Hello Tempers!

With winter around the corner, you might be getting ready to face the cold or if you are lucky enough to dwell in the south hemisphere, then I bet you can’t wait for summer. Either way, video games and their great community and media will provide you good company. But how much do you care about them?

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Well, to play video games, you need to have a console to play them and one that works. And for that, a minimum amount of caring is required. Granted, you might not be able to avoid the yellowing of some of your retro consoles but the least you could do is dust your console off, avoid dropping it or abstain from poking the lens. I remember being constantly being reminded of the latter by my cousins when playing the PSX. Thankfully now those console-making companies provide some ‘How-tos’ about console maintenance. Do you do as much?

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However, sometimes considering circumstances those extra care can’t be applied. For instance, I’ve recently been travelling and won’t be home for quite some time, so to keep my consoles from becoming dust boxes, I’ve packed them in… well… boxes. And whenever my travel, I bring my faithful handhelds and really I’m not sure about their safety/handling in the plane's cargo hold. So I always carry them in my hand luggage, packed within their carry cases and of course, charged.

Good! You now have a clean and working console. What about their games? They need some maintenance too! You might have already been faced with the dying batteries of your older Nintendo cartridges but the internet has nice enough users to guide you to change them. Well, you might also have mistakenly been blowing on your cartridges thinking it’d get them to play. Oh and take care not to scratch your video game disks, especially the underside. Just saying!

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If you are here then you know that video games are not just about their consoles and games. There’s a whole community and associated media based around our favorite hobby. They feed us with news from the gaming world and also provide opportunities to meet new people. Which sources are you favorites? And how much do you care about them? Are you a faithful subscriber to a Youtube channel, watching all of its videos and participating in the comments? Or do you rather enjoy reading gaming-related articles, be it in magazines or websites and subscribe or sign-up for them? Such ways of showing your appreciation to the work of those people is definitely an encouragement. But whether on this website and its forums or other similar sites, be cool and play it nice. It helps to be friendly! Nobody’s getting anywhere by being arrogant and/or mean.

Now Tempers, how do you take care of this hobby of yours? Do you clean your consoles on a regular basis? Or just when the dust accumulates? Or better yet, does your Mum do it for you? Or any other extra tip you might have for giving our consoles an everlasting shine? And for your gaming-related magazines, do you let them pile up or dust them off every so often? Let us know about them all in the comments!

 

[cammelspit]

as a previous owner of a video game retail store, buy sell trade, for over 7 years most of my games, 70-80 thousand carts and discs, reside now in a 1000SQ foot cinder block building on my property. 90+% of my gaming is done via emulator because searching for a couple days to play 1 game is just insane! I do have a special place in my heart for pirate consoles and games. Famicom multicarts and whatnot. I keep those in several ziploc bags in a 12 gallon plastic crate or in a Walmart laundry basket in the corner of my bedroom. I know it is sacrilege for an avid "gamer" to keep his personal games in this way but in reality, I just don't have the space! There is, however, something visceral about pulling out the old NES or dreamcast and running the machine right through my screen and so I do this as often as I have the itch to do so. When I do, the carts are always scrubbed clean with Q-tips and 99% denatured rubbing alcohol from my electronics workshop and the CDs/DVDs are run through my CD resurfacing machines as needed. I care for my games and consoles as if they were small children. I let the run wild for a time but when it comes time to take a bath or to use the "big boy" potty I insist and just make it happen if I can.

 

[Crass]

Metro DataVac is my waifu.

 

[Sicklyboy]

Metro DataVac is my waifu.

I work in IT and absolutely love the ones we have.

 

[chavosaur]

I always use rubber protection as I delicately handle my Xbone

Spoiler

 

[T-hug]

I vacuum my ps4 every few months, use wet wipes on my keyboards and my Vita has an armor and screen protector. It's mint considering it's a launch day unit that gets played daily.
That's about it.

 

[DaFixer]

When I get new retro stuff, I take it apart and clean them and checking for broken parts.
After that I clean them when I have time, most consoles/home computers what I have use SD/HDD as storage so my disc/disks don't get dirty.
Joysticks and controllers are cleaned 1 time a week.

 

[mightymuffy]

I always use rubber protection as I delicately handle my Xbone

Spoiler

Not sure I wanna click that spoiler button.....
Had a quick sken through a few posts, blimey do some of you live in a coal mine? Or am I just a lazy bast' - probably the latter!
One thing the new consoles are murder for is the fingerprint-magnet casing they come in, suppose it fits in with the TV and so on, but yep, it's all over the Wii U, and mostly over the PS4 and XO. As such, aren't they a royal pain in the arse for highlighting the tiniest specks of dust that fall on them?? So once a few of those pop up I'm using whatever is close to hand (which includes my sleeve!) to brush off... And that's it. The limit of my game collection cleaning.

 

[Deleted User]

I didn't dare play my Pokémon 3rd Anniversary GBC till the GBC case I ordered arrived, I also never take my handhelds out of the house without a cleaning cloth onhand.
I also have the official N64 cleaning kit and I dust my consoles every week.

 

[ironmaster49]

I didn't dare play my Pokémon 3rd Anniversary GBC till the GBC case I ordered arrived, I also never take my handhelds out of the house without a cleaning cloth onhand.
I also have the official N64 cleaning kit and I dust my consoles every week.

