With games like Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Midtown Madness 3, Halo 2 (coming soon), and so forth, you're able to access a huge community of gamers ready and willing to beat the snot out of you. This is especially good if you're a social deviant with a sock puppet as your one and only friend.
Also, for sports fans, Microsoft is setting up the XSN (Xbox Sports Network), wherein you can play out an entire season online against a league of other gamers. Global rankings for various Live titles is another great feature. The Live service is always changing and will always be a great addition to any household with both an Xbox and a broadband connection. Get it, because you won't regret it.
Soldier Of Fortune 2: Double HelixPlatform: XboxPublisher: Activision Though first person shooters aren't everyone's cup of tea, Soldier of Fortune 2 has one thing that few others can boast of: explicitly detailed damage modeling. That's right, you can shoot limbs, chunks of flesh, and more flying with a single shot or a nice, clean stabbing motion. It's also good for the occasionally amusing moment of watching your target bleed more than his body could possibly hold.
Putting all logic, reasoning, and skepticism aside, one interesting thing you have in SOF2 is a system that does a great job with damage modeling (named: GHOUL II). You hit someone in the arm with a bullet and they could still keep coming after you, but hit them in the head and chances are they won't keep shooting once they're missing a big chunk of skull. Occasionally, when you hit an artery, you'll be rewarded with a nice crimson fountain to accompany your enemy's last desperate attempt to hit you.
Armed with an arsenal of the latest modern weaponry, it is up to you, John Mullins, to eliminate a global bio-warfare threat. Your weaponry is as authentic as it could be, replete with authentic sounds and effects. Clearly, the intent is to make sure each shot counts and affects each target as it should. Furthermore, there is a stealth element in the game. However, it is nowhere near as developed as Splinter Cell's stealth element.
What SOF2 does lack, however, is good A.I. This doesn't really detract from the game much, it just makes it easy to beat. With online enabled content, the game is expandable for up to 12 players on a map. But that leaves one persistent problem: the maps tend to be too big, even for 12 players. Personally, while I enjoyed playing Soldier of Fortune 2, it is recommended as a rent before you purchase proposition.