As part of my Scottish road trip I mentioned on the Now page, I headed to Dundee as my partner had one thing she wanted to do (The V&A Museum) and I had one thing I wanted to do.
The Lemmings Statue is a statue in a park close to the site of the home of DMA Design (now Rockstar North) and depicts three Lemmings climbing up one of the columns on the entry to the park.
Lemmings was probably the first computer game I ever really loved. I yearned for the Cartoon Classics Commodore Amiga box set, and I used to draw them on all my school notebooks. I even fancy dressed as one for a school Summer Fate.
Sadly the Commodore 64 version came rather late on, so I never got to play it much growing up, but eventually when my Grandparents inherited a Atari ST, one of the games was Lemmings – the box you see in the photos.
DMA Design – the programmers of Lemmings – eventually became Rockstar North and launched the whole Grand Theft Auto series. The rest is history.
Anyway, it is a very cool art installation in Dundee if you are ever in the area. We also had an amazing meal in Eastfield so recommend booking there if you go.
So as shared by somebody on the Amiga Addict Discord, today is the day that – if you play Championship Manager 97/98 for 30 seasons, on the 15th July 2026, you get an endgame screen, and encouragement to sign up as a play tester and a researcher for future games.1
I played Champ Man 97/98 loads growing up, and really got into the 97/98 version. I would have been 14 when it came out, the cusp of France 98, and me starting to follow Colwyn Bay Football Club, I was at probably my peak fandom. I used to scour the leagues and guides for hidden gem signings (waves at Rob Taylor from Brentford), dress up for cup finals in a shirt and tie, and believed it was bad luck to watch the final.
Anyway, with the universe death of the greatest football game of all time, it’s safe to assume that no football from this day forward counts. It’s true, not just me being a bitter Welshman. Sorry England.
Incidentally, I did this role myself when I was the social media manager for Colwyn Bay about 10 years later. Mainly it was confirming the club colours, crest and various elements were true. Very much a highlight of the season, though sadly I never got into the credits for it! ↩︎
I was watching a reel on Instagram from Martin Lewis (for the non UK lot – a very trustworthy financial journalist, campaigner and consumer rights activist). I’ve attached it below but it’s about one of his biggest gripes – online scam advertisments.
Away from his message (which I 100% support), I picked up on something that I found interesting – he calls non-social media “The Legitimate Web”.
I don’t know if it’s deliberate, but given the state of the internet and how things work, I like that phrase. Obviously, people can set up a blog or a forum and scam folks, but on the whole it’s a lot harder without the machines of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or YouTube behind you. Set something up, pump out ads, try to catch some poor unsuspecting granny to scam out of their life savings.
With a bit of work, you seem a bit more legitimate. You create your own vision to present, and invite people in – be it a blog or (in my case) professional WordPress development. It shows you are who you say you are, and therefore probably going to be around a lot more.
If this works well, reacting to this post on BlueSky will mean that likes/boosts/comments will feed through to the WordPress posts. In theory. So I’ve just posted a quick post to test.
So this is a bit of a regular feature – I’m going to share piece of tech that I’ve been enjoying that doesn’t suck. Because let’s be honest, technology sucks. Here’s something that’s good, fun, and doesn’t take the piss with their terms & conditions.
Late last year I’ve stuck in a new system in my house – the Evercade Alpha. I’ve always wanted an arcade machine in my house, and – whilst not an original – this in the office will do. It feels incredibly well made, and I’m able to pull off dragon punches and fireballs easily. But it’s also compatible with Evercade’s vast library of games of games, meaning within about 5 minutes of setting up I was playing Metal Slug 3 again, and once I died I switched to Bubble Bobble. Although I’ve focussed more on the arcade side of things, it also allows playing of non arcade games in Evercade’s library. Roguecraft DX – an Amiga title – works awfully well. Xeno Crisis is a Smash TV esque game that is an indie darling and my god it’s just as intense. I’ve also enjoyed Donut Dodo and Murtop using a control system that absolutely shows how it should be played.
Why Evercade Matters
Now you may ask “Why would you play Evercade when there’s an endless library of games that can be downloaded and emulated?”, but think of it like a vinyl collection. Not every game is a banger on these £20 cartridges, but you can feel the love in these curated quality products. With each game you you are able to spend more time with them because there isn’t as big a paralysis of choice. Each game has a manual (and – therefore – a new manual smell), which serves as a great introduction to the game. You often also get stickers or posters too.
WindjammersStreet Fighter 2Donut Dodo
And that’s why, by being a curated platform, the paralysis of choice isn’t there. Instead you pick up a few games, and are forced to play those games, as a few more games cost £20. I sat and played through the entire Creatures II a few years back, and also discovered the excellent The Curse of Illmoore Bay recently, which is “What happens if Mega Man came out on the Mega Drive and also had Zombies Ate My Neighbours Aesthethic?”. You’ll find your new favourite game with Evercade.
In it, it defined it’s legacy. For in a hundred years time on Bargain Hunt people will be selling Evercade cartridges, and David Dickinson’s great grandson will wax lyrical about the history of Boogerman on the Interplay Collection 1, due to it being discovered for £15 in a car boot in Hitchin. Will people be doing that with Sony’s latest AAA adventure? Or even GTA6? Well they can’t, can they. Download codes that are lost to the wind. A string of numbers, that offer nothing.
Speaking of legacy, only slightly frustrating thing is that due to licencing games can become “legacy” meaning they are removed from sale, but you’ve enough time (usually 2-3 months) to pick it up before it does. Which is fine, but it means I missed the cartridge that contained Sensible Soccer and a fair few Dizzy Games.
There is no real DLC (in fact you can get free and hidden games on a rotation), and everything just works. I love it. I wasn’t convinced at the start with Evercade, but I’m a total convert now.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, Guile is being an utter bastard and he needs a dragon punch to the face.
