Every gamer remembers that feeling when a new game is about to be released. You know that really nerdy child-like excitement that gives you a mental boner and you don’t know why… but you like it!

It’s a feeling we all wish could last forever but sadly it comes only a few times a year, just like Susan Boyle… if she is very lucky.

This leaves gamers with a dilemma. What happens once the final smoking shell casings hit the ground in Modern Warfare 2? Who do you beat to death with a fire axe after the last safe house door has closed? And when will the next Hitman game come out?

You could put down your pads, release your mice and go out into the real world. You could even sign up for a World of Warcraft account and die alone in a dark room. Or if you are anything like us here at the UCHG you could reach for the old classics and keep on gaming!

Over many years we at the UCHG have filled the void between game releases with classics such as the serious face inducing Test Drive Unlimited, the great time filler that is CS Source, the truly epic Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2, Duck Hunt and of course Doom to name but a few.

It is strangely satisfying to think that since its release back in 2000 we have been playing THPS2, on all formats, and have lost count of the number of times we have completed it. Brad just keeps going back to Test Drive Unlimited and has covered over 5000 miles driving on every road on the Hawaiian island of Oahu for seemingly no good reason.

We love our games so much that a  recent estimate put the UCHG’s total gaming hours at 10,449 since 2004. Thats around 435 days worth of solid game play and we show no signs of stopping!

So the next time you find yourself wondering when the next big game release will be: don’t go outside and be sociable – throw in an old classic and geek out!

There have been quite a few Vietnam based games in the past, but none have been perfect. One in particular is memorable though: Vietcong. There are many reasons for this, and perhaps one day we’ll cover them – but the best thing about it? The music.

Vietcong has perhaps one of the most memorable theme tunes of any game – a Hendrix-style guitar riff puts you right in the era before you start the game. In the midst of recording a Big Talk all about music (coming soon), Steve whipped out his instrument and gave us a private session – and now you can enjoy it too.

I should be able to pick up my game from where I left off, and indeed I can but it wasn’t always like this.

There was once a time when the save point was unheard of and a Hard Drive was something completely different and not always related to motoring.

Before the advent of saving there was the note pad and pen.

This handy pairing was used to take down the passwords needed to maintain your progress. The premise was simple and in theory good: at the end of each stage or level you would be given a password – this password would then be typed in when you next played the game and allowed you to carry on from where you left off. There was however one problem with this: the passwords were often epic and unnecessarily complex!

Although the pen and paper held its own for many years, game manufacturers started to put batteries into their games to allow the saving of high scores. It wasn’t until 1994 when a little company called Sony invented something called the Playstation that saving really became the ‘in thing’ – once the Playstation and its wonderful little saving card had set the standard, everyone wanted to get on-board.

Sega had the VMU, Nintendo the Control Pack and the Atari Jaguar made you type in a password! The memory card, in whatever form, allowed gamers to take their saves on the road, share their high scores and never be without those vital stats! If they had a downside it was their size and price: they were not exactly big or cheap, unlike Essex girls. These days you can pick a 4GB flashdrive for less than an 8MB Playstation 2 memory card – so it’s little wonder that in this modern time we have called upon the massive capacity of the internal Hard Drive and all its game saving greatness!

After coming round tied up and confused, Steve and Ross discover what lies ahead of them.

Forced to fight it out in an epic retro gaming struggle that features a deadly catch!

Who will win?

It’s SB3 2

1001 No.28: ‘Micro Machines 2: Turbo Tournament’ (1994)

UCHG hits the front page…could this be related to the teaser last week?

Find out more soon…