tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69788712011-12-01T20:21:43.263ZRandom prattle...Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.comBlogger571100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-28452752972294789852011-12-01T19:54:00.001Z2011-12-01T20:17:02.712Z

I'm thoroughly entranced by RAGE right now. It's undeniably an id game, but it has a modern day, wide-open feel. It's a glass cage, corridors wrapped in tantalising scenery that's begging to be explored. It's all so near and yet, so horribly far away. The level of detail in the world I've seen so far is astonishing. What would probably have been featureless, blobby structures in some games are

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-60134218292372915342011-06-15T20:42:00.005+01:002011-06-15T20:53:33.008+01:00

Having completed the first two Mass Effect games, I can admit to being satisfied with the story so far. It's all a tad serious - there can never be enough camp in space operas - but well intentioned and I look forward to seeing the series close out next year.My first Shepherd (male) was intended to be a downright space arsehole, and I deliberately chose the Renegade option whenever it was

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-37139884248079299922011-05-31T20:03:00.004+01:002011-05-31T21:10:29.734+01:00

I'm quietly please with Mass Effect as a piece of science fiction. I'm not the most well read when it comes to proper scifi - I've always preferred my books to be fantasy and my movies to be scifi, which is probably a symptom of having grown up with both The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars - but even with that, I can enjoy a good space opera when I see it.There's whiffs of what I recognise as

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-10022610443362349122011-04-04T13:51:00.002+01:002011-04-04T14:09:28.708+01:00

I've had an itch to play Final Fantasy VII again for a while, especially after reading the Final Fantasy letters series of articles. A lot of gamers of A Certain Age will get excited and misty-eyed any time FFVII pops up in conversation, just don't get too close in case they're a fanboy - that wont be materia in their pocket. It's part of the 90's zeitgeist of the post-16-bit era and regardless

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-88123605867973610182010-11-19T22:24:00.003Z2010-11-19T22:57:16.351Z

They say that it's possible to get addicted to anything. They say that some people find themselves becoming addicted more easily than others. "They" say a lot of things.Hi. My name is Jamie, and I used to be an EVE addict. It wasn't something I admitted to myself when I played. Yeah, sure I spent a lot of time playing it, but so did the guys in my corp. Over five, five-and-a-half years I moved

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-21034879088442092332010-11-05T10:15:00.003Z2010-11-05T10:19:07.890Z

I've just picked up the Grand Theft Auto back catalogue for £4.99 on Steam. It's one of those deals you see and are almost obliged to take. Apart from GTA2, which I wasn't a big fan of, I've spent a horrendous amount of hours indulging myself in DMA/Rockstat's skewed vision of America - hours where I could probably have done something to make myself a more useful member of society, rather than

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-51049965651469236202010-11-04T09:32:00.003Z2010-11-04T09:51:53.413Z

Having a toddler around means watching lots of kids TV. This isn't always as annoying as it sounds as there's some genuinely enjoyably shows around to balance out the incredibly saccharine and sometimes outright patronising tone of the others. What I've found though, is that my mind seems to be spending a great deal of subconscious time working out the hidden meanings in kids shows. Take In The

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-56757282446011891782010-10-01T18:44:00.002+01:002010-10-01T20:25:40.992+01:00

"[Small gang PvP in EVE] wasn't relevant the moment a trapped 20-man gang was jumped out of a dead end system by their pet titan."So says Jim Rossignol, famed EVE Online evangelist and a corp mate of mine in the game for nigh on five years, after a discussion on the state of EVE on our old corporations private forum. He's not wrong. EVE's player population has grown and grown over the last seven

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-27319851472800603452010-09-13T22:19:00.002+01:002010-09-13T22:27:23.491+01:00

Being Fleet Commander in EVE Online has become, for me, what the game is all about. It's a very grand title: Fleet Commander! Look at me! I am Fleet Commander! I am Hero! I am Great Leader! Well no, you're just a guy who plays a game and talks more than the rest of the players. From the outside looking in it must sound very pompous and self-important, something that the geeks have made up to make

