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Cranky Gamer

Cranky Gamer
A cranky and jaded gamer gives his views on the gaming industry. With Wii, Xbox 360, PS3, Microsoft, Sony and Nintento news. Find free indie games and special Cranky Alternatives.

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Cranky Opinions: Bioshock Demo
2007-08-21 20:29:00
It's time for more user opinions on the newly released Bioshock demo from various gaming forums around the net. Look out for opinions on the full game later, if I can be bothered. Pros - Amazing music/sound quality - Great graphics (though Gears of War is marginally better) - The demo runs really well (I was running it with everything maxed on the highest available widescreen resolution and got great framerate with no slowdown). I wasn't even using the new BioShock drivers which supposedly increase performance significantly. - Thank god they give you the option to turn of that fucking quest arrow and item shimmer - Controls great - The fact that hacking was included in the demo and that it's actually very useful is great. Hacking drones to kill others was great. - The different ways you can kill enemies make up for the less-than-stellar combat mechanics. Cons - Extremely linear, from one area to the next, nothing else to it. - Everything was just one scripted sequence after ano...
More About: Opinions , Demo , Crank , Cran

Cranky Opinions: Bioshock/Demo
2007-08-21 20:29:00
It's time for more user opinions on the newly released Bioshock demo/full game from various gaming forums around the net. Pros - Amazing music/sound quality - Great graphics (though Gears of War is marginally better) - The demo runs really well (I was running it with everything maxed on the highest available widescreen resolution and got great framerate with no slowdown). I wasn't even using the new BioShock drivers which supposedly increase performance significantly. - Thank god they give you the option to turn of that fucking quest arrow and item shimmer - Controls great - The fact that hacking was included in the demo and that it's actually very useful is great. Hacking drones to kill others was great. - The different ways you can kill enemies make up for the less-than-stellar combat mechanics. Cons - Extremely linear, from one area to the next, nothing else to it. - Everything was just one scripted sequence after another, there was nothing dynamic about it. It seemed like e...
More About: Opinions , Demo , Crank , Cran

Cranky Indie - Free Adventure Games
2007-08-12 16:50:00
Time for some more free games. There's a great community that make free classic adventure games in the vein of Monkey Island and The Dig over at Adventure Game Studio. Be sure to check out their forums. I'll post some of their best efforts below. Fate By Numbers - This wasn't made using AGS, but it's worth mentioning. It's a noir FMV style adventure. 800mb/1.2GB download though, so play the games above to pass the time. 6 Days A Sacrifice - A well made adventure game by Yahtzee. Part 4 of the John DeFoe series. Apprentice II: The Knight's Move - Very nicely illustrated and animated. A Friend Indeed - Interesting pixel-art styled adventure. Cirque De Zale - Nice little game where you play as Alexander Zale. If that doesn't appease your classic adventuring needs, then check out the top twenty adventure games list.Cranky Gamerhttp://crankygamer.blogspot.com
More About: Games , Free , Indie , Ames

Cranky Indie - Free Adventure Games
2007-08-12 16:50:00
Time for some more free games. There's a great community that make free classic adventure games in the vein of Monkey Island and The Dig over at Adventure Game Studio. Be sure to check out their forums. I'll post some of their best efforts below. 6 Days A Sacrifice - A well made adventure game by Yahtzee. Part 4 of the John DeFoe series. Apprentice II: The Knight's Move - Very nicely illustrated and animated. A Friend Indeed - Interesting pixel-art styled adventure. Cirque De Zale - Nice little game where you play as Alexander Zale. If that doesn't appease your classic adventuring needs, then check out the top twenty adventure games list.Crank y Gamerhttp://crankygamer.blogspot.com
More About: Games , Free , Indie

