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Games Entertainment

Best Way To Manage Growing Console Clutter? 169

Posted by simoniker from the cut-all-the-cables dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Being the owner of several actively-used consoles, I have found myself in a perpetual state of tangled cords and controller 'land mines' when it comes to my living room. With each console supporting four controllers, and a couple of games having their own unique peripherals, this is becoming more and more of a problem. It's not so much that there isn't a place for all of this. as it is that there isn't a place that's visually pleasing, big enough to survive the growing collection, easy to use, and most importantly, cheap. I find myself having to untangle cords or digging through a box/drawer. no matter what solution I try. What have Slashdot readers resorted to when it comes to keeping all of this in check?"
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Best Way To Manage Growing Console Clutter? More

Best Way To Manage Growing Console Clutter?

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  • Wireless Controllers? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Acidic_Diarrhea ( 641390 ) on Friday January 02, 2004 @12:13PM (#7860962) Homepage Journal
    Well, I've resorted to just accepting a cluttered mess of wires that trips people and animals up. I think you've found that solution as well so we're pretty much on the same page.

    You could go out and buy yourself wireless controllers. Other than those wires, the power and A/V plugs should be able to be routed through the back of any reasonable entertainment center furniture.

    • Wireless is OK but it only goes so far. What you need is to put each console in its own room, with its own TV.
    • I've found that wireless controllers, in the extra time for signal delivery and conversion, can actually affect gameplay on some titles (example would be the PS2 title Amplitude -- I can perfectly play it with a wired controller, but the timing is screwed up with a wireless one). Plus they suck batteries badly. It could be due to the quality of the controller, but I've tried a couple and run into similar problems.
  • Wavebird controllers are a godsend.
  • don't ps2 and xbox have wavebird equivilants by now?

    not exactly cheap, I guess, but the only way to get rid of the cord problem is to get rid of the cords

    • Re:wireless? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by BigBir3d ( 454486 )
      not exactly cheap, I guess, but the only way to get rid of the cord problem is to get rid of the cords

      Or to have a standardized controller port (USB?) that you could plug in any controller of your choosing for any system? I would love to be able to use a PS2 controller for everything...

      • Re:wireless? (Score:3, Informative)

        by Yogger ( 24866 )
        I would love to be able to use a PS2 controller for everything...

        You might want to try something like this then: http://www.hartsunlimited.com/supxbcon.html [hartsunlimited.com] There are a couple of adapters available so you can use ps2 controllers on gamecube and xbox, but I haven't seen any that go the other way.

      • Re:wireless? (Score:3, Insightful)

        by EvlG ( 24576 )
        This would never happen for consoles.

        The whole idea of a console is to have a standard, fixed platform. This includes controller layout. The only way this is achieved is having every system come with the same controller.

        Think back to playing PC games with gamepads or joysticks. You never know which button is assigned to do what by default. Instead you have to try and correlate the game's controls with the gamepads. It's a clumsy mess. With a standardized controller, you always know that A is accept/fire/s

      • Re:wireless? (Score:2, Informative)

        by Deflagro ( 187160 )
        Lik sang apparently has a box that will allow you to use any kind of controller on the xbox. Magic Box [lik-sang.com] It's not for everything, but it is interesting.
    • my only experience with wireless controls is on the PC, and wireless mice are -not- good for gaming.

      are wireless gamepads for consoles better? and how are the batteries? how long can you play on one charge? 6 hours? 10 hours? how's the range?

      i mean, i've read the specs, but i've learned not to trust them for things like functional range, response time, and actual battery life.

      any honest reviews are quite welcome.

  • Easy. (Score:4, Funny)

    by Oen_Seneg ( 673357 ) * on Friday January 02, 2004 @12:15PM (#7860978)
    Give me your consoles. You can't have console clutter without consoles.
  • wireless controllers. Has helped quite a bit. No longer does my dog get tangled in the cords that run from tv to coffee table, or controller cables that run from table to couch. Now the consoles can sit safely on a bookshelf on the other side of the room, with the cables all nicely hidden. My new problem is keeping up with the controllers now, its like keeping up with another remote.

