Would you buy a PS3 now?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7030164.stm

I dunno if I would without the backward compatibility.

nope. PS 3 with 60GB HD is better and it also got backward compatibility too.

I dont think it is good time to buy PS 3 because lack of games at the moment but everyone got different view.

If I won one or was given one, I'd sell it.

No, the Wii has more going for it.

no, an XBOX360 maybe... but then I have a friend who has one and he let's me go play Resistance sometimes cool...


IPete2.

You'd be better off spending the money on a Wii and a bunch of beer, or even just a bunch of beer.

you can buy a wii and an xbox for the same price as a ps3

nah. Wii all the way (near Christmas if they made enough).

I like PS3 simply because I'm a high-tech diehard. However, a PS3 with no BackComp is idiotic given the miniscule size of the current PS3 library; even I wouldn't keep that. Also, I think Sony were absolute fools to even attempt releasing a console that expensive, especially with the excellently entertaining Wii on the market. (360 is take or leave for me.) Seriously, the only (albeit enticing) reasons for me to consider a PS3 right now would be Motor Storm and Sonic the Hedgehog, and no one buys a console just to play two games. Not for more than $40, anyway. ^_

How are PS3 sales going, anyway?

If God of War 2, Collossus and a bunch of other ps2 game didn't work on the ps3 then I wouldn't have bought one.
Just waiting for some decent ps3 games now!!

I intend to buy one after a decent price drop and FF13 (which might come even later at this rate), but if it comes to it I'll be buying mine off of Ebay for backward compatibility support.

I'd love to say wii too. But I've owned one for months and hardly touch it. There just isn't the quality games available. I'm seriously thinking about selling it for a 360. My girlfriend really likes RPG's and wants to play viva piniata, and I love the look of Project gotham 4 amongst other stuff.

Wow, that's gotta be the first time I've heard someone say that!

With regards to (again) the PS3, I'll probably get one when it's commonly available, second-hand, for $100 or less. That's the way we work in my family anyway; we may be about two years, technologically speaking, behind the mainstream consumers, but we're also about $2500 ahead! ^_^
Besides, I've never really understood the people who'll camp outside a store at night just to get the first choice of some new product. (Meaning no disrespect to anyone here in that category, of course.)

I bought a wii when they first came out and never played it, so i sold it (I got more than I payed for it).
I bought another a few months ago and it's only been played on 3 times and that was only when my 8yr old brought her mates round to play wii sports.
My 360 and ps3 get more use, hell even my psp sees more games played than the wii

Nope

Kinda like I wouldn't buy a PS2 for Guitar Hero. But it's coming out for the Wii soon HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY :D

Well, I have my PS2 packed up and ready to be sold for cash. Got a Wii and X360 that I may keep, and have a desktop build on the way. So, with all that in mind, well, seems like that's gonna do me in, forget a PS3...

YAY :D

I have to say this, partly just so that I don't seem completely biased towards PlayStations: I think the Wii is great. I don't have one, I've never played one, but I do my homework when it comes to gaming (as any serious gamer should,) and I applaud Nintendo for creating it. Seriously, that's a big deal coming from me, since I would like nothing better than to see SEGA's star rise above the consoles once more. ^_
Anyway, the Wii. I love the idea of the WiiMote; I've wanted more interactive games for some time. I also love the overall "party play" atmosphere with most of the Wii games; games should bring people together, not push them apart. On the business side, the modest price tag was a good move, and the lack of sufficient units to meet first-release demands was a BRILLIANT move. One thing about human nature: the harder it is to obtain, the more everyone wants it. Just like gold, which retains its value because (so far) there's just not enough of it.
I'm sure the Wii has problems, and I know that it's not for everyone; I just think, considering it from all angles, that it's the most FUN console right now. And of course, fun is in the hand with the controller. XD
Now if only someone would make a system that plays PS2, PS1, and Dreamcast discs, along with a Genesis & NES cartridge slot, I'd be a happy 16-year-old. (Birthday this Wednesday. Wee!) Still, that'll probably never happen. Although, if some of my larger plans unfold... Well, we'll just have to wait & see.

Not sure if you're being sarcastic or serious. That's ( predictably ) about all I hear about the Wii lately, including many times on this very forum.

On Topic: No. Price was never an issue for me. As soon as there's a game I want for it, I'll buy one whatever the price is at that point. I probably won't get one without BC though.

