Yeah, the whole always-having-a-demo thing is something I'm quite looking forward to. It's something the PSN is lacking. I'll be downloading a lot, methinks. :D

Oh, I thought you were talking about accounts for playing on Live.

Silver accounts are easy to switch between. It's basically 3 button pushes to switch in between accounts. And if you buy a game on XBL then you can play it with all accounts on the x360. I use two accounts myself, my gamertag and an account for my singeplayer games, all the games I downloaded on my gamertag can be played on my other account.

And of course if you guys are playing splitscreen everyone can sign into their own accounts.( I no longer own an Xbox, but when i did I had over twenty accounts on it. Just so I can play some splitscreen with my buddies ^__^)

You'll get a month of Live just for creating an account.  Take that timme to decide if it's worth it for you.  In the meantime, try the demos of:

• Shadow Complex (the best Metroid game since 1994)
• Splosion Man (my favorite 2D platformer this gen)
• The Maw (unique and family friendly fun)
• Kingdom of Keflings/World of Keflings (I can't explain but it is insanely addicting)
• Limbo (if mind bending games like Braid are your thing...)
• Geometry Wars (a pure gaming experience)
• Commanders Attack (Pretty much like Advance Wars 360)
• Comic Jumper (if this game doesn't make you laugh, you're dead)

As far as Kinect games go I would pick up Kinect Sports. If your into the dancing games Michael jackson the experience comes out the 12th.

For regular controllered games

Halo Reach, Wars and ODST

Gears 1&2

Fable 2&3

Forza 3

Lost oddssey

Blue Dragon

Too Human (It's a very fun game imo and it's dirt cheap so I would check it out.)

Alan Wake

ME1

Crackdown 1&2

Bonjo & Kazooie: N&B

Ninja Gaiden 2

Metro 2033

Splinter Cell: Conviction

Then there is a mess of awesome XBLA games like Shadow complex, the maw, comic jumper, splosion man, limbo, toy soldier, super meat boy, trials HD, Beyond good or evil, torchlight, raskulls, ilomilo, world&Kingdoms of kefling, etc.        

Sweet. That'll do perfectly. So, I could have my account (probably Silver), and three others (all Silver), and all could play everything my account downloaded. Perfect. Then I'll use four accounts: one for me, one for my wife, and one each for my two kids.

for  kinect upcoming games their is the stringer from twisted pixels their pretty much all their games are 360 exclusvies on xbox live arcade ........  you have sega kinect title comes out in august believe called nightmare it a m rated game , forza mortosport 4 has kinect features in it for october and few more by capcom mech assult .........

for controller games .... i would recommend Alan wake , prey , kameo, viva pinata, crackdown , gears of war 2 , and third that comes out in september , fable 2 , 3 , project gotham 3 and 4 , tales of vesperia , last remant , infinte undiscovery , ninja gaiden 2 ,

and if you go to a friend house who have a 360 you can download your gamertag to anyone 360 and then redownload it to your 360 when you get back home all you do is recover it ......

and gold members get alot of stuff that warrnts it party chat up to 8 people at once , private chat , twitter , facebook , last fm radio, usually gold members get access to demos first , and betas , all incentives are gold only

Ah, a month free when you create a new account... What if I wanted to use my existing account from PC? Seems I may just be better starting afresh (again -- I've been through three accounts on PC already, silly GfWL) if that's the only way to try Live free for a month.

As for the games: the XBLA games you mention are all on my list to consider, so good shout there (and it further enforces that they will suit me in my mind). The full games, however, I have a two queries on:

Ninja Blade: Say what? Good, bad, brilliant? What sort of game is this?

Trouble in Paradise: See Ninja Blade.

Beyond that, I'm sure I'll post an impression thread in about a month, once everyone has had a proper go of the console and opinions have sunk in properly. I'm now quietly excited. :D

Thanks for the recommendations. I know most of the titles you've mentioned and intend to get several (and already own a few on PC), but two I don't know: Raskulls and ilomilo mean nothing to me. Should they?

That's Viva Pinata: trouble in Paradise ;) 

Thanks for the recommendations and the advice regarding the Gold account. And I didn't know about using your gamertag on another 360 (and I have several friends with 360s), so that's a brilliant wee extra. Thanks.