Gaming Setup Hall of Shame

[Jeff AMN]

I don't really like to post links to my own stuff, but I thought you guys might find some of these amusing. It's basically the worst (console) gaming setups I could pull together and comment on. It's split into three parts to make it safe for 56k users. Let me know what you think.

Story here: http://stupidgamer.com/2007/06/18/gaming-setups-hall-of-shame-part-one/

[Kaytrim]

Jeff,

That list is something to behold, and learn from.  My home office looks like some of those setups <hangs head in shame>

Kaytrim

[ChadTower]

Uh, dude, there's nothing wrong with a couple of those setups.  Not everyone wants to build a giant elaborate 4 month project to play a console.

[Jeff AMN]

Uh, dude, there's nothing wrong with a couple of those setups.  Not everyone wants to build a giant elaborate 4 month project to play a console.

It's all in good fun. For many of these, I actually PM'd the guys and asked them if I could use it in the piece. I didn't get responses from anyone, but those that knew that their setup was going to appear laughed it off. It's blogging. You take something with just the smallest flaw and blow it up like crazy. Some of them, however, are just truly atrocious.

[shardian]

I played on WAY worse setups than that back in the 8bit/16bit era - as did all of you. I played resident Evil 4 all the way thru on a 13" tv and enjoyed the hell out of it. That is the cool thing about consoles - they can be played anywhere in any setup, and that is also why console emulators will never appear on any of my arcade machines.

[ChadTower]

It's all in good fun. For many of these, I actually PM'd the guys and asked them if I could use it in the piece. I didn't get responses from anyone, but those that knew that their setup was going to appear laughed it off. It's blogging. You take something with just the smallest flaw and blow it up like crazy. Some of them, however, are just truly atrocious.

IMO, good fun would be suggestions on how to improve the setup, not tearing them apart.  Especially since some of them are perfectly fine.

Hell, I was still playing on a 13" tv up to the 64 bit era.

[RayB]

Or how about those of us who were stuck playing our Atari games on the "spare" BLACK & WHITE tv, because the parents didn't want to "damage" the precious new color tv?

[Jeff AMN]

Ok, I think people are just looking at the pics and thinking that I'm bagging on the tech involved. It's all about execution within their budget. There some really nice setups there, but horrible use of components. It's not about the money spent, it's about the way they are used.

[shardian]

The reason that one person don't use the projector for their xbox 360 are as follows:
1) projector isn't HD
2) bulbs for projector are EXPENSIVE and not a good idea to log a bunch of gaming hours
3) projectors are really only good in a dark room.

[ChadTower]

Or how about those of us who were stuck playing our Atari games on the "spare" BLACK & WHITE tv, because the parents didn't want to "damage" the precious new color tv?

Hell yeah, on a 9" black and white TV with a broken antenna covered in tinfoil and pliers to change the channel.  In 1983.

[Jeff AMN]

Or how about those of us who were stuck playing our Atari games on the "spare" BLACK & WHITE tv, because the parents didn't want to "damage" the precious new color tv?

Hell yeah, on a 9" black and white TV with a broken antenna covered in tinfoil and pliers to change the channel.  In 1983.

 

I had the exact thing going. Did the tin foil actually help, or were we just that desperate?

[ChadTower]

It definitely helped.  I could barely get anything without it... with it, I sorta could get enough to watch GI Joe and Transformers if I got home from school fast enough.

[shardian]

I still have a set of bunny ears covered in tin foil on my 19" tv. Pay for TV? NEVER!!!!  ;D

[ChadTower]

But the picture is always better while you have your hand on the antenna.  If you let go, the picture goes mostly away.

[Howard_Casto]

You guys are way off base...  Jeff was correct in bashing every single solitary one of those, they all had issues and it had nothing to do with how broke the people were when they built it.  

Since someone suggested it'd be more constructive to make sugggestions on how to improve I can list the things that ALL of these setups need to change right now.  

1.  Priorities!  You've bought a 400-600 dollar console and 200-300 dollar speakers and you hook it up to a 19 inch tv?  Buy a new frikkin tv!  If you can't afford a new tv then, maybe, just maybe, you should have bought a tv INSTEAD of the speakers.  Anyone who thinks digital surround is going to enhance the experience of straining their eyes at a postage stamp of a composite ntsc signal is crazy.

2.  Speakers don't work if they aren't placed properly.  The tv needs to be centered between the l and r speakers.  The surround speakers need to be behind the player.  The center speaker goes on top or behind the tv.  End of story, period.  If you don't have space or the means to do this then you just wasted a butt-load of money because your speakers are never going to work right.

