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I'll finally be purchasing my Xbox 360 tomorrow, see the factors that influenced that decision and what exactly I'll be buying. See the value in the purchases and where to buy. For those of you who have been waiting like me (can't imagine there are too many left) then follow the link below.

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The Situation

If you chose to wait like I did for the improved HDMI Premium consoles to come to Australia then you are out of luck. There is no way they will be here by Halo 3 and it looks like they are several months away still, probably 2008. So the wait since the Dick Smith Electronics sale that started 2 months ago was sort of in vein.

It come down to this: Do you want to risk getting a dud or dying Xbox 360 and play the glorious 2007 lineup or wait and miss it entirely? If you are buying this year, just get one now. Halo 3, Bioshock, PGR4, Mass Effect and too many other top tier games are coming out before 2008 and its too much to ask for many people to wait or catch up on all of them later.

Summary:

• Core makes a decent secondary Xbox 360, that's all
• Premium is ideal, but lacking HDMI
• Elite is for Microsoft's downloadable services (like movies) which arn't confirmed for Australia yet, plus it has HDMI
• Halo 3 console is a HDMI Premium console with an added headset and charge and play kit

Value wise the only option is the Premium console. The Elite, Halo 3 and Core versions aren't quite right. Unless you are specifically after HDMI then you may consider the Elite or Halo 3 ones.

Where to buy (price match):

• Premium, Elite or Halo 3 edition: Dick Smith Electronics
• Core with PGR3 and DOA4: Dick Smith Electronics
  
• Halo 3 Collectors Edition: Target
• Halo 3 Regular Edition: Domayne with cash back

The cheapest place to purchase an Xbox Premium, Xbox Elite or Halo 3 Xbox is at Dick Smith Electronics. Although the Elite is only available at 2 stores which makes it difficult to get.

Tomorrow I'll be purchasing my Xbox 360 from EB Games because of their knowledge of Xbox 360 failure rates and returns. It should be less hassle dealing with them than a regular retailer. Price matching Dick Smith is what I have to do and I know the Premium is in stock everywhere so it won't be a problem.

Here are some general tips when buying:

• If you buy multiple items when buying the Xbox 360 ask for a separate receipt for the console. If any kind of repairs or returns happen its less hassle when you don't have games you've bought or traded on the same receipt.
• Ask for the console with the latest manufacturing date.
• Buy the console before Halo 3 comes out, you don't want it to be dead on arrival.
• Buy some place with a good return policy or knowledge of gaming news.
• Forget price matching if you are at a midnight launch, stores don't do it.

Depending on which console package you get certain accessories are missing that you should consider when lining up prices:

• Core pack is missing everything
• Premium is missing a headset
• Elite/Halo 3 edition are missing DVD remotes
• Only the Halo 3 edition comes with a play and charge kit
  
• The Halo 3 edition has a HDMI port, but no HDMI cable and cables are not for sale yet
• The Core has no HDD, the Premium and Halo 3 edition have 20GB HDDs and the Elite has a 120HDD (will only be filled if you don't ever delete demos and videos)
• The Core comes with a wired controller, the rest with wireless
  

Headsets:

For those getting the Premium you can get a wireless headset for $69.95 (no sales on) or $10 more for a Halo 3 edition one. I don't own one but they have mixed reviews. Some say good battery life others say bad, some say good performance others say bad.

I myself will be getting the chatpad and wired headset bundle for $49.95 (no sales on) which looks like the best option. That way I won't need to fully charge before playing online and it won't run out with the weekend marathon I have planned. The chatpad bundle is only $20 more than the rip-off price for the wired headset which is $29.95. You can't use the wireless headsite while it is charging either.

Conclusion:

This took ages to write, I hope it helps someone...