I also picked up a joust 12 month live card yesterday- the arlington heights (nw burb of chicago), il store had a lot of them left. Best Buy now has a digital download card section, so if you can't find any by the xbox 360 games and such, check there...
Hmm... Good find OP... but dang, I already have 5 games still factory sealed that I haven't started... Lots of good deals so far this xmas-ish season...
I also have one sitting in my basement if anyone in the Chicagoland area wants to use it... On one hand, I'll probably never use it again, but then again...
the xbox hdmi kit has an an adapter for the audio though (optical and rca analog), if he doesn't have a way to get sound thru hdmi...
As for component and hdmi, i don't notice a difference... I run my stuff hdmi thru my receiver for switching, the only reason i went with hdmi... I bought cheap...
I sold mine for $50 on craigslist... granted, this was about a month before the 60gb was announced, but still, the retail price of the 20gb (or the 120gb) hdd hasn't changed yet...
http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Planet-Extreme-Condition-Xbox-360/dp/B0016B8Q6M/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1219029851&sr=8-1
I didn't see this anywhere else- gotta' spend $1.01 more for free shipping though...