PixlBit

It’s been awhile since I gave a last status report on my game rigs so this is just a good a time as any. For prior readers not in the know, I had amassed myself a good number of “Game Rigs” over there years. Though some use this term to refer to their desktop PC’s for PC gaming, I’ve usually used it in a broader term when it comes to my gaming. For me it refers to how many TV’s I have for any given system I have connected to it. I had originally only used one TV but as my collection of gaming consoles grew, so did the need to expand the game field in how I could play them.  

For some it would seem excessive to have so many TV’s for any specific console but I had a method to my madness. Originally it was meant as a means to make it easier for others to play my gaming collection. It can be quite intimidating try to figure out the buttons you had to push to set the right TV input to the right system. I tried my best to make it simple but as tech gets more sophisticated, the harder it seems to set everything exactly right. In a way you could say I kind of got carried away.

Game Rig One, Ver. 2.0 had been rebuild several times over the years. It mostly housed my current gen systems at the time of the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii and Wii U. It also was the home of the lone Sega Dreamcast and Sega Saturn. I kept the Wii there given it’s backwards compatibility with the GC and the Sega’s were mostly when I felt the urge o play a Sega title on a 60”. It wasn’t pretty but at least I had a VGA converter for the Dreamcast. It also was home to my desktop PC which we used when I wanted to watch something online on the 60”. This set up lasted me a good while. It even outlived my first Xbox 360 and PS3.

Game Rig Two was my “summer setup” down in the basement when it was just too hot to play anything upstairs at the time. Though not capable of housing many systems, the old style 60” was showing its age, it was home to the Original Xbox and PS2 Slim. It was to house another older style Xbox 360 but I felt that was too excessive so instead it had a Sony Blu-ray player so I had some late night Netflix functionality. You’d be surprised how much playtime it got despite only having two systems hooked up to it. It was great playing some of the retro compilations I had on the Xbox and I had almost every DDR game made on the PS2, thus the dance pads.

 

Game Rig Three was my “retro setup” when I was in the mood for some 16-bit goodness though I did save room for most of the Nintendo systems. I liked this TV the best given that despite it being a tube style TV, it still had the capabilities to display games in HD without other non HD gaming consoles looking horrid on screen. This was my go-between instead of trying to invest in upscale add-ons. Plus it had A LOT of input ports so no need for switch boxes.

 

My PSP was nothing really special so to speak but I included it with my game rigs given how much I put into it. It replaced my original PSP that got bricked a few years back. I think it feels light and flimsy but it got the job done. Over the years I used it more like a PSP Go by expanding the HDD space on it by using one of those 16 GB / 16 GB SD card to MS PRO converter cards to gain 32 GB of memory space. It now houses a good number of retro game complications and a select portion of RPG’s of the PSone era. I can now play Final Fantasy’s I to IX on this bad boy. But this PSP does have a “darker side” to it.

Why do I bring this up again? I do this so I can bring into context the current state of my Game Rigs. To put it simply my Game Rigs are no more.

When I moved down to South Carolina from Nebraska I was forced to sell off most of my Game Rig set ups. It wasn’t an easy decision to make given how much time, money and effort I put into building these monoliths of gaming awesomeness. But I had to face reality because the new place I was moving to had no room for all my Game Rig set ups. I was either to sell off all my consoles and/or the TVs since mass storage wasn’t an option. I was able to work things around so that I was able to keep my consoles but sadly two of the game rigs had to be sold off.

It was a dark time for me. A moment where I had to grieve.

So after all was said and done, with the selling and packing and moving, I was left with only one TV. And I was lucky to still have that one! The original plan was to buy a new one and sell off the old one. The promise was we would get a 70” ultra 4K HD TV if we sold the 60” that consisted of Game Rig One, Ver.2.0. I didn’t take the bait.

 

So I was left with this after all was said and done. It wasn’t much but fellow gamers: I could rebuild it. I had the technology. But what freak of nature would I create? What abomination against God would I let loose upon the world? Would it be a frankenstein-ish monstrosity or a super sci-fi hybrid beast that will roam the lands and feast on the flesh of the living!?!?! Fast-forward to about a month later and here is the end result.

 

BEHOLD! Game Rig One: Rebuilt

 

IT’S ALIVE! IT’S ALIVE!!!!!!

I couldn’t hook up much this time so all that is there is the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii and Wii U. I even went as far as setting up the PC deskop next to it and just leaving that as our main PC monitor since “teh wife & I use our laptops more than the desktop. If need be I did leave enough room if I end up getting an Xbox One or PS3 later on. So given that I had little to work with in enhancing any gaming activities on Game Rig One: Rebuilt I decided to venture into the realm of audio sound.

 

I was never a big fan of gaming headsets since the pack in headphones I got with my Xbox 360, and my Bluetooth earpiece for my PS3, were all I needed to converse online. But with the tight quarters I now live in it seemed I should be mindful of others around my while I played games in the same room that housed the home TV. Playing without the volume on wasn’t an option. I didn’t know what to get at first but I ended up getting the Turtlebeach Earforce PX22 Amplified Universal Gaming Headset for the PS3, Xbox 360, PS4, PC, Mac and mobile. It wired so I do have to deal with an extra set of cords but at least the TV’s USB can be used to power the unit. It’s not as high end as other headsets that are wireless or have those multi signal speakers. I’m sure better, much better ones, can be found if I shopped around enough but honestly I can’t bring myself to pay $150 to $250 on high end pair where I can literally hear someone’s gear jingle as they run around a multiplayer map. So I figured the EarForce PX 22 was a good starter set to enjoy while I played games. I have to say I’m rather impressed by them though I’m sure I’m missing out on a lot given I’m not much of an audio buff. I can hear the difference though when I play the sound between the TV speakers and the headset. It really cuts down on the distractions in the room when you can hear more of what’s going on in the game. Planes exploding sound more localized in Ace Combat Infinity and I can swear I can hear the direction of incoming missiles when they pass by my cockpit after I shake off a hard lock. I don’t think that’s possible with what I have.

But the real treat is using these when I’m playing one of my various gaming title choices for this year’s Octoberween Game Titles of 2015. It might be considered cheating but the sound in these games really help bring out the best of the Halloween holiday. Because of this I haven’t even set them up yet for voice chat. I’m just having too much fun using them while I play games. I get to hear so many different sounds that I’m not use to when I played these games before. The tradeoff maybe a bit hard to swallow in having to lose GameRig’s Two and Three but having a dedicated headset with Game Rig One: Rebuilt kind of soothe the sting of losing access to so many gaming choices in the way of consoles. I can’t wait to talk about this more during my Top 11 Octoberween Game Title for 2015.

 

Yeah. Kinda like that...

That’s it for part one. I think I’ll save room of what’s become of my portable gaming rigs. The mention of my PSP was just a taste of things to come.

Ta-ta

“N”

BONUS VIDEO!

Honestly this blog wasn’t scary enough. Quick! Something scary!

 

Sleep well tonight….