I’ve been on a seemingly endless pursuit to pare things down in all areas of my life. Yesterday, as I was cleaning up and out my charging station area, I was faced with a couple decisions.
While I love my 3DS, and like my PS Vita well enough, I don’t use either almost ever. I have a hard enough time keeping up with console releases, and I’m almost relieved my laptop can’t handle most games.
I’ve had both the Vita and the 3DS charging there constantly for years. I finally decided to put them away, and I felt weirdly sad about it, like I’d given up on them somehow.
I have no intention of getting rid of either system; goodness knows I have several older systems packed away. As it is, I have the following systems currently connected to my television: PS4, PS2, Xbox 360, Xbox One, NES, Switch, and PS3 (that’s the order they appear from left to right). There is so much content just waiting to be played across those seven systems. Honestly, it’s probably time to put a couple of those away, too. I can’t recall the last time I played the 360, and I barely use my Xbox One. I literally dusted my Xbox One controller yesterday because it looked like a relic on its charging stand.
As I put the handhelds and their charging cables away, I continued to ask myself: am I using these items? Will I continue using these items? I’m certain I want to keep them, I just don’t need to look at them every day.
Another thing getting pared down are the tablets.
My partner and I both wound up with iPads over the years (his the first gen iPad, mine the first gen iPad mini), and we both recently decided we don’t need to keep them. With how much can be done on phones now, there’s almost no need. The only thing I use my iPad for is listening to Game Informer’s various Super Replays as I trot off to sleep town each night (Blue Stinger and Raw Danger are heavily in rotation); I can do that with my phone. I feel like I have too many devices and I’m trying to reduce that clutter. Don’t get me wrong, I love devices and I love systems, I just feel like I’m swimming in excess and need to weed out as many things as possible. That goes for everything from books, to games, to clothes, to anything else that takes up space. I know consumer culture can be intoxicating, but I have this mad urge at least twice a year to take stock of what’s around me and decide what I really need and what I really don’t.
Actually, to be fair, I don’t need a whole lot of things even though I like some of them an awful lot. I supposed it just comes down to what I want to see every day and be the custodian of.
And what I do not.
Less things to dust.
Do you go through periods where you meticulously go through your things and get rid of items you no longer use? Or, do you pack up items you are no longer using and store them? I’m curious how you keep tabs on your collections of games, movies, clothes, etc.
Categories: games
Rebekah Lang 
I had the same problems with my 3DS and my PSP. I liked them but never used them. The PSP was neglected, while the 3DS wasn’t any use after MiiVerse was closed down. I ended up trading them in for credit, but I like to think someone else is looking after them and they’re actually getting some use!
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I hope someone else is getting use from them, too!
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I go through spurts where I’ll play a ton on my handhelds and then nothing at all for months. I still have so many games to finish on them though that I’d feel bad putting them away. I do rotate my older consoles though as my “retro” TV stand only has so much room so currently I have my NES Classic, SNES Classic, WiiU, and PS2 hooked up to it with all my older systems in the closet. But I feel if I put my handhelds in that closet they’ll never escape.
As for how I keep track of my collections, I have a few apps I use that are databases for games, books, comics, movies, etc..
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I hear you there! I have so many handheld games yet to play, and I wonder when or if I will get to them.
It sounds like you have a good setup!
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I haven’t played my 3DS in a long time, I only have turned it on once and that was giving someone my friend code.
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That sounds about right to me! I can’t remember the last time I turned mine on. Especially with so many games on console waiting to be played.
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I haven’t played a handheld release in a while either but every now and then I have an urge to play a title on the couch. I have pretty much all my gaming systems functional in some area of the house; whether or not its viable is a different story but they are. As far as game and media storage goes, most of them are on shelves or in cabinets but all are stored to be as free from dust as possible. It’s a rare occurrence if I actually discard something.
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I love that you have them stored to keep dust off of them. I wish we had that option here! There is so much dust.
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Handheld gaming never quite caught on with me. In my youth my mom peculiarly decided that I couldn’t have a Game Boy but that my brother could. Once I did acquire a Game Boy color, I didn’t play it too much. Even now, I don’t tend to play on my phone too much. I do keep my older consoles out but admittedly I don’t play them as often as I intended (I am intermittently playing Red Dead Redemption on my Xbox 360). I do try to purge but I still most definitely have too much stuff.
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Wait…your brother could have a Game Boy but you could not?! Was he older or…?
I didn’t use my phone almost ever and when Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp came out, that changed everything. Now I use it more than I’m comfortable with.
I love that you still use your 360!
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Last week we went to London for a couple of days, and for the first time, I didn’t bring my 3DS. No use with the relay points for street passing shut down. Somehow the 3DS doesn’t get any gaming time anymore, the Switch takes precedence. It’s not that I don’t play handheld anymore (I only play handheld, no console gaming for me) it’s just that there are no games at the moment that really interest me.
The Vita accompanied me to London this time: I didn’t dare let my Switch lay around in the hotel room, and I’ve got some good deals from the PS Sales week!
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Oh wow! How was London?! Oh gosh, for you that’s a big deal not to take the 3DS! I’m also so disappointed by the gaping hole of the StreetPass function. Also, the Switch is such a slick device, it’s an easy swap for the 3DS.
I don’t blame you for not taking the Switch. And there really are some good sales this week!
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