Five Reasons Your LCD TV Should Not Be Your TV for Gaming

It might be the ultimate statement in gaming blasphemy: saying that you should make do with less graphics and less picture quality if need be. But that's exactly what this article is suggesting: depending on your home situation, having your LCD TV double as the TV for your Xbox or PlayStation is not exactly the ideal situation.

Need a little more explanation? We thought you might. So here are five reasons to keep the gaming system separate from the "quality" television set that might convince you of the validity of our points.

1. Presentation.

Like it or not, how things look contributes to your experience. "Well, exactly," you might be telling me, "and that's why I want good picture quality for my Halo playing!" Fair enough. But consider this, as well: if you have to live on the inside of your home, you might as well like the way it looks.

Assuming that you only have one "star" TV that's HD-capable like an LCD television set, do you think that your interior design is better served by keeping your gaming habit down in the basement with a lesser but acceptable television set? Of course it is. Whether you keep your "main" TV in your living room or den, chances are that you'll at some point have people over to your home. You want to put the goods out front while keeping the endless amount of cords, controllers, and games to yourself. 

Besides, if you really believe you could simply "move" your Xbox every time a guest arrives, then you probably have the self-discipline enough to ignore what this article tells you anyway.

2. Domestic happiness.

Chances are that your gaming habit is not very popular with your girlfriend or wife. Far be it from me to tell you you should give up something you enjoy just because it grates on someone else, but you can at least increase your chances at domestic happiness by separating your Xbox from your spouse. This means keeping it a private event. You don't have to hide from her every time you whip out the Halo 3 box, but you'll be able to have your cake and eat it, too, if you're willing to make a small sacrifice and play your games on a less-than-ideal television set. (Yeah, we're talking to you, you married folks: these statistics show that even aging gamers still love the thrill).

3. Setting boundaries.

It's good to have boundaries in your own life, even if they're not the most comfortable at first. It's precisely these boundaries that set you apart from a homeless man on the street, asking people for change so he can rent an Xboxfor a night.

If one area of your home is for playing Xbox and another is for watching TV, then you at least have the discipline to take your entertainment seriously - for many people, this is a good start. You may find yourself less tempted to play Xbox - while still playing it and getting the same thrills - if you have a separate, older TV set up in the basement specifically for that purpose.

4. Cleanup isn't such a drag.

When you play video games on the "prime" television set in your living room, there's a lot of cleaning up to do. If you play it in your bedroom, your spouse may pester you to get the controllers off the floor. If, however, you relegate your Xbox mess to the junkiest part of your home, then clean-up won't be such a drag.

5. Saving money.

If you're the kind of person who needs to have every latest technological advancement in every piece of electronic hardware in your home, you can save money by sacrificing a little quality - it may help your obsession with the latest and greatest, as well.