Xbox 360

I’ve been gaining interest in purchasing a next-gen console, specifically the Xbox 360. Especially since there are some pretty interesting games coming out exclusively on the Xbox like Gears of War and Lost Planet. And I guess Halo 3 but I’ve never been into the whole Halo craze.

That’s mainly because I never really played Halo. None of my friends in college owned an Xbox so I never really got to play it. And yes, most of console gaming was done on my friend’s systems (thanks Dan :-)). I did try to play the PC version of Halo once but the graphics looked like crap and the gameplay was nothing special so I didn’t play it. What’s so great about it anyway? Try Counter-Strike ;-). I never get tired of that game and I’ve been playing it for years. I don’t play as much as I used to though, maybe 1-2 hours a week on weekends.

I saw some rumor online that Amazon may have a special holiday sale on the Xbox 360 and sell it for only $100, so if that’s true I’ll pick one up. I wonder how the console war will go this holiday. I think Sony is in trouble but we’ll see. The PS3 price point is way too high for me, I just dont think the price justifies the value. I’m not some Final Fantasy fanboy so there’s no reason for me to buy a PS3. I’m a big fan of the Metal Gear Solid series but one game doesn’t justify laying down all that money for the system.

The Nintendo Wii might also be a compelling buy since it has a lot of content aimed at non-gamers - I might even be able to get my parents interested. They generally like simpler games - not hardcore RPG/Action/FPS games, more along the lines of puzzle games. For example my mom’s into Zuma and she plays that on her computer almost everyday. My dad used to be really into Lode Runner, way back in the day when I had a Super Famicom (not sure if that’s what it’s called). It was a system purchased in Taiwan back around the NES days.

11/20/06 UPDATE: Apparently the Amazon rumor is true and they do intend on putting 1,000 units of Xbox 360 Core (the cheaper version) on sale for $100 each. If it wasn’t hard enough already to get it with only 1,000 available, this news got Dugg up the wazoo so you can bet it will be nearly impossible to get this. It’ll go on sale at 11/23 at 11 am PST (1pm EST). Get your 1-click shopping set up and prepare to be refreshing like crazy (like the thousands of other people) if you want any chance. I don’t think this is worth the effort, since it’s also the Core version not the Premium bundle. Core lacks the wireless controller, the hard drive, and a couple of other accessories. I’m going to wait until the normal retail price comes down or maybe when they integrate the HD DVD player.