Wasn't backwards compatibility supposed to be emulated in software for Europeans though since their PS3s lacked that back-compat chip the American models have?

Regardless, I'd take a 360 Core over this even-more-stripped-down PS3.
(since you could still basically upgrade a Core to a Premium whenever you got the extra cash ready)

No plans of buying any consoles, my Xbox (old one not 360) gets used for the occasional watching of a DVD or listening to music on and that is about it. I'm not their market though...

I would probably choose the Wii and it's crappy library of games over the 40gig PS3. But if I were to get a PS3, it'll have to be the 60 or 80 gigs version.

As soon as LBP is out i'll have a deep look at the 40gb version. I don't own PS2 games so why should i care about backward compatibility...good to hear that Sony is moving now and the new PSP is selling well too.

I'm waiting for the games. Dropping BC was idiotic.

My 360 and Wii will be plenty busy in the next few weeks anyway. Mario Galaxy being the highlight next month.

What's BC?

waiting for a better price and moore games

@big
Back Compatibility

I prefer not having it and getting a discount of €100. The only thing i do not understand is why they reduce the USB ports from 4 to 2 as these things aren't expensive at all.

Oh right - ta. I guess I should have actually read the link in the OP. :P

BEFORE CHRIST!! Oh, wait,,,,we are talking programing huh? Ummmmm, back compatiblity (i didnt know either, I just read the above :P )

BEFORE CHRIST!! Oh, wait,,,,we are talking programing huh? Ummmmm, back compatiblity (i didnt know either, I just read the above :P )

EDIT: HOW THE!! Double post? ok, cool I think, I shall fix this and say.....

2 Gay guys walk into a bar and,,,,,,,,

if i were you, i would buy it AFTER x-mas. because they will go off price then.

@bi
I at least wrote 50% of your nick instead of just 33% like you did... ;O)

'ta' means 'thanks' taumel, so he wrote 0% ;)

On topic: No

*upset* That's even worse, i'll change my upper posting immediately!

The PS3 is ugly. It makes sense that ugly people will like it. However, many ugly people don't want to be ugly and want to be like the cool people. So, it's not good news for Sony. There are enough ugly people to buy it to make it a success - but not enough ugly people who are comfortable with being ugly to want to buy it.

No, no, no. The 360 obviously has more going for it. It has more games, it's not childish, and it has noticeably more connectivity than the Wii. Thats just to name a few. You can get... no, you do get more for your money if you get a 360. If you actually go through with buying a PS3 then not only have you wasted money, you agreed to be behind on the latest and greatest next gen games.

That's like saying a squirrel makes a better jet pilot than a trout. It may true, but they're both so far away you can hardly care.

There are precious few games out for *any* of the current generation of consoles. Which is why all these console arguments are so entirely futile. Until they get more games, they're all a bit rubbish and a bit of a waste of money. If you actually value games and value for money over bleeding edge technology ( I feel odd describing the Wii as such, but I'll let it pass on the grounds of the controller being a bit fancy ) then you'd probably buy a PS2, a GameCube and an XBox for less ( total ) than the price of a Wii and have an army of second hand games to pick from at very low prices.

ked: What makes the Wii childish?

By the way regarding the backward compatibility, when there is time and development ressources shouldn't it be possible that they're adding this with a full emulation?

Maybe childish was the wrong word. I meant that most gamers would prefer blood/gore/more-action type of games. I am not saying that blood/gore/more-action is the best type of game and you have to get them because they are so cool and the rest are girl-games. I am saying that they seem to have a lot of popularity behind them.

Hopefully you see where I'm coming from. I am sorry if what I had typed didn't read the way I had planned.

@Gabriel: You took focus away from what I was trying to explain. I wasn't just talking about the games. I mentioned games but I was just trying to explain my reasoning about not getting a PS3.

I only said wii has more going for it seeing as its the 'competition'/next gen console. I personally won't be getting a wii for at least a couple of years, too much dosh.

I agree with some of Gabriel's sentiment , in fact I have all of the following (picked up for a song):-

Wouldn't buy one, still no good games. Back to Metroid Prime 3!

PS3 Would not touch it, until some good games come out for it. I have a Wii which is a fantastic console good for fun multi player gaming.

