1UP's tips for that perfect gaming rig

1UP has a playful little piece up with some helpful tips for sprucing up your gaming setup. Some of our favorites include

• They advise gamers to use rechargeable AAs in those wireless controllers. Play & Charge be damned, those AAs just keep on running, no wires necessary ... and they'll work in your Wavebirds.
  

• There's some interesting points on the vagaries of HD gaming; want your old games to look great on that new HDTV? Good luck. That HD box is gonna stretch that signal to fill up the frame. You can opt for an upscaler, or just get a dedicated TV set for those standard-def games. 1UP recommends an EDTV set, which come in sexy slimline variants (just like their HD cousins) but are fixed at 480p. For some reason, I don't think this is a really viable solution, but the problem is a notable one.
  

• Home Theater PC gaming! Build yourself a custom gaming rig, hook that sucker up to your HDTV, and get an all-in-one gaming/emulation/DVD/PVR/Joystiq machine. A sexy solution, to be sure, but be warned: building PCs can be tricky and outfitting one with the necessary gear can be expensive.
  

• There's also a page on import games that feels a little tacked on. A Mario cap DS pouch? Eh, notsomuch.

Of course, real gamers don't need a fully spec'd setup to do their gaming. Just look at Xbox 360 Fanboy's "most pathetic 360 setup" contest applicants. If you're willing to do your HD gaming on a 13" TV/VCR combo just to get your fix, we salute you. That's not to say we'd game on it or anything ...

[Via /.]