Living in Europe, I'll have to wait another 10 days to get my hands on one. But I will be buying one.

I didn't buy one but i did win one. I'll find out today hopefully if i get the console or an amazon gift card equal to the value of the premium package (the one with the HD). I figure this is the only way i'll get one until the price drops. I've never been one of those people to rush out and ge the console at zero hour / day.

I will be buying one but not quite yet. I am rebuilding a house and need to get that done first. I am mostly getting it for the Media Center Extender feature (other extenders dont have dvd built in). I plan on building an LCD projector to go along with it. ;-)

I wasn't planning to get one right away, but my brother won one and he says its sweet. If he keeps talking about how good the graphics look on his 20" standard def TV I just might have to get one, if only to show off how good they'll look on my 57" HDTV :)

I'm not usually an early adopter, so I'll probably wait until there's a title out that I can't wait to play.

Bought one last night at the launch party at the Guvernment nightclub here in Toronto. Was the only place in the city that you could get one at midnight without lining up.

I've been playing some of the games at different media events over the past month and all I can say is that this thing rocks.

The games are amazing, the media integration with audio and video devices is awesome, everything about this console is great. The controllers are possibly one of the best controller designs I've ever used.

Although now I want to sell mine since I've seen them going for up to $2000US on ebay.

Can you, or anyone, comment more about the media integration? I have a Windows Media box as my primary dev box, just cuz I was too cheap to pay for Pro and didn't really mind.

How do you set stuff up? Ie, if I want to browse my pictures or Mp3s, how is that done? (I've never used Windows Media Center before or an Extender obviously.)

If you have a media center pc (2005) you can use the xbox (with an add on) or the xbox 360 to take whatever is on your PC and stream it to the extender. Basically in your office you can record shows from multiple sources. Then in your tv room have the xbox get the info from your pc and show it on the screen. (or watch in the office directly if you like)

I sold my tv, stero, entertainment center, ect. and just have a media center pc and 21 inch monitor now. All my music, photos etc are automatically added to the media center software. There is a built in tv tuner in the PC (most media center pc's have at least one) so you can schedule tv recordings like a tivo, or watch live tv. For live tv you can pause, forward/reverse, etc.

It totally changed how I watch tv now. If I like a show I tell the pc to record the series. Then watch at my leasure. It doesn't cost anything extra (no monthly fees, etc). One pc can share with others in the same network as well.

So I have a pile of simpsons, law and order, reno 911, etc just waiting for me whenever i have free time. All controled with a remote of course, or shrink the display down and watch tv while working on the pc.

If you have MCE 2004 (like I do) it doesn't work with the extender, and it seems you can't easily upgrade for some reason. So I will probably by a dedicated box for my new home.

I can't speak to what the xbox 360 can do out of the box without a media center pc though. At the very least it has a good interface for playing music and browsing images on cds you put in, watching DVD's etc. I imagine you should be able to connect with xbox live at some point to get music, videos, game updates and more since it has a HD.

Meant to add that you can simply add mp3s to your my music folder, or images to your my pictures folder. config is really simple for tv to, just plug in a coax to your pc, and run the little setup program. There is a green icon that starts media center, or the green button on the remote.

Two words:

PS-3

Ok, so it's not really two words - in fact, it's really just two letters and a number....but the point is my wife only allows me to plunk down $400 about once a decade on gaming consoles and I think that is my better bet. It just kills me to think of paying for online gaming.

If I were <cfwizard>Ray Camden</cfwizard> I may have the disposable income (or the widespread fanbase to buy me one) - :(

Someones still looking our for ya.

Heh, I'm going to hold that to ya. ;) Todd - I haven't gone online either. Not that I'm against online play, I think it is awesome, I just don't play _enough_ to make it worth my while. I may change my mind w/ xbox360 though. I have around 6 months of free membership too from Halo2 and SW Battlefront.

Got one and was at Zero Hour!

I played every game at the show and ended up buying Kameo, Call of Duty 2, Project Gotham Racing and Perfect Dark Zero.

Sadly my favorite game at the show (Condemned) wasn't available for purchase at Zero Hour, but before the show I had never heard of it and as it turns out if was the most “next gen” looking title (and played great too).

The Xbox exclusive games are great, but the multi platform games like Gun, Tony Hawk and Madden all looked pretty much like the Xbox version with a $10 price difference.

BTW: Xbox Live is worth the $50 some odd bucks. It now tracks all the games you are playing and things like high scores, secrets, etc and then rewards you for your efforts by allowing you to download extra content and exclusive features for your accomplishments.

I resented the fact that you had to pay to play, but now that I have I can honestly say that my online experience is far greater with Xbox Live then it is with the PS2.

-erik

I'm a huge fan of the socom series for ps2. If xbox had something comparable (and to me, halo is NOT comparable - it's good, just not the same) I might consider it.

Also, if there servers are better than ps2's and there is more support than the non-existent ps2 online support I may think it was worth the $50.

Still - I think I'll wait a bit to make up my mind. Xmas and a new baby on the way leaves the disposable income even lower than normal.

Rock!!!