I think one of the main reasons the PS3 has not done so well (apart from the price) is they are still making PS2s and new games are coming out for the PS2!!! AFAIK MS stopped producing the XBOX shortly after the 360s release.

Infact I'm after a cheap PS2 for guitar hero. :)

While you're entitled to your ill-informed opinion, in reality the only blood/violence/gore games that have historically sold really well, all begin with Grand Theft Auto. The most violent game in the top 10 best selling games of all time is "Duck Hunt". Besides which the Wii has plenty of violent games. People just don't mention them much, because by and large they can't compare with the good ones.

What he said. Price is not the issue, lack of games (never mind good games) is the problem. Once Mass Effect and GTA4 arrive tho' I might get an XBox 360.

Yes, but the development of the PS2 emulation software requires continual funding. I don't understand this decision, as currently the software is fairly good (it plays popular titles now, which is more than could have been said for it back when it was first released) and they could have at least kept the software there and just not developed it. To remove it altogether is death for the machine as far as I'm concerned.

The PS2 didn't do well in it's early days simply for DVD playback alone.

The emulation was never totally in software. The PS2 graphics chip was retained as it's impossible to emulate some aspects of the PS2 on the PS3 in software (insane fill-rate\memory bandwidth).

Emulation software costs aren't a significant issue and it certainly shouldn't be an ongoing thing - once the emulator is done right it should work with everything.

The cost saving will be the dropping of the PS2 chip which is probably pennies. So I don't really understand why they've done this.

I don't know it's hard to say without having some detailed knowledge about the technology but i still hear those who said that i's impossible to emulate the amiga, so it seems to be a matter of brute force to a certain degree..

I find the Wii clumsy and inaccurate, and sloppy controls were never my thing.

I might consider PS3 if I had a HDTV and Blu Ray took off, I can rent blu ray disks and get 3 at a time from netflix. And gaming would be a bonus.

For games I'd get the 360, it has all the best games that I personaly would want to play, and good connectivity with the PC.

The GF recently (rather sneekily) bought a PS3, and I quite enjoy watching her play it,it shows potential that hasnt been tapped.

Team ICO have said they are making a new game for ps3 so we can expect some ICO/Collosus game for the PS3.

On that topic- i want to announce my dissapointment with the ps3 "upscaler". My new television upscales so well a ps2 game comes out antialiased and smooth, almost next-gen looking, and collosus looks wonders on it!

PS3 upscaler however.... ew... its like a per pixel enlarge then smooth. It looks like crap! the software update to fix it didnt do anything for me eiter.

Oh well, the original Ps2 is now upstairs in the bedroom... :-)

You haven't played Metroid Prime 3 yet. But as for the other games, yah I kinda agree.

One thing I'm seeing is all this want for backwards compatibility, and people said this back with the PS2 as well. There has been about 1 instance where I've used any form of backwards compatibility in any game console now, and I'm wondering if possibly you're all just being stupid and demanding unreasonable features?

Hell, I don't even play Gamecube games on my Wii. Do you all really spend that much time playing old games rather than the new ones that backwards compatibility is a necessity?

In short, I think it's a very nearly useless feature that most people will never use. Most people aren't even aware they can play games from old systems on the newer ones -- that's right, people don't actually know they can do it. What loss is there to cut a pointless feature people aren't using?

I'm not going to reply, other than this, about the above quoted, foolish statement directed at my "ill-informed opinion".

By the way if you're so much after the holy backward compatibility why not buying a PS3 and a PS2? I mean the price reduction was €200 and a PS2 is sold for €130. The compatibility can't get better and you're still saving €70 if you're primary after the console and not the added extra content.

I think Sony did the right thing and they cut off stuff which isn't important to quite some people (only the USB ports are weird). Most people were moaning about the price and now you have a much better priced PS3, from €600 down to €400. I mean sorry if this isn't an enhancement then i really don't know.

What's missing are the games but once there are hopefully great titles like LBP out the PS3 will sell much better and turn into something enjoyable and useful.

I wouldn't buy any console. I do not have a TV and do NOT want to have one, but instead I already spend too much of my time in front of computers. Besides, I always hated gamepads.

Well, I have an X360, and a Wii, and I've got my PS2 boxed up and ready to be sold. However, I'd still go with the old faithful keyboard and mouse of my future desktop build, and not look back. I mean, the PS3 may be good, but I'd still consider sticking with a nice, high-end graphics card for the same price tag (8800GTX anyone?).

