Braid or GW: Braid is an infinitely better SHORT term experience, GW has much better re-playability. For the Braid lovers here, that's no hate, I loved that game, but collecting stars and time trials isn't for me, so the game was only about 8 hours.

Halo 3 or COD4: CoD4, is not a WW2 shooter, but is set in modern times. Since you currently are not on-line though, I think most people would agree that the COD4 single player is pretty short, particularly compared to Halo 3. For the single player alone, I'd recommend Halo 3, however if you didn't play 1 & 2, you may not be as interested in "finishing the fight" as I was. Mulitplayer (if you decide to go that way) you probably couldn't go wrong either way, though I think the Perks in COD4 are a good addition to the on-line experience.

RPG: Currently released WRPG, Oblivion and Mass Effect are standards. Hybrid WRPG, don't sleep on Bioshock. JRPG I'd go with Lost Oddessy as well...something about that game made it greater than the sum of it's parts. Future stuff, yeah Fable 2, for sure.

Gold: It's not important, until you find a game that you want to play on-line.

Did you not mention Gears? How could you not mention Gears?? :)

Thanks, mate! I´ll definitely buy Oblivion and Bioshock.

I got Geometry Wars II now, the game rocks! It´s truly awesome.

for shooters you may want to add rainbow six vegas or vegas 2

For me I will want to get Braid eventually but Geometry Wars is a must have.

I've heard a lot of good things about Call of Duty 4, I saw Halo 3 bieng played and was pretty impressed with it. From the buzz around me I still would suggest COD 4, but like above, both should do you justice.

gotta go later.

We played Geometry Wars for hours last night, the game is truly awesome, really addictive!

@Barozi: I could import it but it doesn´t really impress me so far.

Late to the party, but I was gonna suggest geometry wars... infinite replayability and fast paced action, you can't go wrong with that. Ah, check out Pacman CE... one of the best games available on XBLA.

As far as XBL gold being worth to you, it depends on how much time you are gonna pump into it. You'd play maybe 30 hours a year online, are 30 hours worth 50 bucks to you? etc.

Braid or Geometry Wars?
Go with GW. Braid is amazing, but short. But isn't GW about $5? Buy both!!

Halo 3 vs. Call of Duty 4?
We'll look at question #4 first.......

Which RPG should you get?
Mass Effect if you like WRPG's. Flip a coin if you like JRPG's (But avoid Enchanted Arms Like asshole cancer!). As for Fable 2, got to XBL and download the Web Documentaries. If you like what you see....

Is XBL worth it if you don't play online?
Hell no! Stick with the XBL Silver! It's free. Then again, COD4 and Halo 3 may not be worth it either....... I personally like Halo 3's campaign a little more (vehicles FTW!). Local and online co-op seal the deal.

Hope I was helpful.

As a new XBox 360 owner, you get a free month of XBL Gold anyway, and Lost Planet is supposed to be free online anyway. Decide in a month whether it's worth $50 a year. I had Gold since 2007, and only became a big Online gamer in the past couple of weeks.

BTW, buy Uno. You'll love it. Buy the Live Vision Camera, and you'll get Uno and a month if Live for free too (You'll also get Totem Ball, but that game causes cancer)!

And COD5 isn't out yet. Go for whatcha know! Halo 3!!