  • How I deal with Console Clutter (Score:5, Informative)

    by YomikoReadman ( 678084 ) <`jasonathelen' `at' `gmail.com'> on Friday January 02, 2004 @12:22PM (#7861024) Journal
    I have 3 consoles and a DVD player running on 1 TV. For all the AV cabling, I have a junction box which deals with that quite nicely. They run around $20 at a Best Buy or some other gaming store. For Controllers, I usually have them all stored unless they are actually in use, with the exception of my GCN. I have Wavebirds for that. I'd like to go the wireless route with controllers for the other 2 systems, but Sony and MS have yet to put out a decent wireless controller. Currently they are all IR based, which tends to be exceptionally laggy, short on range, and the controllers themselves lose the feel of the original controller. When they get a Wavebird equivilent, I'll probably grab those to deal with the rest. Oh, and for power cables, Belkin sells a set of velcro ties for cable management for $5 or so. A PC supply shop should carry those.
    • Junction boxes are very nice. They're even a necessity if you have more than 1 device that you need to plug into your TV. I bought mine so I wouldn't have to fiddle with the cables to bypass my settop box -- like when I want to record a scrambled or digital channel and watch an ordinary channel at the same time, or vice versa. Difficult to see how they help with cable clutter, though -- you actually need more cables to use them.

      Cable clutter is an issue with me, both for my TV and my computer. I've tried

    • Currently they are all IR based, which tends to be exceptionally laggy, short on range, and the controllers themselves lose the feel of the original controller.

      Huh? I don't know of a single IR controller for the Xbox. My Pelican Eclipse is RF, works from at least 20 feet away (the farthest that I've bothered to use it), and hasn't ever lagged that I've noticed. As for feel...that's a subjective thing. I don't have any problems with the Pelican Eclipse, though.

      No it isn't OEM but who cares? I like i
      • Does it have the memory card thing on IT so you can plug the headset into it for live? That's what I really need. A wireless controller is useless for live if you want to use the communicator unless the memory card slots are on the controller instead of the plug.

        Chris
    • I must first admit that I haven't paid much attention to any wireless controllers for the PS2 that have come out since.

      But check out Logitech's Wireless PS2 [logitech.com] Controller [gamestop.com]. Its uses the 2.4ghz spectrum, not infra-red. My receiver for the unit is always behind the 1/2" oak doors of my entertainment center. The reach is more than sufficient.


      In fact, here's a quick little review:

      It comes with all the features of your standard ps2 controller -- same button config, vibrations, and analog/digital contro
      • I bought three sets of 1800mAh NiMH batteries for my controllers. They've "paid for themselves" already, since I haven't had to buy about ~15 sets of alkalines. The rechargables, with charger, cost between $13/set and $20/set.

        If you go the wireless route (I too highly recommend the Logitech) I'd definitely suggest investing in a few sets of rechargables. Not only will you feel better about what you're doing to the environment (heh ;) ) but nothing beats the convenience of not having to rush to the store to
        • Forgetting any problems from half-lifing, how well do they perform? Maybe its me, but I've noticed that they just don't perform as consistently as alkaline. I'd still like my Li-Ion :)
          • They don't last as long as the alkalines I've used, but I haven't had any problems with them losing capacity over time. Then again I've only had them for about a year and a half. When they start to die, they seem to drop off pretty quick, making me think they are operating at a good voltage up until then, which seems like a good thing. (But I'm no chemist. :)
      • The fact that it uses 2.4ghz instead of 900 mhz makes a HELL of a difference in lag

        Ummm ... what? 2.4 ghz signals travel at the same speed as 900 mhz signals. And even if they didn't, you're talking about a distance so short that it wouldn't make a difference. The 'lag' has everything to do with the quality of the transmitter/receiver, and nothing to do with the frequency.

        I've change my batteries at least 5 times this past year

        Wow. Using my Wavebird (which, admittedly, doesn't have rumble), I've

        • The fact that it uses 2.4ghz instead of 900 mhz makes a HELL of a difference in lag

          Ummm ... what? 2.4 ghz signals travel at the same speed as 900 mhz signals. And even if they didn't, you're talking about a distance so short that it wouldn't make a difference in overall performance. The 'lag' has everything to do with the quality of the transmitter/receiver, and nothing to do with the frequency.

          There's a lot more interference experienced by 900mhz devices than 2.4. Or perhaps its a throughput issue?

