Compare Microsoft Gaming & Toy Deals

In today's Morning Jolt, you can get in the gaming spirit for the upcoming Electronic Entertainment Expo with a discounted Xbox console or Grand Theft Auto III app. Or, prepare for summer with a portable air conditioner, and more, with today's five Editors' Choice deals that we found overnight and early this morning.

For in-store pickup only, Fry's Electronics offers the refurbished Microsoft Xbox 360 Slim Kinect 4GB Game Console, model no. S4G-00001, for $199.99. That's $50 under our April mention of a new one and the lowest price we've seen for this bundle without additional credits. (It's also a current low for a used model by $12.) Sales tax is added where applicable. The console features a wireless controller, headset, 802.11n wireless, 4GB hard drive, Kinect Sensor, Kinect Adventures game, composite AV cable, and more. Deal ends May 24.

No warranty information is provided.

Walmart offers the Microsoft Xbox 360 4GB Console bundled with an Xbox LIVE 12-Month Gold Membership card and a select game of your choice for $219 plus $9.97 for shipping. That's $18 under the lowest total price we could find for the console and Xbox LIVE membership alone, although we saw this bundle for $20 less a month ago. Sales tax is added where applicable. This slimmer Xbox 360 features 4GB internal memory, 802.11n wireless connectivity, and more. Choose one of seven games such as Singularity, Borderlands, Call of Duty 2: Game of the Year Edition, and more.

Walmart offers the Microsoft Xbox 360 4GB Console bundled with an two Xbox 360 wireless controllers and your choice of Xbox 360 game for $229 plus $9.97 for shipping. That's tied with our March mention of this bundle and, depending on which game you choose, at least $47 under the lowest total price we could find for these items purchased separately elsewhere. Sales tax is added where applicable. This slimmer Xbox features 4GB internal memory, 802.11n wireless connectivity, and more. Choose one of three games such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (pictured), Batman: Arkham City, or Assassin's Creed: Revelations.

With a lukewarm response to the 3DS, an aging Wii console, and pressure from Apple and other smartphone/tablet manufacturers, Nintendo was pushed into its first ever annual operating loss this year. Given the current state of affairs, the manufacturer is understandably hoping for a successful launch of the Wii U come November. But is the new console strong enough to take on its competition?

Microsoft officially announced its new contract-based Xbox promotion yesterday, which entails getting the 4GB console with Kinect for just $99 — if you sign up for a 2-year Xbox LIVE Gold membership in the process. But the prospect of being locked into a static LIVE membership plan, with unchanging rates, raises the question: Is this intriguing promotion actually a deal at all?