I'm not in college anymore. One of my resolutions with my new apartment is that I want to get it nice. You know. Have people over and not look like some sort of crazy shut-in. So with that in mind, and with a limited budget, I've been trying to figure out how to make my apartment look, you know, grown up, but still have room for my video game stuff.

You can see that I've got one room done so far, and it turned out pretty good. I've given myself some guidelines with which I feel I can properly balance my hobby with having a relatively normal living space

No video game related decorations. For the most part. If someone hand painted me some awesome video game art, well, that would be different. But no posters. No video game toys out in the living room. I figure to balance the seven video game systems I have out, I should have more neutral decor. I think from this set-up, people will get that I'm into video games. No need to accentuate that any more.

Keep everything out, plugged in, and easily accessible. I wanted to make sure that everything that is out is easily playable. So I had to do a lot of wiring back there, but everything has power, and is connected to the television set. I lucked out with having a tv set with plenty of SVideo, RCA, and component inputs. It only has one HDMI in, which is a bit of a downer. The only thing I have to switch is the plug between the N64 and the SNES, as they share a connector. Not too bad. Any system out there had controllers easily accessible in the above cabinets.

Keep the mess out of sight. So the messy piles of controllers and cables are kept up in those closed cabinets. Next time I hit IKEA, I'm going to get little stackable plastic containers so I can keep them even more organized. All the cabling is run behind the sofa, or behind the entertainment center.

Still to do: find some extra shelves and supports would be nice, I do need to get more supports for the bottom-right shelf so I can have more space there. I'd prefer not stacking the XBox on top of the Saturn, especially since the Xbox juts out a little on its current shelf. The lower ones are deeper. Also, I'm debating on whether or not I should get my Genesis games and boxes out... but I don't have anything but a Nomad to plug in right now, so it might seem a little strange to have them out.

I am also thinking about getting a steering wheel for the 360, but... where the hell would I keep that? I have a kitchen table I can hook it up to, but with my TV so low, will it work? Steering wheel controllers seem better for PCs, where you are naturally sitting at a desk. What is your experience with having one? Does it just take up space?

What is a good storage solution for Rock Band? If I were to buy that, I wouldn't want the drums out in the open all the time.

So, I know this comes up every now and again, but what are your strategies for dealing with having a livable apartment? Having everything plugged in? Rooo's roommate has an RCA switcher for his inputs, which is an okay solution, except that his (being cheap) introduces a lot of noise and interference.

Link me to any pics you have of your gaming set-ups, I want to see what everyone else does. Would be fun to critique you too, if you are up for it. Come on!

Oh yeah, you can zoom in and see more of my collection at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnnyfirebird/2283459130/