I would suggest getting the consoles and various games. You will get alot more for your money. Or just get one system, a couple of games and any good Laptop.

Desktops are over rated IMO and in terms of gaming, you will need to keep spending on hardware just to keep up.

My Laptop may not run Crysis, but I can still run Bioshock at a decent framerate on Medium settings and WoW runs perfectly, only cost me $600. Although I didnt buy it for that, it was just a little icing on the cake I guess.

I spent $2000 on a PC and Monitor a few years back and by the end of that year I regretted my purchase as the newer games on the way were too much for my PC to handle. I would need to dip into Medium settings always and sometimes even lower.

It may be different now with the hardware, but from my experience, way too much to think about keeping up.

Shit... just get an HDTV and a System. Problem solved... more games available now and in the future plus a much larger screen to play them on. :)

I would get lost if I had $2000 to spend.

 Good point anyway PC's cost a lot of money to upgrade and Pc's are only better in RTS, MMO and MMORPG's. A modest PC with software is all most require.

 If you really want a computer, get a Laptop, you won't regret it. Great for work, home and school. It is portable, meaning if you like to lug a PSP around also... get a WiFi usb connector and use SKYPE. Now you save on your phone bill. :)

If I bought an internet card for the Laptop, this would make like a portable WiFi connection for my PSP. Well, I am pretty sure anyways.

I'd get the consoles if I were you, three consoles will most certainly yield a much broader spectrum of games that just a PC alone would.

My (general) strategy with PC hardware currently is to wait for the new equipment to be released and buy the previous equipment to get the best performance per dollar; if you time it correctly your PC will be good for a few years, and (although you won't have the "best" performance) your performance will be good for almost all games.

 While that is a decent strategy, I would suggest ignoring it completely in terms of games. While you are right and he can mantain "good" performace, for $2000 I would expect more after 2 years.

On the other end you buy a $250-500 gaming console and you mantain "great" performance for more than double time and less than half the cost.

PC for me seem to get prettier and prettier while at the same time getting worse and worse. Crysis looks absolutely beautiful, but other than that.... meh. I don't think I have actually played through a PC game since Diablo II before going online...

Now that is what a PC is meant for in terms of gaming. MMO's. :) Now almost any laptop can run majority of the available MMO's.

Ok then, the PS3 killer PC.

8800gt - $310
2gb ram - $60
CPU - X2 6000+ - $200
Case + PSU - $250 for an antec sonata III+500w PSU or 125 for generic
Motherboard - round $120
OS - $140 for premium
$1080 or $955 and you can take another 50 off if you go with a 9600gt

Current PS3 prices - $800
edit: remember if you have an up to date OS you can forgo vista, if you have a quality case and PSU you can forgo that cost too, and you can ebay your old parts. Furthermore, if you have a recent computer you just need to do a GPU and maybe ram upgrade. Can this system run COD4 @ 720P? LOL or does it even run at 720P on the PS3? Can this system run GT5p @ 1280 by 1080 @ 60fps? For sure. Edit: Buy a Wii as well and fill the rest with games. I would say it's a better system than getting a PS360 combination.

$2000 can buy you a hell of a nice computer.