I Don’t Play FPS Games Anymore and I’m Fine with That
Twitch reflexes, kill cams, and zero patience - no thanks.
Gaming Forums Were Beautiful, Broken, and Better Than Social Media
A mess you could actually follow.
Cheat Codes Weren’t Just Fun, They Were Power
You weren’t just cheating—you were rewriting the rules.
The Great Minimap Debate
You’re not a better player just because you turned yours off.
Why Games Don’t Scare Us Anymore (Even When They Try)
You can’t frighten someone who’s already dead inside.
We Don’t Plan Our Episodes and That’s Why They (Should) Work
Structure’s great until it ruins the point.
What do you do when your reflexes tap out, but the games keep getting faster? The last FPS I played properly was Unreal Tournament 2003. Not the remake. Not some nostalgic retro spin. The actual 2003 release. That was the last time I cared about accuracy, headshots, or keeping my mouse sensitivity dialled in like a sniper scope. And I loved it. It was fast, brutal, and didn’t care if you were ready. There were...
Why did we trade community for noise? Gaming forums weren’t perfect. Half the time the layout was broken, the colour scheme gave you eye strain, and the mods were just whoever had the most free time. But for all their flaws, they worked. You signed up, you stayed, and you became part of something. You don’t get that from a hashtag. You weren’t an algorithm. You were a name. Maybe an avatar. Maybe a custom...
When did games decide power was something you had to earn with your wallet? Back in the day, cheat codes weren’t just little secrets. They were part of the culture. Left-right-left-right-up-down-up-down-slap-the-cartridge kind of stuff. Infinite lives. All weapons. Unlock everything. Some of it was absurd. Some of it broke the game. And that was the point. They weren’t handed out. You either found them, guessed them, or learned them from someone on the playground who...
When did using a map start being treated like a moral failing? Minimaps are just tools. That’s all they are. Not a design crutch. Not a sign of weakness. Not something that needs to be justified every time it appears in the corner of the screen. Just a tool. You want to use it? Great....
If horror games are more realistic than ever, why do they feel less effective? There was a time when horror games could scare the hell out of you with a static camera and three sound effects. You didn’t need photorealistic lighting or ray-traced blood pools. You needed tension. Atmosphere. The kind of pacing that made...
Can you really call it a conversation if everyone’s reading their lines? We don’t use boards. We don’t use run sheets. We don’t do call times, beat maps, or pre-roll briefs. You’d think that’s a bad idea for a podcast. Maybe it is for some. But it works for us. This show runs on impulse....
Header and images courtesy of https://bigboxcollection.com – my new favourite website! Why did we stop treating game packaging like it was worth a bit of drama? There was a time when a game box had to work. It had to fight for your attention. It had to scream louder than the one next to it....
What does it actually take to get a podcast episode from “recorded” to “listenable”? Recording is the fun part. You hit the mic, talk rubbish for an hour, argue about minimaps, someone forgets to mute their dog, and everyone logs off feeling good about it. Then comes the part nobody romanticises: the edit. Editing isn’t...
What happens when developers spend more time reacting to Reddit than finishing the game? There’s feedback, and then there’s addiction. Too many studios have crossed the line. What used to be patch notes and bug reports has turned into Twitter threads, Discord drama, and developers arguing in the comments section of their own trailers. You...
Why are so many modern games still getting saving completely wrong? Saving a game used to be simple. You hit save. The game saved. Done. Now? It’s a mess. Auto-saves. Checkpoints. Limited save slots. Manual saves that only work at certain locations. Save systems tied to difficulty. Games that warn you not to turn off the console during saving like...
Grumpy Old Gamer is a team of four: Al (that’s me), Andrew, Ethan, and Wayne. Between us, we’ve got decades of gaming experience, bad attitudes, and strong opinions. Some of us are genuinely old. All of us are definitely grumpy. We’re not doing full bios (yet) or glowing intros. That’s not our style. Instead, we sent each host a bunch...
What’s more important—perfect gear or actually having something to say? There’s a whole online culture built around pretending podcasting is about gear. Endless posts. Gear roundups. YouTube breakdowns of which audio interface “punches above its weight.” People debating mic brands like it matters. It’s all noise. Here’s what you need to start a podcast: a microphone and the guts to...
If everyone’s doing video podcasts, why aren’t we? Everyone says the same thing. “You’ve got to do video.” Apparently if you’re not on YouTube or TikTok or whatever else people are scrolling through on mute, you don’t exist. Doesn’t matter how sharp the conversation is. Doesn’t matter how good the content is. If there’s no footage, it’s invisible. We’ve heard...
Most Star Wars games give you the spotlight. You swing a lightsabre. You lead a rebellion. You shape the fate of the galaxy in between explosions. TIE Fighter doesn’t do that. There are no heroes here. You start as a faceless Imperial pilot, flying the weakest ship in the fleet. No shields. No hyperdrive. No glory. You’re not here to...
How do you pick topics in a room full of strong opinions and low tolerance? Talking about games is easy. Choosing what to talk about isn’t. Every person on this team has at least ten ideas at any given moment, and at least five of those ideas are guaranteed to annoy someone else on the team. Topic selection sounds simple...
Grumpy Old Gamer is a team of four: Al (that’s me), Andrew, Ethan, and Wayne. Between us, we’ve got decades of gaming experience, bad attitudes, and strong opinions. Some of us are genuinely old. All of us are definitely grumpy. We’re not doing full bios (yet) or glowing intros. That’s not our style. Instead, we sent each host a bunch...
Why did split-screen gaming vanish when it was the most fun you could have on one screen? Local multiplayer didn’t vanish because players stopped enjoying it. It vanished because publishers couldn’t monetise it. You can’t charge four people for the same experience when they’re all in the same room. You can’t push seasonal cosmetics or track engagement through a sofa....
How do you build a podcast team without it turning into a never-ending group chat? Getting people to join a podcast is easy. Everyone’s got an opinion, a mic, and at least one “you know what would be cool?” idea. The hard part is building a team that can hold a conversation without falling apart mid-sentence or mid-season. The Grumpy...
Grumpy Old Gamer is a team of four: Al (that’s me), Andrew, Ethan, and Wayne. Between us, we’ve got decades of gaming experience, bad attitudes, and strong opinions. Some of us are genuinely old. All of us are definitely grumpy. We’re not doing full bios (yet) or glowing intros. That’s not our style. Instead, we sent each host a bunch...
What do you call a podcast when you’re sick of the nonsense and too tired to pretend otherwise? I didn’t hold a naming session. I didn’t put it to a vote or ask for suggestions from the team. I just called it what it was. What I am. Grumpy Old Gamer. I’d love to say that it started as a...
Why do patch notes read like PR statements instead of developer logs? There was a time when patch notes told you what changed and why. They were blunt. Technical. Sometimes dry. But they gave you the facts. “Fixed a bug where grenades exploded twice.” “Reduced enemy health on Hardcore difficulty.” No dressing it up. No handholding. Now they read like...
