My three collecting goals have been met
When I made the call to finally collect video games, I had a few goals. The first was to find a copy of all those games I played as a kid that I either sold off or rented regularly. That was pretty much completed a few years ago, and turned into something else entirely.
The second was to own an arcade game. That’s been done three times, though I only have one left and it’s barely in working condition.
The third was to own a store kiosk display. It’s been a long quest, and I had the chance to own a few small ones for Game Boys and such, but for the price it didn’t seem worth it.
Now this, well, this is worth it.
[img=http://img378.imageshack.us/img378/9652/gckiosk1mg0.th.jpg]
This was a weekend deal with a co-worker, who won the thing in a raffle. It’s been three months of constant annoyance and pressuring, well past the point of good taste. There’s plenty of story here, so if you only care to know how much, you can stop here. It was a $100, he kept the Gamecube (replaced it with my own), and I have to buy him a few used games at a later date.
Now, when he won it, he could barely fit it in his house. It weighs somewhere around 300 pounds when fully assembled. It's also around seven feet tall.
So, to get it in my house, we had to disassemble it. It wasn’t that bad at all, aside from a few warped screws. It’s really only three parts: The bottom stand that houses the system, the outside overhead, and the TV. All three come apart, though it took somewhere around two hours.
Since my co-worker doesn’t drive and I sure as hell couldn’t carry it down the steps to the basement, he had to hitch a ride with me back home. We took my dads van which is one step short of being condemned, and without backseats. He was stuck between the overhead portion against the side door of the van which doesn’t really lock all that well the whole way home.
I had to call another buddy to actually get it down the steps. The bottom is the heaviest by far, made entirely of thick metal. Once that was down, it wasn’t too much trouble. It definitely took some time, but it was manageable with two people.
Once hooked up and plugged in, the video cables were set up. The TV is SD, but a nice Samsung DynaFlat, the same style as my first HDTV. It had component inputs on the back, so it gave me an excuse to keep the ‘Cube’s cables here instead of on eBay. Once hooked up, we have the moment of truth and it leads to… nothing.
All the settings on the TV were disabled. Only one video port, the composite set on the back. Frustrated as hell, we went to re-hook everything, until I remembered I could get into the service menu on the TV like I did my old one. Since my old HD set is still in use upstairs, I used the remote, enabled every feature the TV had, including the component input and the various audio options. This made it a much nicer TV.
That finally worked, and we were up and running. Unfortunately, the magazine racks that hung off the side had to be taken off to get it into the house, and one needed to be destroyed entirely due a warped bolt. The other I could still wall mount somewhere else.
The lock that holds the lid over the Gamecube down is broke as the key was lost. It will still close and temporarily lock, but the slightest shake will pop it open. The TV also has some small burn in from the kiosk discs. There’s some minor paint chipping that I’ll cover up whenever I get around to getting paint. Not that difficult to say the least, and it’s really I remarkable condition for being in a high traffic area for about four years. Even the original controllers work fine.
Another unseen benefit until someone thought of it is a way to play light gun titles. Since my main gaming TV is a LCD, I can’t play any of them on it. With this, a quick plug in to the front AV ports gives a nice arcade-like shooter feel whenever I get the urge. It’s an unintended side effect that will benefit me in the long run.
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I am really happy for you
