I grew tired of JRPG's a long time ago. I prefer the western ones like Oblivion, Fallout, Mass Effect, etc. much more. However, I actually was somewhat impressed with the demo of Blue Dragon. Not because of the characters or story (didn't see much of that), but for turn based combat, I thought it was pretty deep. The graphics, IMO, were passable, but the complexity of the combat (again for turn-based combat) impressed me a bit.

Also, I don't trust EGM/1up at all. In fact, I agree with them the least of all gaming sources. They also seem to have a lot of fanboy tendancies, which I think influences a lot of what they do. I haven't read the review, by if the reviewer gave it a low score because he just doesn't like JRPGs, well that's retarded. The review should be based on how it is compared to others in its genre. You don't give a racer a low score because you only like fighting games, for example. Plus, Japanese reviewers gave it great scores as did the few European reviews so far, so until I see others scoring it like EGM/1up, then I am just going to ignore them like I normally do.Either way, the best way IMO to get a sense of a game, besides playing it yourself, is to average a bunch of reviews (like on metacritic or gamerankings). One review doesn't mean much to me.

What makes a flagship title is not what some forum goers like better. What makes a flagship title is sales and the game increasing console sales. While it's fan-frickin-tastic for the 360 to have a great game like Gears, one that did sell consoles and broke the 4 million mark in sales, it's not even close to the juggernaut that is Halo. Will it be one day? Maybe, but not now.

Halo 2 sold well over 9 million. Halo CE sold over 6 million and put the Xbox brand on the map. Halo 3 is being merchandised like a blockbuster movie, with companies like Burger King, Pontiac, and so on, jumping on board. There are books, comics, action figures, fully working vehicles from the game, movie possibilities, etc. etc. There are over 1 million pre-orders for Halo 3 in NA alone. Halo 2 still holds the record for 1st day money making of all entertainment mediums, including movies. Any time any news of Halo is posted on any website, people flock to the commment section and fanboys from all platforms come out of the woodwork. Halo 2 was the most played console online game for years. The Halo 3 BETA, while it was available, was played more than Gears, and it was just a BETA with 3 maps and extremely limited features. Halo 3 will, by many estimations, easily eclipse the 10 million mark in sales. That is what makes a flagship title. That is what sells consoles. Hopefully one day Gears can get to this level, but right now it's not even close.

You could of said the same about the PS2, but they fixed the problem and it turned out fine.

LTomlinson21

Exactly. I find it unbelievable that people seem to have completely blocked the PS2 fiasco from their brains, acting as if this is the first time an electronic device, let alone a game console, has had problems. The PS2 was a disaster at first, with Sony refusing to act or even admit there was a problem. It took a lawsuit to get them to do anything and even then it wasn't anywhere near what MS has done to fix this problem. However, the PS2 was eventually fixed and went on to sell in crazy amounts, break records even. Obviously, a problem can be corrected and since MS is handling it better than Sony did, and Sony ironed out the PS2 issues, then it's pretty safe to assume the 360 is being ironed out as well.

What was actually wrong with it?
Also I'm worried they'll just perform the wrong kind of repair and they'll just send it back.jimbob9999

I don't think they actually repair your defective unit and send that specific one back to you. I think they check your unit to see if it's defective (maybe) and then send you a refurb that has already been repaired. If they repaired your exact unit before sending it back, it would take months because of how many there are. My buddy sent his in and got a refurb back in 12 days. It was a different unit and besides, there's no way they could have repaired his and got it back to him in 12 days.

correct me if I'm wrong, but the US does Month/Day/Year, while Europe does Day/Month/Year. So this is neither. I'd guess it's March 7th.

Bioshock (in 12 days), Forza 2, R6: Vegas, Lost Planet, Dead Rising, Command & Conquer, Overlord

These will get you through until the end of August when the mass flood of great 360 games begins.