With Microsofts proclamation that the Xbox 360 isnt halfway through its current lifecycle yet, and that it will be invigorated by Natal.

Do you think that it might help push more people towards PC gaming, when the usual 5 year cycle runs out and the power of the consoles is completely tapped.

I highly doubt it.  PCs are for porn, not for games.  Microsoft will sell tons more Xbox 360's in the coming years not because of Natal (yawn), but because people will need to replace their broken units.  This is a gold mine that Microsoft cannot afford to give up.  :)  Seriously though, I think the full potential of the stand-alone Xbox 360 has long since been tapped.

I agree that it has been tapped, and im looking for something more, graphics on the xbox and ps3 has been lacking recently with Uncharted 2 as the sole exception.

I think with the current shitconomy we have we won't be hearing about any new consoles for a while.   

It would be suicide to release a $500 console right now.  

I don't plan on building a new PC until StarCraft 2 comes out.  At this time I will also be buying more monitors (4 just isn't enough).  And I also want one of those fancy netbooks that have multitouch screens and can fold up with the screen on the outside like a tablet, but I want to be able to play StarCraft 2 on it so I'll hold off on that for a while.  

As for graphics I won't be impressed until I see the next Unreal Engine game from Epic or Rage released.  

It's the first time I've given any serious thought to a gaming rig, as with my bonus this year I don't have any console left to buy.  Unfortunately my kitchen needs an upgrade more than my gaming habits.

We certainly have more to see from the PS3, Killzone earlier last year is probably the finest looking game on a console, but I'm not sure what exclusives to get excited about on the PS3 this year. To be honest I'm an xbox live addict and spend most of my time playing on that anyway.

The only other thing to worry about in a gaming rig is the fact I will lose my house, possessions and wife to MMOs if I ever have the means to play them.  Single players RPGs suck enough of my life up as it is.