Wow, thats a bit extreme, i just leave my handhelds in a case and wipe them when i get home when i take them out. but i have screen protectors

 

[Prans]

Thanks a lot for your comment @GamerzHell9137 ! It's very much appreciated! That's the main aim of my articles, to foster discussion about gaming in general, which is the one thing we all have in common here

I'm not too much into PC gaming but like you've come to know, the internet is helpful enough to provide you with instructions as to how to keep your console/PC in top-notch condition and max it out for gaming. Glad you are enjoying it!

@weavile001 That's why I'm always with my handhelds, they require minimum maintenance and play games and are portable

@Catastrophic oh yes, I do wash my hands before handling my consoles as well. As you've said opinions vary. I've seen other people handling their consoles when they are actually eating. I prefer my consoles dust and grease-free.

@sarkwalvein Sorry about your PS1 and PS2! Those optic drives sure are a pain. Hope you have great memories of those great consoles though!

...paper plates stacked on your console.

Bring me that guy @KineticSonata

Good guy @DinohScene! You're giving those games a second life

@Ericzander hahaha! Congrats on having turned your girlfriend into a gamer! I kind of understand her though, to me no matter how perfect an emulator gets, the feeling of playing the game on the actual console is totally different.

@Logan97 hahaha, I'm kinda like that too! I'm always around when I 'lend' someone my console.

Oh wow @Foxi4 ! Great job! I've yet to have my own display but hopefully it'll be soon!

I totally understand the time constraint @breaktemp But it's good practice to clean up your consoles from time to time and if you think that will not happen anytime soon, do as I do, box them up!

@KevinPatrickConn wow! Your loot sounds like a dream to most of us! Take good care of them!

Wow @T-hug that Vita gotta be happy!

Hahaha @mightymuffy at least you improvise with cleaning your consoles!

@Snugglevixen I know how you feel about a new console. I almost always get a screen protector and a carry case when I get one.

 

[ironmaster49]

Yeah, im getting a 3ds now my old one is broken, gotta get a screen protector. Mine got wrecked from a bad hardmod... not sure what happened though but it wont turn on well gonna get a new one. And i will be careful with it, i have to go through 2 devices to learn to use them properly, made mine unhackable by accident then destroyed it by accident...

 

[Prans]

@ironmaster49 Good luck with your new console! And take good care of it! Cheers!

 

[ironmaster49]

Yes, but how did you become a contributor? You have a lot less messages than me is that a gbatemp rank/level or something you apply for?

 

[Prans]

Yes, but how did you become a contributor? You have a lot less messages than me is that a gbatemp rank/level or something you apply for?

If you go back a couple of posts, @Tom Bombadildo replied to this question from another user. There was an application back in July and applicants were screened by the GBAtemp team. If there is any new such application in hte future it'll be, like that one, on the front page.

 

[Taleweaver]

I use this thing called a "cabinet". Whenever I'm not using my console, it's in a closed environment. It's certainly not dust-free, but it'll do.
On the wii, I always use those condoms on the controllers. It's a habit, and a good one (dunno why, but friends always sweat like the thing weighs 100 kilograms while gaming).

Other than that...my PC certainly doesn't get the love it deserves. On the software side, I do the occasional scan and stuff. But on hardware...it's just not in a decent position to quickly (or even moderately) blow out dust. On the other side, I have a case that has more holes than swiss cheese (far more, in fact), so it doesn't clog up that easily.

As someone who works in IT, I just cannot fathom how some people treat their stuff. My CD's are always either in the proper box or in a console/CD player (in which case the empty case is directly next to it). Last week, I went through my girlfriend's CD collection and it was just a big mash of...everything (copied and original mixed, some boxed, some in plastic, and occasionally some in the cases it originally came in).
At work, I just got a mail from someone yesterday: she had spilled so much coffee on her laptop the thing wouldn't even boot anymore ("it went all in the left side"...I can but assume she somehow had it pour into the air vent). I cringed.

 

[Prans]

@Taleweaver yup, maintaining your hardwares come up as a habit and for that one has to start one way or the other. There are so many people who just own electronic devices and once something (even though minor) goes wrong, dump them in the bin and buy another one. My friend recently revealed that she changed phones 6 times in the past two years due to them either not working or literally breaking...

 

[Smuff]

I have a wife. My stuff is always gleaming

 

[Ashtonx]

Used to keep my hw/games pristine clear, but with age you just can't really find the will or time to do it.

Thank god most of the recent releases are ddl, hell even my steam library if i were to keep them on physical copies i'd ran out of room.

Cleaning pc, desk, accessories every once in a while is my limit. In case of console hw i usually clean it when i need to use it.

 

[tbb043]

Blowing on a Super Nintendo cart? WHAH?

That only works on NES games!

Actually, NES games are the only ones that need it in the first place. And yeah, they need it. LIke witchcraft it is.

 

[Prans]

Blowing on a Super Nintendo cart? WHAH?

That only works on NES games!

Actually, NES games are the only ones that need it in the first place. And yeah, they need it. LIke witchcraft it is.

Hahaha, hope you won't be surprised that 'some' of us used this wizardry on Game Boy carts...