Doc's Wide World of Gaming (Picture Heavy!) UPDATED: May 25th

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

Hello and welcome to my personal gaming thread!

I've been in my current home for three years and I love it, but my time in Georgia is coming to an end. It's time pack everything up and share some of my cooler stuff with you guys. A little backstory: I've spent most of my adult life in school and then immediately entered the Army, so relocating every few years is a normal routine for me. I actually love the thrill of exploring a new spot and finding new things, so I tend to embrace my moves. They provide a great opportunity to go through my collection and get rid of all the stuff I don't need or want anymore. It's a cleansing! Expect to see more of my actual gaming stuff in future posts.

Entry #1: Media Center

Spoiler

 

For now, we'll do something a little different. Even the best games in the world are useless without a sweet gaming setup, so let's start this thing off with an overview of my media center. It's located in my basement which I was able to completely customize and finish after we bought the house in 2017. I spend as much time as I can down here. I've got a Dolby Atmos setup with wires in the walls and ceiling mounted speakers. There are two more rear speakers on shelves to the left and right that can't be seen in this picture. My only complaint about this area is the sectional which is old and not that comfortable. The black box on a stand in the back left is a sensor for an HTC Vive room-scale VR.

Next up is a better look at the media center. It's a custom combination of Besta parts from Ikea, made up of four shelving units. If anyone is interested in how I built it, I can post in my shelving threads. I used a hole saw drill bit to ensure I had appropriate access for every shelf. The TV is an LG OLED E6 which is a bit long in the tooth, but still very nice and has 3D functionality.

Next up are my main speakers which are Elac Debut F6.  They are paired with an ELAC S10EQ Subwoofer and some older small speakers for the center channel and surround. These left and right standing speakers have great sound, but I wouldn't consider myself an an audiophile, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

And finally, here's a sneak peek of everything that's inside the unit. Tune in next time for a detailed shelf-by-shelf accounting of what I've got hooked up.

Entry #2: Inside the Media Center

Entry #3: The Flood; or From NIB to C

Edited May 30, 2020 by DoctorEncore

[drxandy | 3,283]

The doors on there look so nice! Diggin' it.

[Bubbapauls | 252]

Your set up looks nice and clean.

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

3 hours ago, drxandy said:

The doors on there look so nice! Diggin' it.

 

2 hours ago, Bubbapauls said:

Your set up looks nice and clean.

Thank you both!

While the contractors were finishing the basement, I spent a few months looking at pretty much every video game setup on the internet. My main goals were to minimize clutter, have minimal or zero videogames visible, and maximize storage space. I am not particularly bold when it comes to interior design, but I like a modern look, so I decided to go for the black and white setup. I was hoping to find the white pieces in a glossy finish, but they don't exist and I didn't want to add glass tops or repaint anything, so i left them matte. I put half doors on the two middle sections so the white would be a bit more obvious and break up the black nicely. This also gave me easy access for infrared remote use. I think the setup could benefit from some shelving and decorations above the media center on the back wall, but I knew I wasn't going to  be staying her long term, so I decided less is more.  

The best thing about this setup is the sheer amount of space it allows. I have a whole bunch on consoles hooked up and could definitely move some non-essentials out to add even more.

[nrslam | 486]

Beautifully clean looking setup, but where are the games?

[T-Pac | 7,951]

Really slick setup - those glass panel doors look so classy. 

-CasualCart

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

3 hours ago, nrslam said:

Beautifully clean looking setup, but where are the games?

I promise they are in the same room! I only display my NES collection, but it's directly  behind the camera, on the wall opposite the media center. There are a few pics floating around this site, but I'll add some to this thread too when I get to the games part.

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

Entry #2: Inside the Media Center

I'm back and it's time to head inside the media center. As is customary in English, we will go from the top left to the bottom right. Let's begin!

Spoiler

 

Left Side Tower Unit

1. Top shelf is full of Amiibo galore. I don't know why or when I started collecting them, but I fell in love with these little statues once I did. I rarely use them in-game, but I like to rotate them in my display areas every now and then for a little bit of flair.
2. The next shelf is dedicated to controllers and you'll see PS3/PS4/Joycon chargers, a Poke Ball Plus, and two HTC Vive Wands.
3. HTC Vive headset, cords, and portable battery pack. The headset has the official wireless adapter which is a game changer. There aren't many must-play VR games, but there are a few that will blow your mind the first time you try them, especially in room-scale.
4. Tekken 6 Fight Stick (360), Xbox One Turtle Beach Headset, and too many Xbox One controllers
5. Some random USB cables, Google Chromecast, case for my Switch + Dock, and the most important item to always have available, Donkey Konga Bongos.
6. Batteries and 3D Glasses. I'm a big proponent of rechargeable batteries and Amazon Basics are actually excellent quality.

