first post, why FPGA?

I've heard a lot about FPGA's, i've been in the electronics field for quite a few years, and always
was curious about these devices and their capabilities.
Recently i came across several youtube videos, and was amazed at how versatile these things are!
You may have heard of MAME (http://mamedev.org/) which emulates classic video arcade games.
Well an FPGA can BE that hardware of that classic video arcade game.
There was a Z80 or 6509 cpu in that old arcade game? Well there can be one in that FPGA chip also.
Sound chips, memory, video controllers? Yep, they can all be accurately programmed into the FPGA, not just emulated, that hardware (as in the actual logic elements) can be accurately programmed into an FPGA!
And it's not just just old-school applications on these things, FPGAs are most of the logic "glue" in modern systems, and a lot more besides, check out this link for a clue as to the capability of FPGAs:
http://www.computerworlduk.com/news/it-business/3290494/jp-morgan-supercomputer-offers-risk-analysis-in-near-real-time/

So i decided it was time that i finally got hold of an FPGA and saw for myself what they can do.