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-73877828033715421052010-09-08T18:23:00.003+01:002010-09-08T21:17:53.787+01:00

Seeing names in World of Tanks that I recognise is always a surprise. Here's a game that's been available for weeks only, a couple of months at the most, but even with my fairly sporadic play I'm still seeing gamer names that tug at the brain strings and say "I know you..."The truth of the matter is that all these people are from EVE. Whether I've flown with them as corp- or alliance-mates, or

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-53985876181706528092010-08-28T13:26:00.000+01:002010-08-28T13:27:10.169+01:00

Dramatis Personae: RPS Holdings (Gesadt, Nimloth Valinor, Captain Beardface, Zekk Pacus, Mezgorod, Stoffl, M Piquet, TehMuffinMan, ry ry, Alim Thek, Eben Rochelle, Duckslayer, Han Chang), Huzzah Federation (Eaglecrys, Sashenka, Tiberius Funk, ihisly, rhialto, Laurea, Soraji, Meshfori) Gunshi Kuroi Doragon (Sprinkles, Bashius), Mustache Twirling Space Cads (Jim DiGriz), Solar Revenue Service (

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-11804099630339896652010-07-26T22:42:00.003+01:002010-07-27T23:11:02.555+01:00

While scouring some old hard drives for blackmail fodder (i.e. drunken photos) I happened across the below. I remember writing it and being quite amused by my own cleverness at the time, although I don't know whether I'd have been sober or not. I've been a struggling writer for years, and by struggling I actually mean someone-who's-made-very-little-effort-to-do-anything: writing is something I've

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-61993098147625935442010-06-11T18:20:00.004+01:002010-06-16T22:20:33.810+01:00

There are two ways to talk about a battle in EVE Online. They're both hard, for different reasons. The first way, the easier way you would think, would be to weave a story around the events, set up the players and their motivations, give a little backstory and then blow-by-blow describe the eventual coming together of the two parties. It's hard because you first of all have to be good at telling

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-82363931458206357782010-06-03T16:51:00.002+01:002010-06-03T17:13:07.647+01:00

The Cumbria Shootings are, of course, domninating the British media at the moment, as it should. It's an event of horrific magnitude and whatever "reasons" are uncovered for Derrick Bird's actions, they'll never be enough for the hundreds of people affected.Reports now state that Bird's first victims where his lawyer and his twin brother, his brother for god's sakes, and that the rampage may have

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-87460729925529995422010-05-18T11:18:00.003+01:002010-05-18T11:19:00.028+01:00

...I just found a spider the size of a golfball in my bathtub. Now I know it's not hurting anyone, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't die. It was him or me, yer honour...

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-33932157737471305382010-05-09T23:10:00.003+01:002010-05-10T00:34:12.646+01:00

I am one of the 30 million UK residents who didn't vote. Admittedly, that number comes from here and doesn't take into account those below the voting age of 18 or insane or foreign or barred from voting for whatever reason. However it's worked out, only 29 million and change people voted in this election and I wasn't one of them. There are reasons for this: the most important one is that my

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-12011490737083931072010-02-19T23:04:00.003Z2010-02-19T23:06:22.828Z

...my internet is back! And now, some self aggrandising!State of Temptation

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-74144835039372076482010-01-21T15:16:00.003Z2010-01-22T03:50:03.200Z

The Neptune's Pride creators have linked to this blog via their Facebook page. If you've come here from there, make sure to become a fan (of the game, not me :) )

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-36891399630506363782010-01-21T13:48:00.003Z2010-01-21T14:05:27.054Z

It's just before production cycle 7 starts. A full galactic week ingame and things are really beginning to move. The three AI controlled empires are in the process of falling - the light blues down to 5 stars, the oranges surrounded by vee's reds, and the purples massing ships on my border. Down in my southwest is where the game is at it's most interesting. And by interesting I mean potentially

