If you had £1000 or $1000 to spend on your ideal Gaming Room Set Up what would you spend it on? That was the challenge that MasonicGamer set each of our writers.
There was a couple of rules Listed below
Rules - you have £1000 or $1000 to spend, you can not use eBay bid section but can use buy it now as long as the item will be available for at least 14 days, you can only buy items that are available to buy now and are in stock from other sites, you must buy a full set up and can’t add items you already own eg. If you buy a PS3 you need to buy a TV, What would you spend £1000 or $1000 on?
Today’s £1000 wish list is in the hands of Oscar….
When I heard of this challenge, my first thought was “let’s go retro!”. It would be easy to keep within budget, and allow me to purchase a large amount of stuff. However, I noticed that this was Brad’s approach to the task, and didn’t want to seem like a copycat. Therefore, I decided to take things in a different direction – a party gaming room!
It wouldn’t be tough – all I’d need is a nice HDTV or home projector, a decent surround sound system with kick-ass subwoofer, an Xbox 360 with a large hard drive for DLC, a Kinect for all the dancing fun, a full Rock Band set with all the accoutrements, various Kinect and party games, some nice lighting and posters for atmosphere, maybe one of those smoke machines…..
You should realise by now that I vastly overspent my budget. This idea, even kept to the very minimum, was never going to happen. I needed another plan. It was at this point that I went from slightly-overzealous to flat-out crazy, as my next idea was the kind a small child might have – one who is completely out-of-touch with the price of real-life objects: I decided to have an arcade room!
Yeah, that’s right, start laughing now – I’ve never actually looked up the cost of those things. I figured I could buy a few and invite my friends round for some old-timey arcade action; I could even make some money from them if I didn’t toggle the ‘free’ switch! One look at the cost of Streetfighter II made me realize my naivety – it’s about £1,500 (I still might have to buy one though, outside of this challenge). Oh well, so much for that idea. What could I possibly do?….
I know! Let’s go retro!
TV
Okay, so like Brad, I also had a nice, 12” black and white TV when I was a kid. I suppose if I wanted to re-live my gaming past, this would be the way to go…. No, fuck that, I’m getting the TV I could only have dreamed of as a kid – a beautiful, 26”, full-colour, Sony Trinitron marvel, with stereo sound and remote control! I found one on Ebay (with stand) for only £30.00. Sold! This will be wonderful for all my old-school gaming needs.
Consoles
Alright, where to start?…… Well, I’ve enjoyed many consoles over the years, skipping allegiance between manufacturers as the years progressed. My first console was a NES, which soon became a Megadrive/Genesis, later with the questionable CD add-on. I then went to Sony with their excellent PlayStation and PS2, then Microsoft with their fantastic Xbox 360. Yeah, I was quick to jump ship if someone produced a console more suited to my gaming needs, and I think I’m the better for it – not a mindless fanboy who stubbornly stood by any one company despite their failings.
But let’s forget about the last decade or so, and concentrate on the classics. I would never be able to imagine a retro gaming room without a little Sega.
Megadrive/Genesis. Yeah, this was it for me as a kid. Growing up in the UK, Sega had a lot more influence than in the US, where Nintendo was king. So many memories, from Sonic to Streets of Rage; from ToeJam and Earl to Taz-Mania; from Ecco the Dolphin to Earthworm Jim; from Golden Axe to Gunstar Heroes…. I could go on like this for a while. The point is, this would be the first thing I purchased.
Alright, so to be fair, I already own one, and have managed to re-build much of my long-lost collection over the years. However, since I’m starting from scratch now, I’m sure I can find another for relatively cheap….
Sega Megadrive + 2 Controllers & 3 Games – Ebay HERE £30.99
Mega CD/Sega CD. Okay, this was hardly a classic console, but I’m getting one for my gaming room. I only acquired one of these bad boys after it was clearly failing, but I wanted Eternal Champions CD and was willing to shell out £100 for the privilege. I think I’ll go totally cheesy and bad for this portion – yeah, that’s right, I want Sewer Shark and Night Trap and Corpse Killer and Ground Zero Texas and every other bad full-motion-video game of the era (I sadly played them all at the time….). These should provide a few laughs when combined with the liquid substances I was too young to buy the first time around.
But since I have the system, I’m getting Eternal Champions CD again. I’m also springing for Snatcher – a title I searched for years ago but didn’t have the internet to help me. I’ve always wanted to play Snatcher…..
