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Gifts for the obscenely rich
Pricey choices for the gamer who already has everything.
December 18, 2003: 11:46 AM EST

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Someday I plan to be rich.

I'm not talking just a million or two, either. I'm talking about looking down on lottery winners and thinking to myself, "How does he get by on that?" I'm talking bling bling, baby!

I also plan to have a scandalous weekend with Angie Harmon. (Hey, if you're gonna dream, dream big.)

Until that day comes, I'll also dream of the nifty gifts the uber-wealthy will receive this holiday season from their uber-wealthy friends.

While most of us would be thrilled to get a new game and would do back-flips over a shiny piece of hardware, the filthy rich have more gift-getting options at their disposal.

In anticipation of my vast fortune, I've started putting together my own wish list. You can keep the $15,000 life-size LEGO model of Jason Kidd and the $27,000 ice-fishing house. I've got more gamer-centric things on my list.

Grand Canyon Monitor

Since PC games will always be my first love, I'm going to need the right hardware.

Apple's 23" Cinema HD Display is an amazing monitor but it's a little too small for a mega-millionaire. Plasma screens are always nice, but I'll have those all over the house. No, I think The L Store's Grand Canyon Monitor is the best choice for me.

With a 92" display -- that's almost eight feet wide -- 6400x1200 resolution and 16.7 million colors, this bad boy would make flight simulators breath-taking and action games harrowing. Plus, I could finally keep track of all the browser windows and e-mails I have open.

At $17,500, it's a bargain!

Tsunami TsuMo

Of course, you can't do all of your gaming sitting at your desk. Sometimes you need the experience to be a little more immersive. That's where Tsunami Visual's TsuMo Deluxe comes in handy.

This arcade-style machine uses electric motors to tilt and roll your seat, giving games like "Crimson Skies" and "MechWarrior 4: Vengeance" an authentic feel. So does the flight stick control system. Surround sound adds to the experience.

And, for some reason I can't quite grasp, there's an acrylic ball surrounding you while you play. There may be a good reason for this, but even if there's not, I plan on being both rich and eccentric. Cocooning myself in a large acrylic ball will help me fill that role nicely.

You've got your choice of a 50" projection screen or a 39" monitor with the TsuMo. For $20,000, it's good to have a few choices.

ArcadePC

While I got my start as a gamer in the days of Pong, it was games like Pac Man, Gyruss and Robotron that locked me in. What better way to relive those than with Hanaho Games' ArcadePC Deluxe?

Sure, I could go out and buy an actual arcade machine, but that would only let me play one -- or at most two -- classic games.

The ArcadePC comes equipped with 50 licensed games, including "Street Fighter," "1942" and "Ghosts 'n Goblins". If you're willing to do a little legwork on the Web, there are also emulation programs that allow you to add hundreds of other arcade classics, though the legality of those is often questionable.

The $5,000 ArcadePC is as sturdy as the arcade machines into which I dropped hundreds of dollars worth of quarters during my adolescence. That's understandable, seeing as Hanaho built many of those cabinets. The controls are commercial quality and will take whatever beating you give them as you shoot aliens or eat dots.

YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS
Video Games
Angie Harmon

Even better, owning one of these will put me in some fine company. Hanaho owner Conway Ho tells me the ArcadePC is extraordinarily popular among professional athletes.

Unfortunately, reaching the level of wealth to which I aspire is proving a little more difficult than I'd hoped. Until I figure it all out, I'll have to keep dreaming about these toys.

But Angie... don't let that stop you from giving me a call.  Top of page


Morris is Director of Content Development for CNN/Money. Click here to send him an email - especially if you're Angie Harmon.




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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.