What's Killing PC Gaming?
2007-08-03 01:38:00
PC gaming is dying! PC gaming is dead! PC gaming has hopped the twig! It's joined the choir invisible! But why? I feel entitled to point out that PC's require a brain, and people are dumb. Top tip: PC's and dumbasses are never good combination. If "Autoplay" on a PC disc fails to launch, a large contingent of the console owning population would be left slavering over their 360 joypad wondering why they can't install the latest Colin McRae cash-in. Then they realise their Radeon 9600 won't even run it. PC gaming is not accessible to these people, and it never will be. To be fair to those lacking a fast enough graphics card, developers have left thousands of PC gamers out in the cold with the switch to Shader Model 3.0. According to Valve's survey the X800 is the 2nd most popular ATI graphics card at the moment behind the much older 9600. Neither of these cards can run games using SM3. In fact, the top 4 most popular ATI cards will not run SM3 games. Of the top 10 most popula...
More About: Gaming , Ming , Killing

Cranky Indie
2007-07-28 22:38:00
Cortex Command - Fun game with some great physics. A little bit like that old PC game Worms, but in realtime with better physics. Ski Stunt Simulator - Interesting little ski jump simulator that you control using the mouse. Armadillo Run - Solve the puzzles using physics to build your contraptions. Truck Dismount - Interesting physics-based game that'll keep you amused for 10 minutes. Try to hurt your stick man by crashing your truck. Souptoys Toybox - Fun little physics game.Cran k y Gamerhttp://crankygamer.blogspot.com
More About: Indie

Cranky Indie
2007-07-28 22:38:00
More free indie games fun. Cortex Command - Fun game with some great physics. A little bit like that old PC game Worms, but in realtime with better physics. Ski Stunt Simulator - Interesting little ski jump simulator that you control using the mouse. Armadillo Run - Solve the puzzles using physics to build your contraptions. Truck Dismount - Interesting physics-based game that'll keep you amused for 10 minutes. Try to hurt your stick man by crashing your truck. Souptoys Toybox - Fun little physics game.Cran k y Gamerhttp://crankygamer.blogspot.com
More About: Indie

Why Mods Should Release Early
2007-07-25 21:21:00
I'm tired of mod teams spending years on mods, so here's a few reasons why modifications should release early rather than wait 3 or 4 years. To get public feedback early on to fix any issues. Let everyone test it, not just a select few. Beta testers are usually forum whores or IRC users that have been bumming the makers of the mod to get a beta spot. Their opinion is somewhat useless. Don't leave it 4 years then realise most people don't like how your mod plays. Your mod will never live up to the hype. You're likely to get negative feedback from those who were expecting an entirely different type of game. It's easier to get extra team members (namely coders) if you have something already playable to show them. Garry Newman, creator of Garry's Mod, summed it up well in a recent interview: The main argument about this (releasing early) is that they don't want to release a shit version of their idea and turn everyone off. Fair enough, but it's going to be so much worse ...
More About: Mods , Release , Early , Ease , Earl

Why Mods Should Release Early
2007-07-25 21:21:00
I'm tired of mod teams spending years on mods, so here's a few reasons why modifications should release early rather than wait 3 or 4 years. To get public feedback early on to fix any issues. Let everyone test it, not just a select few. Beta testers are usually forum whores or IRC users that have been bumming the makers of the mod to get a beta spot. Their opinion is somewhat useless. Don't leave it 4 years then realise your target audience don't like how your mod plays. Your mod will never live up to the hype. You're likely to get negative feedback from those who were expecting an entirely different type of game. It's easier to get extra team members (namely coders) if you have something already playable to show them. Garry Newman, creator of Garry's Mod, summed it up well in a recent interview: The main argument about this (releasing early) is that they don't want to release a shit version of their idea and turn everyone off. Fair enough, but it's going to be so mu...
More About: Mods , Release , Early , Modifications , Earl

Cranky Alternatives: Echochrome
2007-07-19 22:36:00
This time around on Crank y Alter natives I'll give you an alternative to the recently announced Echochrome . It's heading to the PSP and PS3. The alternative is OLE Coordinate System. Echochrome seems to be based on this engine. Make sure you scroll down to the bottom of the page.Cranky Gamerhttp://crankygamer.blogspot.com
More About: Play

