Jiggah

The idea behind the Cerberus Network was great.  The implementation sucked balls.  They released a lot of fluff for the Network and then made the actual good stuff paid for.  I don't mind having to pay for worthwhile stuff, but they should have also included some of that stuff free of charge through the Cerberus Network.  On the technical side, the fact that on the PC, you had to log onto the website rather through the game to access material made it completely useless and only acted as more of an ingame advertisement and DRM rather than an exclusive club.

The reason for the extension is because they know it's still in beta.  It's so bad, they should not be charging people money for this product.  

A lot of them aren't hard at all.  They definitely have patterns and if you make painkillers/quickstep, they become a breeze.  You can literally stand next to them and just whack them over and over again.

If people are in need of IDEs to practice programming.  MS has a site that allows students to use full products of their development software i.e. Visual Studio 2010 Professional, XNA Game Studio, etc for free.  You just need a Live account (I believe a 360 account works) and be a verified student at a university/college (don't think it covers highschools, not 100% sure).  This is not the same as MSDNAA.  I had to use this site because my university could not afford to get Server 2008 licenses even though they approved the networking book for Server 2008.
 
https://www.dreamspark.com/  
 
 Again, full fledge working software for non-commerical, personal use only.  It'll allow you to practice with professional toolsets.  There are, of course, free software like Code::Blocks for C++ and Python can be downloaded for free off the official Python website. 
 
http://python.org/

Python is also my recommended starter language.  The truth is that the language isn't a huge issue.  It's the ability to pick up the logic behind general programming and that is what turns a lot of people off from programming.  Once you get the logic, other languages pretty much follow the same rules. 
 
Most colleges require a basic computer course, even for majors like business.  In these courses, you'll probably do some very basic programming, usually in Visual Basic.  If you dig what you learn there, then you can figure out if you enjoy it or not.

They are good for some entry level job positions, but that's about it.  Great if you're looking for a job while still trying to finish up.  If you're looking for higher paying jobs, follow though with a BS/BA degree.  The counseling I've gotten is that do not bother with Masters.  If you're going to shoot for the top might as well go for a Ph.D.

All Games for Windows or Games for Windows Live have full 360 controller support.  I've also heard that the wireless 360 controller is glitchy even on supported games i.e. sometimes triggers do not read correctly.  I've been playing with my wired 360 and love it.

For less headaches, I'd recommend a Mac.  Especially, if you aren't tech savvy.  Getting a Mac for my sister was probably one of the best investments I've made.  I don't have to go over to her house to repair shit constantly.  I'm not saying it doesn't have it faults, but it's definitely less finicky IMHO.  It still has a lot of the crap that Windows has i.e. automatic installation of adware, programs that are uninstalled but retain folders in directories, it's just less noticeable to the average user.   If you're looking for longevity, then getting a Mac with Apple Care is a great investment in my book.  Customer service for PCs are one of the shittiest aspects of PC users.  If you ever have to deal with Dell support, you know what I'm talking about.
 
If you have an ounce of tech savvy and want to learn about computers, I highly recommend getting a PC instead. 
 
Both can do documents, presentations, and web surfing equally well.  I do all of that on my $300 dollar netbook (another great investment).  If you're using it for school, just make sure that the techs at school have full support for Macs. 
 
Edit: 
 Utilize your student status and get the $100 discount on Macs.  It's well worth it since they also provide a discount on Apple Care.  If the promotion is still going, you'd get a 2nd gen iPod, and printer, too.  The iPod was probably the nicest thing I got from that deal, giving the Mac to my sister.  I use that thing practically everyday.

My recommendation is dependent on what you use it for: 
 
PC (technically Windows) for serious gaming.  You could always hackintosh to get Mac on PC.
 
Mac, if you have the money, like the aesthetics, and/or want to fit in.  They are good if you're just going to play the occasional game and those games are not graphics whores. You can easily "dual boot" Windows, so you get the best of both worlds.  However, Mac hardware is ALWAYS one generation behind PC or relatively weak to the PC counter-part when you're matching price, even on the mobile side. 
 
If you get either, you can install Linux.  I really don't see the point.  It's fun to get to know, but you'll probably boot into it once every 3 months then promptly wipe it off the drive to make room for something useful.  
 
Point is Macs are expensive for the "quality" they spin at you.  They are one generation late, but cost a shit lot more.  They are however, extremely nice in design and general packaging, but you can find those in a Windows equivalent at a lower price.  If you haven't used a Mac before, you can try going to a Best Buy or Apple Store and give it a run through.  It's not the most intuitive if you're coming from Windows i.e. you'll be going "where the fucking is the right-click" for a bit, but you can adapt fairly easily.

He actually did give a pretty heart-felt serious answer near the end.  You can tell when he's in character and when he isn't.  I liked his "corn-packer" remark when one of the Congressmen challenged on doing real work.