Since some of the details about Guitar Hero 4 came out this week (surprise! it’s just like Rock Band!), Chris and I were discussing whether or not we would pick it up when it comes out. We obviously love Rock Band, despite misleading post titles to the contrary, but we’ve had some bad experiences with the Guitar Hero folks, so as of now we’re on the fence. Track lists will be the deciding factor. I am hoping for less metal.

That got me thinking, though. If we do end up getting the game, where will we put it? Next to our 4 other guitars? Our other drum set? Our microphone collection? Maybe under the table where we keep our DDR dance pad? Where are we supposed to keep all of these things?

We own 17 video game consoles. Add in controllers for each one, a/v cables, power bricks, etc, that’s already a lot of stuff. I mean a LOT. We have a giant trunk in the basement just full of controllers. Memory cards, arcade sticks, power gloves, bongo drums, steering wheels, maracas. Where does it end? That doesn’t even include the shelves and shelves of games for each system.

As a collector, I clearly can’t part with any of these things. I love that I can bust out Mario Paint or Safari Hunt if the mood strikes me, but our house isn’t that big, and it seems like more and more games are coming out with crazy controller peripherals (I’m looking at you, Nintendo). It’s frightening to think of what our gaming room will look like in 10 years… or 20. Rock Band 5? Oh good, I love five drum sets. Thank you so much.

The systems and their games aren’t really a big deal, because I kind of like being confronted with rows and rows of game titles along a wall, but guitars? drum sets? Those things are big, even when collapsed down for storage. I think we need a new house, because obviously owning less stuff is no kind of solution.

Does anybody else have this problem, or am I just the disgustingly materialistic (albeit crowded) owner of too many things? I love each and every game and piece of equipment that I own, don’t get me wrong. It just seems that I have chosen to collect something that takes up more space than I originally anticipated.

Random Completionist Survey: What has been the coolest game peripheral to date? I vote this.

The sad reality is that this isn’t going to stop anytime soon. The rumours of an XBox 720 are already out there. The Wii won’t be around forever (it is only two Gamecubes duct taped together after all). The WiiFit balance board is going to take up space. Sony says the Playstation 3 will be around for 10 years but that doesn’t mean that we won’t see Playstation 4 somewhere in that span. The people at MadCatz have a lot of work ahead of them…

…oh and my favourite peripheral is this. Lame.