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-19110005058354625852010-01-21T13:17:00.002Z2010-01-21T13:22:34.037Z

I've been a brave lad and started writing about games again. Having seen someone post an ad for contributors for this site on RPS I decided to bite the bullet and submit a State of... column in the spirit of those I used to write for StateMagazine (BACK IN THE DAY).I enjoy writing. I'd like to start doing it again on a regular basis, but I find I need a kickstart, something to do it for.If it's

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-24421589208521419992010-01-20T14:30:00.003Z2010-01-20T14:56:00.520Z

Things are beginning to move. After a day or two with no contact with my allies and with no movement on any scale, Day 6 sees things start to happen. Jon, the leader of the DBD had sent a fleet to the Sabik system but unfortunately for him my fleet was closer. By the time he arrived my forces had achieved defensive positions, boosting their combat prowess, and destroyed his ships easily. After

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-40915266339765647552010-01-18T16:19:00.002Z2010-01-18T16:19:46.110Z

Things look to be hotting up, ever so slowly. Two of the players in our game (the Light Blue Decadence and Orange Entity, as I named them) have had their empires transferred to AI control. I imagine they'll be crushed in record time, sandwiched as they are between myself (the Yellow Eternal Empire of Eternalness), Scooped (the Green Army) and vee (Red Reality). However, I still fear for my

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-58240127697712913572010-01-18T10:18:00.000Z2010-01-18T10:18:40.366Z

"It started over nothing".

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-71066009001710795742010-01-17T15:14:00.002Z2010-01-17T15:21:48.600Z

The universe as it stands. I'm the cowardly yellow empire, surrounded on all sides by enemies (and friends? MAYBE). Turns out diplomacy in this game is all about the trust. If someone scratches my back, for instance, I'm under no obligation to scratch theirs. And that's fine by me - it sets the ground rules straightaway. I'm reasonably sure I'm going to get pounded on all sides at some point,

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-65922440353157755332010-01-17T01:10:00.002Z2010-01-17T01:30:24.885Z

I decree this game likeable. It is, however, incredibly complex, while at the same time being insanely simple. I have no idea if any of the other players have had a combat event yet - I'm not sure if it'll flag it up if I'm not involved, y'see - but so far my interaction with the game has been limited to moving fleets towards planets and using the ingame email as a diplomatic device. I have the

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-53581681936169302962010-01-15T13:38:00.008Z2010-01-17T15:22:26.362Z

As spotted on Rock, Paper, Shotgun, Neptune's Pride is a browser based 4X strategy game played in real time but with no fees. Intriguing, says I. I've begun playing an eight-man (woman/entity) game with at least some of the other players being fellow readers of RPS. This is going to take some time, and I'm not entirely confident of doing at all well, but I shall report here every other day,

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-17110917475079681802010-01-09T15:15:00.002Z2010-01-09T15:17:01.695Z

So true it's frightening.(Taken from this Rock Paper Shotgun post)

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-72334079092667278662009-12-03T00:21:00.003Z2009-12-03T00:45:36.331Z

I'm a cynical bastard at heart.For instance, when I heard that Michael Jackson was dead I immediately thought, "Hoax!". He was in a lot of debt, old, and in danger of becoming irrelevent, never mind that half the world thought he was a kiddie fiddler. So why not fake your death, cash in on the increased record sales through third parties and, I dunno, have facial reconstructive surgery, change

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-21845070130740077542009-11-10T13:38:00.002Z2009-11-10T13:45:48.047Z

“You are one of one hundred,” says the big black dude in front of me. He's heavy, muscled and tall and he's as intimidating as all hell. I don't know who he is or which direction he came from but all of a sudden he's standing in front of me and I can smell the coffee on his breath and see the street light shining off his bald head. “You are one of one hundred,” he repeats, “and your training

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-18254028586831427582009-08-27T00:10:00.003+01:002010-05-18T11:20:48.069+01:00

Today Statecorp decided to die.

