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Green Gaming for the Masses

posted by nikki at 10:20 am.

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As much as those overused phrases like “going green” and “greening” tend to annoy me with their catchphrasey, fad-promoting, mainstream media nature, as today is, after all, Earth Day, I’ve made an exception to my personal ban on the term and put together a little list of things we, as gamers, can do green up our gameplay, starting with…

5. Rent. And then buy used
Sure, video games don’t generally come wrapped up in tons of packaging… but how long do you think those cellophane sleeves will be around in the world’s landfills? Think of all the millions of games that are sold every year and the millions of little plastic wrappers that go along with them. Besides… buying used will save you money, too. That means you can afford more games!

And I don’t mean you have to buy exclusively from Gamestop or other profit-mongering resellers. Garage sales are great places to find used games (and if you happen to come across a mom cleaning out their college-age kid who was foolish enough to leave their games at home’s old room, you can often get a whole box of stuff for around $10)

4. Invest in rechargeable battery packs
Especially if you have a Wii. Those controllers suck down the double As like there’s no tomorrow. Get yourself a nice charging station for your Wii-remote instead of filling the dumpster with spent batteries.

3. Power down your console
There’s really no life-altering need to have your console constantly plugged in. Stand-by mode consumes power, too, you know. Stick them on a power strip and flip the switch to off when you’re not using them.

… Or at least make use the power saver options built into the consoles, like the 360’s Auto-Off feature (for those nights when you stagger off to bed and accidentally forget to shut your console off after a Halo 3 marathon).

2. Unplug your chargers
Did you know that your PSP and DS chargers continue to draw power even when you don’t have your handheld plugged into them? If you’re not using the charger, don’t leave it plugged into the outlet. Stash it in a drawer until you need it again. Same goes for controller charging stations.

1. Donate, don’t dump
We all have games we don’t play anymore. I see loads of retro cartridges and consoles all the time at garage sales, and I’m amazed at how many people have told me that they’re just going to throw them out if they don’t sell (which usually results in me purchasing said games and consoles… I consequentially own two Super Nintendos, two Dreamcasts, three original GameBoys, more controllers than I can plug in at any given time, and several duplicate titles). There are lots of people and organizations out there who’d love to have some games, even if they’re not the latest tech.

Nikki Blight: is still trying to find that damn princess... when she's not writing fresh code for the217.com.