Xbox 360 advice?

[khenning]

I'm strongly considering purchasing an Xbox 360. I used to have a ps3 and loved it. Before that I had a few 360's that all dealt with red ring issues. But it seems like the redesign of the 360 may have solved that. I play mostly sports games and would use the 360 for the espn content that it includes as well. I guess I just really have on major question. How does xbox live work these days? How much does it cost, and will I get a free month or year when I buy the console? Thanks for the help.

[Centurion]

I bought one of the redesigned ones last year after my old one red ringed (it was the 2nd one I'd had that red ringed). So far, so good, no sign of any problems and I've definitely done a few long sessions on it. Don't think I got any free Xbox Live on it but I don't tend to game online

[Garth]

You get xbox Live Silver free as standard, so that allows you to do pretty much everything but play against people online.

I didn't get any Live Gold when I got the console, but that was in 2008, so things may have changed since then. They often have deals on with regards to paying for a subscription. They usually turn up on the dashboad all the time for me.

In the UK the normal price scheme is: £5.99 a month, or £39.99 a year. I imagine the price structure could be different for US residents.

[161803398874989]

You can get Xbox Live Gold for as much as 40 euros a year if you look for good deals.

Silver is crap that allows nothing but downloading DLC. You can't enter parties or play with other people, which kind of are the points of online gaming.