Here's what I got from Amazon:

Elite Holiday bundle--$400

GeOW2--free (promotion w/ elite)

GoOW2 lancer (promotion w/ elite, apparently a $140 toy gun)

Fallout 3--$40

BioShock--$20

Orange Box--$18

Then a couple days ago, I picked up Tales of Vesperia for $35

Serious deals, for real!

I took advantage of the XBOX elite promotion: buy the Elite Holiday bundle and get GeOW2 and the "Gears of War 2 Amazon.com Exclusive Lancer" for furee!  I've got zero interest in the toy gun, but it's a nice $140 extra, I guess.  Gears was a hella bonus though, even though it took Amazon about 2 hours to get the code into the system.  In addition to that, I picked up Fallout3 for $40, BioShock for $20, Orange Box for $18, and some Sennheiser headphones for $20.

Biggest bonus though: not having to sit in line!  Good luck all.

Are you going to throw down an opinion? Do you smoke the taffy as well? TheHumanDove

What would be the point? As with politics and religion, everyone's mind is already made up on this one.

As for taffy, I'm gonna roll with Nancy Reagan on that one.

I gotta say, this thread is absolutely awesome! As a long-time lurker just getting back to gaming it serves as the perfect barometer on who I'm supposed to ignore from here on out. The OP starts a legitimate thread voicing a complaint about the prevalence of racial comments on XBL. Comments that would get you suspended from most schools, fired from many jobs, and imprisoned for a long, LONG time if they preceded a crime. And what happens next? Several people defending those comments, deflecting blame toward others, and denying that it even happens.

Me? I try not to swear, but when I do, it's usually of the 'son of a b-word' variety. But when I do see someone who is, in fact, a son of a b-word, I'll do my best to refrain.

I don't get the complaint, really. I'm HUGELY not a man of means, but I think gaming is a relatively cheap pasttime. Compared to golf (my main diversion), which is a budge hobby compared to anything car, horse, ice, or travel related, and I'm saving money during the winter. One round of golf, minus the cost of balls, drinks, food, and gas costs about as much as one game. Game console costs about as much as a driver. Set of irons is equivalent to a TV. Replace the other misc clubs with a great theatre system, and you've still got a putter which will easily cover the costs for xbox live.

If the OP wants to take up something cheaper, he can walk his way to the public library. Just don't run: running shoe prices have skyrocketed over the last decade.:D

Hate to be a newb, but Amazon's got some killer rotating deals going on. I just picked up Tales of Vesperia for $35 shipped as part of their Gold Box/Lightening Deals promotion or whatever (new one posted every couple hours until it's gone). Not sure what all's involved as I'm only showing deals for 360 items, but thought I'd pass this along.