In what PS3 fans will boo, PC fans will cheer, and potentially will become flamebait here, there, and God knows where else, a PS3 camper traded in his chance of getting a PS3 - FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE - for a $ 7,500 custom-built Falcon PC gaming rig. That little stunt was arranged by PC Gamer magazine to prove, as they say, what the finest gaming platform in the world is.

So PC Gamer prowled the campers outside the 'Frisco Sony PlayStation Store, and managed to - as they say - "convert one PS3 diehard from the dark side." They set up a PC demo booth to show off what a PC could do. The guy shown on the left is the guy who won, so to speak. And, by signing into the legally binding contract before a notary public of the City of San Francisco, he has forsaken all chances of owning a PS3 for the rest of his life in exchange for that US$ 7,500 rig with a 30" monitor at 2560x1600, with Intel Core 2 Duo CPU and Nvidia 8800 GTX video card inside.

PS3 fanboys will swear that the guy sold his soul. But look at it this way: in the short run, it's a sweet deal. Why pass up the chance on on a seven-grand rig for free? Unless you're definite you can resell your PS3 for more than seven grand, a rare chance if any. It's technically a steal.

In the long run, however, the guy will have to endure the "true dark side" of what he's done:

• Now he's locked into that never-ending spiral of component upgrades (and attitudes like "I have got to get the G90," or something). With a PS3, you're stuck with the hardware you got (aside from the swappable SATA HDD), but at least you know you're set with what you've got.
  
• And he's never going to get his PS3, ever (unless he wants to break his contract). Nothing's stopping all the other PS3 campers from getting their own gaming rigs in the future either. That's got to be the most painful part of the deal PC Gamer didn't mention in the contract. See? It's always about the fine print.