sure how. When I signed up for a 12 month XBL membership it actually gave me 13 months so i think you do get an extra month.

2. AA, but I recommend spending the $30 on a charge and play kit. Or you can get a 3rd party one for like $20.

3. No, you can buy it on marketplace with a credit card or in stores.

4. I can't really recommend games without knowing what you like. Fable 2 is under $20 now, Halo 3/ODST are cheap now, Fallout 3 is like $20 now, etc. Just look on gamestop.com

5. Don't wait for Kintect, there's no reason to. The new Xbox's are Kinect ready anyways so just get it now and don't get kinect later (but if you do get kinect later you'll be all set)

Go ahead and get a 360 if your at all interested.  Its got tons of fun games and its well worth the investment.  Its cheaper to just buy a pack of rechargeable AA batteries for 8 bucks (instead of the plug and play kit).  You can download demos and everything without having  a gold account.  But you can get a free gold account 3-5 times without actually having to purchase one.  Just change your email address and userid (you will lose all of your achievements and game rankings each time though).

It sounds like your really into (move and wii controllers) so I would just go ahead and get Kinect if I were you.  While there are only a few games I want right now for it, I still think its going to be spectacular and will enjoy using it to turn on my xbox via voice and to control netflix with the flick of my wrist.

Cheap games that are great fun and cheap.

Dead Rising-  one of my alltime favorite games, even though it has no multiplayer.  

Mass Effect

Left 4 Dead 1/2

Lost Odyssey 

Alan Wake  and lots more...

Did you not read the first post he made?  Seriously stop trying to derail the thread and waste the guy's time.  You ignored all the questions he posted and his first reply to you should have been enough of an answer.

I agree.  I mean there's a discussion going on in the Games Forum about buying a PS3 and there's not one post attempting to bash the system or derail the thread like several users are trying to do here.

Oh you are so persecuted. I just wanted to know what games he wanted.

Where did you ask him what games he wanted?  All I saw was a knee-jerk post from someone that read the thread title and little else. 

There is so much shit in the Microsoft forum to have to sift throught (sadly I'm adding to it by pointing it out) that no wonder there are so few people posting here.

Seriously it's like some people don't want any real discussions to go on in this forum and I think something needs to be done to address the problem because none of the other forums have it to this degree.

I asked him why he wanted one, and judging by his OP it seems like the answer is "because." Which is why I have one so I'm certainly not about to say its a dumb reason. But I have buyers remorse from it and if he buys a system without any real reason and without any games already in mind he might get it to. 

OK

Kinect reviews will be coming in, in about 7 days from now, can you hold on that long? They should give you a good indication on what the gameplay is like. If your main concern is lag, then don't be too worried. The seemingly best games on Kinect are alright lag wise, the more effort put in the less lag is present so I heard. Kinect Adventures, Dance Central and Sonic Free Riders seem pretty good in that regard, I imagin the other firsty party offerings are ok too. It's games like Deca sports and shovelware that are going to give Kinect a bad name. Core games ARE coming, I can't question their quality obviously but they're not coming from no name devs.

Buying the 250G Kinect Bundle next Thursday will save you $50. So you should certainly think long and hard about it.

You only need Gold for online multiplayer and video/party chat AFAIK. Gold obviously gets you other bonuses a bit like playstation plus, speal deals, on top of the weekly deals XBL gets. Demos a week earlier ect. You get a month out of the box as well as a headset.

I suggest getting a recharge pack, insted of batterys.

Cheap decent games, Crackdown 1, Viva Pinata, ODST, Halo 3 and Halo Wars, Left 4 Dead, Burnout Revenge (best arcade game on 360 despite it's age) and on XBLA, Braid, Splosion Man, The Maw, LIMBO!!!

My god, why am I surprised at the attempts to turn this thread into shit. 

Anyway, I'm just here to give my 2 cents on the battery solution. I bought my son a red controller a while back that came with the play and charge kit. I also use a bunch of rechargeable Duracell AAs. I prefer the rechargeable batteries by far. They offer more versatility in general, nice to have for other things around the house. I always have 3 controllers with batteries in them and 4 extra sets in the battery covers ready to go.

I would be marveling at the built in rechargable battery.