What do you do with your old shit?

[40oz]

Guys I've got a problem. Every once in a while I'm reminded of how miserably unkempt my basement is. Everytime I go in there I just look at the shelves stockpiled with what appears to be old junk that I'll never use again. But everytime I actually get down and start picking out the individual things, I keep finding things that revive old memories, particularly with games and consoles and stuff.

I've gotta Sega Genesis down there, about 6 or 7 games. Old PC games, Computer parts, a Playstation, a ton of Playstation games, A bunch of gameboy color and gameboy advance games, a tons of other related stuff too.

At the time they were bought they were pretty expensive. I'm not really certain if all or even any of these things still work, and I don't have to patience to set them all up and troubleshoot them. I also recall getting a ton of replay value out of these things. But I don't want them taking up space in my basement either. Do I just throw em in the trash? I feel like theres some kinda money value I could be making with these things but I could be horribly wrong too, especially if they dont work. It's also makes me uncomfortable that I may be throwing out things that may be really fun or useful for someone else. What do you guys do with your old stuff?

[Maes]

I flush...err... I mean I keep it ;-) After all, I'm ghetto.

[pavera]

I keep everything, which is leading to a new problem. I have too much god damn stuff. I don't have the heart to throw away my first PC, my old Playstation, etc...

I'm just a big softie.

[Mr. Freeze]

BURN IT
FLAMES FOR THE FLAME GOD

[Ultraboy94]

the only reason that i dont have, like 27 consoles in my room, is that either my mum made me get rid of one console when i got a new one (as i had the "maximum" of 5), or if i use a console to trade-in for a new one (so when i bought a ps2 in my room my ps1 was useless since the ps2 could play all the ps1 games, so i traded that in when buying the ps2).

the computer? i would have probably sold that when getting a new pc too.

if they still work, you can sell them for cheap as hell or give them away "free to a good home", if they dont work, you could sell them for spare parts...

[Nomad]

Donate them to Good Will or the Salvation Army and let God sort them out.

[wildweasel]

I don't get rid of much unless it's a game that I am absolutely sick of.

[Grazza]

I never throw stuff out. And yes, it becomes a problem.

[Jodwin]

I go through my shit regularly and throw everything that I haven't needed for a while away. So far I've never yet missed stuff that I've got rid of.

[DuckReconMajor]

Either you have a compulsive hoarding disorder or one day you'll wake up and "have to patience to set them all up and troubleshoot them" because you'll be so sick of having it. Then you can make money on the stuff you don't want that works.

Jodwin said:

I go through my shit regularly and throw everything that I haven't needed for a while away. So far I've never yet missed stuff that I've got rid of.

This, too. It hurts the first day but after that you feel silly for missing it.

[Bucket]

I'm the other way around. If I throw things away or sell them, I know I won't miss them tomorrow or next week or next month. It'll be more like 5-10 years in the future - I'll get an overwhelming need and then realize, "Oh, I got rid of that." Kind of like how I just started missing my Gameboy and all the awesome games that are hard to find.

[kristus]

I usually just throw it away unless it's a bit useful or valuable. In which case I give it to charity so they can sell it.

[exp(x)]

Craigslist

[Mattfrie1]

I personally never throw anything away that is game related. The only exception was some boxes and the wired controller that came with my SNES many moons ago. I wish I had one now, as the wireless ones I bought are junk now.

Sell any of your old games if you don't want them, I'm sure there is always some sucker out there like me that would love to have them. :)

Ultraboy94 said:

(so when i bought a ps2 in my room my ps1 was useless since the ps2 could play all the ps1 games, so i traded that in when buying the ps2).

cough...Mortal Kombat Trilogy...cough

One of the only reasons I own a PSX. That and I have a little bit of OCD of playing the game on the system it was meant for. ;)

[DuckReconMajor]

Bucket said:

I'm the other way around. If I throw things away or sell them, I know I won't miss them tomorrow or next week or next month. It'll be more like 5-10 years in the future - I'll get an overwhelming need and then realize, "Oh, I got rid of that." Kind of like how I just started missing my Gameboy and all the awesome games that are hard to find.

Well, I've never thrown any video games away, and I never plan to. I don't ever sell games either, for that exact same reason.

There's a difference between "I'm gonna keep my old game boy" and "I'm gonna keep this candy wrapper in case I wanna make a paper airplane out of it someday."

[myk]

I'd take some stuff to Subway to throw at any attacking fat biker kids. I'm sure a Sega Genesis over the head will defeat a mere switchblade.

[Bucket]

DuckReconMajor said:

There's a difference between "I'm gonna keep my old game boy" and "I'm gonna keep this candy wrapper in case I wanna make a paper airplane out of it someday."

I also think there's a difference between "keeping stuff that I used at some point" and "living in filth".

[Super Jamie]

Put everything that's worth something on eBay, throw the rest out. Take the eBay money and either save it or get really drunk.


I used to hoard, then I moved out of home and into small places with I had one single room with no storage so I de-junked by necessity. If you haven't touched something for 6 months, then you probably don't need it. If you haven't touched something for a year you definitely don't need it.

Think of how easily replaceable something is. If it's going to cost you hundreds of dollars to get another one, then maybe it's worth keeping. If it's some old crap you can buy second hand for a few bucks then chuck it out, if you need it again you can always buy it again.

