EWW. ATI blows, get Nvidia.

Have you looked at ebay? At any particular time there's a few hundred used PS3s. Though it does seem like every 1/10 is a broken one.

 I've seen used PS3's at the local game crazy. Dunno about gamestop since they aren't displayed, but they do advertise the used price.

However, gamestop does have plenty of used controllers and games.

Well, in the next two weeks im getting a PS3 and taking advantage of the "temporary" pricedrop. Motorstorm is awesome and the extra space is nice, but I do kinda, after much deliberation, want the full backwards compatibility and I dont want to have to pay 600 bucks just in case they dont drop the new SKU model price after the clearout.

On the note about computers: -*NO computer under $1000 will be worth it's material in casing*- At least not in todays ever expanding computer world. When you buy a new PC your supposed to buy UPWARDS not laterally so that it's not obsolete by the time you get home.

Maybe:

The 60Gb model is getting reduced to $429.99 and the 80Gb Motorstorm Pack is already gonna come down to $499.99. And once the 60Gb models are all sold, the new 80Gb Motorstorm pack is the new PS3 model at the standard $499.99 price.

Ok sorry but...

C2D > a Dual-Core AMD.
Nvidia > ATi (ATi has no support for linux, and has horrible drivers compared to NVidia)

Yup.

There's a Ubuntu Dell system I'm getting for my buddy in a few weeks, that kicks some serious ass. 

Gods... Where I live, I have to pay at least 1000$ for a PS3, 450$ for a Wii and about 500$ for a Core 360...

Oh, I love my Core2Duo in Ubuntu.  Someone on slashdot dared someone to run 32000 "busy" threads in linux to see if it would crash like it did his Windows box.  My C2D tore through those 32000 threads like butter.  Yeah, I'm geek like that.

 The code in case your interested ;)

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <pthread.h>
int pthread_create(pthread_t*__threadarg, const pthread_attr_t*__attr, void*(*__start_routine)(void *), void*__arg);
void *Th( void *ptr ) { while(1); }
main() { pthread_t thread; int iret; int n; for(n = 0; n < 31999; n++) { iret = pthread_create( &thread, NULL, Th, NULL); } while(1); return 0; }

I priced a C2D E6700, cheapest I saw was $317. I can get a Dual Core Athlon 6000+ for $150. The performance difference between those two CPUs is marginal and I can take the extra $170 and put it towards more RAM or better monitor, or better Graphics card, etc.

As for the ATI vs. Nvidia issues. The ATI driver issues are overblown. My Radeon 9600 only gave me one issue which I resolved quickly. The card I had prior to it. GeForce 4600 fried my whole system. I had to replace everything except my RAM. It cooked my motherboard, fused my power supply connector to my motherboard, and took out my CPU. Does that mean Nvidia makes crap? Nope. I just had a dud. In fact the Asus GeForce N6800 I'm running now has given me no problems. If my attitude towards Nvidia was the same those who have written ATI off after a prior bad experience, I would have never picked up my 6800. 

You're absolutely right, if you're only concerned with performance.  But the dual-core Athlon 64 X2s are dirt cheap, and offer more bang for your buck if you're building a $500 computer.