One of the only things I can think of on the top of my head right now is the Steam Sales.
Oh and Amazon is having a nice sale too.
Here's a pretty comprehensive list for the Steam Sale. There is a link to the cheaper Amazon options within the list.
http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming ... ay_04_20120715_cities_xl/
Another thing is that if you buy a fast computer, you could use it's processing power to do CAD, 3D, batch photo editing, or video editing and effects pretty quickly. If that's your sort of thing.
Lastly, emulators. I didn't think I would play older games but I was interested in Chrono Trigger since I heard so many good things about it. I've been hooked for a while now.
Oh yeah, I forgot. Mods. Minecraft mods. DayZ for Arma II. 'Nuff said.
A new computer though, is obviously more expensive than a console. That doesn't mean going cheap is terrible though because Tom's Hardware has a system building marathon every quarter that shows what you can build for budgets ranging from $500 to $2000. And yes they benchmark them. Considering that the PS3 and Xbox run Battlefield 3 at 1280 x 720 at some lowered setting and this quarter's $500 PC can do 1280 x 1024 at Ultra quality running near 60 fps, I think a cheap PC can do really well in fact.
http://www.tomshardware.com/re ... w-To,4/Build-Your-Own,16/
Now I'll make some arguments against the PC.
- It is more expensive than a console.
- You can't really sell your games back. (edit: Kid222 says the EU might have allowed software reselling, lucky you. The US, nope.)
- Component failure is a pain in the ass to track down, though in that regard, if something fails on the console, you don't have many options.
- Potential for viruses and malware.
- Internet. Porn. Youtube. Your productivity goes way down.
- System slowdown. Eventually your computer slows down due to things like fragmented hard drives, additional clutter, dust preventing your computer from going faster without torching itself, etc. Got to keep it maintained like a car.
- Ease of use due to component difference over many PCs. Sometimes games don't work and you don't know why. Some games are hard to configure to run smoothly. Some games run better on a specific brand of hardware than others, and sometimes on different firmware despite the same brand.
- Updates. Windows updates, firmware updates. A sometimes necessary annoyance.
- I can't think of anything else.
Oh and here's a grey area: Piracy. It's good for some people in the sense that they can try before they buy (after all, who wants to spend a good chunk of money on a game they don't like?). It's also good for others in the sense that they don't have to pay a cent to play (shame on you if you do that). Piracy however drives these bigger companies insane in that they will screw over
everyone to make sure that you play a legitimate copy (despite pirates circumventing those methods). A few examples are Diablo 3 and Assassins Creed (and a few others) requiring persistent Internet connection to play fully. Also some games are console only due to fear of piracy. One great example is Red Dead Redemption. Really really good game, but it's sad that it's a console exclusive.