    • The Logitech PS2 wireless controllers are quite nice. They're bigger than the standard PS2 controllers, but maintain basically the same "feel" in terms of layout, except the d-pad is a full circle. Admittedly that makes fighting games tougher.

      I use mine on my PC (via a cheap adapter) and the PS2. The batteries, with force feedback off, last me 2 weeks or so, and I do play a lot.
      • I've given the Logitech PS2 controller a go, as well as the Pelican for the XBox. My issue with both of those is that they are both significantly larger and/or shaped differently enough to ruin the feel of the original controller, which I noted in my original post.

  • Well... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Vaevictis666 ( 680137 ) on Friday January 02, 2004 @12:23PM (#7861036)
    There's two problems here - one in front of the TV, and one behind.

    If you're only using one TV, I greatly recommend you get a multi-RCA switcher, and plug all the consoles into it, and it into the TV. Then just make sure your cables are neat and the switcher is moderately easy to get to to switch to a different console.

    As for controller woes, I might suggest a shelving unit (maybe a smallish bookcase). Each console gets a shelf and then lay down the law about rolling controllers up and putting them on the shelf when done. Otherwise go cordless, as others have suggested. Another thing that would greatly help is color-coding the controllers - get a couple pieces of colored tape (or paint or something) and stick some on both ends of the cord. So the first player controller gets a piece of red on the console side of the cord and the controller side of the cord. This makes finding the right controller oh so much easier than tracing the tangle.

    Maybe/Maybe not an issue with the various cordless models, if they have a visible switch (for switching broadcast channels) on the top I wouldn't bother, but if it's on the back or inside (like my Firestorm PC gamepad, in between the batteries) then stick something on the front.

    • Multi RCA? What century do you live in? All my consoles run at least s-video, with the PS2 and Xbox (Yes I finally broke down and bought one... Crimson Skies is awesome) running optical audio cables.

      The only switcher box I've found so far that switches optical, s-video, and component is $100 at Best Buy, and I'm not buying it just to switch 3 consoles. The DVD player runs through the receiver in it's own plug set.
      • Some of us have cheaper TVs. For that matter, I got my TV just before Sun Electronics started going out of business, and it only has a coax input!

  • a drawer in the cabinet. (Score:5, Informative)

    by Oriumpor ( 446718 ) on Friday January 02, 2004 @12:25PM (#7861050) Homepage Journal
    Each console has a single Wireless Controller [lik-sang.com] if only because even having 3 chargers is a big deal in a cabinet. However, if your cabinet has a free drawer you could probably get 6-7 chargers in a 32 inch TV cabinet drawer. I don't have a whole lot of room for even chargers so having friends over to be able to use the extra 3 slots on my consoles is a big deal, so I just pull the cords outa the closet for the time being, and the ensuing spiderweb traps all from passing through the living room.

    If chargers were smaller, or perhaps even controllers smaller this wouldn't be such a big deal. But having to put the whole controller into a charging station is a passive waste of space, as opposed to the active waste of space of cords (wrap up controller, store in cabinet/desk/etc etc.)

    It really depends on your situation.
  • Really, this is slashdot after all. Just buy a console server, or use your linux box as one. I have an old Honeywell console server that works great for text based games. You may need one of a more recent vintage to handle graphics.

    Seriously though, why can't the game console manufacturers agree on a standard? Console game support for USB HID devices would be really nice.
    I have a dream... one controller per person, no matter the console or game.
  • Get ONE platform, either a G5 or super duper Athlon PC, and run on it programs and plug-in attachments that enable it to emulate and access media for all platforms.

    Sounds silly? It's already the norm for standup arcada game fans, who run hundreds of games on MAME instead of filling their house with fridge-sized arcade consoles.
    • Yeah, thats a great solution for those with a gamecube, ps2 and xbox. Not to mention all the fans that like to have a *real* snes, genesis, turbografx-16, sega saturn, master system, and nes. The mess of wires behind my tv is scary sometimes :)
    • Better solution. No consoles. Not quite sure if this is what you're leading up to, but emulation is far superior to a real console if you take the time to set it up right. As an added bonus, the older systems can be emulated with virtually no effort. (SNES, NES). Playstation takes a bit more effort and N64 takes a LOT more effort.

