There's never a game that has absolutely everything I want, Dolla, besides perhaps Go. I think I've made it clear that I like games that:

1) Are challenging
2) Are not sophomoric

For the most part, "challenging" translates to "multiplayer," as there aren't many single player games that can match the difficulty of facing expert level humans in any game. But I'm obviously willing to make some sacrifices as there aren't many games that are simultaneously challenging and sophisticated. For example, on one end, Wii Sports is a game I believe is only modestly challenging even at expert levels of play, but its elegant and adult presentation compensates for that (it's still one of my favorite games this generation).

Ninja Gaiden is on the other end -- its story and design are more sophomoric than I'd prefer, but I can ignore the silly story/characters and focus on the game's challenging gameplay, which really does shine, in my opinion.

That's how I play Unreal Tournament, too. My absolute most favoritest games are like Go: challenging and sophisticated. But I'll play games that are challenging but not particularly sophisticated, too, as there aren't many games that fulfill all my desires simultaneously.

If you want to know my absolute antithesis, it's something like Grand Theft Auto -- simultaneously stupid and easy. I can often handle stupid stories if the game challenges me, and I can often handle easier games if the presentation/story aren't intrusively bad, but both at once keep me away.  

Hey Bod if you do decide to purchase from amazon why not support VGC by getting it through this site ..just a thought. Also if you can wait that long the redesigned 360 [internal/external/both, i have no idea] rumors say this fall u can purchase it then.

have fun with your second 360 :D

 Yeah, I basically got it free from a friend who did this:

1) Bought a launch 360

2) Had it break

3) He bought a new one

4) Microsoft announced the 3 year warranty

5) He had a broken 360 that was now under warranty again

So I sent it in, but it's just been trouble, so I'll just buy a new falcon.

So in the end the "360 experience" cost for you over $750 and an unaccountable amount of frustration. What a deal.

 No.

Just a warning, but according to a warranty service 360 failure rates are still at a whopping 16.4%.  RROD accounts for only 60% of those failures, meaning your 360 still has a 6.56% chance of failing without being covered by Microsoft's extended warranty at all. 

So a new Falcon may not be the breeze you think. 

Yes to both: (1) it has a built in ethernet jack and (2) wireless has no business in gaming.

That only counts units that bought their warranty and did not return their units to Microsoft. The documentation included with the Xbox 360 includes statements that say you should *always* call MS first if you have a failure and they also include pages that say just that in giant letters.

It was also a short study, suggesting the failure rate they described would be a huge undershooting.

Bodhesatva most likely knows that the 360 has a high failure rate but would like one nonetheless. I bought one despite being completely aware of the failure rate, and after having observed many failures of Falcon units at the SA forums thread about broked 360s.

Bod: what's your gamertag. I'd add you as a friend. I prefer playing games with rational people rather than the normal Xbox Live population.  PM me if you prefer.

Congrats on the new job!

A great place to watch is www.cheapassgamer.com. You can find specials on there all the time... The trouble you are going to have buying it over the internet is you don't know if you area going to get the latest hardware or not. The latest uses a 175W vs. 203W (or close to that) power supply which is marked on the box. The Falcon will have the 175W power supply.

You might want to see what's up with the new Jasper hardware. Rumor control says August and you might even see a price drop to go with it. If you can stand it that long....