3.  Clean up a little why don't cha?  Mind you I'm a slob, but I can pick up my area long enough to take a snap.  Some people have no shame.

4.  The tv should be sitting between 2 and 3 feet off the ground.  Period, end of story.  If you are a little person, or a giant I apologize, but otherwise this the is proper hieght unless you enjoy neck strain.  

5.  Priorities!  (Again).  If your room is so tiny that you can't even leave space for a chair, maybe you should save your money for a storage building or something before cramming your room with three truckloads of electronics.  

6.  Pimping consoles is stupid.  In 5 to 10 years it'll be a door stop.  Spending money to put leds and do-hickeys on your xbox is throwing away money you could be spending on games.  If you've ever spent more than maybe 15-20 bucks on modding, you have a problem.  Also anything that permenantly alters the console reduces the value of it 20 years from now when you can only find them on ebay.  I like flashy lights and purdy pictures too, but I put them on things that'll last.  

[ChadTower]

Howard is on your side. 

[Gutshot]

there needs to be a list of bad mame setups like this!

[shardian]

there needs to be a list of bad mame setups like this!

The obligatory crap mame linky:
http://www.wickedretarded.com/~crapmame/

[Jeff AMN]

there needs to be a list of bad mame setups like this!

There is: http://www.wickedretarded.com/~crapmame/index.html

He's not into pulling any punches though.

EDIT: Beaten!

[CheffoJeffo]

EDIT: I WAS going to start the countdown until some noob posted a CrapMAME link ... and who do I see ? 

Oops forgot the smiley in my rushed edit ...

[shardian]

It HAD to be done. Figured I might as well.

[psik0tik]

I love this one....never knew you could use the extra leaf on a table as a flat hutch 

The best of this is the garbage can right next to it.

[DaveMMR]

there needs to be a list of bad mame setups like this!

The obligatory crap mame linky:
http://www.wickedretarded.com/~crapmame/

Oh oh here we go...

"That guy is mean!  How can he just tinkle on other people's hard work?!"
"Haha!  That's hilarious!  'Pac Matt is taking the F*** off!'"
"Skittles?  I like admin buttons!  I use my CP for word processing."

Oh, and for the record, I agree with the surround sound speaker gripe (even outside the gaming spectrum).  People who buy these things and bunch them all up front and center are wasting their money and should instead give it directly to me.  Paypal link available upon request.   

[Gutshot]

I had never seen that before, his writing is very funny. I was laughing so hard at points I could barely read. 

[RayB]

Cutting out a wall to turn a projection tv into a "flat panel" is just priceless. 

[missioncontrol]

some of the pictures were funny but your rants got a little old or perhaps it was the way it sounded in my mind as I read it, well anyways here's a few pics of my set up, it's not glamorous but the kids and I don't mind....

[Jouster]

Some of those really need to be ripped!

It's not the amount of money you spend on your setup...or how big your TV is or how many speakers you have...its the whole setup together.  Plus the other point of this article, correct me if I'm wrong...was that these people were proud to show off their overcrowded cardboard box table...or the fact that they had 100 speakers crammed into roughly 4" of desk space...hardly enough to be worth having more than a mono speaker in its place.  To me, its more about the absolute failure of planning and good thought before throwing this stuff together.

These setups are counter productive to being considered 'good' setups.  It's one thing to have spent $500 or more on the rest of your setup...with the 15" console TV still the center of attention because you are waiting for just the right sale to pick up the HDTV you've had your eye on...but these were not quite that caliber.

Jouster

[patrickl]

Cutting out a wall to turn a projection tv into a "flat panel" is just priceless. 

Yeah, that was my favorite as well. I saw it in a TV commercial, but I guess he actually did it.

[Texasmame]

Or how about those of us who were stuck playing our Atari games on the "spare" BLACK & WHITE tv, because the parents didn't want to "damage" the precious new color tv?

"You'll burn those little squares in the screen!"

[Texasmame]

there needs to be a list of bad mame setups like this!

There is: http://www.wickedretarded.com/~crapmame/index.html

He's not into pulling any punches though.

EDIT: Beaten!

Oh, he slags on Mom's Arcade which is just about the coolest thing going. 

[Joystick Jerk]

Oh, he slags on Mom's Arcade which is just about the coolest thing going. 

Cool in fuction, ugly as sin.