      Want to make console gaming better and unified under one platform with no clutter? Emulate. Note: this post is not an encouragement to pirate games. I buy mine. I legally own ever
      • That's only good if you want to play console five years old or older. There aren't any sufficiently good PS2/Xbox/NGC emulators yet. I' not even sure anybody's got a DC emulated well yet.
        • True, but nevertheless the argument stands. The more people who become emu enthusiasts (like me) the more rapidly the concept will develop and become widely accepted.
          • I think that regardless of how many people are into emulation, you're never going to get reliable emulation of current console systems, simply because you're not going to have enough power in your PC to emulate a console until it's already been replaced by something new.
            • Unless of course the big companies (namely Sony and Nintendo) recognize the demand and start offering public support for emulators.
              • I don't see that ever happening. The console manufacturers value the control they have over their console systems very highly - they'd much rather you buy a real console.

                Also, the technical problems still exist - current PCs just don't have the power to emulate the current generation of consoles. (I suppose the possible exception to this is the Xbox, as the CPU itself would not need emulating...)
                • Your point about console makers wanting to control their hardware (much like Apple wants to control their's) is valid. I disagree with the entire philosophy personally. We should have the freedom to choose our own platform whether it's console gaming or OSX. There are advantages to limiting your product to specific hardware, yes, but I see platform unity with a little extra work as more desirable than 4 different platforms that all work reasonably well out of the box. A niche, no doubt, but the demand is th
                  • You neglect emulation overhead - for each instruction in the emulated box you're probably executing a few dozen instructions of the host processor, probably with a computed jump to mess up pipelining too. Since the XBox uses an x86 processor, it can be emulated without this overhead (e.g. with a modded version of vmware)
                  • Sure, PCs are more powerful than the consoles, but you tend to need at least an order of magnitude more power to emulate a foreign processor, simply because you've got to interpret every instruction as it comes in, which is pretty costly.

                    So, for a PS2 you'd need at least a 3Ghz machine just to emulate the CPU - and yes, we've got 3Ghz machines now. However, much of the PS2 power comes from it's two vector units, and you're not going to have enough spare power to handle them as well. PCs just aren't powerfu
                    • It's a chicken and the egg problem. If Sony sponsored the development of a more perfect emulator, you wouldn't need as beefy a system to accurately emulate the console. The power in the hardware is there, the software simply needs refinement.
                    • Sure, a large team working on the problem might help, but I don't see that it can help you that much - basically with a 3Ghz PC you've got to:

                      a) grab a EE instruction
                      b) decode and jump to appropriate handling code
                      c) execute in handling code
                      d) increment program counter
                      e) jump back to a)

                      in ten or less instructions. Don't forget there's two pipeline-befuddling jumps in there. Also, you've got to do something similar with each of the vector processors, which adds on the neccesity to do up to 8 floating point
                    • Piracy is a valid concern, but arguing that developing on their own hardware is the only defense against mass piracy is flawed. In either situation, people are still going to pirate their games. It's just a question of whether it's sooner or later and to what extent. I'd wager there's just as much Playstation piracy as there is native computer game piracy, all things considered.

                      And that still doesn't change the fact that I do have a sufficiently powerful PC and I refuse to invest in other platforms. Theref
                    • Well, the point I've been trying to make is that you probably don't have a powerful enough PC to emulate a PS2, and that it just doesn't make financial sense for Sony to do a PC PS2 emulator.

                      Whether game developers should port their games to another platform is another matter, but porting to other platforms is always expensive and may only sometimes make financial sense.

                      Scant comfort to those who don't own the right platform though, I know!
                    • Actually I've just recently looked into PS2 emulation, which is finally starting to mature. I'll need to rent a copy of FFX or something to see if it's any good though.

                      I suppose I'll always hold my ground that the PC is the universal gaming platform, no matter how much in the minority it may seem at times.
  • The biggest help I found was to build myself a Mini-ITX system capable of emulating everything from my Coleco Vision to my N64. That eliminated about 80% of my clutter right there. I built my mini system into an old NES shell, bought some great joypads that had enough buttons to suite even the clunkiest contollers (FYI: that's the N64 which ranks in with a whopping 9 actual joy buttons (not including things like Start and Select), an arcade joystick set and keyboard and mouse.
    All my consoles went up on t
    • To expand upon the poster above, bind your cords. If you Zip-tie all your power cords together, all of your RCA cables, etc, until you have little discrete functionality units (I am Jack's VCR Inputs), you can eliminate a lot of clutter. Zip-tie those down to your rack / display unit, and they hardly count as clutter at all. Label all of your cords... It takes longer now, but it will save you lots of probing later, when you are less likely to be worrying about making a mess.