Like Jodwin says, once it's gone you won't even think of it again. The only thing I've ever missed that I got rid of was my N64, and that simply because emulation is not good enough, so I just bought another one a few years later. A Genesis or SNES I'd have no trouble parting with, ROMs are better to play on PC/XBox/GP2X anyway.

[Maes]

myk said:

I'd take some stuff to Subway to throw at any attacking fat biker kids. I'm sure a Sega Genesis over the head will defeat a mere switchblade.

o_O I'm having a hard time picturing this sort of urban subculture image in Argentina. I could understand some nasty lean & mean, tan hijos de puta with switchblades, slicked-back greasy hair and scarred faces, but fat biker kids? LMAO

[Mattfrie1]

Super Jamie said:

A Genesis or SNES I'd have no trouble parting with, ROMs are better to play on PC/XBox/GP2X anyway.

Emulation sucks IMO. Just buy the system itself or forget about it.

Emulators don't capture the original magic of a console, and most of the time the game doesn't even emulate 100% either (or at least that is what always happened to me).

[Technician]

Mattfrie1 said:

Emulation sucks IMO. Just buy the system itself or forget about it.

Emulators don't capture the original magic of a console, and most of the time the game doesn't even emulate 100% either (or at least that is what always happened to me).

Off your high horse. Snes9x and my logitech controller work wonders. I can't say the Nes or Gens emulators work great for mac so I guess my comment is moot.

[Sharessa]

I grab a large plastic bag and go through everything I own every once in a while. That said, I still accumulate too much.

[Super Jamie]

Mattfrie1 said:

Emulation sucks IMO. Just buy the system itself or forget about it.

Depends on the system.

All the major old stuff like NES/SNES/SMS/Genesis (and home computers like Atari and C64 before them) can be emulated perfectly or close enough it doesn't matter, in fact emulators are arguably better as you can run them on an existing PC or mobile device instead of a clunky old microcomputer or console plus you have the benefit of save states, and being able to use whatever controller you want instead of the often-unergonomic original piece.

More obscure stuff like PC-Engine, Saturn or Jaguar still have their emulation quirks and a console is the only way to experience the true game. However many games are playable for most peoples' purposes.

N64 emulation is playable but not perfect, often suffering graphics glitches and requires a really good PC. I prefer the console to play GoldenEye which is why I own one. The PS2 falls into this category too.

PlayStation 1 is probably better to play on PC thanks to the advent of high-resolution 3D-accelerated renderers and ePSXe 1.7.0's almost flawless compatibility. Gran Turismo 2 looks like crap on TV compared to texture-filtered 1920x1200 awesomeness of Pete's OGL Plugins.

[Belial]

Mattfrie1 said:

Emulation sucks IMO. Just buy the system itself or forget about it.

Emulators don't capture the original magic of a console, and most of the time the game doesn't even emulate 100% either (or at least that is what always happened to me).

Nonsense.

So far I've emu'd Atari, C64, ZX Spectrum, NES, SNES and Amiga.

All of them work perfectly as far as I'm concerned, even if apparently there are some odd bits and pieces for SNES and Amiga that don't emulate properly (or are hard to emulate without knowing very specific emulation settings, like some more recent Amiga demos).

OTOH MAME emulation failed hard when I tried it a couple of years ago.

And I never throw anything away. Ain't much of a problem since it's mostly books and CDs anyway.

[DuckReconMajor]

Belial said:

Amiga

Will Amiga emulators let you read Amiga floppies?

[Super Jamie]

DuckReconMajor said:

Will Amiga emulators let you read Amiga floppies?

I'm not sure about directly, but you can hook an Amiga floppy drive to a PC, make an ADF image then load that into UAE.

[Patrick]

I ran into this issue recently (see my Childhood Memories and I Need Money threads)

My old gameboy still works and I still play it. Granted not as much as I used to, but it's a good way to pass the time at work or on the bus. For consoles and such, there's a pretty good market for classic game systems. Now, depending on how much sentimental value you have invested in them, what I did was take my least favorite stuff, stupid stuff and otherwise overused stuff and sold it, because I know the memories of those things won't go away, and I don't mind someone else having a good time with. I found after sorting them out, there were very, very few things that I had a lot of sentimental value attached to that I couldnt part with. Out of 10 bazillion legos, a million k'nex, assorted action figures, and a shit ton of gameboy games, I really only kept my 'prize' legos and a few of my favorite gameboy games. I sold the rest on craigslist and made quite a bit of money.

[myk]

Maes said:
I'm having a hard time picturing this sort of urban subculture image in Argentina.

Don't worry, we don't have that problem here, but it seems common in 40oz's neighborhood :p

[CODOR]

A few months back I threw out a bunch of old 486s and other pre-2000 PCs that I had sitting around in my basement. I kept meaning to strip the useful bits from them, then I realized that old ISA cards aren't very useful to me at all. (Even less useful were the VESA Local Bus video cards...)

I ended up keeping my Pentium MMX, Tandy 1000 SX, and TRS-80 Model 4. I actually prefer using emulators for these systems since I have the comfort of my main PC and I get all the fancy hardware that I couldn't afford when the systems were new. But there's just something different about running stuff on the real hardware as opposed to an emulator, so I keep the old systems around...

[GreyGhost]

DuckReconMajor said:

Will Amiga emulators let you read Amiga floppies?

Yes - if you're prepared to buy/build a controller/interface that supports Amiga drives. This page will tell you more.