1. Not sure where to post this, but if you're looking for a nice Xbox 360 deal in Canada, check this out. $450 for the Xbox Pro bundle you see at Futureshop/BestBuy with GRAW and Arcade (but $50 less), yet they also throw in Gears of War! Sweet deal. Don't know much about the shipping, etc, but a great time to get one for yourself or a loved one for Christmas!

On sale today only, I believe.

http://www1.ca.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/days_of_deals?c=ca&cs=CADHS1&l=en&s=dhs

Posted at 1:02PM on Dec 8th 2006 by Brick the Wulf

2. Yup - Micro Center Deal

Posted at 1:03PM on Dec 8th 2006 by Jason Schleifer

3. Me too. Microcenter! XBox 360 premium for $200!

Posted at 1:15PM on Dec 8th 2006 by Josh

4. indeed i did, took the dell offer 340 shipped + GOW which took 2 weeks to get here but happy none the less. everything came out 410. not bad at all. i wouldve done the microcenter offer but cant get to locations they have, sucks. still very happy none the less

Posted at 1:21PM on Dec 8th 2006 by Chris

5. I love GeOW but the only reason it beat FFXII is because it was released on oct 31st and sold 1.5 million copies at launch

Posted at 1:54PM on Dec 8th 2006 by lando

6. Microsoft may not have as far to go as you think.

First, that nexgenwars.com site doesn't cite sources at all - their guesses appear to be no better than yours or mine.

Second, NPD said Microsoft "sold through" over half a million 360s in November. Remember that NPD tracks U.S. sales, and that it tracks retailer sell-through. That's very significant for two reasons:

1. Microsoft is doing great in Europe, where there is no PS3 competition. Gears launched there in Nov as well. They're on sale in quite a lot of other countries, where it may not sell that well but all those small numbers add up.

2. The NPD retailer sell-through is typically a little smaller than MS's "shipped." Now, in MS's case (as opposed to Sony), when they count a unit as "shipped" it has shipped from the distribution warehouse to a retailer, which means especially at this time of year, "shipped" is close to "sold through." Sony counts "shipped" as meaning shipped from their manufacturing to the distribution warehouse.

3. Blue Dragon in Japan. It just launched, and surprisingly, people are gobbling up the really low-priced bundle. It may not be sustained, but Japan is going to be good for a couple hundred thousand 360 sales throughout December, instead of maybe 10,000 in most other months. Who knows if it'll sustain or not, but the point is it's a significant step toward their 10M goal that isn't there in other months.

Those things combined, I think you can probably safely say that the 360 shipped 800,000+ units during November, globally. And that they'll do twice that or better in December.

Posted at 2:31PM on Dec 8th 2006 by Jason Cross

7. Micro Center deal for $200. I got it as a backup present in case I don't get around to (or unable to) picking up a Wii for the kids' Christmas.

I spent last night at work downloading and configurating the arcade cames and demos so they can plug and play on Christmas morning.

I'm so pleased with the price and the experience that I'm contemplating just skipping the Wii thing and picking up a Viva instead.

I know this is not the forum but can any one recommend really good kid's games for Xbox (I suspect that selection is better for the original console)? Of course they need to be compatible with 360.

The only kids (6,8yrs) game that I know for 360 is the Viva.

Posted at 2:44PM on Dec 8th 2006 by skimming

8. Got my 360 in November largely due to the Microcenter deal and wanting to try out the new Video download service believe it or not. My main reason for buying it though won't come until Feb. next year when Forza 2 releases.

I have to say that the interface between the Xbox 360 and a mediacenter PC is very sweet, although I'm not the biggest fan of mediacenter itself.

Posted at 3:09PM on Dec 8th 2006 by Russ

9. I would strongly recommend Viva Piñata for the Xbox 360 for adults and kids alike. Me and my daughter are having a blast. As for the original Xbox games for children, Beyond Good and Evil, The Incredibles and Lego Star Wars.

Posted at 3:19PM on Dec 8th 2006 by battledrill

10. 2nd the suggestion for Viva Pinata. My kids love it. They also really enjoyed Lego Star Wars II.

Posted at 4:06PM on Dec 8th 2006 by Matt

11. Yeah I finally got my 360 with Gears being secondary(to Vegas) but both are great. I only waited this long for lack of HDTV but I'm glad I've joinedthe party now.

Posted at 6:33PM on Dec 8th 2006 by Clay

12. I got my 360 last week. Got it from the Amazon thanksgiving day $100 offer. Got real lucky :)

Gears of War coming in the mail tomorrow! YAY!

Posted at 6:54PM on Dec 8th 2006 by Rami

13. Got mine in Nov too, no microcenter in the Pacific Northwest, so I did the Dell deal. Still a good deal though, Premium system plus an additional wireless controller for $411 shipped. I was happy.

As for kids games, I have been on a shopping spree too. Get the Burger King games, those are great for kids, although I only have Big Bumpin and Pocket Bike Racer. I also bought Lego Star Wars II, Table Tennis, Fifa Soccer 2006 (my kids love their 8 year old soccer game on an original playstation). I also got a couple of Backwards Compatible Xbox games; Crash Nitro Kart and Super Monkey Ball Deluxe.

They should have fun with those! For me I have Amped 3 and NBA 2k6, although they can probably play both of those. I am planning on getting Gears of War eventually for me, but that will have to wait right now.

Posted at 6:56PM on Dec 8th 2006 by Jolard

14. Geeze, if you read the 'Frasier' interview from the full article, that guy is try so hard NOT to compliment MS. He starts with the "amazing" sales of Zelda for the PS2 and adds he's "surprised" that MS didn't sell more 360's... nice.

Posted at 7:10PM on Dec 8th 2006 by intRvenous

15. I got my Core System off Amazon. I got really lucky. That was on the 24th. Pretty sweet. Bought a HD on eBay the next week for $75, now I have a 360 for $175 that will play Halo 2 until 3 comes out. Merry Christmas to me.

Posted at 7:40PM on Dec 8th 2006 by Andrew A

16. Skimming -> Check out all the arcade stuff!
Aside from that, there's not many retail titles but Pinata is said to be like crack.

You may need to get another one ;)

Posted at 8:52PM on Dec 8th 2006 by edhe

17. I got mine on Black Friday, I really like it...and the media extender is awesome.

Posted at 4:31AM on Dec 9th 2006 by Murc

18. Yes! I got the Premium pack plus i got Gears of War as well...The xbox 360 community here in Malaysia is growing fast.

Posted at 11:24AM on Dec 9th 2006 by Andy

19. picked mine up dis wednesday, wit Tomb Raider Legend(had 2 get sumthin cheap, hadnt cashed my chek yet). Gettin Gears 2morrow tho. Great system.

Posted at 9:34PM on Dec 9th 2006 by SLUGGAmang

20. I picked up my 360 the saturday after black friday from Walmart and they forgot to give me my $50.00 gift card. I am going over there in about 6 hours and demanding my gift card.

Posted at 1:15AM on Dec 10th 2006 by Ethan S.