What type of CPU should I get?

I am planning on building a new computer with a budget of $1200, and I was thinking on whether I should go with a Quad core or a Core 2 duo. This will primary be a gaming computer. The reason I am asking this is because I remember hearing that Core 2 duo's are better with games than Quad cores.
Any advice would be helpful, thank you.

for now the dual is better choice, quad is more future proof though because new games will most likely support multicores. (at least more than current ones )

How long are you planning to keep the computer before upgrading? Though with nehalems coming, upgrading will most likely mean whole new rig anyways...

You know, being sort of a "Graphic Design Enthusiast", it's really hard for me to recommend a dual-core over a quad. Especially since a quad can do so much better at 3ghz than a dual at 4ghz in the applications I use.
But if all you care about is gaming, then I have to admit that a dual-core will be the better choice for you.

**Random musing about the power of a modern quad:
When comparing a 4 year old P4 530j@4.0Ghz to a Q6600@3Ghz at rendering the same scene using final gathering in Mental Ray, the Q6600 was nothing less than 20x as fast. No joke. These are good times for 3D animation.

Q9>E8>Q6>E6>E7

Did you forget the e 8000 series also overclocks, and would therefor stay ahead of the quad in most games still, except the ones where a quad does better anyhow ?