getting of a PS2 & DS for 360? Should I?

The hard drive is great. My brother has it, and he's got around 15-20 free demos that he downloaded. Some of the demos are actually fun, and you can even play some online.

 

If you get the core SKU, you'd probably have to spend another $40 (IIRC) on a memory card. You wouldn't get the Xbox BC with the 360, and as mentioned, you'd miss on demos and stuff like that (probably XBLA stuff, but I can't remember how big that stuff is). If you don't care about all that stuff, then the core SKU might be OK (you might also get some slightly worse performance in games that use the HDD).

As for whether you should trade in your PS2 and DS, that's up to you. I don't know what games you like, but there are still a lot of PS2 games coming out in the next ~6 months or so that I probably wouldn't want to go without (FFXII, GoW2, Okami, etc), and although I don't have a DS, there will be some big hitters coming out for that soon too (Zelda, FF3, Pokemon, etc.).

Assuming those games are of interest to you, I'd probably rather stick with them for another ~6 months (playing the big Fall/Christmas games), and then trade them in 2007 shortly before/after the 360 gets a price cut.

Of course, you could always end up getting another PS2/DS in 2007 (or later), possibly for ~$100 each or so (not to mention the fact that their successors might/will play their games).

 

Yeah, you can play Xbox games, but you need the HDD, and not all games are BC (most are, but there are some big omissions IIRC).

 

If you're going to get a 360, it really is a better value to get the premium. The accessories are useful (IMO the HDD is mandatory) and are worth way more than the $100 difference.

As for trading your system in, well as RC said there are still some good things coming for the PS2, and of course the DS is moving along well. It's really going to depend on how much you play them, and how much you think you will miss out on down the line if they are gone.

OTOH, the 360 library, which has been somewhat bare up till now, is really going to start coming into its own this Fall. From the sound of it you already have a good idea of what you want to start playing as well.

IMO? I'd sell one of the two systems, and save up whatever you need to cover the difference for the Premium. If you really want to get into next-gen right now, it's best to go in with everything you need.