Just go to Wal-Mart.

Wally-Mart I find has one of the best stock turnover rates...

But, I would always look at the manufacture date to make sure...

I agree totally.  I frequent about 3 different Gamestops, 2 of which are within a 3 mile radius of my office.  I hear a lot of bitching about Gamestop, but I've had nothing but good experiences with them.  I know video games/computers, and I also know sales, so I smell BS coming a mile away.  The Gamestop guys never try to hard sell me on anything, they're always chilled out and relaxed, and sometimes I even just sit there and talk games with them. However, I did buy my actual console at Best Buy.......for the points.

Okay. Thanks for all the suggestions. :)

I would by mine at microsoft expertzone.

It's pretty rare to find the god Gamestop employee, most of the them are either just plain dumb shits who are completely out of touch with anything that isn't Halo or WoW or managers doing anything they can to sell you games.

I've heard Gamestop employees from many different Gamestops flat out lie or tell customers wrong information in order to sell them something wrong/untrue or to get them to give a preorder.  Sometimes it's because they just don't know and others I'm pretty sure they know they are flat out lying.

I honestly can not understand how people who work at a Gamestop are so out of touch with gaming.

Luckily I've found a few cool people at one of the many Gamestops near me who don't lie to me and don't push preorders on me, but even at those good Gamestops I still hear the other employees doing the dumb shit mentioned above.

It never fails, as long as I'm not the only one in a Gamestop I always hear them lie, spread misinformation, or not know what they are talking about.

Wow, you've had a completely opposite experience than what I've had.  All the Gamestops I've gone into in the Chicago area have had very knowledgeable employees who actually enjoy just sitting there and talking games with  you.  I don't sit there and chat with them all day or anything, but they're usually good for about 5 minutes of decent conversation.  They always ask me if I want to pre-order anything, but I've never felt like they're pusing it on me or giving me the hard sell.  I've found that I'd much rather talk to a Gamestop employee than a Best Buy employee.  If I buy something at Best Buy, I try to NEVER talk to the people wandering around on the floor.  (I used to work there, I know how they're told to talk to customers.)

First, I would go to BestBuy, as its cheaper then most and is RELIABLE. Next I would go to EBGames (GameStop if you live in US) except they're stuff always costs abit more.

I always try to buy my consoles and games from outlets that deal only in games.  I'd rather support a gaming shop (like EB Games) over say... Walmart or Costco or any other large mega chain corporation.

I picked up a Xbox Elite for (£)200 back in February from game. I think I received (£)5 worth of reward points

Shame it was a fucking old model though from earlyish 2008.

I own a broken out of warrenty 2005 Pro which will never get fixed because I will not pay £90 for it to be refurbished when I could buy a brand new Arcade model with a HDMI port and a fresh new 3 year warrenty for (£)120 and and use my 20gb hardrive from my pro. 

I went and bought a brand new Xbox Elite anyway and its great not having to worry about storage space anymore considering I download alot. :)