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What to do With Your Old Console and Console Games?

This might be a guilt trip but as you read on you will feel better. After years of selfless service to your fingers and transporting you into other worlds of Miami Vice, Old Trafford, the old ending commentary; “From me Peter Brackley, Trevor Brooking and the rest of the team at Konami…”, and the ruins of Persia, your lovely X-Box One, Wii and PS3 consoles become obsolete and forgotten when you receive that Xbox One X or PS4 on Christmas morning, or as a birthday gift.

Sure, they may have malfunctioned a bit or given you a few troubles. But you are that one loved user that left and didn’t come back because you had found another love. Now, that console box is just laid there, jilted like a true ex-box.

You must be getting the thrills with your new console though; I mean – everyone gets the thrills. But you don’t have to leave your former consoles rotting away, or worse, at the bottom of a trash bin. In the spirit of console-ation, you can keep the lights on for them, by trying to putting them to good use.

There are a number of things you can do with your old console and console games that might also bring benefits to you too.

Get Some Cash for it; Sell it Online.

Do you want to make millions selling your consoles? Well, not quite. But yes, you can absolutely make a few quid off the sale of your old consoles. At least they’ll be going into the hands of a new lover who will treat them right – maybe even better than you did.

You can sell your game consoles on Plunc in Europe and the UK, or on Decluttr, a US website that purchases used game consoles, games, books. You can get about $100 dollars to $150 dollars for your Old X-box One, Wii or PlayStation 4 and they pay you the next day. You can also choose to find your buyers directly on online retail stores like Amazon, eBay or Craigslist.

You can also sell your old games too. All these cash can be invested in buying new games and experiences.

Donate; Give Your Old Console Away

You can donate your consoles to sick kids on admission in the hospitals. There are a handful of foundations like; Get Well Gamers and Game Changer that collect consoles from graceful donors like yourself and these foundations make sure that they get the consoles to hospitals where kids on the sick beds might just feel a lot better after killing a dozen policemen on Grand Theft Auto V.

An early inheritance to your younger sibling would also be in place. Those little devils would definitely adore you for as long as they can realise. They can even throw in a couple weeks of laundry for you in good faith.

That kid next door might just be saved from a lot of ugly habits if you give him or her a healthy one now by gifting him or her with your old console box. To them, you just became the coolest neighbour on the street.

goldeneye

Clean it up and Switch it on

Even if you were going to sell your game console or give it out, it wouldn’t look good if it was all dusty and dirty, would it? Take your console out and wipe down its exterior. Also, blow some compressed air into its insides to expel accumulated dust that has caked up in there.

Clean the controllers too and fix those buttons if they already popped. No one likes stuck or sticky gamepads, they ruin gaming. If the controllers are totally bad, replace them. Switch the console on, connect it to the TV and be sure that the HDMI cables are still working.  You will want to work up the video settings nicely so that you have a clearer picture.

Old console games titles are cheap these days and you can even get to play titles that you didn’t get to play back in the days. Crackdown is one game in the Xbox 360 catalogue that hasn’t come to the new releases yet. You can have a good time with Catalina Thorne. New releases are great but trust me, these Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 titles are just as interesting as they have always been.

Turn Your Console into a Media Player

Your old console can also be a good alternative to cable, so far you have the internet and an extra TV. Most of these consoles like Xbox One have Netflix, HBO Go, Youtube, and Hulu Plus.

You can also watch your DVD on your console, although some consoles will not support Blu Ray discs.

Use the Parts for Something Else.

Your old game console might just be useful around the house too, you know, get in some chores. There are guides and tutorials online for turning controllers into night lights. You can also turn a SNES into a USB controller. And how about a lunchbox made from NES cases?

Recycle

Dropping your console in the trash is a very wrong move. Do not do it. The console contains things that are toxic and after they have been abandoned on a landfill site, left to the rain and sun, in rust and decay, they will begin to decompose and spill toxic materials into the earth. These materials can harm the environment of plants and animals and damage the balance of the ecosystem.

Instead of just trashing your console, look for a recycling service and recycle it. Services like Best Buy recycle old consoles, cables and controllers.

Some game console companies like Nintendo’s “Take Back” service also have programmes that receive, fix up and sell old consoles.

arcade-machines

Set up an Arcade Room.

Instead of a few consoles taking up space and gathering dust, why not set up your own arcade room?

All you need are couches and an extension cable to connect the power source all at once. You can place the consoles on a coffee table, put that in the middle, and put chairs and couches around that. You can add the blue and red lights too – no problem. You can now live that dream of playing in an arcade room, without having to pay a dime.

Lastly, Be Futuristic. Keep it.

If you like the idea of keeping antiques, then this might be an option for you. You can pass your game consoles as an heirloom to your children, and their children, and so on. And in decades, when most of its kind would have gone extinct – replaced by more futuristic consoles like the ones in Ready Player One – then you can emerge with your vintage console and make a lot of cash!

It is a long shot, but if you keep on taking care of it; wiping it down regularly and playing a few games once in a while, it could make it!

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