Our “gaming setups” are cherished things. We groom them and add pretty little accessories to make them look better. Below are your favorite Xbox Team member’s setups topped with some text explaining them. Don’t just read, though! Comment with pictures of your setup! And describe some things about it if you want.
Jay Malone
It may not be the biggest, most extravagant set-up known to man but I absolutely love it. Within my three pieces of my entertainment center lies my Wii, Xbox 360, Games, Gamefly games, and my always beautiful black PS3. I never had a real plan for what exactly I wanted my “set-up” to be like, it just kind of evolved over the years. With me occasionally thinking “I’ll try this!” and hoping it doesn’t turn out looking bad.
It’s quite the messy set-up as I throw all kinds of stuff around it, be it old USB cables or broken headphones for my iPod. I mainly keep all of my extra accessories (headsets, chargers, etc) in two black, incredibly small bins. Though I will admit, if you were to dig through them bins, there’s no guarantee of what you’d find.
One big issue I’ve ran into since getting Gamefly is trying to figure out exactly where to put my games, I’ve tried putting them in all sorts of places, though I finally decided to just leave them in front of the TV. It gives me easy access to them and I don’t mind showing off my games every once in a while.
I find the location of my three consoles to be fairly fitting for how much I use them. 360 on top, because I play most of my games on that, PS3 below because I love some of the exclusives and use it quite a bit as my Blu-Ray player, and Wii all the way over to the side, because… I don’t use it. I don’t think I’ve gotten into a Wii game since Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, though I have been considering the purchase of Metroid: Other M.
I finally got my first HDTV last Christmas, I’m pretty sure I was the only one left in my family that didn’t have one. It blew me away from the get-go. The picture clarity while playing all my games and is amazing. And on top of that, I’m a huge sports fan, and sports look oh so fantastic in glorious HD. Watching something in SD now feels like I’m in 1995, I can pick out almost every small detail that would be better in HD while watching SD.
I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again, it’s nothing special. Just a standard set-up that over the years has grown slightly bigger and bigger. And I love it.
Matt Sims
There was a time when my gaming setup was downright amazing. I had a nice entertainment center and a setup of about 7 consoles; then I went to college and my brother got my old room. When I returned from college I had to relocate to a much smaller office space. Needless to say, I had to pack up most of my gaming systems and I was left only with my Xbox 360 and my 37 inch television. The oversized entertainment center was gone, and was replaced with a trunk full of odds and ends. I set the TV upon that and sadly, had to put my beloved Xbox on the cold, hard floor.
It’s not all bad though, I still have a pretty good setup considering the small amount of space I have to work with. I’ve found small shelves to hold some of my dvds and games and I have a fairly nice futon to sit on while I play. If you look closely you’ll probably get a good idea of the games I play the most; games like Borderlands, Mass Effect 2, and Green Day: Rock Band. I also happened to snag a “Resident Evil Edition” console the small amount of time they were on sale. It really is the pride and joy of my setup as I’ve never seen another person with one of these red consoles.
I have a pretty large collection, but I have such a strange variety on my shelf. These games, while available for easy access, are the games that I find myself playing the least amount. The only game from this shelf that I played recently was Final Fantasy XIII. A good chunk of these games are some of my favorites, which is perhaps the reason I keep them close at hand. I know that is definitely the case with NBA Jam: Tournament Edition, Custom Robo, and Halo 2.
I know that my gaming space isn’t that huge and it certainly isn’t going to take anyone’s breath away, but if there is one thing that my meager gaming space proves it’s that it doesn’t matter how you play, it just matters that you play.
Jon Jamrog
My gaming set up is a humble one. In this case, the word humble means that I'm broke. One of the many drawbacks of being a student is being strapped for cash most of the time. However, I make do with what I have and it's totally enough for me to get by on.
I basically run my entertainment center off two separate screens. When I moved out I was allowed to snag the old standard definition living room TV from my parents place. Nothing special here, but it serves as a nice television for watching Netflix before bed or playing lower definition games (**cough**Wii**cough**). I keep all of the games I am most likely to play within reach on top of the TV while the rest of my collection is mixed with my DVDs in a big laundry basket I have.
For most of my serious gaming I switch over to my desk and my 22 inch Dell monitor. I can run my 360 right into it and get crystal clear HD gaming. Gaming at my desk is pretty advantageous when playing games for review. I have a nice little work station with everything I need to be productive as well as a comfy office chair to sit in while I get down to business— And on top of all that, I have a nice flat surface for my beer or Top Ramen.
