I have a full time job now, and 3 months off Uni as well as the ease of mind from my highly satisfactory Uni results so I think I may treat myself to an Xbox 360 after all this time, but I need your help.

To put it in simple terms, when it comes to money I'm a tightass, so I want to get the best possible deal out there. So I would like any of you who are willing to suggest to me the best prices and combinations.

Ideally the system should have at least one wireless controller and HD cables.

Bundled games are not necessary, as currently I'm only really interested in Gears of War for the moment.

Not really interested in buying online unless its an absolute bargain.

I think Harvey Norman have / had the XBOX360 + Kameo/PGR3/(Extra wireless controller?) pack + Gears of War for $729. Not sure where that advertisement is now though, and can't seem to find any mention of it online.

I saw in a JBHifi catalogue where they had a Core Xbox360 for something like $470 but came with a wired controller. And whether you'd actually want a Core pack is up to you

I'm actually planning on popping down to my local JBHIFI next time my friend works there to see if he can get me a deal.

Times like this I'm really pissed I didn't get the job at EB...

Is buying one brand new absolutely necessary for you? If not I strongly recommend eBay, it really is a tight arse sanctuary. :P

I'm not really big on the whole internet shopping thing, but I have had a look on eBay and for the prices they are going for I may as well pay that bit extra for piece of mind, not to mention a warranty.

I just wanted to mention that my bro might be getting a 360 soon, which will be pretty cool, so I'm watching this thread a bit... He was talking about getting one tomorrow - if he does I'll be slightly annoyed because I have tests next week and assignments to do on the weekend :/

The best deal I can find so far without bundling a tonne of crappy games is the Premium pack from launch which is selling for $599 at Dick Smith. Still not ideal but seeing as how $540 is as cheap as they are going for on the net it seems about as good as I'm going to get brand new.

EDIT:

*slaps forehead*

I just remembered my mate owns a Video Ezy store and can get me possibly the console and definately games at cost price.

That really took you a while to remember :lol:

:)

Hope you can get it for cheap ;)

Edit: The Harvey Normal I said earlier, is in fact available, and the advertisement is in today's SMH Gift Guide.

That pack from Harvey Norman is just the Premium Pack + Gears of War, if I bought it seperately I can get the console with the games for $600 and GoW for $100 and save $30. But thanks anyway, I'll see what Josh can do.

Anyway, hope Josh can get it cheaper.

Well I bought the massive entertainment pack(Premium 360 + extra wireless controller, PGR3, DOA4 and an extra month of live gold) yesterday.
It was $689.95 at Target, and with staff discount, I got it for $655ish, which works out pretty good considering what's the in pack.

Only problem being that I don't really want PGR3 or DOA4. :P
But I reckon I could flog them off for at least $40 each, in which case, I'd be getting a Premium 360 + extra controller and live, for about $575, which is very reasonable if you ask me. B-)

Bought Gears of War as well of course. ;)($84 for the Limited Edition at JB :D)

As for the hardly normal pack, well that's not actually that much cheaper, since if you bought the pack from target, and say, Gears of War from Target, you'd only be paying about $765.(or about $727 with discount. :P)

Pfft, buy the entertainment pack cheap, and go trade in the games for GoW discounted.

my bro got a 360 yesterday from EB - he traded our old XBox and like 10 games and spent like $500 - he got teh massive entertainment pack + GoW

so it ended up being Console, 2 CTRLs, Media Remote, DOA 4, PGR 3 and Gears of War.

The downside of him having a 360 is that he pretty much took my 19" monitor and now I'm stuck with a 17", but it's not too bad - he's got it hooked up in his computer room so "n00bs" can't play it - Andrew, I assume that means you. The other downside is that I can't play it when he's playing it, oh and I have tests/assignments to study for/do this weekend so I shouldn't really play it much until like next week - holidays ftw! I wish Forza 2 and/or Guitar Hero 2 were out, but oh well - besides, Wii comes out in like 10 days!!

The entertainment pack from Harvey Norman is probably my best bet at the moment since I want the extra controller and GoW, but $730 is a lot to fork out in one hit for me, I'll see how I go a week from now. By sheer coincidence I saw an advertisement at my local video shop offering the console for hire, might go check it out.

Argh, I'm so confused! Estapol your post has just confused the hell out of me... so many prices...

I'll ask Jerry to give me a staff discount :P

By the way imek, it fell through with Josh, turns out he can't get a discount on the consoles at all.

Ouch, well I now know when it comes time to pick up my 360.

And staff discount, that's probably a good way to go, although Harvey Norman is still cheaper, if I read Estapol's post correctly.

Yeah, for my prices to work, you'd need to find someone with a Coles-Myer discount card. :P

My bad. :yammer:

Hmm, I think my parents have one of those...

Or you could go to Gameswizards, get a Gold Card, and they give you 5% of your spendings back to spend at a later date.

Actually I caught some of an ad for the GameWizards over the speakers at work for the Xbox 360, didn't quite catch it though. I did hear $599 though, I'm gonna look into it.

Yeah, I heard it while I was working...was going to suggest it but I can't remember it now.

If your in Sydney, go about a few places and try to talk down the prices of a few places and look about for some bargins.

I got mine at The Gamesmen and they're pretty good about it all. Another thing to try is look for places that beat prices like by 10% of a competitor, I'm not sure of any videogames shop that does that but if it does you'll be pocketing about $60.

That's my advice for buying expensive gear, it works on cameras for sure, about an Xbox 360 though... <_<

Well now there are bundles coming out the wazoo in the lead up to Xmas, so far the best deal is $599 for Pro Console + Game (GoW) from GamesWizards, which I reckon I could convince some dumb EB kid to price match me with a Premium pack instead of a Pro pack.