My videogame room (work in progress!)

o1s1n

Okay so no pictures as of yet, as I'm still in the planning phase. I did load up a small book case with all my MVS carts in those neo mini boxes, so that's at least a start!

Anyway, I've wanted to do this for 20+ years and insanely excited to have the space to finally put something together. So really want to do it right

What to do with the space?

It's a small box room. Fairly standard 3 bed semi D size. You'd fit a single bed under the window wall to wall. There's a wardrobe to the left of the door when you enter.

A very small room to live in, but I think it's going to be a lot of space to dedicate to games if I get the storage solution right.

So, to throw it out to the floor, what are the best storage/display options?

The goal here is to avoid using depth (I don't want any games hidden away behind games) - ideally just one game deep. I think that rules out the Expedit?

I'm not sure if that above plan is going to work out as it means not maximizing space. We'll have to see what happens once games start being put onto the shelving.

Would also love one of those glass case things that Mr.Vestek just picked up. Will see if we have space down the line

The Last Bandit

You'll probably need a combination of different shelf units.

The Expedit are great for displaying the consoles themselves but not great for the games as you just end up with them in piles. I just take them off the shelf and wire them up as needed, trying to have them all permanently connected limits your storage options to much I think.

I'm sure Ikea has some sort of narrow bookshelf type thing that'll hold DVD/carts perfectly ?

Remember you've a green field site to work with here so do it right !!

Myrddin

The Last Bandit wrote: »

trying to have them all permanently connected limits your storage options to much I think

This. It's an absolute killer on cabling too, power supplies, power cables, scarts, svideo leads etc...it's really convenient, but unless you've a large space like Ciderman etc, I'd not bother.

Get rid of that wardrobe too, it doesn't belong in a games room

o1s1n

The 'Billy' bookshelf range seems to be a good option. I'd still like narrower shelf spacing though.

Then again, it might be a good medium size to fit everything as I'll need to take DVD cased sized games into account too.



Can also get them with doors, might be handy for keeping the dust off



I reckon I'd fit three of these in the room. The window is also quite high, so there's a lot of space under it for more shelving.

the groutch

yep these are the ones TLB

http://www.ikea.com/ie/en/catalog/products/07305310/

the shelves are held up by wooden dowels that go into holes on the sides, so very easy to adjust the heights as required, only one shelf in the middle is permanently fixed in.
and they're alot better at keeping dust-free than most units.

o1s1n

Oooh, now you're talking. They look ideal for PS1 games. Holds 180 cds, so about 90 PS1 games?

Might be good to go with a combo then yeah, maybe two Billy's and then 4 - 8 Bennos.

This may get expensive :eek:

Optimus Prime

Those Billy bookcases are great, you can get height extension ones to go on top, and ones that are half the width too. so you can have them going right up to the ceiling. we have ones with height extensions in our sitting room. you can see them in this vid here..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaWW438H924&feature=share&list=UUDy_YIGL9qhfFYrNdWwPdvQ

the groutch

it fits 8 ps1 games across, so 80 total.
dvd (xbox, ps2, etc) cases fit 10 across.

it doesnt really fit right with all dvd on any of them, so I go 6 shelves of dvd (top and bottom 3), with 2 for ps1 etc in the middle, making it 76 games.

CiDeRmAn

How about using Sketchup to do a quick render of what the room might look like, could also help with planning.

Parawind

o1s1n wrote: »

The 'Billy' bookshelf range seems to be a good option. I'd still like narrower shelf spacing though.

Then again, it might be a good medium size to fit everything as I'll need to take DVD cased sized games into account too.



Can also get them with doors, might be handy for keeping the dust off



I reckon I'd fit three of these in the room. The window is also quite high, so there's a lot of space under it for more shelving.

That's a nice unit, how many games (DVD cases) can it hold per shelf?

o1s1n

Managed to get two Billy book cases in last week - they hold so feckin much! :eek:

I've yet to get my collection into the house, but started loading the up with the few games I'd been bringing between moves (a paltry 200 or so! )

Barely made a dent really. I reckon 600-700 are going to go in easily enough with a few well placed extra shelves.

There's a nice shelf at the bottom for my smaller PCBs. You can see the tops of some new boxes I got for them recently (12 inch pizza box type things)

They fit anything up to about the size of a CPS1 board. Next step is to get some nice spine art for them.



So much space to fill! :eek: Yes yes I know, I made a rookie mistake and put the middle shelf in backwards Was too late to take it apart by the time I'd noticed! Nothing a bit of black paint wont fix...



One shelf fits 28 Megadrive games. So I'm hoping the 4-5 shelves at the top fit my complete Megadrive collection.

I want to add an extra shelf on each bookcase in the big gap over the middle one.

Measured it up and you'll fit Snes carts in there nicely. So a lovely line of Snes carts starting on one bookcase and going across in a straight line to the other. (I think there's about 70-80, can't remember as it's been three years since I've seen them!)

Another big one is PS1 and PS2 games. I honestly can't remember how many I have. At a guess, 200 between both platforms, but it really does remain to be seen. So hopefully the shelf some are currently on and the empty ones underneath will fit them.

There are also another 20 or so MVS carts I'm trying not to think about for now, along lots of other bits and bobs I've completely forgotten about (where the bloody hell am I going to put Steel Battalion?!)

Anyway, it's really so much fun taking all these games out of storage and finally having somewhere to actually put them. I'd forgotten how gorgeous the Megadrive spine art looks when all lined up.

The Last Bandit

Looks a lot better then a single harddrive full of roms !!

maximoose

I feel your pain with the backwards shelf, did the same with a Billy not long ago :pac:

o1s1n

The Last Bandit wrote: »

Looks a lot better then a single harddrive full of roms !!

