Battlestations Week Day 5 – Andrea

Hello everyone, happy Friday! Since the last year when we did this, not much has changed on my end. Still working off of just my laptop, so today will be all consoles. My backdrop has changed and a couple of things have been added, but that’s about it! I’ve also just recently moved and had oral surgery, so my apologies; there’s a lot of disarray that I normally would have cleaned up. I also apologize for the picture quality, a year after we did the last one of these and I still don’t own a camera that’s not in a phone and I took these at night. Anyways, let’s jump right in!

(Sorry about the rogue shoe and TV reflection!) I’ll start off with my dinky little glass and metal TV stand that got picked up off the street during Boston college student moving day. It really, really needs to be replaced since not everything can fit on it, and it is definitely sagging in the center. We had plans to buy one of the Expedit shelve units from Ikea (with all of the separate sections) so we could put one console in each section, but moving is tiring and expensive, so that dream sort of faded away for now. Next, the TV. I cannot remember if I told the story of my TV before. This is either the third or fourth TV we went through in about a month. We had a great Sony, but if too many people in my house were using electronics, it would flicker, so back it went. Then we tried another Sony that had horrible, horrible input lag. Finally we brought a computer with us to the store, and connected it to the different TVs, and spent a couple hours testing the lag on each TV before we finally picked out this one. It’s a great TV, a 40” Samsung that I believe is not made anymore (god help us if we start having issues with it).

So, moving on to the top shelf. We have some newcomers to the top shelf. First is the Wii, which just kind of sits there. I don’t think it’s been turned on in months, actually. On top of the TV base are various memory cards, including a PS1 memory card I’ve had for about seventeen years. Next is the Roku, and next to the Roku is another new face, the Ouya. Which also hasn’t been turned on for a while, and is mostly used for playing music from Google music through the TV.

On the second shelf we have the Xbox. Next comes the PS3. The third thing on the shelf is just the cable box, although sitting neglected on top of the cable box is the poor Retro Duo. I love the Retro Duo, though, I got it a few years ago as a Christmas gift for my boyfriend, and it has served us well. Only one game hasn’t worked on it (a version of Super Mario RPG) and it is convenient to have although we did replace to controllers with regular SNES controllers and a Turbo controller.

The bottom shelf is mostly for stuff that doesn’t get used very often, with the exception of the PS2. I don’t even think any of it has even been plugged in since moving. We also started to have some spillage onto the floor after we moved (in the previous apartment the consoles were split between bedroom and living room). On the floor in front is the SNES (apparently someone was playing Out of This World). Generally we had been using the Retro Duo for SNES games, but it switches back and forth depending on the things that are plugged in or whichever one is closer. Behind the Retro Duo is the Sega Genesis. Next to the Genesis we have the Dreamcast. Last on the shelf is the PS2 (which would normally be on the second shelf, but that was the only place the cable box would fit) with one of the PS1 slims sittin n top of it. And then lastly, we have the final new edition to the shelf: the Gamecube! Also featured on the floor are SNES controllers, Wiimotes, Ouya controller, Wavebirds, and cables. I’m starting to wish I had cleaned a little.

I’ll finish off with a quick shot of the shelf where most of the games are kept. We have two copies of The Last Story (before it got localized, we bought a copy from Europe). Then we have all the SNES and NES games in their respective (and conveniently shaped) cases. The next two shelves are just a mass conglomeration of Xbox, PS2, PS3, DS, 3DS and Wii games. In other places of the house we have a binder full of PC games (mostly old ones, newer games are just bought on Steam) and a box of Genesis, Gameboy, and Gameboy Advance games. I couldn’t find all of the handhelds but somewhere there are two Gameboys, four different Gameboy Advances (the different generations, plus one extra), a DS, two PSPs, and the 3DS.

I know it isn’t a very impressive collection, but it’s what I have and it is still growing! We’re very fortunate to live near an awesome used game shop that’s always got something in. In the coming months I hope to organize it more once the exhaustion of moving all of the furniture wears off. We’re also in the process (just need a great monitor) of building a new PC, so maybe I’ll have something new and shiny to show next time!