That about does it for my gaming set up. Not the most luxurious entertainment center but it works well for me and my current financial situation. I have been looking into upgrading my TV for a while, but due to minor issues like paying rent and buying food I have had to put serious buying on hold. In the meantime, what I have is enough to get by on. I still get to enjoy the hell out of my 360, and that's really all I need.
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Josh Margolis
So, I have to say that all this stuff has been paid not only with money, but also with blood, sweat, old friends, and new enemies. All this took almost five years of work to get. I got my original Wii as a birthday gift from my mom in 2007 (which I recently had switched out for the black one), and this was followed by me getting my DSlite. I earned my Xbox 360 through three ways. One was working after school almost every day, another was pocketing my lunch money (and thus not eating), and the third was helping out in our high school's underground soda black market (this is what happens when you ban soda machines). The PS3 (60 gb) I got from my student loan refund check, and was so inclined to get because they had just stopped making backwards compatible systems (yeah, I know it's dumb). From there I got my first college job, and while my grades dropped a little from my lowered free time I was getting paid! My PSP is the most recent system that I bought, but it's not the end of this story. I was very lucky that one of my roommates gad an N64, and a tons of games. I was also lucky that my other roommate, and now ex-roommate was dumb enough to run off leaving behind $400 worth of stuff. This including the Dreamcast, and SNES n the picture. All this together with my faithful old 32 inch HDTV makes for a great home entertainment system.
The one thing I love most is playing games. It's why I write for this site, and it's why I am the way I am. The one thing that bugs me is that the more money I have to spend on this stuff the less I time I have to use it. I think I speak for anyone in college or out that after a while you have to put time to the side, and it seems not to long ago that you were taking time out of your play time to do productive things. Which brings me to the wall of shame pictured above. I'm sure you think that these are some of my games. Well, you're kind of right. These are my games, but these are all the games I have yet to play or beat. The one below I have beaten, are done with. It's from here that I pick what stays and goes. Most of those games are my favorites though, and after a while it's nothing but gems.
While I hope that one day I can play more I think I'm happy knowing that while I'm not playing the games I'm still supporting an industry I love. One that I hope will keep going, and future generations will be showing off how cool their set up is for years to come.
Tristan Wong
This isn’t much of a setup, but it gets me through the day—keeps me sane on a day to day basis whenever I get back from work. I sit down on my rolling chair, across the room I fly, back and forth. My TV sits on the chest, awaiting my attention—I look back on it, smiling as I do when I flip on the 360 to witness the joy of the TV’s smile once again. The black box laid waste compared to the bigger brothers, in silver with eyes clearer then his… but his will never gives up, and his staying power stands true in the light of the gaming world. It looks like nothing, but this TV has served me far too well for me just to throw out… top that with the fact that the 360 I still hold is a year old, hasn’t died on me yet—I hope it doesn’t do so soon… chances are, it may just hang itself due to all the bad-games I’ve been playing (Cabela’s North American Adventures, Jesus Christ…)
And there sits my PC—on the screen you can see a grouping of words… no, that isn’t a review I’m working on, it’s a future project meant for post-secondary and I intend to get a lot of it done tonight (the night I write this, hehe…) I enjoy this set up because first off, I can listen to music comfortably whilst I do damage online in Call of Duty. I can watch a movie on the 360 while I play a game on the PC (perhaps some Starcraft II anyone?)—or perhaps I can watch a movie on my PC whilst I do intercourse on Call of Duty? This setup benefits from ease of use, comfort, and convenience—other setups in my opinions can sometimes lack this. Everything is in one area—off to the side is my bed (left), and the right is the door (or fire exit… I guess).
Let’s get a close up on that beautiful piece of kit right there… this bad boy has been with me for a long time, hasn’t given me up yet—again, hope to god it doesn’t do it now. As you can see, the 360 games I had are on top of the TV, not next to the 360 as you see here… though what is next to it are a stack of movies I used to watch a lot. Seinfeld (which is better than anything on TV so far, apart from a handful of shows), Monty Python, because they’re awesome… Stanley Kubrick, or Full Metal Jacket (his masterpiece in my opinion), and Jarhead—the like. I’m a movie guy… when I’m not playing games (usually when my friends aren’t on), I’m watching a movie while working on the PC… after all that, there isn’t much else that I can say about my kit—my setup or whatever. I did this for comfort and utility, nothing more—I don’t need HDTV’s (I bum it off my brother-in-law) or surround sound (again, brother-in-law), I just need a TV, a PC and I’ll be good to go!
