So who's been to The Hog then?

[samanosuke]

Only found out about the Heart of Gaming (or The Hog as it's more colloquially known) a few weeks ago and was itching to get down there ever since. And so the weekend before last, a mate and I made our way down to Acton for an arcade fest and I have to say I loved it. With many of my favourite arcade games all on free play, I was like a pig in sh!t.

It must be about 15 years since I last set foot in a bona fide arcade so I had some catching up to do. Unfortunately I spent so long kicking my mate's arse at MotW followed by prolonged sessions on Ikaruga (I'm still crap) and Psyvariar that before I knew it midnight was fast approaching so I never got the chance to play any of the retro arcade games such as SMB and Donkey Kong. Definitely have to get down there again soon.

There were other rooms such as the DDR room (stunk of sweat!), the retro console room and the 360/PS3 room but I didn't care too much for those - I was there for the arcade games and the arcade games alone.

Met a couple of guys that run the place, Mark and Omar, and they were friendly, enthusiastic fellas whose hard work seems to really be paying off. It got quite busy, maybe 40 or so people were there, but most people seemed to congregate in rooms other than the arcade. That bothered me not as it just meant the queues for the games I wanted to play were nonexistent.

Anyroad, I'll be certain to revisit the place in a few weeks' time. I implore all of you to try it too!

[Jay]

Been there a few times. It's really good to see so much enthusiasm from the people running it. Really nice selection of linked fighting cabs. The 360/PS3 room is great if you want to get a bunch of players together for a SFIV session for eg.

[fuse]

I've shamefully only made it down the once so far, despite up until around 3 months ago working all of about 15 minutes' walk away.

It is great though. I'm up for trying to make it down more often, but going on my own doesn't ever seem that appealing.

We really need to get a forum meet happening down there some time.

[speedlolita]

I've yet to check it out, I only want to play Third Strike anyway.

[ExMosquito]

I've been down there a few times for the Super Turbo Sunday meets. It's a pitty I live so far away, I'd be down there every week otherwise Here's a video I made of Super Turbo Sunday 3.

[Silvergun X]

I really, really must make it down to Hog with my other half at some point soon.

Having the time out to go up London way is a bit of a mission now I've got a family, but I'd give anything for another arcade spree.

[fuse]

I've been thinking I need to get down there again soon. Definitely going to go in April at some point when the good lady's away, would be good to try and co-ordinate some for forumites.

[samanosuke]

I'll be going down there with a few mates this Saturday, and it'll be the first time I've been there since I started this topic.

Can't wait to try the new Daytona dual setup.

Fuse, if you want to join us, you're more than welcome

[J0e Musashi]

I took my boy to see Mark recently. We were looking into converting the Daytona from the woody cab into a Japanese cab. The boy didn't find this particularly interesting, so we put COD on the Xbox 360 housed in one of the Viewlix cabs for him to play. Pretty cool. Mark has installed Shinobi and Final Fight in two of the Pony's, so I'm pretty much set whenever I go there in future. Once I force him to swap out HOTD2 for Silent Scope 2, my work there will be done.

[speedlolita]

Still need to go there. lol

[samanosuke]

If anyone gives a monkey's I'll be down there tonight so just PM me if you want to meet up.

Will be there with a couple of SF3 TS playing buddies, but don't worry - we're all rubbish!