Trouble choosing between a PS3 and building a new PC.

Hey guys, 

I got a summer job this year through my state government. Unfortunately, I live in Minnesota, and if you follow the news you may know that our state government has shut down as of about a week ago. I have one paycheck for about 246 dollars, and another coming soon for about 120. If the state gets its shit together before the planned last day of my job, August 19th, I'll get my job back.  I'm trying to decide if I should go ahead and keep saving that money so I can build a new PC, or if it's worth getting a PS3 this late in the game. I already have a 360, and my Steam account has around 59 games on it, but I can only hold about 6 on my hard drive at a time, because I'm running Windows on an older Macbook Pro.
 
 
So is it worth it to buy a PS3 at this point, or is saving my money for a nice PC the smarter idea here?

easy choice PC, more bang for the buck in my opinion cause you can do more with a PC

Uncharted 3.

Get a PS3.

Since you already have a 360, I'd go for the custom PC. PS3 and 360 overlap a lot, and as @BUCK3TM4N said, you'll get a much better bang for your buck with a PC. With so many games on Steam you won't be needing to spend any money in more games for a long, long time :)

"Building"? Hell yes! It's a blast to build a new PC, but if you just want to play games, well... You'll get a blast playing PS3 exclusives too. The choice is yours. But if you ask me i'm leaning towards building a new PC.

You have a Steam account with a seemingly good selection of games. A PS3 is great, but within the next 2 years new consoles will be coming out. A decent PC these days will last you up to 4 years.

Games on Steam now if you wait for the sales are dirt cheap. PS3 games will cost you much more. Even new games at $50 on PC feature a $10 savings vs the PS3. Don't even get me started on the Summer/Black Friday Steam sales where great games are a couple bucks.

Do yourself a favor and build a decent PC.

@Biohazardous: @BUCK3TM4N said:

easy choice PC, more bang for the buck in my opinion cause you can do more with a PC

Basically this. Your options (of what you can do on a computer) are near limitless. Especially if you build it yourself. It should be cheaper in the long run too if you're replacing your mac with it. Hardware lasts a lot lot longer now than it ever has before. I can still run max settings in the newest games on my 4 year old PC. It probably has another good 4 years in it before I need to consider upgrading.

Why don't you look at which games that purchase would enable you to play, pick those you are interested in and weigh them against eachother? Would you really let that choice be decided by random fanboys on the internet or have you already made your choice and are just wanting some confirmation?

PS3 it'll play everything well and be cheaper.

PC, we get sales pretty much daily.

This shouldn't even be a question. PC.

I think the choice is simple: build a PC. 
 
I own a 360 and a PS3 and just finished building my first true gaming PC two days ago. Throughout the process all I could think was "why didn't I do this sooner?" 
 
Ultimately, I'm saying PC is the route to go for you for one major reason: Bang for your buck. Because of the shaky financial situation you're in you'll be able to benefit far more from getting AAA titles on Steam than from a brick and mortar. As a gamer, the back catalog of truly astounding PC only games are remarkable. Yes, Uncharted 2 was amazing and so will UC3, but right now I'm getting to enjoy the Dawn Of War II games, Total War Shogun 2, Civ V, The Witcher 1 and 2... and all except Witcher 2 I got at really low prices- heck, Shogun 2 came free with my video card. 
 
All in all I managed to make an amazing PC with parts from New Egg for a total cost of $840. It was the best decision I made as a gamer in a long, long time.

Build the PC, it's definitely worth it.

I'd also pick PC as you already have a wide selection of games. a PS3 is fine but you need to invest in games which you may or may not be able to afford what you want when it comes out.

If you desperately want to play another competent TPS then get a PS3. If you want to play games which your 360 doesn't already have more than adequately covered then get a PC.

PC....
 
Easily....

Alright, looks like I'm saving my money for the PC. Thanks for the quick feedback everyone, I really appreciate it.

@Biohazardous said:

Alright, looks like I'm saving my money for the PC. Thanks for the quick feedback everyone, I really appreciate it.

No wait! I wanna say PC too first!

PS3 it'll play everything well

Hard to say. It'd help if I had more to go on, like, what games do you most enjoy? 
This choice is only "obvious" to fanboys.

Both are fantastic but I'd go with the PC. Too many good games comin for PC and I feel like consoles should always been secondary to the main platform :PC.
 
I'm an owner of both.

My vote goes for a PC, a lot of developers have been saying they're starting to hit a limit with the 360 and PS3 at this point. They're pushing a lot more into PC games cause of that now too, I also think PC games age better then console ones, a recent example would be GTA 4, I tried to play that on 360 a couple months back but thought it looked god awful, but I got it on PC recently via the summer steam sale and it looks fantastic on PC.

@kingzetta said:

PS3 it'll play everything well

Enslaved, Bayonetta and Castlevania LoS say hi.

