XBOX 360 for the holidays - general questions
 

Looks like I am going to pick up an XBox 360 on Black Friday somewhere. Hard to resist with the 2 family-friendly pack-in games they are offering and the price drop on the 60 GB model.

Can anyone recommend some good family friendly games for this system (aside from the Lego series)?

How about some older, more adult games that would be cheap? Bioshock was pretty awesome, right? I am not a huge FPS fan, but anything with a good story and quality single-player gaming would be welcomed in my house. Sub $30 would also be a huge plus.

I am a huge Sports gamer, though. How is the FOFC NCAA league going, are people still playing in that? With NCAA Football 2009, correct? Is 2K Sports' NCAA 2k8 basketball game still worth picking up?

I am assuming I should probably pick up an extended warranty with this, or is XBox still extending the warranties to 3 years for the RROD issue?

Just thought I'd throw a bunch of questions out there and see if I can get some help from all you smart gamers. :)

Bioshock is awesome. I suggest getting that for sure.

GTA 4 is another great single player game.

I am not sure so much on kids games, but there is a huge selection.

NCAA 09 is the best game of the series. The online leagues make it that much better.

NHL 09 is awesome too if you like hockey.

And yes, I'd get the warranty, just to be safe. Go to best buy though if possible; 60 bucks gets you a 2 year full replacement.

1. RROD warranty is still 3 years.

2. Get the largest HDD system you can afford. With the game install option, you'll want the big one.

The Orange Box (3 great games) is now 19.99 at Amazon.

Gears of War and Dead Rising should be relatively cheap.

I also recommend Mass Effect...

If you like RPGs and didn't pick up the PC version, Elder Scrolls: Oblivion can be had for $25 used last time I checked.

Yes, yes!

My kids love Viva Pinata for the Xbox, and don't underestimate the Lego series. They're a lot of fun.

As for cheap "greatest hits" type games, the Halo series is pretty good, and you can pick up some of the older Call of Duty games cheap.

NHL09 is a winner. NHL2K8 was a fun game from last year but that series seems to be more on the arcade side. It depends on what you are looking for there. The Be A Pro in NHL09 puts it over the top for me.

Bioshock is a fun FPS.

Fight Night Round 3 can be found for a good price and is quite fun. The punch controls are great.

Assassin's Creed is also worth looking at, very cool.

For family games I really don't have many suggestions yet. It depends on the ages of the kids though. I have an 8 year old and I haven't had any luck finding something good for her yet. I have tried a couple games with kid movie tie-ins but it ends up quite annoying for me as she gets stuck in one of those tough jumping puzzle areas and I have to try to get her through it (I hate those kind of puzzles so it usually takes me a few tries too). Because of this I go with Wii games for the family games.

No, I am totally not against the Lego series. It's just they already have all the Lego games for other systems. And they've beaten them all, except Lego Indiana Jones, which they'll be getting in the XBox 360 holiday bundle. :)

Bioshock
Gears of War
Call of Duty 4
NCAA 09
NHL 08
Rock Band 2 - I know it's pricey, but for me it's a MUST. :)

To name a few...

College Hoops 2K8 can be had for like $10 at some stores. It's much better than the new EA one and will give you your college hoops fix for cheap. Outside of that, I'd recommend:

Call of Duty 4
Bioshock
Fallout 3
Left 4 Dead

You can probably nab COD4 and Bioshock cheap on Ebay.

Cars was a pretty good kids game that was actually reasonably fun for me and the wife to play unlocking things for the kids. The ability to change paintjobs on Lightning McQueen, Mater, and the other characters was highly enjoyed by my kids.

Don't forget about games from previous generations if you're getting one for the kids. I bought a PS1 Dora the Explorer game and popped it in the PS3. Daughter loves it. There's lots of similar used Xbox games that you can pick up dirt cheap.