      Lots of little special-use at
    • Geez, you bastard! I was gonna do that (as soon as I got the $)

      I got the idea shortly after discovering my pile of broken NESs in my dad's basement (3 in all), then seeing the nesPC on mini-itx.com...

      What motherboard did you get for it? How much memory? Is it running Linux or some form of windows?

      My plan for my gamebox is to have it do everything: MAME/Console (NES, Genesis, SNES, etc)/Handheld(Gameboy, Gamegear, etc)/ Video (DVD, DivX)/MP3 server

      • I grabbed the VIA EPIA M10000 MoBo with the 1Ghz Nehemia CPU. The whole setup (minus controllers and peripherals) only cost be ~$300 I believe. Very cheap for such an efficient little machine. It runs damn near everything perfectly, with very little slowdown on the most demanding games. (With the exception of a few N64 titles).

        For controllers I found the Thrustmaster Firestorms to be great, but they still lack the precision of a true console on the directional pad and one of them mysteriously broke with
        • Hmmm, I wasn't aware that there were any mini-ITX motherboards that could handle anything over 1ghz (at least I didn't see anything on the mini-itx.com site last I checked).

          How'd you do it for 300$? When I priced out my components (PSU, DVD-R (it was 10$ more than the DVD-ROM), mobo, RAM), it came out to around 500$ with 90$ for shipping.

          I've had lots of ideas dancing in my head for this project. Currently I'm helping my friend with 2 projects of his: Coctail MAME cabinet and a full-standup. Because of

          • Ah, sorry I forgot about the OS question. I'm running Win2k with a heavily modified shell (graphically speaking). All my Emus launch from pushbuttons on the desktop and there's no clutter at all. The start menu and all other OS features are hidden unless you Ctrl-alt-del or hit the windows key.

            About the price... This is an estimate, but I think I paid about $200 for the Motherboard and chip, about $100 for the DVDROM, $20 for the Power Supply... I think the ram was around $80, so I guess that's more ar
        • very little slowdown on the most demanding games. (With the exception of a few N64 titles)
          Are you using a PCI graphics card? With an Epia M 933 Mhz, its hard to get anything 3D to run decently... 2D is fine though.

  • Two Part solution (Score:4, Informative)

    by Prien715 ( 251944 ) <agnosticpope@gmail. c o m> on Friday January 02, 2004 @12:39PM (#7861155) Journal
    The first part is to get wireless controllers for your gamecube assuming you've got one.

    The second thing you can do is get a universal adapter which runs for like $15 at radio shack. It has one output (S-Video and RCA) for the TV but 3 inputs (X-Box, GC, and PS). Simply plug the adapter into all three and you've now replaced the 3 wires going from your TV to your consoles with one.

    You can get rid of consoles you don't use. For example, I think the X-box is kinda useless. Since its best two games (KoTR and Halo) are both out on PC (and there's no other good exclusive games), it's a great reason to turn it into a Linux box.
    • There's Crimson Skies and MechAssault. Those are good exclusive games. Oh, and all the cross-platform games look and play best on XBox. And, natch, there are tons of exclusives coming up that look great.

      The bigger question is what do you have against the XBox?
    • I wish I could mod you -1: Troll.