Coming from someone who doesn't have a good enough PC to play PC games and mainly uses his PS3 for blu-rays/netflix, I'd say go with a PC.  You've got a Steam account already and you've lived this long without a PS3 so why start now?  We're probably going to hear about next-gen systems for PS and XBOX in the near future any way so getting a PS3 now just seems like a waste. 

I can't imagine the amount of games you'd miss by not having all three, so get whichever you feel like.

@SlasherMan said:

@kingzetta said:

PS3 it'll play everything well

Enslaved, Bayonetta and Castlevania LoS say hi.

I had no problems with Enslaved or Castlevaina, no idea what your even talking about there. Bayonetta got patched and now runs well.

PC without a single doubt, Steam, Blizzard games and Valve games :). Always daily sales, games modding and who doesn't love keyboard+mouse control more than controller :)

PC everytime : )

@kingzetta: It's called having a functioning set of eyes. Admittedly, they may be a bit too sensitive for this stuff but hey, I did still enjoy those games despite the issues so don't be feeling sorry just yet.

I see you chose PC.
 
I came into this thread to say PC.
 
Good choice.

PC since you can always just upgrade your hardware when its becoming obsolete.

PC is a good choice, since you have a 360 its not worth the money for a few PS3 exclusives.

PC
You'll be thankful you did once all the holiday games are out this year.
Never mind the endless titles and sales on Steam.

If you already have 59 steam games, i'd suggest buying a PC to actually play them. 

Hard to say. It'd help if I had more to go on, like, what games do you most enjoy? This choice is only "obvious" to fanboys.

I own both. I have a king sitting on my desk, and a black box sitting underneath my TV 
 
Sure, the PS3 has about 10 really remarkable exclusives, but its awesomesauce ends there.. Multiplats? most of them run better on PC, with better visuals and controls (you can either use M+KB or a controller). PC has better and more stable internet in the games (no host migration bullshit), there are ALL kinds of awesome mods to add to games and experiment with, mods that enhance games and change them around.. I could count so many more things 
 
like Ken Levine said, a PC is a crystal ball sitting on your desk

honestly at this point of the console's life cycle, its better to get a PC.

Unless you reallyreallyreallyreallyreallyreallyreally love UC3, then get a PS3.

Yeah, PC is the right choice since you already have a console.

@SlasherMan: I thought both Enslaved and Castlevaina ran great and looked amazing. I feel very sorry for you and all other frame counters.

New PC. There's no denying it.

PC

@kingzetta said:

@SlasherMan: I thought both Enslaved and Castlevaina ran great and looked amazing. I feel very sorry for you and all other frame counters.

And I feel sorry for the suckers who spend $50+ on an unused copy of every full sized game. Some people just don't know how to handle their money.

@MrKlorox said:

@kingzetta said:

@SlasherMan: I thought both Enslaved and Castlevaina ran great and looked amazing. I feel very sorry for you and all other frame counters.

And I feel sorry for the suckers who spend $50+ on an unused copy of every full sized game. Some people just don't know how to handle their money.

Yeah, that's nice. Your little vendetta against me is getting old.

@kingzetta said:

@MrKlorox said:

@kingzetta said:

@SlasherMan: I thought both Enslaved and Castlevaina ran great and looked amazing. I feel very sorry for you and all other frame counters.

And I feel sorry for the suckers who spend $50+ on an unused copy of every full sized game. Some people just don't know how to handle their money.

Yeah, that's nice. Your little vendetta against me is getting old.

Great, so I can't slay a troll if I've done so in the past. Respond with something relevant instead of trying to victimize yourself.

@MrKlorox said:

@kingzetta said:

@MrKlorox said:

@kingzetta said:

@SlasherMan: I thought both Enslaved and Castlevaina ran great and looked amazing. I feel very sorry for you and all other frame counters.

And I feel sorry for the suckers who spend $50+ on an unused copy of every full sized game. Some people just don't know how to handle their money.

Yeah, that's nice. Your little vendetta against me is getting old.

Great, so I can't slay a troll if I've done so in the past. Respond with something relevant instead of trying to victimize yourself.

I never said I payed $50+ for them, so your post was out of the blue and angry.

@kingzetta

PS3 it'll play everything well and be cheaper.

@kingzetta said:

@MrKlorox said:

@kingzetta said:

@MrKlorox said:

@kingzetta said:

@SlasherMan: I thought both Enslaved and Castlevaina ran great and looked amazing. I feel very sorry for you and all other frame counters.

And I feel sorry for the suckers who spend $50+ on an unused copy of every full sized game. Some people just don't know how to handle their money.

Yeah, that's nice. Your little vendetta against me is getting old.

Great, so I can't slay a troll if I've done so in the past. Respond with something relevant instead of trying to victimize yourself.

I never said I payed $50+ for them, so your post was out of the blue and angry.

Oh so you buy used instead? That's worse than piracy.  What's this ignorant comment supposed to mean?
 
@kingzetta said:

PS3 it'll play everything well and be cheaper.

I guess you're just an idiot, but I think we've covered this.