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-85262989192780643082009-08-25T08:55:00.002+01:002009-08-25T09:14:00.058+01:00

I've been watching with interest the furore over Caster Semenya, the new womens World 800m champion... or is she? The IAAF are conducting gender tests to ensure that she really is a woman, although it all seems a bit complicated to me.Surely they've seen her in the showers?According to the BBC, 'external genitalia can be "ambiguous"', which I'm sure is reassuring to all those men suffering from

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-7445087494424971552009-07-09T14:45:00.003+01:002009-07-09T14:53:32.902+01:00

I must admit that when I first heard they where making Terminator 3 my initial thought was that it would be set in the future, during the war. That is I hoped it would be set in the future. Obviously it wasn't and T3: Rise of the Machines was the result, a rather lacklustre last hurrah for a franchise. Upon hearing that Terminator Salvation would be set in the future and be directed by the guy

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-74597576904711316012009-07-06T08:22:00.003+01:002009-07-06T08:30:36.563+01:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8132547.stm - EVE player steals 2 billion ISK of invested ingame cash and sells it through Real Money Traders to finance medical bills and a new houseThe most surprising thing about this story is that it's reported in a fairly straight laced manner, giving it more credibility and importance than it may have received eighteen months ago or so. As virtual

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-54930001448419415672009-07-05T21:50:00.004+01:002009-07-06T08:04:02.955+01:00

I was brought up watching the original Star Trek on BBC 2. Every Monday (possibly Tuesday. Or any of the other weekdays. It was a long time ago) at 6pm there'd be an ace sci-fi TV show on the Beeb's second channel and I'd settle down to watch with Mother. Star Trek was always amongst my favourites, mainly because I really, really, wanted to be Captain Kirk. I must confess though that that was

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-31384834222294464652009-07-05T21:26:00.004+01:002009-07-05T21:47:47.027+01:00

Let me get one thing straight: I loved the first Transformers movie. Loved. It was wish fulfillment writ large, writ huge, writ gargantuan even. My inner geek got a serious woody at the first sight of Optimus Prime and repeat viewings have done little to lessen the wow factor. Yeah, the plot is complete bunkum, the characters are either annoying or Megan Fox but the special effects money shots

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-75561414715221189772009-07-02T22:49:00.002+01:002009-07-03T08:15:59.741+01:00

It's been a while since I thought about my EVE Diary but recent discussions with members of my EVE Online corporation have brought them to my attention again, purely becuase it looks like the corp will dissolve soon after nearly five years together. We've lost a few key players in the last few months - including myself - and it's nearly time to wind things down and move on.The EVE Diaries where

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-69871614964545857742009-07-02T06:14:00.003+01:002009-07-02T06:23:35.492+01:00

Honestly, before you have a child, can anyone really say they know what's coming to them?The best present I received on my most recent birthday was a badge that said "World's best Dad". Corny, cheesy, stupid, but it gave me a warm rosy glow and a tear in my eye. Being a Dad is truly great.But sometimes I miss the old days. The days where I could do 48 hour gaming sessions in my pants, surviving

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-26005433505127163942009-06-26T12:05:00.002+01:002009-06-26T12:21:13.185+01:00

I've been amazed at the scenes show from outside the hospital in LA where Michael Jackson died, astonished at the devotion still shown to him given that he'd released only three albums in the last twenty years and especially given the publicity surrounding allegations of child abuse.It's going to be Diana all over again, isn't it, although I guess American TV will feel the brunt of it. BBC News

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-42679945588801437542009-06-19T01:44:00.003+01:002009-06-19T01:56:04.828+01:00

I've never, it must be said, been a constant blogger,as can be seen from the archives of this blog, recently and accidentally rediscovered after four years in the wilderness. However I have had the hankering to write now and again in my life, most notably (in my own mind) on ye olde State forum/website/webzine. Ooh, there's a memory.Where do internet people go when forums die? There's names and

