I finally broke down and bought an XBOX 360. Btw who would buy a core version? It is worthless you can’t play original XBOX games, save your progress, use Xbox Live, or play backup games off the hard drive after you mod it (hopeful on that last one).
I wanted to buy a platinum version in the beginning before xmas, but there were supply shortages and people were stabbing each other to get one. The craze has died down, and I managed to buy one from Overstock.com for $360, which is a great deal considering it is $400 everywhere else + tax/shipping ($420 total). You can get a good deal too if they still have any in stock. I would join Fatwallet to get an additional 4% off (plus they have a great list of deals).