Grumpy Old Gamer

Who Won the Console War? [S02E08]

The lads are back and there are four of them this time. Ian, Al, Tim, and Lucas dig into the big question: who actually won the console war? Spoiler: it's not complicated. Then things get interesting as the crew unpacks Phil Spencer's exit from Xbox, the arrival of Asha Sharma with her AI background and no games industry experience, Sony's quiet 180 on exclusivity, and what Project Helix plus Steam on Xbox might actually mean for the next round of the console wars. The Steam Machine gets a look-in too. Nobody holds back.

Steam: Our pile of shame

Al, Tim, and Lucas confess their digital hoarding addictions by analyzing their Steam libraries. Turns out we've all got hundreds of games we'll never play, bought during sales we can't resist, gifted by friends who promise "we'll play together" and then ghost us. We used SteamDB to crunch the numbers. Al has £550 worth of unplayed games sitting in his library gathering digital dust. Lucas bought Elder Scrolls Online three times - bought it, refunded it, bought it again on sale, refunded it again, then bought it a third time because it was even cheaper. Tim can't remember buying Farming Simulator 2013 and has no idea why it's installed. The conversation spirals into the psychology of Steam sales. Why do we buy games at 90% off when we know we'll never play them? Why does "it's only £2" feel like a compelling reason to add another title to the pile? Why do we convince ourselves we'll definitely play Dying Light this time when we've been saying that for 11 years? We debate physical versus digital ownership. Tim and Al have shelves of boxed PC games they'll never install because who runs optical drives anymore. Lucas sees his Steam library as a collection of military badges - achievements for simply owning the games. We're all hypocrites who miss game manuals while exclusively buying digital. Regional pricing gets exposed. Lucas admits Argentina used to have ridiculous Steam discounts - £50 games for £5. Free-to-play games get dissected. Tim's spent hundreds on Magic: The Gathering Arena and it shows as £0 library value. The friendship tax is real - buying games together, playing for an hour, never touching them again. Nobody's changing their behaviour. The Spring Sale just started. We're all doomed.

From Outrun to iRacing: The Evolution of Racing Games [S02E06]

Al has a confession: he doesn't play racing games. Tim and Lucas do. This was always going to be an interesting conversation. In this episode, the three of us trace the full arc of racing games, from chucking 10p into Outrun at the arcade to Formula 1 drivers logging laps on iRacing between Grand Prix weekends. We argue about whether Driver counts as a racing game, mourn the fact that Lucas has never heard of Wipeout, celebrate Mario Kart's role as the ultimate family destroyer, and spend a suspicious amount of time on the Forza Horizon open world and what people get up to on its motorways. We also tackle the big question: has the simulation side of the genre hit a ceiling? And if arcade racing still has room to grow, what does that actually look like? Ian is not here. He has not been sacked (yet).

Warhammer 40,000: The Lore Dump (Feat. One Virgin and Two Self-Confessed Experts) [S02E05]

Al and Tim think they know Warhammer 40,000. Ian definitely does not. So this week, Ian asks the questions, Al and Tim answer them without any preparation whatsoever, and somehow everyone learns something. Topics covered include what Warhammer 40k actually is, the Horus Heresy, why the Emperor is essentially a very expensive battery, the Tyrannids versus the Xenomorphs, whether the Enterprise D would survive five minutes in the Imperium of Man, who the good guys are (short answer: there aren't any), and why the Necrons haven't just killed everyone yet. Drinking is involved. Accuracy is not guaranteed. Come and tell us what we got wrong.

Grinding in Games: Rewarding Loop or Lazy Design? [S02E04]

Grinding in games used to feel rewarding. You put the time in, you got stronger, and you saw the difference. Now it often feels like a second job, or worse, something designed to push you toward spending money. In this episode, we break down what grinding used to be, what it’s become, and where the line should be drawn.