Like many of you, I have a decent amount of systems. Unfortunately, this means I always have a mess of cords. I don’t enjoy unplugging and replugging stuff to move it around (not to mention it’s hard on the ports) so I usually leave everything attached. But I pretty much always have a mess of cords, just from controllers alone.
This is probably unavoidable. I was thinking of getting some commercial shelving like I’ve seen some people have so at least every console can have room on it’s own shelf, rather than being squeezed together on a desk like I have them now.
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The solution then was to wrap the cord around the controller when you were done playing. Given the age of some of these systems that’s probably not the best idea anymore.
Maybe some kind of box big enough to hold the controller and coiling the cord inside without overly stressing it? Meaning one box per controller.
Ive cringed at that my whole life because people GRIP IT and wrap it with no stress relief at all! I always made sure to do it properly. But yes, with the age if these I dont wrap cords anymore.
Get some velcro zip ties. They make wrapping cables easy, and you can flip them to stick 2 separate cables together. I got 4 rolls in a pack and while I’ve misplaced one or two half-used ones, I still haven’t run out since I bought them several years ago.
Good furniture are game changer, also don’t keep all your consoles in a single area since they probably need different screens anyway. I use wireless receivers, and avoid unnecessary systems.
I’ve seen gamerooms where the consoles have wireless dongles for controllers so that you are pretty much cordless.
Ive noticed a delay in some wireless controllers, usually not significant, but some games will punish you for it.
For signal cords, I get signal switches and make a “tree” of cables, as I have far less screens than devices that use them. For energy cords, I try to keep everything as linear as possible, though that requires either enough space, some creativity for going around objects, or both. Also in places cables have a tendency to spread and I don’t need them separated, I get some small rope to tie them together. For mobile devices, I try to find rigid EVA bags (or whatever’s the name in English) to keep them, as they don’t need to be on constantly and bags if that material are sturdy and absorb impact well, while keeping dust out. And shipping cardboard boxes that are articulated I keep to use as storage chests.
I’ll check later if these are the correct names and if I can’t confirn, I’ll give examples.
Many years ago I lived alone in a small apartment, and I used to leave most of my consoles connected and kept them in a big shelving unit with my TV. But now I live in a house with my family and that’s not practical.
At the moment I’m in the process of moving the consoles I still use to wide, shallow boxes with fully removable lids. Up until recently I laboriously unpacked and repacked every console when I wanted to use it, carrying armfuls of cables and equipment to wherever in the house I wanted to set it up. But now, I’m buying these boxes and transferring each system across as I use them.
The idea is that I can leave everything attached to the console while it’s in storage, and then when I want to use it I can just take the box to whichever room I want to use, remove the lid, connect power and AV, and pull out the controller and go. When I’m done, it’s easy to disconnect the cables from the display and power socket, tuck everything back into the box, and put it away. This is almost as easy as leaving systems set up in place, plus it keeps dust and pet hair out of the equipment, which was a constant issue when I lived alone and left them all set up.
You just need to find boxes that are long and wide enough to hold the console with all its cables and peripherals attached without putting undue bending stress on the cables. For older systems you need to be careful of height as well, for joysticks and so you can leave any top-loading flash carts plugged in to save the connectors.
I use twist ties like crazy.
I also leave all my systems hooked up. There is not much i can do about the 50 cables behind my tv, so i use velcro cable ties for the audio/video cords and power cords since those consoles don’t move. Consoles that i need to move out to play due to short cords (N64, NES, PS2, Dreamcast), i will have an extra set of audio video cables that i can plug straight into my converter.
For controllers, i am still battling that. I used to wrap the cords in a oval shape and them velcro strap them, now i don’t do that anymore since it’s not good for the copper. So i put 2 controllers in plastic gallon bag with their cords loosely wrapped in a circle. Then i put those bags in those fabric bins for my 6x6 cube storage thing.
I think as time goes on, i may try and get more retro wireless controllers, but at the moment i don’t play those consoles that much, so it’s not worth it at $35-65 per controller.
