I'm in a fairly similar boat to dahuman. I work as a programmer, so I need a decent PC. I bought one about 2 1/2 years ago for £750 (~$1100 at the time). The only difference between the machine I got and the machine I needed for work was £120 for an 8800GT. Like dahuman, I've since saved hundreds on games compared to what I would have paid had I bought them on a console. I can play all my old PC games and can emulate just about anything from the PS2 back. Crysis and GTA 4 aside, I've never had a problem with running any game at high detail at my monitor's native resolution of 1680x1050.
In addition, I have the choice to play games however I want. If I want to sit on the couch and use a controller with the PC hooked up to the TV, then I can do. If I want to use a Wii remote in my office, I can do. Hell, if I want to install Linux and play open source games in my attic then I can. Aside from the better graphics, the flexibility, versatility and choice in PC gaming is what attracts me, and that's before you get to the myriad other things a PC can do, including in my case, making a living. The huge amount of mods and free extra content for games like Oblivion, Fallout 3, TF2, L4D2, the Total War games, STALKER and God knows how many others is just extra gravy. In comparison, console gaming seems to me to be far too restrictive, offering only a small subset of what a PC does and seemingly far too reliant on shit or bust 'Hollywood' style big budget games that have to sell extremely well just to recoup their enormous costs.
I'd say there's never been a better time to be a PC gamer than now, and a lot of it is down to digital distribution in general and Steam/ Valve in particular. It's far easier nowadays to buy a game online than it is to pirate one. By getting their games onto Steam, indie outfits and publishers like Paradox can thrive by targeting specialised niches. As well as that, PC gamers often get the definitive versions of multi-platform games (e.g. the recent Capcom games, Batman: AA, Dragon Age, BFBC2, Left 4 Dead 2 etc etc), the super-fun casual games from the likes of PopCap and Big Fish and still get 'AAA' exclusives like the Total War series, The Witcher 2, Starcraft 2, Diablo 3 and Civ 5. The usual cycle of things is that the PC tends to get a bit neglected at the start of a new console generation as everyone rushes to the new platforms. By the middle of the gen, which is where we are now, it starts to swing back towards the PC as advances in technology mean that even the lower-priced hardware significantly outclasses consoles. The last few years have been the best I can remember since the late 90's and if the usual pattern is followed, it's going to get even better :).
