Glad I went with the XB360 Elite

Like previous generations, I plan on eventually having all the current
consoles. This time around: XB360, PS3, and Wii.

I like to wait about a year into their life before jumping in though. It
gives them time to mature a little bit and allow both a decent library of
games to be available and the initial kinks to get ironed out.

The XB360 matured to the point where I decided to finally pick up one last
week. After spending a few minutes deciding between the "Premium" and
"Elite", I went with the "Elite". The extra 100GB is worth the extra $80
alone. It may even be less of a price difference now after the prices were
cut a bit. I haven't been following. 20GB while workable, would have been
a limitation. Out of 120GB, I only have about 45GB free now. It is filled
with practically all of the available game demos and live arcade demos. I
did buy a couple of Live Arcade games (Geometry Wars, Pacman CE, Lumines,
Sonic) along with some videos (Southpark, Lil' Bush, and ashamed to admit
Beavis and Butthead).

The only retail game I have so far is GRAW(1), which I'm plugging through.
This time around, I'm going to make an attempt at actually finishing games
completetly before going on to purchase the next one. Well, at least that
is the tentative plan for now, but you know how that goes!

I'm using the XB360 to receive streamed media over my WLAN as well. I plan
on putting together a headless Media Center computer soon, but in the
meantime just using Windows Media Connect. Works fine. My only complaint
is that MP3 playlists can't be created and stored locally on the XB360 when
using Windows Media Connect (or WMP11).

Other media wish list is to be able to purchase movies online that don't
expire. I don't want to "rent" movies, I want to be able to purchase them
and keep them. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to buy and download HD movies
that don't expire? Price? Oh, I don't know. Considering that $20 to $30
gets you the actual medium and case, maybe $12 to $18 or so by download?

Haven't had any lockups or problems with the XB360 so far. It is working as
advertised. I'm happy.

Not that appearance really matters, but the $5 silver Microsoft faceplate
looks really sharp on the black Elite.

Being able to get 1080p over HDMI will be nice whenever I get new HDTV.
I've had an HDTV with HDMI for years, but it actually works better using
component than HDMI with the XB. (It is a CRT HDTV and the XB360 has a
better D/A converter than the TV itself.)

The next console I plan on picking up will be the Wii, since the Wii will
offer some unique gameplay. I'm not expecting the actual game experience
on the PS3 to be all that much different on the XB.

Anyone deciding between the "Premium" and "Elite", definetly go with the
"Elite". You won't regret it.

I think if I was in the same position as you, I too would have gone for
the elite. But I do feel that at the moment, the 20gb is just fine. I
usually only have one or two demos on the hd and usually delete them soon
after, so my hd is only really for save games / content etc. Have to say
that if you can resist temptation, then your idea of waiting a while
before getting a particular machine is probably the best idea. I think the
PS3 will prove a good example of this - not really any outstanding
games/reasons to buy at the minute - but it can only get better - can't
it? Least I hope so. But as for the Wii - just a bit too gimmicky and the
type of games that are available/coming out - just aren't for me.


--
-- XBOX Live Gamertag : Mafustokes --
-- The Megbear is about MMVII --