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-41543671947094132752009-06-17T22:34:00.003+01:002009-07-02T05:57:24.456+01:00

I could hear it, but I couldn't see it.We always just called it the "Eddie Road"; there's one in every Scottish town I guess, possibly barring Edinburgh itself. The ancient road leading to the nations capital, tarmacadamed and given an A-road number, ultimately leading nowhere but another road map grid reference.This particular one runs through the Glasgow's east end, long and lightly curved,

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-1143388270717527032006-03-26T16:41:00.000+01:002006-03-26T16:51:12.076+01:00

I wonder how many Scots wait until they're my age before going for a look around Edinburgh castle. I must admit that I've only visited fair Edina a handful of times over my twenty-eight years, and Friday there was the first time I'd made the trek to the castle.Edinburgh's a wonderful city, that seems to have been built kind of like Ankh-Morpork - on top of itself. All the old buildings in the

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-1139986402101962462006-02-15T06:45:00.001Z2010-09-13T22:23:16.857+01:00

I came back into EVE last November, with six months training time wasted, and a whole lot of experiences missed. My corp had grown and advanced, and guys who started playing after me were now multi-millionaires, doing their own thing for God and glory.I'd missed so much...even before I'd never really seen one thing in EVE that I wanted to do. By that I mean I didn't want to be an industrialist, I

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-1138852838783280802006-02-02T03:53:00.001Z2010-09-13T22:23:03.055+01:00

Tensions are rising within the Forsaken Empire, the alliance my EVE corporation belongs to. A recent end to the hostilities with The Five and a breakdown of diplomacy with PA and NBSI...our enemies are our friends, and our friends now our enemies.It's a complete turnaround of opinion, basically from nowhere (as far as the grunts on the front lines are concerned), and has set in motion a chain of

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-1137930087897506572006-01-22T11:32:00.001Z2010-09-13T22:22:49.010+01:00

Last Thursday in EVE was my first real exposure to PvP. An organised StateCorp fleet, with Zwiss as fleet command, went roaming and got five kills. Not a lot, given that there where twelve of us, but enough to give myself and the other PvP noobs a sense of what's involved in decent fleet combat.I say decent because one of the recurring themes in corp chat is the lack of good fleet commanders in

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-1137836831877251392006-01-21T09:37:00.000Z2009-07-03T08:15:53.086+01:00

Finally, EVE has come back to life.The ongoing war with The Five, my lack of (ingame) money, my lack of skills...it was getting me down. A few weeks of training and I can fly a Hawk, which is perhaps the most fun I've ever had in EVE. It's fast, it's hard, it's not as powerful as its big brother the Harpy...but it'll do. It'll do until I can afford something better, anyway.While EVE is coming

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-1092191506120955082004-08-11T03:26:00.001+01:002010-09-13T22:22:15.250+01:00

As much as I'm enjoying being immersed in the 40K universe (cue bitch fights with The Flatmate, who's adamant that the Warhammer Fantasy universe is where it's at) , the game grows dull, stuck, as I am with one level to play on.I can see that Relic are aiming forthe online side of the game to be a large partof the experience - and I'm sure they'll take their practised arm to the single-player

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-1091843117461403262004-08-07T02:37:00.001+01:002010-09-13T22:21:59.383+01:00

The Orks are, obviously, the most fun to play. Well, how could they not be? The Ork race is, in the Warhammer universe anyway, the life and soul of every party. Of course to them a party means bringing along four tofive hundred mates, needs some high calibre automatic weaponry and, if possible, orbital bombardment, but still. You get my meaning.The one real problem I have with the game so far is

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-1091732585671519522004-08-05T19:50:00.001+01:002010-09-13T22:21:28.524+01:00

I've been playing the Beta version of the Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War today, in between bouts of re-starting my PC.(I wish I knew what the hell was causing the problems with my machine. The BSOD errors, and a lucky find on the net seem to point to my DSL modem drivers - of which I have the latest version. Bugger. If I had a boot disk, I'd just format and go back to WinME, cos I've had nothing

