Yes, you can play just about every game, I think the only one that might not work is Halo Reach if you want to play Co-Op mode as it requires a hard drive to be present. It's a bug but I am not sure if it is fixed. You will be limited on what downloadable content you can store on the console and there is not enough space to install games which lowers their load time and stops the optical drive from spinning. You can either add up to a 16gb flash drive (make sure it's a compatible version) to the console for more storage or add the 250gb harddrive for $130 later.