      You obviously haven't played many xbox games. Either that or you're a big RPG fan. Personally, I hate RPGs, and I'm glad there aren't that many for the xbox. I love Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge, Project Gotham Racing, Jet Grind Radio 2, Project Gotham Racing 2, SSX Tricky(yes i know it's on ps2), and all my other games. The online play on the xbox is superior as there is a standard. All your friends are on your friends list no matter what game you play and you c
      • I said "kinda useless". Not "completely useless". I happen to dislike crossplatform releases for the X-box because I think out of the 3 major systems, it has the worst controller and although I've played with 3rd party ones, none of them (that I've seen) compare with either the GC or PS2. (And even then, I despise playing FPS games without a keyboard and a mouse.) Graphically, I don't give a damn. (I stop noticing graphics after the first 5 minutes of playing). I want good gameplay. I'd rather play t

  • Wireless (Score:3, Informative)

    by CokoBWare ( 584686 ) on Friday January 02, 2004 @12:40PM (#7861174)
    I solved my console burden with crazy wires by buying wireless controllers. The wireless controllers make a huge difference for convenience sake, and I still am using the same batteries 4 months later on one of my controllers. It does cost money, but if you make video games your serious hobby, consider this option. I recommend Mad Catz brand for the PS2, and I would seek reviews for other console wireless controllers. Also, ask people at your local video game store, as they will likely have experience or reactions from gamers who use them.

  • My solution (Score:4, Informative)

    by MORTAR_COMBAT! ( 589963 ) on Friday January 02, 2004 @12:42PM (#7861185)
    Put. Everything. Away. Every. Time. Finished an epochal 4-way multiplayer session of Halo? Unplug all the controllers, wrap the cords up, and put them away in drawers or cabinets. Yes it takes 2 minutes, but this to me is preferable than having a tangled mess of controllers, AV cords, etc. The consoles themselves sit in a nice AV cabinet with the cables going to a switch box, with enough slack in the cables to pull the consoles out of the rack and onto the floor during use. After use the console goes back into the AV cabinet, with controllers safely stowed in drawers of the AV cabinet.

  • My answer: emulators (Score:4, Interesting)

    by jvmatthe ( 116058 ) on Friday January 02, 2004 @12:42PM (#7861195) Homepage
    I propose using consoles to emulate other consoles, thus keeping the number of necessary consoles to a minimum. Still, there will be some clutter, but it will be greatly reduced.

    I can currently play Atari 2600, Atari 5200, NES, Commodore 64, Genesis, GameBoy/GameBoy Color/GameBoy Advance, DreamCast, PSX, PS2, and GameCube games all using just three consoles: my Dreamcast, PS2, and GameCube. I could include the Sega Master System and NeoGeo Pocket in there, if I had games for those systems. (I don't do the piracy thing.) If I were willing to live with some slowdown, I could add the SNES to that list. There are MAME packs too, but I've not tried them and can't speak to their quality.

    That's a lot of gaming from just three consoles, so I'm fairly happy. It takes some effort, though. You can read about it in my last Slashdot post [slashdot.org] which has links to all the important stuff, like modding a PS2 and how each of the emulators works.

    Of course, the real solution is apparently to use an Xbox. Unfortunately, I've got qualms about doing that (see discussion here [curmudgeongamer.com], esp. the comments below the story). Others don't.

    Then again, you can also go with a tiny PC next to the TV. I'm seriously considering that, although it wouldn't get rid of the DreamCast, PS2, and GC, since they're not emulated (sufficiently well) by any system yet.

    • Getting a tiny PC next to the TV may be an option... but a modded Xbox will give you just about all the functionality you'll need to be using it for anyway. Our modded Xbox plays Atari, C64, NES, Genesis, SNES, GBA, MAME games all great. It even is able to handle some n64 games but now that we have a Gamecube we can use that to emulate the n64 games (how do you think they got ocarina of time and majora's mask to work on the GC zelda disc they gave away? emulators of course!).

      Not to mention that it's al

  • Get this (Score:3, Informative)

    by NickV ( 30252 ) on Friday January 02, 2004 @12:50PM (#7861249)
    You want this [consoleaccessories.com]. It's great for handling multiple video cables and audio cables. I've had others, but this one does component, ethernet and optical audio too! It's really great (unless your tv has 7 video inputs already that is!)

    Also, get yourself a wireless controller for all your consoles, and get a nice cabinent that holds them all, so all the cables would go behind the wall unit. My set up is surprisingly clean, even though I have 3 consoles, a dvd player, a audio reciever and a computer... even the girlfriend approves! (as long as she gets to play monkey ball)
  • Go to Ikea for storage thingies, and to Radio Shak for an audio/video source selector, get the wireless controller for you, and roll up the cords around the controllers you aren't using most of the time, put those in a drawer.