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-1091717212652294942004-08-05T15:36:00.000+01:002004-08-05T15:46:52.653+01:00

The problem - or one of the problems, at any rate - with having a foreign fiance is that it's hard to have sex when you're both within the confines of your natural born national boundaries. The Feyoncé? Stuck in Finland, exam schedule full. Her plan to come to Scotland for a year curtailed by the intransigance of failed exams. Myself? Stuck here in Scotland, trying - and failing, for the most

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-1088131580970202272004-06-25T03:34:00.000+01:002004-06-25T03:46:38.623+01:00

Once again the mighty media machine that are the English tabloid newspapers has fuelled the country with hopes and dreams of their national team winning Euro 2004. And once again, the team fails to live up to these expectations, and are put outof the tournament. It's a symptom - from my Scottish point of view, anyway - of the arrogance of the English state and mindset, a hangover form the days

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-1086214422033592262004-06-02T22:24:00.000+01:002004-06-02T23:13:42.033+01:00

In my darker moments, and I have a few now and again (though if you knew me in RL, you wouldn't really know as I'm the picture of sunshine and cheeriness, when I'm not threatening to give skanky fucknugget customers facial burns). Ahem. In my darker moments, I've often thought about what it is I, and my fellow barstaff actually do. On the one hand, we're there to help: it's our job to provide

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-1085104623412953422004-05-21T02:24:00.000+01:002004-05-21T02:57:03.413+01:00

Earlier on today I caught some random numpty talking about how the pub industry should start paying for the disruption it causes. That's a whole nother rant, though. What I want to rant about here, is the mention of 24-hour licensing. It's something that's been rumoured as "going to happen soon" since I first started pub work in 2001. Whenever pubs or alcohol are mentioned in the news these days

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-1084600981323429242004-05-15T07:00:00.000+01:002004-05-15T07:03:01.323+01:00

It's 7am. I am not drunk. I am, however, working in less than twelve hours. Wahey. The stillness of night is always my favourite time. I've never bothered my arse with this whole "regular sleep cycle" thing I've heard about. They it's quite healthy for you. I say I'll sleep when I fall over. Probably where I get my general lack of motivation from. Being tired, unrefreshed all the time. I'd

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-1084540533568878992004-05-14T14:15:00.000+01:002004-05-14T14:15:33.570+01:00

I have cigarettes now. All Is Good.

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-1084540309065341802004-05-14T13:42:00.000+01:002004-05-14T14:34:48.553+01:00

I'm one of those socially inept, weak looking outcasts called "Game Geeks" by numptys and Daily Mail readers. Apparently because I'd rather sit inside and enjoy a fascinating videogame experience than go outside and slowly bake myself in the sun, opening up my pores to the possibility of skin cancer, I'm sad and lonely. Wrong, obv. The thing with videogames and gaming is that it's Today's

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-1084457651656764812004-05-13T14:49:00.000+01:002004-05-13T15:14:11.656+01:00

So I work in a largish pub in the centre of Scumdee. It's old, open now for going on seven years, and is falling to bits a little. The clientele is composed of most of Scumdee's middle-rank scum: y'see, we're cheap, but not that cheap. Old men, old women, hardeneddrinkers every single one of them. That on one side of the pub anyway, the smoking side. On the non-smoking side we actually get nice

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6978871.post-1084455907243716832004-05-13T14:34:00.000+01:002004-05-14T14:36:21.533+01:00

There's shit happening all over the world right now. Bad shit. All I want is a cigarette. That wont save the world, wont make the bad stuff go away, but at least I'll feel a little better. Man, it's been hard recently. The Feyonce is currently 2000 miles away or something. I've seen her for five weeks out of the last 52, and right now this is a bad patch...you can get nicotine patches y'know.

Jamie McEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07878706141685128765noreply@blogger.com0