Let's take a vote, PS3, or 8800GTX for a PC?

Nope. Well, I'm willing to admit we're in a minority though. But I still have more PSX games than I do PS2 ones and I don't see that changing one generation on.


Probably the same reason they removed two USB ports. It's not the financial value of the parts, but the value of the features that gets someone to buy a higher model... thanks for the explanation too.


At this stage, there will be roughly $AU699 Sony won't be seeing from me.


I'm not keeping two consoles and I'm not paying for an extra console I would probably never use after I finish FF13.


PS3, because it would last more than 6 months before it became outdated.

After Sony already pissed of europe by never launching the 20GB non HDMI version of the PS3, they can go to where crappy consoles from neverworld belong ... nirvana

Really nobody needs them. They decided themself to make a lot of bla, fake their console capabilities for the 4th time in a row (ie any console ever sold by Sony was done so with faked hardware benchmarks) and once again make the console that expensive that it just does not get up anywhere. And due to the drastically raised game prices here in our country (the games tend to be even more expensive than X360 which are already 70-80$, country is switzerland so no "poor" country where no consoles are sold) in the current generation, Sony is definitely on the dead end.

Microsoft at least has good games for their consoles.
In the end its a win win for Nintendo. Their games are cheaper, there consoles are cheaper and after all, their games are more appealling to anyone beside eye candy sluts.

What Toby said. Buying a state of the art graphics card is a total waste of money, and it's going to lose it's value much, much quicker (that is in 2 years the PS3 is still going to be worth anything). I mean just look at how many people are selling their PS2's and they're 8 years old. Try selling a 8 year old PC!

Also no GTA4 for you!

On October 10th...

PS 3 40GB HD £299

PS 3 with 2 games 60GB HD £349

Id be tempted for the second deal which ( from what I can work out ) is the full PS3 with PS2 emulation for 350 quid.
Its a lot of dough but to be fair... Im sure the PS2 first came out with a around £300 price tag.
PLUS.. you can get a 360 for much less.. but then you need to buy a hard disk, a High-Def-DVD player.. a second controller and that all comes out about the same price as the PS3.

The problem I have is that I know more people that have a 360.. and correct me if Im wrong... but if I play an online game on a PS3 I can only play with other PS3 players... If my mates all have 360's then I have to have a 360 in order to play online with them.

PS... ermm.. can the 360 play normal DVD's ?
So.. I may have to hang on until MS retaliates and drops the price of the XBox and get that that.

can the XBox play normal DVD's? Yes.

I am very lucky to own xbox 360 and it going well for 1 and half years.

I think xbox 360 already drop the price such as

XBOX CORE 360 £179 (price drop already)

XBOX 360 with 20GB HD £250 (price drop already)

Xbox elite 360 120GB HD £299(price drop? maybe next year)

Why would I want to buy all that junk? I watch DVDs on my computer (and eventually whatever HD format becomes most widely adopted) and the only two games I care about anyway are both single player games. I find the idea that you have to somehow buy a load of useless junk to "cancel out" the supposedly "extra value" you're getting by buying the PS3 is ludicrous.

Here's what I care about:
1) Does it play GTA4? Yes.
2) Does it play Mass Effect? Yes.

If on the other hand you fail to spell monosyllabic words correctly, you're pretty much screwed.

I'm tempted by the £350 for 2 games, blu-ray player and 60GB HDD offer, most definitely.

However, the shiny, large and tacky-looking case doesn't. I'd like to see a slim-line, matt finished case.

Hey Flameduck

I have poor english and do you have problem with that? no?

Let get back on to TOPIC !

Not at all. I have poor English too. But I'm fairly sure that you're well aware that "u" and "r" aren't words.

So what you're saying is that no you wouldn't buy a PS3, or what?

ok I understand that ...flameduck.

I would rather wait for PS 4 or xbox 720.

My xbox 360 is nothing to shout about but having said that.....next year games will get better and better hopefully !

The GTA 4 graphics look great but I am sure they can do better than that( no disrespect to graphics artist as they need timescale to make things better)

The GTA 4 Character look like wood wax or somethings but it will get better over time.

My lists of xbox 360 games wanted lists are

SWOS ONLINE
PES 2008
GTA 4

That it really.