Without a doubt

Flicking through roms can't compete with browsing spines on a shelf. I spent most of the weekend in that box room playing games I haven't played in ages. And putting good time into them too.

maximoose wrote: »

I feel your pain with the backwards shelf, did the same with a Billy not long ago :pac:

Heh, glad I'm not the only one so! It's too easy to do. They should have a groove or something cut so that middle shelf can only slot in one way.

Jack burton

Looking well.

I have my billy bookcase done in such a way that I have 2 rows on each but one of them is raised up......

I'll actually just post a picture

o1s1n

Genius!!! I didn't want to stack games in front due to not seeing spines, didn't occur to me to raise the back level slightly :eek: - that looks great.

So you've fit about 170 MD games there on three shelves. I may need to steal your idea

Jack burton

Yeah you do get a quite compact collection and it does look nice.

Of course you can forget about the games you will sacrifice on the bottom. There a lot of fifas and about a dozen Eternal Champions under there haha!

OwaynOTT

Some sexy pictures there! As sera would say, I'm so jelly.

o1s1n

Three crates on the way today from storage. They were the ones left in a box room after we were all knackared from lifting the other 10 or so crates into the attic. :pac:

Not 100% sure what's in them. I know one contains MVS carts (I think about 15-20), another contains books, the last one...? I did have a peak inside last time I was out there and saw some Gamegear stuff, so I'm assuming it's full of games.

Hopefully it's not a box of cutlery or something else boring I've long since forgotten about :eek:

Oh and Jacky Boy - I tried your Megadrive display trick, it looks class! Definitely going to do that with the rest.

o1s1n

So I cracked open these crates and feasted on the goo inside.

One was books and comics so not really applicable to this project... some cool stuff in there though :pac:

The second one contained 17 MVS carts. Bringing the MVS collection up to a space consuming 55 carts. Along with the NGP stuff, it takes up 3 shelves altogether. Bit mad, will have to go through and see if I can find doubles.

The last crate was a crazy one and full of odds and ends I'd totally forgotten about.

The highlight of it was a collection of 20 NES games, including some boxed ones. They're in great condition too.

The low was most of everything else. There were some really nice boxed games in there, but most was made up of unboxed stuff. About 60-70 loose carts across loads of platforms.

No idea what to do with them as I've no real interest in unboxed stuff anymore. Might just lash it all up for sale.

o1s1n

My games collection is finally being liberated from my Grandparent's attic tomorrow. I'm both excited and scared at the same time

Jack burton

o1s1n wrote: »

My games collection is finally being liberated from my Grandparent's attic tomorrow. I'm both excited and scared at the same time

Its a great feeling having everything in the one place. Hopefully everything is as you left it

o1s1n

Hopefully it's not just empty crates and signs of looters, Ancient Egypt tomb style :eek:

One thing I'm looking forward to is selling on some of my multiples. Should be able to put some nice lots together. I have one ready in my head already with a fully boxed MD II and about 30 unboxed carts.

the groutch

o1s1n wrote: »

Hopefully it's not just empty crates and signs of looters, Ancient Egypt tomb style :eek:

One thing I'm looking forward to is selling on some of my multiples. Should be able to put some nice lots together. I have one ready in my head already with a fully boxed MD II and about 30 unboxed carts.

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CiDeRmAn

Tayto Smokey Bacon or nothing!

o1s1n

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Tayto Smokey Bacon or nothing!

Eugh! you wont get very far on any of my ads with them. :P

Now Guinness crisps on the other hand..

CiDeRmAn

You missed the bag procured especially for you at the Beers.

o1s1n

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

You missed the bag procured especially for you at the Beers.

Ah jaysus, don't be saying that! I felt bad enough not being able to make it out! (I really have to start driving)

Seeing as I cant get out to you lot I was thinking of hosting soon, as long as you guys can navigate the hills of wicklow that is.

o1s1n

Excuse the self indulgence of the next couple of posts, but here's some photos of the (incredibly fun!) mess I'm dealing with.

Oh, a nondescript box. I wonder what's inside?



A TV Tuner..



Boxed PS1 joystick, I forgot about that. Was part of a ps1 lot I picked up years ago. Was a really old PS1 lot though, old style analog sticks, old games etc, like someone who went mad into the console when it first came out.



Ah, **** tonnes of unboxed carts.





On the plus side, lots of nice NES stuff



Shelves getting full now. I really do need one for the middle so all the snes carts can go across horizontally.





Jack B - your Megadrive ideal really was a godsend! Managed to fit so many games by stacking a second row behind. On the down side, there's about 20 Megadrive games under the back row propping everything up



Few closeups of some of my misc Sega stuff. (IE - Non Megadrive!)

o1s1n

Boxes



More boxes





Even more boxes! :eek:



In the end I had to concede defeat and stick a load of unpictured boxed stuff up in the attic. Some will be sold, other stuff will wait until the attic is converted to go on display

Lots of white wall space to cover in art. Something also to come out of storage was my bead sprite art. Quite a bit more to go up (Dr Mario courtesy of Alter Egoist!)



Street Fighter 2 cel looking fairly smart


Here are some of those box protectors I picked up, they're really great yolks.



Finally bloody managed to get a 100% complete ALTTP. I had the booklets etc stored away up in that attic for years and the box purchased separately. All together now



NGPC games. I love these! Tempted now to go for a full collection again.



Recent modded Famicom acquisition.



I mentioned that there was a really horrific wardrobe unit. Had been using it for a console setup, but it really was awfully messy.



Tore it down over the weekend and tried to put something better together. Still very limited space, but at least it's not half as messy!

Lovely stuff.
What you gonna do when the sprogs start coming tho?
Lol