No skill needed? I think you need skill in any FPS, not just Halo 3 or CoD4. I have no skill, so I get owned in every shooter I play, but I love them anyways...LOL.

So yes, I believe that there is some level of skill required.

You honestly expect a company to explicitly say their product has a major reliability issue?

Exactly! You think that back in the day when Pintos were exploding in rear end collisions, that Ford salespeople were telling potential customers that they might get flamed if hit in the butt :D

"Fair is Fair. Microsoft is not fair to their consumers by not informing of them of the risk of RRoD. The 3 yr warranty doesn't absolve them of their misdeed."

Hum this whole thing sounds very familiar....O wait, I think Sony did the same thing circa 2002. Free repairs or replacements for the disc read error issue. But you know, I never remember seeing Tv ads from Sony warning consumers that their new PS2 they were buying may develop disc read errors. And you know, I never remember hearing the first Best Buy, Gamestop, or whatever employee warning customers of this. Fair is fair, right...you can check wikipedia for reference for the free repairs offered by Sony for the "numerous" disc read error problems.

ISn't there a 3 year warranty against that? I got the 360 in December 2005 and it never gave a problem.

The PS1 and PS2 both had problems but that did not stop anyone. I had about 3 - 4 PS1 units until I got tired and played it upside down.

Deihmos

LOL...totally forgot about the whole "turn the PS1 upside down to play" thing. Yea, been there and done that also, and never once complained about having to buy another one.

When Peter Moore announced that Xbox 360's would come with a standard warranty of 3 years for any consoles experiencing RROD, he admitted then that the reason behind the warranty increase was due to the "unusually high failure rate of the console". I mean, I don't really think you can do a much better job of letting consumers know that there is a problem. And the failure rate has been quoted as being anywhere from 5% to 60%. I am pretty sure though that someone at Microsoft revised their initial 3-5% to around 30%. I did a quick search to see if I could find that article, but couldn't.

As far as motivation to buy...what made people buy mulitple PS2's when the first million or so developed "disc read errors"? The answer is the same for any console....FUN FACTOR. People were having fun with the PS2, so when it tore up...they did what they would do with many other "necessities" in the home...buy a new one. The same thing is to be said about the Xbox 360. I had my console for about two years before experiencing the RROD. I went through the warranty process, which was handled very well (even got a free month of Xbox Live since the process was long). After about 2.5 weeks turnaround, I had a replacement console. So what did I do? I sold that console to a co-worker for $250 and went and purchased an Xbox 360 Elite. I like the current batch of games out for it now, plus all my friends are on Xbox Live, so it makes it fun to me.

Never could understand fanboys. I have no loyalty to any company, except for the one that has the games that appeal to me. I own an Xbox 360, a PS3, and a Wii...and right now, the 360 gets the most playing time. I am sure that once Final Fantasy XIII, or Super Smash Bros Brawl comes out, I will equally enjoy the other two. I was fortunate enough to have a launch day PS2 that is still going strong today, but if it had gone bad back in the day....i'd just purchased another one, cause at that time, it had the games I wanted to play.

Why so quick to judge with just one opinion. I just bought a Sharp Aquos LC-42D43U 720P LCD and it is great. The picture is terrific, rivaling a lot of comparable plasma models that I have researched. The previous poster is correct about his size analysis, once you get below 50" you are not gonna see a big difference between 720P and 1080P.

Don't base your judgement on just a few problems. I am sure if you talk to enough people, you will find that there are those that have had problems with Samsung models. Go to the store, look at them side by side and just go with your gut. I paid $1099.00 for the Sharp, brand new.

Plus, it only has one less HDMI input for a total of two. But I planned on buying an HDMI switcher anyways regardless of the number of inputs.

I agree that it is a great time to get an Xbox360. Maybe I am a Microsoft fanboy, who knows. I can say though that I do own a 360, a PS3, and a Wii. I have only bought two games for my Wii, and haven't bought the first game for my PS3 yet (but I do own four Blu-Ray movies), and I have owned the PS3 since March.

I am a fan of all systems, not because of who they are made by, but what games are on them. I am sure that just as soon as Final Fantasy XIII or MGS4 comes out, my PS3 will see a lot of action. But, for the last year, my bread and butter has been my 360. I have owned it since February of 2006, and just this week experienced my first RROD problem. Support was terrific in handling my concern, they have sent me the box to ship it back in, and hopefully soon I will be back in the gaming business. But seriously, the 360 is a fine gaming machine even with it's problems. I am even considering buying an Elite today, and just selling my repaired (or replaced for that matter) 360 when it gets back. I download a lot of content and like the idea of the 120GB hard drive. Plus, two free games that I actually would like to have but have not yet purchased.

I have been a member of XboxLive since 2002. It's services are extraordinary IMHO. I have no problem paying $50 a year for having a standardized friend's list, voice chat, and some amazing download services. Microsoft has done nothing but work to continuously improve the XboxLive experience, seeing that it has come a long way since the day I joined in 2002. I have seen many complaints on these boards about lag, but most of that is oftentimes not the fault of Live itself as much as it is peoples Internet providers, connection speeds, and network setups..

So, I don't really hate it, or bash it, but I still agree that it is one of the best times to buy one.