 

Left Shelves of Left Horizontal Unit

1. Playstation 2 (with case mod to allow for import play) and Playstation Mini
2. Gamecube with Game Boy Player and Dreamcast
3. Xbox

 

Right Shelves of Left Horizontal Unit

1. The open bay up top has the Xbox One X (my main gaming machine) with some controllers, Nintendo Switch, and NES/SNES Switch Controllers
2. In the back is the NES Classic, SNES Classic (EU and US versions). In the front row is the Analogue Nt, a couple 8BitDo SNES controllers, and an Analogue Super Nt.

 

Left Shelves of Right Horizontal Unit

1. Denon Receiver with an old Panasonic center speaker.
2. In the back we've got a Framemeister upscaler, an HDMI Switcher, and a Genesis Mini. In the front we've got the Shonen Jump Famicom Mini, a standard Famicom Mini, Mega Sg Cart Adapters, and finally the Mega Sg.

 

Right Shelves of Right Horizontal Unit

1. Up top is a Wii U and a bunch of Wii and Wii U controllers
2. Xbox 360 with Kinect and HD-DVD Drive (as you may have guessed, the HD-DVD drive does not get much use )
3. On the bottom is the PS3 with Eye Toy Camera. I need to change this out for a backwards compatible launch model, but that's a low priority.

 

Right Side Tower Unit

1. Amiibo
2. More Amiibo
3. Morer Amiibo and a few little puzzles (and space for future fun stuff!)
4. PS4 Pro and CoreGrafx/PC-Engine Mini
5. DS and 3DS collection (a future post will look at these in more detail)
6. Portable gaming heaven! On the left is the DS Lite, 3DS, and 2DS XL. Then the Game Boy Pocket, Game Boy Color, PSP, and assorted cables.

 

Whew! I have even more crap in this thing than I thought!

So at this point, you may be wondering: Is everything hooked up and ready to play? The short answer is no. The long answer is kind of. I have everything I need behind the media center including outlets, power strips, and switches, but I never got around to hooking it all up. And the reality is, I don't play most of these systems enough to justify having them connected 24/7. If I really get the urge, I actually left about 1-2 feet of space between the media center and back wall, so I can jump behind there and change out wires in about five minutes or less. Perhaps getting all the switches hooked up will be a project for the next house!

See you next time.

 

 

Edited May 30, 2020 by DoctorEncore

[ApebitMusic | 130]

Yo! You've got some stuff!

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

The Flood

All is not well in the world of DoctorEncore, or as I like to call it, Encoropolis. On the eve of May 23rd, as I helped Doc Jr. brush his teeth, I noticed that there was a sudden, unexplained drop in the water pressure. Knowing something was not right, I ran outside and checked the outdoor faucets, but all of them were fine. I then sprinted into the basement and sadness overcame me. The water heater expansion tank had exploded and flooded my basement and beloved media room with a couple inches of water. This, my friends, is where I keep my video games. After getting absolutely drenched shutting off the main water valve which was directly in the blast zone, I surveyed the damage. At first glance, it really wasn't bad with at most one inch of standing water in a few places. Unfortunately, the water had spread everywhere under the wood floors, so everything touching the ground was ruined or damaged.

So, since I had to move, open, and trash a bunch of my stuff, I might as well show off my collection! 

The Damage

Spoiler

 

The pressure in the expansion tank was so great that it blew a hole right through the bladder and metal casing.

There wasn't much standing water, but it soaked the entire rug and got all the bases of the furniture.

Unfortunately the water covered all bare concrete areas and went under the flooring, damaging the baseboards and drywall.

The closet of shame before the flood:

The game closet looks pretty good in this photo after the drying process had begun. I generally don't store anything directly on the ground, but I had been planning to sell a bunch of stuff and moved it to the front of the closet for easy access.

The damage... Not a huge portion of my collection, but a few items of significant value. Thankfully, these hold minimal sentimental value. I was hoping to give the Minecraft Xbox One to Doc Jr. for his birthday next year and I still can, just sans the box.

 

The good news? The classic collections survived! A couple of my shelving units have low ledges for the bottom row, but were fortunate enough to be in an area of the room where the water didn't extend much above the wood flooring. And of course the NES wall is alive and thriving!

NE Wall A-S (with assorted games hurriedly jammed on top of others, ruining the entire presentation):

Sales Rack (left) and T-Z (hurriedly dragged into the workout room which has painted concrete/rubber floors and got the least of the water):

More good news! Donkey Konga 100% safe

All other games in the Closet of Shame were also on shelves and survived unscathed:

The bins are full of thousands of disc-based games. Presumably they are okay, but I haven't dug through them yet.