I think PS 3 failed live up to own hyped but everyone got different view. I do know for fact that it is hard to program in ps 3 than it is xbox 360.

cheers

If you dont need the extras then good for you but in my case they are not junk.
OK. maybe the High-Def DVD player i can do without.. I will want one eventually though.
Call me damanding if you want but the idea of bringing my PC closer to my tv, connecting it up and then have to boot it up just to watch a movie on a tv does not really appeal.

As for the second controller and a harddisk. It is definately NOT junk for me.
I do believe if you want to play the downloadable games you NEED a disk to save them onto... It seems to me the downloadable games tend to be more the sort of pickup and play when you have a few spare mins. These are just the sort of games Im most likely to get the time to play. These are also the type of games that would get played when people come round for a gaming session.
Also... for two player games ( which is my prefered type of game ) you do actually need 2 controllers.

If I had lots of spare time to play on my own then fine.. but I dont have that much spare time.. and I prefer to play games against apponents in the same room as me
so my argument stands that to spec the 360 to a level I would find useful brings me close to the price of the PS3.

Well aside from the fact that currently most of the Wii games suck, there are a few nice ones on the GameCube that I still haven't quite beaten yet like Ikaragu, Pikmin, and Viewtiful Joe and a few other I still have laying around that I would like to complete. Not to mention I sold my GameCube already so....

PS3 cause it won't be replaced in a few month by the PS4 :p.

I'll never say which is a "good," "bad," "better," or "worse" console/whatever, just that I like some more than others, and for different reasons. Bottom line, no one can really say what IS or ISN'T better, just what they personally do or don't like.

What if one console has a better graphics card, or input card, or sound card? Isn't that considered "better"?

Hello Mr. CEO of Gigahertz Games,

I am from a family of Nigerian bankers...

Anyway, you're wrong, there is a way to test whether or not hardware is or is not better on a technical level. So, technically speaking, it could be said that the PS3 is better on all technical levels. The problem is that all the software for it is terrible.

I bought a PS3 mainly to play all the PS2 games I'd missed out on and to play the decent PS3 games (when they come out)

If the PS3 wouldn't play PS2 games, I wouldn't have bought it as I don't want to have another console in my living room as there isn't much room with the PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii.

I am actually a little tempted by the new lower price but one thing I noticed in shops is that PS3 games seem VERY expensive too. Compared with the others that seems an awful lot to lay down for each game.

In general is it far to say that Xbox 360 games are cheaper than PS3 games or not?

As I have no previous PS2 games the lack of backward compatbility isn't too much of a problem for me and one thing I really RESENT about the Xbox 360 is having to pay to connect to Micorosoft over the internet for Xbox live.

I don't think they should have cut features to reduce the price, just bring it down to a SENSIBLE level, it's screamingly obvious that the best part of £425 is too much for a console! Even £300 for the downgraded version is a lot to pay when the Xbox 360 premium is £50 cheaper and plays pretty much the same games, at the moment I don't care about Blu-Ray.

My main problem with the Xbox 360 is that too many of the games (and certainly the good games) are FPS and I just don't see the point in playing FPS games on a pad when I have a very nice PC with a mouse and keyboard.

I think it's tempting to get lost the tech but it should always be about the games, what they are, how good they are and whether I want to play them. For me at the moment I actually prefer what's out for the PS3 but I don't think I'll buy one yet.

Darkheart

Pfft, yeah, if you can even find any quality PS3 games...
Halo 3 may have done all right in getting people off the fence and going in the X360 direction...

The RRP of X360 games is between £45 and £50, which is essentially the same as PS3. The only difference I can find is that some games ( Heavenly Sword and MotorStorm among others ) have an RRP of £40.

You had better hurry then, they're discontinuing the 60GB version altogether in Europe...


However, consumers will soon not have a choice, as the 60GB version is being phased out of Europe completely. According to Sony's Web site, the Value Pack will remain on sale only "while stocks last." From then on, "once stocks are exhausted, the new 40GB model will be the only one available in SCEE territories."

http://uk.gamespot.com/news/6180547.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=newstop&tag=newstop;title;3


Beyond belief.

The cut-down budget version is still $AU700? Dayum.

