Hi everyone! Playstation 3 owner here who would like advice on what Xbox to get! I've been enjoying my PS3, but I've seen the lineup this year for Xbox and feel that if I don't get a 360, I'd miss out on Halo 3, Mass Effect, and other great titles ... and that's just plain unacceptable to me!

However, I've been hearing disquieting reports of very high failure rates for the Xbox 360, particularly Xbox 360 Core. Because the core system is so prone to failure I've already eliminated that as a possibility. I'd like an honest opinion of which Xbox 360 I should purchase among the following choices that I'm willing to consider:

Xbox 360 Premium

Pros: it's an Xbox, it'll play all the games I need it to play, and unlike the Core it doesn't break down every two days. Also it's the cheapest of my options.

Cons: there's nothing particularly special about it. It's missing a lot of extras that I'll probably end up buying anyway.

Xbox 360 Elite

Pros: a massive 120gb hard drive, it's black, sleek, and beautiful, and it is probably the least likely among the Xbox 360s to get the red rings of death. It comes with a massive number of extras, all of which are important to me and if it hadn't I'd have had to buy them seperately anyway.

Cons: it's the most expensive of the 360s.

Xbox 360 Halo 3 Special Edition

Pros: it's a limited edition, meaning that it won't be around for very long (bragging rights, mainly, I suppose). Beyond that it's cheaper than the Elite, yet has most of its features except its 120gb hard drive. Most importantly, it is up there with the Elite as the least likely to get the dreaded red rings of death.

Cons: I'm not entirely convinced it's really neccessary to smack down $400 right now just for a green skin. It doesn't even come with Halo 3; I'd have to get that seperately anyway. Money's kind of tight right now, so I have to be reallys sure about the Halo 3 version before I buy it. I'm not really sure if bragging rights about owning a limited edition console is worth $400, when I'd be better served financially if I just wait one more month and buy an Elite at $450.

So there you are, there are my 3 choices. Like I said, the ONLY reason I'd get the Halo 3 version is for bragging rights; in my opinion the Elite is a better console overall (it'd better be, it's $50 more expensive!). But as I said money's tight right now and I may be stretching myself if I get the Halo 3 version when it comes out (which is pretty much the ONLY time I can get one). I'm shaky about that, what do you guys think? Is it worth it? Or should I just say, "screw the bragging rights, lemme just wait until my finances rebalance and then get an Elite, green's an ugly color anyway"?

Guys, guys, the point was that Lair didn't give us a choice. For instance, in Warhawk (an awesome game by the way), you can control vehicles and planes either with the control sticks or with motion sensors. But the point was that you were given a CHOICE; you can turn off the SIXASIS motion sensor controls if you don't like them. I don't see why they couldn't just do that with Lair; I highly doubt it'd be HARDER to make use of the control sticks, considering that just about every other game on consoles use them.

Call me old-fashioned if you wanna, but I prefer a game that is more than just eye candy, and Lair appears to be just that to me. The controls really don't have to be great, but they have to be decent, in my opinion. They certainly shouldn't not be frustrating. Nothing in the game should be frustrating, for that matter. Challenging, sure. But never frustrating.

All those arguments about, "you're just not used to these kinds of controls", buddy I tried for a week to play Warhawk with the stupid motion sensing controls, and got fragged countless times. Finally, in frustration, I turned it off and never looked back since. My game has improved a great deal. First-generation versions of any technology often are incomplete, difficult and frustrating to use, and ultimately not as useful as the old standby. When DVDs first came out, there was a reason most people stuck with VHS: it was easier, cheaper, and the first generation DVDs frankly sucked. SIXAXIS is relatively new, the motion sensor is really not done well enough to be a major part of any game.

You want an example of a game I think made very good use of SIXAXIS motion sensors would be Resistance: Fall of Man. Any PS3 player probably knows what I'm talking about. Unfortunately for now I really think that's as far as we can bring this technology, at least for the PS3. If you ask me, if the Sony people really wanted so badly to use motion-sensor technology, they should've made like Nintendo and made a PS-mote to compete with the Wii-Mote.

Lair could've been an excellent game. It is certainly visually stunning, and I liked its storyline as well. I don't quite agree that it was as low as a 4.5 but frankly, the badly designed use of the SIXAXIS controls really do take away much from the gameplay. And for the record, I own a Playstation 3, and I have completed the first two levels of this game, having (against the advice of nearly everyone), rented the game for the purposes of seeing just how bad it could be.