I just bought a 360 myself! After such a long time, there are finally a few games I actually want for it, and lots coming out down the road (mostly jrpgs and such). I'm not anti-PS3, just there's nothing in the foreseeable future coming out on it besides FF13 on it that I'd consider buying.. and it's coming to 360 anyways. But yeah, I like the 360 so far, though it was really a splurge to throw out that much money for it :(

I bought Eternal Sonata and that Civ Revolution game to start with.  I like city/empire building stuff, and this one wasn't overy complicated for me to where I got confused.. and I'm not very picky on RPGs, so I liked Eternal Sonata too.  Not sure what you like, however

I my self may even consider getting a 360 down the track, but for the present time I'm waiting to get the new 80GB PS3 coming end of this month (according to some sites) and then I'll spend about 3 grand getting a 42 inch HDtv along with the PS3 all in one hit.

at least download banjo!!!! D:

Download Braid and Symphony of the Night, avoid any current JRPGs out, check Tales and IU coming up, get Gears, Bioshock, Mass Effect, CoD4, The Orange Box, and GTAIV.

Two underappreciated gems are F.E.A.R. and The Darkness. Prey and Gun are both underappreciated, but not at the level of the other 2 I mentioned.

Of course Oblivion isn't everyone's cup of tea. The Simpson's Game, Guitar Hero 2, and Crackdown are great, and really cheap. G.R.A.W. is good, but hard, and you might get rimrocked.

Condemned: Criminal Origins is a game I couldn't get into, but many like it. Forza 2, Grid, DiRT, and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance are all pretty good games. Grid being the best, and definitely better than Burnout: Paradise.

Some pretty cool games that require taste to get into are: Any game called "Tom Clancy" that I didn't already mention. Hitman: Blood Money, both Tomb Raider Games, and Kameo. Avoid Perfect Dark: Zero. Again, also avoid Lost Odyssey and Eternal Sonata. I bought them both, so you don't have to.

Do buy Dead Rising. Don't buy Lost Planet. SCIV depends on if you have a brother to kick butt on. If not, buy DoA4, as it is much, much cheaper.

I've never played Ace Combat, so I can't comment on the series. Check user-reviews on gamefaqs for recommendations.

Upcoming game list this year, dated, with potential, as picked by me:

0826 Tales of Vesperia
0901 Infinite Undiscovery
0916: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
0930: Rise of the Argonauts
0930: Silent Hill: Homecoming
1001: Project Origin(F.E.A.R. 2)
1007: Fallout 3
1007: Fracture
1020: Dead Space
1021: Fable II
1021: Ghostbusters
1104: Left 4 Dead
1107: Gears of War 2
1110: Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe
1111: Call of Duty: World at War
1111: Mirror’s Edge
1118: Prince of Persia
1118: Sonic Unleashed
1120: The Last Remnant
1128: Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts

Beyond that, keep an eye out for Alan Wake, SFIV, Star Ocean 4, FFXIII, and RE5.

Purchase your games off Ebay. They are very cheap there.

Xbox Original games that I highly tout are Indigo Prophecy, Ninja Gaiden Black, Fable, Jade Empire, and if you can get ahold of a copy, KoToR.

For the love of god, avoid Assassin's Creed at all costs.

I hope that helped.

You're in for a fantastic experience.

You should consider buying a cheapo HDD, if you're planning on some local multiplayer action. The console works better than way, and definately consider Halo 3 if you're likely to have friends come around because multiplayer is the only way to play that game. I like to think of the Campaign as just extended training.

HALO3
Banjo
Gears
Gears2
Bioshock(my fav 360 game)

oh I know, I've seen the Panasonic TH-42PZ800A HDtv in multiple stores, and the image is just stunning, can't wait to buy it and get the whole thing setup and finally move gaming setup from 2000 to 2008.

...and yes, at least download Banjo. I've never played any Banjo game, so I'm fairly excited about being able to play this one, and it might even build hype for the new Banjo coming out, which is its purpose, but I have no problem falling for a marketing ploy, if it leads to me being entertained. I already spend all of my resourced to meet that end anyway. If it wasn't for the reward of being entertained, none of us would work, or in general care...about anything.

On topic: Let is also be known, that yes, despite my possible past claims, my current favorite 360 game is also: Bioshock, and it has been for months. Unless you count Symphony of the Night, which is eversoslightly better. Call of Duty 4 is RIGHT behind it though. GTAIV/Mass Effect/The Orange Box are my distant 3rd/4th/5th favorite retail 360 games at my best recollection. Gears is my least favorite "hyped, huge AAA game" on 360, but it's still pretty freakin sweet. It took me a second try to admit that I liked it, at first, I hated it and sold my copy, only to buy it again after the freakin sweat "rendevious" gears 2 trailer. Now I like gears, lol. I just don't absolutely love the game. More like, "Like it a lot." I rank gears just eversoslightly above F.E.A.R. in my 6th/7th place spots. From there, my list would probably divulge from the average man's list, so I'll leave it at that. A top 7 list.

The most shocking discovery I've made while playing non-touted 360 games is probably Prey. Not because it's better than F.E.A.R. or The Orange Box, it's not. It's just surprisingly good, despite the relatively low review scores it got. I actually like that game a lot, and don't understand why it got those scores. I get why Darkness, and Gun were both relatively under-rated, but not Prey. Shocked when I played it. Loved the game. Much better than the abysal average score it got. It's not Radiant Dawn under-rated, but it's still a pretty huge mistake by reviewers. It's at least an 8/10.

My top recommendations would be Gears of War, Mass Effect, and Braid. If at all possible, make sure you check out the split-screen co-op in Gears - in my opinion, it's what elevates the title from "good" to "masterpiece". I'd also recommend BioShock, but you might as well wait an additional month and see how the PS3 version turns out.

The Orange Box is also an incredible value. However, it really is best experienced on the PC. If your PC is absolutely incapable of running it, the 360 version is worth getting as an alternative.