just curious, what are the best tools out there for creating professional
looking background/intro screen arts and sound effects? i have Photoshop CS3
and am in the process of getting a drawing tablet, would this be enough?

as for sound, i think there are websites that will sell me various sound
files, but i was hoping to be able to come up with something passable myself.

Yeah, Photoshop is your best bet for raster graphics. Maybe try Illustrator (vector), Fireworks etc as well.

You can download the trials and use for 30 days, I believe.

for sound, maybe try something like Wavepad - free editor. record your own sounds and edit them to make SFX. http://www.nch.com.au/wavepad/

Good luck