Since 2020, I’ve been listing my favorite gaming-related hardware purchase. Here’s what I’ve chosen so far to date:
2020 – Atgames Legends Ultimate 1.1 – still play this fairly regularly I don’t care so much for the artwork, but this really has been a great purchase. I’d buy another of these right now if it broke down. Thought I might have to after spilling tea on it during a live stream recently, but was able to clean that up without damage. Am not interested in the new ALU4K weighing in at a way overpriced $1,300 (and terrible artwork, too, although in fairness the ALU isn’t exactly the most aethestically-pleasing).
2021 – Atgames Legends Pinball HD – while I stopped playing this except rarely early in 2023 after upgrading my setup, it is solely responsible for getting me back into playing pinball regularly, both virtual and real pinball. I would be interested in the ALP4K if it had 120hz or faster 4K, but at 60hz for pinball, I’ll almost certainly be sitting this 4k fetish cycle of Atgames on the sidelines.
2022 – the Steam Deck was not only all the rage, but I jumped in line to preorder this very excitedly. It’s still something being played very regularly. It’s played more than my Nintendo Switch. It’s my go-to portable gaming system still in 2023 and probably well into 2024. I will admit some interest in the Steam Deck OLED, but don’t feel like spending another $600 just to get the better screen and 30% or so battery savings (see Steam Deck OLED Shipping November 16, 2023 starting at $549). Rather, I’ll probably jump when Valve releases Steam Deck 2.0, whenever that is.
And so now to look back at 2023.
This year I spent more money than ever before on not just one, but two computers. An Alienware R15 desktop (~$3,500 USD) and an Alienware M16R1 (~$4,200 USD). Both of these badboys are ready, willing and able to take the demands of the highest settings on modern games – and I’ve thrown several at them in 2023.
Also, bought this versatile rotating, moving stand: the T&T Transforming Stand from Buy Stuff Arcades (~$500 USD). It’s too big for small rooms, but great for more open space and can take the place of several different game systems (pinball, vertical, horizonal slanted, horizontal racing mode, horizontal heightened). It’s sort of the Swiss army knife of TV/monitor stands.
T&T stand used with a high end 4K screen for virtual pinball is a sight to behold. Several viewers in 2023 on Twitch stopped by and thought I was playing a real pinball machine
Despite the T&T Transforming Stand’s gaming versatility, it’s got some drawbacks. Being space hoggy is one of them. If you’re using a 55″ or bigger (it supports up to 65″) when you swivel that, it takes up a big portion of a small gameroom.
This brings me to the thing that got me spending all this money I wasn’t planning to spend in 2023. Walked into Best Buy looking for chairs and came across this amazing OLED 4k TV.
Neither of the two rock star computers blew me away quite much as the main screen, which required a beefy computer to power it to its maximum gaming potential.
2023 – 55″ Sony Bravia XR A80K
4K 120hz OLED 4K (~$1,300 USD). My goodness this sucker is visually stunning. Everything I can play on it with true 4K assets looks and plays fantastic. Every time I turn it on, a part of me wants to stop just to gawk at it. While it is nothing without a game system hooked up to it, but what we see when we’re playing games is equally, if not more, important.
So, instead of either Alienware, which are an extremely close second, I’m going with the gaming screen, my main gaming monitor of 2023 and hopefully many years beyond (although will admit one of these may replace in a few years when prices come down: 2023 Nobel Prize for Chemistry Awarded for Quantum Dots used in Higher End OLED 4K TVs)
The very newest model of the TV I bought in 2023 is the Sony AR90 series 55″ costs as of this writing another $1,200.
It’s a lot of money to spend for an OLED TV for gaming, but if history is any guide, prices will come down for this technology. When it can be afforded, spring for an OLED gaming screen. These will literally, pardon the pun, change the game.