    What I do is that I keep the cords plugged in the wall and the tv's source selector, and when I want to use a console, I just get the right power cable (allready plugged in the wall) from behind the couch and the right AV cable from behind the tv, plug it in the console and away I go.
  • And one more that I've forgotten...
    We have all of the above, and anywhere from 2 to 4 controllers for each system. They all go to a RCA switch (available from Wally World or Best Buy or anywhere else, for that matter). One useful thing I've discovered at Best Buy: Various companies sell multi-system adapter universal cables similar to this one [buy.com]. This will neaten up the snake nest behind your TV, if you can manage to cluster all of the machines (or as many as is convenient) in one spot. One word of warning: T

  • Console Clutter Solution (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    You'll need:
    - A big TV cabinet with plenty of component shelves and a big drawer
    - An A/V switchbox
    - n number of power strips
    - Coffee tables with drawers
    The way I manage mine (7 consoles with multiple controllers each -- including keyboards, light guns, maracas, etc...) is to put one or two consoles (depending on size) on each components shelf with only one controller stored with it. Each has it's cables neat run through the back of the cabinet and to one of the power bars, and either the co-ax daisy ch
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Evidently you already have a computer, so next time you get a computer, get a really nice one and quit buying more consoles. Retain the current ones if you want, but buy no more.

  • The Penny Arcade solution... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Thornae ( 53316 ) on Friday January 02, 2004 @01:39PM (#7861626)
    You'll probably end up like this [penny-arcade.com].

    Actually, the PA guys have a section called The Hookup [penny-arcade.com], which may be of some help...

    • Re:The Penny Arcade solution... (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      "The Hookup" is a load of ass. It's just a marketting vehicle for Monster Cable, which has bought the websites' proprieters mind, body and soul.

      Monster Cable does not increase quality of your system by a noticable amount, it's a massive hoax that I can speak against from personal experience. I have a several thousand dollar setup in my living room and the first amount of cash I dropped on a Monster cable setup was the last, as it was absolutely no different than using generic gold-plated connectors bough
      • Monster Cable does not increase quality of your system by a noticable amount, it's a massive hoax that I can speak against from personal experience... This isn't a troll it's the truth. Just thought I'd share.

        A little googling around of stereo and A/V equipment reviews will back up what the AC is saying here. Monster Cable has never proven any level of superiority over cheap, generic cable made with like materials in a third-party double-blind test, and they never will, because there really only are a han

  • We have these three pods from Ikea that double as storage and children's seats* - here's a picture [planettimmy.com] (safe for work, I promise!)

    We have one of these for each console, and the games and contollers are stored in them (Apart from the Steel Battalion one, which has to be stored seperately...).

    There's a rule in our house that whenever you've finished with a console, you take the game out and put it away, remove the controllers, wrap the cords around them and put them away as well. Depending on the console, somet
  • The family entertainment center used to be a rat's nest of cords and wires for various consoles. We now have a much larger piece of furniture (mame arcade cabinet), that runs Atari 2600, Nintendo, Super Nintendo, and Nintendo 64, in addition to standard mame games, all of which can be played from either 2 Nintendo 64 controllers (very comfortable for everything but mame, imo) or from the actual arcade controls. Cleaned up the wires nicely, but at a cost of about 42 cubic feet of living room space for the ca

  • Here's what I do... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by True Freak ( 57805 )
    I currently have 17 console systems...all hooked up to the same tv.

    I have a wall dedticated to the tv...with the tv in the center. I put a short shelving unit on each side of the tv and my speakers on the outside. I have a cloth tacked to the back of the shelving units so that you can't see any wires from the front. My wife hates wires so I have managed to not have a single wire visible...with the exception of in-use controllers of course.

    To hook them all up to the tv I have one "Parent" switch box wi
  • I've got all 3 systems, and a cable box, and using a nice console box mentioned elsewhere that takes multiple component, s-video, and composite video, as well as RCA and digital audio, to switch between systems. I've found cables for all 3 consoles that do the s-video conversion, but am interested in going to component wherever possible (I've found solutions for the PS2 and XBox, nothing yet for the Cube). If this was all going to one TV, I'd be ok, as I can use both the component and the s-video without
  • I keep my DVD, VCR, and consoles on a separate equipment rack that is hidden behind the couch. The TV is across the room, and a single cable runs from my switcher/RF modulator to the TV. This keeps the clutter hidden away and means you don't have to sit in front of the TV, either.