 

The Aftermath

Spoiler

So at this point, I had two options:

1. Cry myself to sleep, or
2. Pretend it's Christmas and open all my expensive water damaged stuff and take some pics.

I thought to myself, "Why not do both?" So, after a good cry, I got to opening.

Halo 4 LE Xbox 360: Very cool in person. The plastic is translucent and everything looks very high tech. It also came with two controllers. Much better than the actual game.

Star Wars Kinect LE Xbox 360: Maybe my favorite LE console of all-time. It's got a beautiful, quality matte finish and looks quite sexy. I don't like how shiny the controller is, but I appreciate the C-3PO design to match the R2-D2 console.

Minecraft LE Xbox One S: Another absolutely beautiful LE with a fantastic controller to match. This will go to my son next year for his 5th birthday.

Wind Waker LE Wii U Console: A few neat little flourishes on the controller, but the console is just a standard piano black finish.

A few pack-in games that I pulled from all these boxes. The only one with water damage is Skylanders Wii U . In case any collectors are keeping track, the top four are all NFR,  while the bottom four are standard versions (although Ace Combat 6 has English and French text on the artwork).

Yakuza 6 After Hours Edition: The glasses are decent quality with some nice etching, but the real star here is the artbook. The game is standard and NOT marked NFR.

Statues! The Dark Souls and Aliens statues are both pretty nice quality and the Skylander is a Skylander. The patches that were included with Aliens are a pretty nice touch. It's too bad the actual game was so trash.

A couple of nice pack-in posters. Again, the Aliens one is pretty neat with a translucent wax paper appearance. Unfortunately both are water damaged. Any interest in these @JanusZeal?

And lastly, Ace Combat 6 Flight Stick for Xbox 360. It looks and feels really nice, but I've never actually tried it. It also came with a cool faceplate for the original 360!

 

Well, that's all for now. Time to get the contractors in here. Remember, never store your stuff on the ground and make sure you know where your main shutoff valve is! Those two tips saved me from a true disaster.

Bonus Content

Spoiler

Sad Cardboard 

 

 

Edited May 27, 2020 by DoctorEncore

[drxandy | 3,283]

On 5/6/2020 at 1:48 PM, DoctorEncore said:

Flood

Oh man, I am so sorry. This is my worst nightmare. I had a small flood a little while ago and woke up to wet carpet and it had made it to the game room.. luckily it was caught in time and minimal damage but the stress from removing everything and running fans for a week plus was just rough.

[Jicsan | 603]

Wow DoctorEncore!  I'm so glad that it wasn't any worse than what it was.  When I read that topic title my heart sank.

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

18 hours ago, drxandy said:

Oh man, I am so sorry. This is my worst nightmare. I had a small flood a little while ago and woke up to wet carpet and it had made it to the game room.. luckily it was caught in time and minimal damage but the stress from removing everything and running fans for a week plus was just rough.

 

17 hours ago, Jicsan said:

Wow DoctorEncore!  I'm so glad that it wasn't any worse than what it was.  When I read that topic title my heart sank.

Thanks for the kind words dudes!

It's funny because I've talked to my wife about how I would feel if my collection got destroyed and I always felt I would handle it well. This only affected a small portion of mostly newer stuff, so it really didn't bother me too much. That being said, if I ever lost my entire NES collection, I would be a bit broken up just because of how much time and effort I put into gathering it.

I'm mostly sad to lose the use of my basement which was where I went to relax, play games, exercise, and watch movies. I'm getting ready to move and have some time off right now, so I was really hoping to get in some serious game time.

I'm not excited to see how little the insurance company reimburses me for the gaming stuff. I just sold my extra NIB Wind Waker Wii U Set for $740, but I'll be surprised if they even give me MSRP for this one.

In the end I'm extremely thankful that I only lost a few boxes and some furniture. We are moving anyways, so besides the delay in getting our house on the market, we probably would have replaced some furniture in the process. And I got to actually open some cool stuff!

[noiseredux | 232]

glad you're taking this in good spirits, dude. My water heater exploded maybe seven years ago or so, but luckily my games aren't in the basement. It was still a huge headache, lots of clean-up and a bill I wasn't expecting.

[TDIRunner | 2,912]

Sorry to hear about that.  I'm glad it wasn't worse then it could have been. 

To your point, it's so important to know how and where to turn your water off to your house.  Too many people don't know about that.  I just replaced my main water shut off last year because it wouldn't completely shut the water off. I put the fix off for a long time because I could always go outside and turn the water off at the meter, but then the water company put a lock on it so I couldn't access it.  Seems pretty dangerous to me, but it gave me the excuse to finally fix the valve in my basement.   

