You can but you won't be able to go online without one, its required for it. Also forza 2 is great.

You can play the games without a hard drive. There are no installs. The hard drive is nice for downloading demos and the XBLA games are mostly worth it. You can buy a hard drive later down the road if you'd want, but it's cheaper just to buy the pro in advance.

I've read previously that you do not necessarily need a hard drive to go online. However, I don't know what would happen if there's a patch for the game.

is it as good as gran turismo? i've seen gameplay vids and the graphics... look kinda hurried. i mean, compared to gt5:prologue anyway. but gameplay wise?

Make sure to check out the Xbox Live Arcade when you get your system

oh and one more thing. i saw some rumors about price cuts. should i wait for the drop or do you guys think it won't happen till christmas or more?

Just buy it now. You are probably gonna save 50 bucks by waiting a few months. It isn't worth it to me to wait that long. I just bought a pro system last weak and have been playing the hell out of some Blue Dragon.

Ace combat review: http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/828/828870p1.html

Forza 2 review: http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/792/792572p1.html

8.4 and 8.9 out of ten. Pretty good.

I am probably gonna pick up ace combat later.

I can't argue Forza 2 against GT5p, as I haven't played 5p, but compared to 3 and 4, it's leaps and bounds ahead of those itenerations of the GT series. Nothing is hurried, and Forza 2 is about the most realilistic racing game your going to get on the market, and might be just as good as GT5 when it launches. Even then, you have F3 next year. So all in all, it's a great game if your a fan of very strog sim racing.

The difference between the sku's is all about HD size and some extras. I'd heartily recommend at least the 20giger, even a free silver account will net you truckload of demos, access to the marketplace and messaging - and you'll need storage. As a bonus, it comes with the headset and HD cables (component, if you want HDMI that's a side buy).

As for the games, there's a truckload to chose from and it'll depend a lot on your tastes but I'd personally advice you to check out Bioshock and Pacman CE (this one's downloadable from the marketplace).

As for Forza 2... I do own it (and played the heck out of it). The gameplay is insanely good (for various reasons it'd take too long to explain) and the online excellent. However, the whole game might feel a bit dry (it all goes from menus to the racing line and back to menus). Also, graphically it's a notch below pgr4, gt5p, grid, etc... albeit the real time reflections are jaw-droppingly awesome (and resource intensive, no other game features something like that).

edit: if you can tolerate graphical glitches, Mass Effect is one hell of a game.