    The only remaining clutter is the controller cables, and I think the wireless controllers are a great suggestion for that problem.


    -m

  • I had the same problem.. I have both an Xbox and a Gamecube and was forced to keep both units on the floor because of a lack of space. I bought some pelican G3 wireless controllers [buy.com]for the GC (for next to nothing due to a buy.com price mistake) and went with a the Logitech controller for the Xbox [ign.com] (which is a masterpiece by the way).

    The result is that I not only cleaned up wire clutter, but I also managed to get my consoles off the floor and out of reach of the dog. Both controllers work great, the onl

  • Ikea! (Score:3, Informative)

    by SpookWarfare ( 691536 ) on Friday January 02, 2004 @03:36PM (#7862727) Homepage
    This [ikea-usa.com] shelf from Ikea (Heri) squeezes nicely into a corner and perfectly accomodates all four consoles (from top to bottom: GameCube, Dreamcast, PS2, Xbox). Pair it with wireless controllers and you're good to go.

  • eBay. (Score:2, Funny)

    by IM6100 ( 692796 )
    My solution was eBay. All the kids have their Christmas dollars right now to spend, so I listed both of our Playstations on eBay. I shopped one of them out today, am still awaiting payment for the other. If you have a good portfolio of games, it helps to 'bundle' a few good ones with each console you list.

    Problem solved.
  • I find that my biggest problem with a/v clutter is running out of component video ports. My receiver only switches 2 component video sources, and I don't really want to spend a bazillion dollars for a receiver that can switch 3 or 5. I'd rather have the best video quality than resort to using RCA cables or even SVIDEO for my various a/v devices-- so right now I just end up getting up and pulling wires in and out every time I want to switch devices.

    Does anyone here know of a company making a really basic

  • Wire ties (Score:2, Insightful)

    by WapoStyle ( 639758 )
    I got some hair rubber bands, pulled the entertainment center out so I could get behind it and wrapped the cables up and tied them to the exact length they needed to be to reach from the console to the TV, or console to outlet. It's not exactly a techy way to do it, but it sure looks a lot nicer than before. As for controller cables, GameCube is easy. Wavebirds are awesome, get them. As for PS2 and Xbox, I know logitech makes a decent wireless pad for the PS2, but they are very expensive at $60 a pop. I don

  • I exceeded the run-length of S-Video... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Kris_J ( 10111 ) * on Friday January 02, 2004 @06:41PM (#7864092) Homepage Journal
    Three switching boxes with a couple of meters of cable between them, the consoles and the TV do not a signal make.

    I have approximately 12 different working consoles that I'd like to have hooked up. Switching boxes and a couple of nice deep TV cabinets will mostly do it for you, but I had to settle on four hooked up to the TV plus the Dreamcast and PC hooked up to a VGA monitor after Matrix Reloaded looked awfully green and dull due to about 8m of cable and two swtiching boxes between my PS2 and my TV.

    As for controllers, I have one for each console usually sitting on top of the console itself while not being used. I disagree with the "pack everything away" approach, as you spend more time going in an out of drawers. Also, if you don't play one particular console for a while, you lose the controllers.

    Anyway, my current setup isn't ideal, but given my limited space I don't mind it so much.

  • Drawers (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Jebediah21 ( 145272 ) on Friday January 02, 2004 @07:43PM (#7864500) Homepage Journal
    My solution would be to get one of those four drawer wheeled contraptions [rubbermaid.com] at Target or wherever. Put one console and controllers / accessories in each drawer. Put a hole in the back of the drawer for any cables that need to reach the TV / net / power. Open the drawer when playing a game, close it when your done. Outside of the drawers use cable ties to keep things tidy.
  • ...when is someone going to come up with a tidier solution around behind the console stack? What I want is a kind of wireless solution - you get a matched pair of modules, each at most one inch cubed; one plugs into the back of your console, the other into the back of your televison/switchbox/whatever. You get a set of these instead of a cable with every new console you buy, and can choose whatever of the many styles of output connector you want... and maybe you'd be able to tune them using a set of tiny di

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