Good luck with getting everything back to "normal."

[Nintegageo | 583]

Man, so sorry :'( but you are right, it could have ruined the sentimental and important things. I tend to put magazines/crap on the bottom shelves that are nearly ground level due to this. Hope your move goes smoothly and you can show your great new games room :)

[MiamiSlice | 3,180]

Ugh. I've been hit twice by floods. The first time was when I was like 9 years old and my childhood NES collection was destroyed. Worst part was it was hurricane flood water so it was filthy and there was no salvaging anything. I mean I only lost like 8 boxes and manuals and none of them were rare but still, I remembered that. 

Second was a couple years ago in the house I have now, the main drain pipe got blocked and I ended up getting like a centimetre of water in the bottom floor. Of course the pergo flooring was complete ruined and had to be thrown out and replaced. Really sucked having to pay for a complete remodeling of a floor that had been completely remodeled maybe 8 years prior. But at least by this point I had learned my lesson to never keep anything on the floor - my shelves in this room all have good clearance from the floor - so nothing was damaged. 

I'm sorry this happened to you but glad you were able to save (almost) everything!

Edited May 27, 2020 by MiamiSlice

[Speedy_NES | 102]

Sorry to hear about the flooding! Every collector's worst nightmare. Good luck with any renovation work and the upcoming move.

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

Thank you for all the kinds words, friends. I'll be sure to keep updating with more entries since I've got nothing better to in the mean time! Up next will probably be Mini Consoles!

Edited May 28, 2020 by DoctorEncore

[Nesmaster | 402]

I clicked on this expecting the worst, happy to see the NES wall safe, but still some casualties. Will watch for updates, sorry to see this!

[GPX | 1,411]

Glad to see the collection despite the awkward and unwanted circumstances! Kudos to you DE for remaining positive in the face of a collector’s nightmare. Even if it’s not much sentimental value loss, I know from personal experience, that any kind of damage to a collectible item feels rage-inducing! So thanks for remaining calm and sharing the pics as well as the ordeal!

A good take-home message for me is that we all should plan for natural disasters regarding the storage of our possessions. Collectibles are for maintenance and protection as well as objects to be displayed. 

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

On 5/27/2020 at 11:27 PM, Nesmaster said:

I clicked on this expecting the worst, happy to see the NES wall safe, but still some casualties. Will watch for updates, sorry to see this!

 

8 hours ago, GPX said:

Glad to see the collection despite the awkward and unwanted circumstances! Kudos to you DE for remaining positive in the face of a collector’s nightmare. Even if it’s not much sentimental value loss, I know from personal experience, that any kind of damage to a collectible item feels rage-inducing! So thanks for remaining calm and sharing the pics as well as the ordeal!

A good take-home message for me is that we all should plan for natural disasters regarding the storage of our possessions. Collectibles are for maintenance and protection as well as objects to be displayed. 

Thanks dudes! Unfortunately my homeowner's insurance doesn't cover the value of collectibles (i.e. the fact that items are boxed or NIB), but instead only pays for the actual item (i.e. a functioning Wii  U instead of an NIB Wind Waker Deluxe Wii U). It's not really a big monetary loss since I wasn't planning on selling all of this stuff, but it's still a wake-up moment. I will definitely be buying collector's insurance when I move to my next home.

[JanusZeal | 133]

Really sorry for your loss, my friend.  Right now, I am broke as broke can be, and usually only collect promotional stuff from stores.  But thanks for thinking of me.

I am glad this wasn't as bad as it could have been, and that your true grails are okay.  You are very resilient emotionally.  It is tough to lose what you so delicately curate.

I know I feel awful when I damage a poster, and you know how easy that is, with them being paper.   It's not a good feeling to see something you had perfect in damaged shape.

Wishing you lots of lucky acquisitions in the second half of this year. 

[YOURTURN | 1,258]

Man... I really wanted to say something sooner. But between me cataloging what I have successfully gotten and not knowing what to say, all I can say is "Yare yare daze." Mostly because I hate it when my level of bad luck hits others. Because I can handle the annoyance of losing a few rare(-ish) games. But to see this? That is a whole different level!

Honestly, if this happened to me I would have been looking for a way to recover. Possibly go as far as look into a way to display the survivors. So I am also glad that you are still hanging in there. And also hope the second half of this year is good for you! If it isn't by the time I do my planned return trip, please let me know. I'll see if I have find a protection charm specifically made for gamers. 

And as for the gift for your kid, consider putting it in a custom box. Maybe one with a pic where you both are video game characters playing video games together. It's an idea. But I do hope what you do works. With that said... Best of luck!