Sega Mega CD – Console Passion HERE £80.00
Game Gear. When I was young, my sister and I both chose a handheld for our portable gaming fun. In retrospect, she chose better, but at the time my colour, backlit Game Gear seemed much better than her monochrome Gameboy. I remember busting that thing out, sticking in 6 AA batteries and a copy of Sonic the Hedgehog, then playing for the next 2 ½ hours before I was bugging my mum for more batteries. Ah, those were the days.
Well, I’m buying another. I eventually acquired an external battery pack, but this time I’m getting one of those cool, slimline ones with built-in grip. That should keep my portable gaming going for a while. Oh, and I’ll take a Master Gear Converter as well.
Sega Game Gear with 6 Games – Ebay HERE £14.99
Nomad. Screw it, I’m going all the way with this one. I don’t believe the Nomad, king of all handhelds, was ever released in the UK, but I eventually got to play one a few years ago. For those unaware, this was a portable Megadrive/Genesis, with six-button control and a port for 2-player games. Since I already have all these Sega games sitting around, I may as well have console for unsociable loners to lurk in the dark corners of my gaming room and enjoy. No, seriously, the Nomad rules.
Sega Nomad – Ecrater HERE £79.37
SNES. Wh-wh-what? Have I changed allegiance already? No, but I think this is a great opportunity to bring some variety into my retro gaming habits. Thankfully, I’m not totally Super Nintendo illiterate, as my good friend Ed (freelancer on this site) and I used to trade consoles for brief periods, in order to experience the wonders of “the other side”. My retro gaming room would be the perfect opportunity to live the childhood I never had.
Obviously, I’m getting the classics – Super Mario World, Mario Kart, Mario Paint, and, er… some non Mario games too. How about Starfox (Starwing for my fellow Brits), Chrono Trigger, and those glorious 2D Final Fantasy Games? There’s Super Metroid and Street Fighter II (cheaper than £1,500), F-Zero and Secret of Mana – hours of fun for my 16-bit-loving self. Finally, I can be one of those lucky kids who owns both a Megadrive and a SNES.
Super Nintendo plus 4 Games – Ebay HERE £44.99
Computers
So many computers to choose from during my childhood! Okay, they weren’t all mine, but much of my early gaming life was spent hunched up at the keyboard of a friend’s gaming rig, using Q,A,O,P, and Spacebar to guide my sub-8-bit character around the basic, low-colour environments. I was too young to really pay attention to the exact models of computer I enjoyed, but I’m sure I could come up with a few….
For a start, I’m getting an Acorn Electron. Oh, all the fun I had – typing Chain “GameX” to play whichever title I had in the external tape deck, then setting the volume to the correct level to ensure proper loading. If I can find classics such as Danger USB and Smash and Grab, I’m totally buying them. If not, I still remember a bit of Basic – I’ll just code my own! For me, the is retro in the strictest sense of the word.
Next, I need an Amstrad CPC. I’ve played on various models before, and my retro room would be incomplete without. I can’t figure out exactly which type I want, but as long as it plays Dizzy and Renegade (and its 2-player sequel, Target Renegade), I think I can make do.
Finally, I’m getting the mother of all personal computers from the early 90s – The Amiga 500! This is where I first played games such as Theme Park, Flashback, and The Secret of Monkey Island. Granted, I could play all these games on a PC nowadays, but that’s not really the point – this is a trip down memory lane. So many hours of fun to be re-had.
Acorn Electron – Flashback Games HERE £54.98
Amstrad CPC 464 – Ebay HERE £47.00
Amiga 500 – Flashback Games HERE £59.98
Summary
Ok, so I’ve racked up a grand total of £442.30. This leaves me over £500 to buy games, accessories, monitors, and petrol to pick up that TV. I’ve managed to keep well within my budget this time, and acquired a huge number of items from my gaming past.
This challenge has really brought back a lot of memories. I owe so much of my gaming love to those early days, when even mentioning my fascination with computers earned strange looks from the opposite sex and glances of admiration from the bespectacled nerds gathered in the corner. I wish I still had all these computers and consoles at hand, but it sounds as though it wouldn’t cost much to re-acquire them.
Gaming has evolved so much over the years, and changed from a geeky pastime into an accepted form of entertainment, but there was an era where fans required faith. I’m so happy I got to experience this period, and excited to see what tomorrow brings.
Check back tomorrow when we hand the challenge over to Mike and see what he would spend his Money on. Please feel free to leave a comment below or on our Facebook Page and let us know what would you spend £1000 or $1000 on?