I've been a big fan of the last coupla PlayStations (and I'm one of the ones that makes heavy use of the backwards compatibility), but PS3 is still at least a year away before it's remotely affordable and/or has enough of a catalogue of games to warrant even looking at.

Sadly, I'm starting to feel that there's the real possibility a year from now it'll be on the verge of having no support at all as everyone realises it's a lost cause.

I watch with interest, but it looks likely Nintendo's getting my limited funds this round.

Yeah. You have to expect at least some 5th column activity there. No one would intentionally mismanage their own platform that badly. I mean you could get a slightly retarded 8 year old to do a better job than that. As if the whole "Europeans don't mind waiting 6 months" thing wasn't bad enough.

Well at least all those Sony fanboys are reaping what they've sown.

That might be technically true but most shops have the 360 games about 10 pounds cheaper than PS3.

Games available on both systems generally have a higher framerate on the 360 too. And they have rumble + better online features.

The PS3 has a lot of catching up to do in terms of quality as well as price.

At http://www.play.com the first page of XBox360 games are listed at £39.99. The first page of PS3 games are between £29.99 and £39.99.

Both systems have enough good games for me, but the only game I've seen demoed that I simply 'must' play is Little Big Planet.

Looks like Europe aren't the only ones...

Sony Computer Entertainment Australia (SCE Aust) has confirmed to GameSpot AU that the 60GB PS3 is being completely phased out of Australia, with the newly-introduced 40GB model the only version being brought into the country from here on in.

http://uk.gamespot.com/news/6180611.html?action=convert&om_clk=latestnews&tag=latestnews;title;3


It's becoming scarily similar to the last few months of Commodore.

Well that's disappointing. Given we're only lucky enough to get one choice at a time (ahem), and that backwards compatibility was a *requirement* for me to get a PS3, it seems my hopes have been dashed.

Bloody Sony.

Well you can't find too many quality Wii games either but people are still buying that. I personally would hold off on the PS3 for now anyways until they do get more decent games out there.

Don't know what shops you're going to but the ones I'm going to are knocking about £10 off the RRP of games on both formats, making what I said both technically and practically true.


I'll have to take your word for that, since I refuse to pay Microsoft an annual fee to activate online features of a game I already paid for once. No wonder they can get away with cheaper hardware prices with so many suckers around for the Live Arcade subscription "wheeze".

For anyone who's not played on xbox live. It's actually a very good service, and works a lot better than the Playstations service. It's only just over £3 a month and gives you access to downloadable content for games, as well as online muliplayer access.

The new 40gb PS3's don't offer SACD support, either, I believe. Seeing as, if I were to buy one, I'd use my PS3 as a SACD player, I'm debating picking up one of the 60gb ones before they disappear for their SACD support and true hardware BC.

I have used it. Doesn't everyone get a month for free? Yes, it sounds better when you list the monthly price, that's what they want you to do. Over the lifetime of the console, it's greater than the difference in price between PS3 and X360 now, not even accounting for the price the 360 was when it came out, or the additional hardware the PS3 has. And the main selling point ( apart from being able to use features in games you already paid for once ) seems to be that you can download advertising ( free demos. )

If you tried that stunt on PC you'd be crucified. Well hey, maybe not, there are always plenty of people around with their check books open to pay lord-knows-how-much for MMORPG's, so I must just be strange. ( Ok, more so. )

I think that's their master plan. Release a worse product, to get all the people sitting on the fence to chose sides. Kinda like what Microsoft did with Vista.

If you can live with all the other idiots who use it.

I think only for the Pro/Premium and Elite versions of the XBOX360.

You could always just buy the cards at WalMart or similar for Xbox Live. What is it...? 1 MONTH = $7.92; 3 MONTHS = $19.82; 1 YEAR (which comes with a +1 MONTH free on every 1 YEAR card)/13 MONTHS = $47.82

*WALMART PRICES*

You get a free month just by creating a live account. I created a bogus US account the other day (I have a PAL machine) and it gave me a free month Gold.

I don't think its the account that gets you the free month. My friend had to send in his 360 for repair and they gave him a brand-spanking new one with another free month of Gold.

Newsflash : Australia is and always has been Europe... except we just get screwed with price twice as much.

That's true, but the return airfare would make that $30 saving seem kind of silly.

It is. Create a *new* account and you get the free month. You can do it as many times as you like. Ultimately pointless if you want to maintain a friends list\gamerscore etc.