I am crossing over to the dark side
 

There's a gun buy-back program going on in my city, and I have decided to turn in all of my firearms and ammo for some basketball tickets. Guns are horrible, evil, and dangerous, and I want to get rid of mine so that I can become a tree-hugging, wine-sipping bisexual.

Just kidding. :D But I have finally decided that I want to buy an Xbox 360, mostly so that I can play the "Gears of War" games. Since I haven't been big into gaming (especially consoles) for the last 5 years, can anybody recommend whether I should buy the Arcade or the Elite version? Is there a difference in how they run those games? Or is it really just the memory for storing files? Bear in mind that being in graduate school means I probably won't have much time to play games (just on the weekends), do I really want to pay $100 more for the Elite?

I'd say go for the Elite. I'm not 100% of what improvements were made to it that are not included with the Arcade. However, I do know that the Arcade version doesn't come with a hard drive, and this is essentially a must. You don;t want to have to keep buying memory cards. Though depending on how much the hold and cost, this may or may not be cheaper in the long run considering how much you'll play. You may have to figure that one out.

If you get an Elite, make sure it is NIB and not refurbished. I got an Elite for Xmas (because my normal 360 kept fucking up) and I got royally screwed. The son of a bitch won't play Fable GTA 4 and a few other games. The 120 gig hardrive is pretty sweet though. Just make sure you don't get ripped off.

The thing with the Acade is that you will probably have to pay the extra $100 to get a Harddrive because the arcade doesn't come with one

Thank God you were kidding. If you were serious, I would have kidnap you and brianwash you via Ludovico Technique so you would be back to you're old self. Anyway, keep your SIG. It's a great gun (and one of my personal favorites).

Don't worry; I won't cross over to that dark side. And yes, the SIG's gonna stay mine until it falls apart, or the day I depart (whichever comes first...probably the latter).

Like I said, I don't want to become too addicted to Xbox gaming. I have a degree to finish and a job to keep, so my sense is that the long run is relatively minimal use.

Part of the reason I want it is because I have several friends who are gamers, so I figure that I can at least get some social use out of it. My friends are pushing me towards the Elite, but then again, they're not exactly role models.

Don't worry, I rarely buy anything used (besides guns). I'll most definitely buy it new.

Maybe you can convince your offspring to bury you with it. That's what I think I might do (with a S&W of course)

Gears of War 1 was not that good. the second game improved a lot on a few things. I'd say get some of the shooters and try Fable and Fable 2

Even so, you'll still want a hard drive. I don't know if they sell separate 20 gig ones anymore, but if they do you could just get the Arcade and buy a HD. Then again, I think they may have phased the 20 gig ones out like they did the Pro console.

Having a hard drive won't make you play Xbox anymore than you would with memory cards. It'll just be less of a hassle than having to keep track of which ones have what saved games and also having to buy new ones.

"GoW" wasn't good? You're the first person I've met who's said that. And judging by the Metacritic score, it seems most people disagree. I've played it in multiplayer and I liked it. Of course, I also plan to get into "Modern Warfare 2" and "Halo 3".

As for "Fable", I'm not at all into RPGs. Though years ago, I did used to play "Black & White" on PC, which was developed by Peter Molyneux (same guy who did the "Fable" games).

Hey, I am a tree-hugging, wine-sipping bisexual, but I still like guns. What does that make me?

Get the Elite. Or the Slim when that comes out. And try and get a bundle that comes with some games. Trust me. You'll want the hard drive. And good for you for not buying a PS3.

A subject of ridicule and possible victim of lynching.

Look, Gears of War has a good story, but I started to get so sick and tired of the fucking gray and lack of color in the shots. I know real wars don't take you to exotic places with nice shots of waterfalls, but at least Halo 3 is bright and colorful at some point. The cover system in the first Gears of War needed polishing and better enemies. The second game brought in an even better story, more character development, combat was even better. You felt like you were going from place to place in the second game.

I like to see a game first hand and THEN look at what the masses are conforming to. You have a bunch of guys you dont know that says this game is awesome is like a bunch of pot smokers telling you to get high.

Ok, drug comparison is not the best one. But it's saying that playing baseball is awesome, but you might like soccer better. That's a better comparison.

I watch reviews on gametrailers just to see what others think of a game. Sometimes they leave things out and aren't as nitpicky. And a lot of times, the game developers might or might not have influences ratings to sell their product. In the long run, it's best to trust your gut and your own experience over what other people say.

I lot of people like Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. I thought it was good, but had many problems, like the story.

Modern Warfare 2, broke records in selling and made hundreds of millions, but I like many people can see that it was the sheer hype that got sales so high, not the story, which you can boil down to something that doesn't make sense at all. It's an action pack ride, but only when you turn off your brain.

GoW sucks, as does Halo 3

Let 'em try.

I appreciate the help, guys. I bought an Elite bundled with "Halo 3". And while I was at it, I also picked up "GoW" (it was only $10 bucks).

Now I need to get another controller, and probably a wireless router (I haven't even tried to get onto Xbox Live yet, but that's OK, because I intend to play some single-player first).

If you get Live, friend me so we can shoot people in the face on Halo 3

A walking contradiction. :D

Seriously, I've mentioned before that I don't really care if you're a pro-gun liberal, as long as you are willing to break with your side when it matters.

Trust me, I've played "Gears of War" before, and I know I enjoyed it then.

I've been playing for the past two hours, and I'm still enjoying it. Although I will definitely play some "Halo 3", too (got it with my bundle).

Will do, appreciate the offer. But that might not be for a while. Since I can barely use an Xbox controller, I gotta take some time in SP to master the controls first.

Get Splinter Cell Conviction, Just Cause 2, and Bioshock. Don't get the second Bioshock. It wasn't that good

Purchase Borderlands, Fallout 3 and Batman: Arkham Asylum.

Don't forget Red Dead Redemption.

Right now, I'm just playing "Gears of War" and "Halo 3". I intend to buy "Modern Warfare 2" next, then maybe "GTA IV".

Prepare to be really pissed off at the driving. None of the cars have brakes and they apparantly weigh only like 100 lbs because they flip so damn easily

Actually, it took me a week or two, but I got the hang of driving. It ended up being real fun to drive once you get used to the controls.

Seriously, right now, I'm still at the point where I'm cursing at the controls of every game I play, just because they're not PC controls. I still have the WASD keyboard controls hard-wired into my brain from so many years of playing Half-Life and its mods.

The thought also occurred to me that GoW also might not be the best game to start with, since its controls aren't like any shooter I've ever played. Oh, well, my neighbors are coming over tonight to show me the ropes in Halo 3.

If you had Live, I could teach you a thing or two. I'd probably just end up shooting you though

Actually, I did register for Live finally (after I got ahold of another router so that I could connect my box to the network). But right now, I'm only using Live to download stuff. I'm not gonna play on Live just yet.

Screen name?

Like I said, patience. Also, I'd rather not give my screen name on here.