Cranky Opinions: Quake Wars
2007-06-22 01:49:00
Welcome to the Crank y Opinions section. I'll post some user opinions on various games/news from around the net. The first game to feature in Cranky Opinions is Enemy Territory: Quake Wars . Cue the opinions! They made a point of including many features lifted straight from BF games. Obviously they wanted people to be familiar with these features, and obviously there was a reason they were expecting people to be familiar with vehicles, defibrillators, supply crates, and the like. The UI arrangement, the weapon load outs, all of them bear a VERY strong resemblance to BF2/142. Their publicity worked. They attracted the interest of the BF crowd. Go look at some of the screenshots littering the site. A large amount of them show a small team working together, taking cover, and the like. They aren't strafing back and forth wildly or jumping through the air or running around full-sprint at 40mph while blowing people away with an LMG. Suddenly, the beta comes. All these people see that...
More About: Quake Wars

Cranky Opinions
2007-06-22 01:49:00
Welcome to the Cran k y Opinions section. I'll post some user opinions on various games/news from around the net. The first game to feature in Cranky Opinions is Enemy Territory: Quake Wars . Cue the opinions! They made a point of including many features lifted straight from BF games. Obviously they wanted people to be familiar with these features, and obviously there was a reason they were expecting people to be familiar with vehicles, defibrillators, supply crates, and the like. The UI arrangement, the weapon load outs, all of them bear a VERY strong resemblance to BF2/142. Their publicity worked. They attracted the interest of the BF crowd. Go look at some of the screenshots littering the site. A large amount of them show a small team working together, taking cover, and the like. They aren't strafing back and forth wildly or jumping through the air or running around full-sprint at 40mph while blowing people away with an LMG. Suddenly, the beta comes. All these people see that...

Cranky Indie
2007-06-17 21:30:00
Welcome to the first edition of Cran k y Indie . I'll round up a few interesting indie/free games that are fun to play. Toribash - A fighting game where you manipulate your character's joints. Watch the included replays for some hilarious kills. Sumotori - A strange sumo wrestling game where bouts only last a few seconds. Only a 96k download too. It's pretty much luck if you win a fight. Flow - This one's an old favourite of mine. You sculpt the terrain to push sprites to the finish. Use the number keys to choose your tool. Free Rider - Basically like Line Rider but more fun. You actually get to drive the bike anywhere you want.Cranky Gamerhttp://crankygamer.blogspot.com

Fallout 3 - Fallivion?
2007-06-17 15:53:00
More Fall out 3 news has been released. Get more information at NMA. They also have some nice magazine scans with in-game material. The only thing that concerns me is that Bethesda are one of those companies that can't get the little things right. The horse riding in Oblivion was worse than Mount&Blade's, which is made by a tiny Turkish developer. It's good to hear they're going to make a decent 3rd-person view. Their previous 3rd-person efforts have been laughable at best. We've seen how Oblivion turned out compared with Morrowind when it was made with the Xbox in mind. The UI at the very least is likely to suffer, as Oblivion's UI was clearly built for consoles only. Look forward to relying on user mods to fix most things a PC user. No level scaling is definitely a good thing, although there will be a few people who complain about the level 20 character cap. It's sounding more like Fallivion at the moment, but we'll have to wait until late 2008 to see how it'll turn ou...
More About: Fallout , Allo

Cranky Alternatives: Forza
2007-06-16 21:38:00
Welcome to the first edition of Crank y Alter natives . I'll list the best - and usually better - alternatives to games currently on the market. The whole thing was inspired by this hilarious comment by some reviewer on 1up: "Forza 2 is the best sim racer out there right now, no question, and it continues to lead the way online." How he wrote that one with a straight face I'll never know, but lets forget about that and get on with the show. (That rhymes.) Colin McRae: DiRT and Forza Motorsport 2 have recently been released, but you all want a better alternative, because lets be honest, those two games are commercial whores. Introducing Live For Speed. There may not be any licensed cars, apart from the BMW Sauber, but the racing simulation that it serves up is second to none. People have been creaming their pants over Forza's car customisation features, but Live For Speed is unrivaled in this area. You can edit anything from fuel levels to the Bump Dampening and Brake Balance ...
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360 vs PS3 - Call of Duty 4 Graphics Comparison
2007-06-16 18:05:00
In light of Gamespot's latest pointless comparison, I've decided to make my own. I was under an NDA/embargo or whatever you wish to call it, but I'm a rule breaker, a rebel if you will. So here's a graphics comparison of the Xbox 360 and Play station 3 versions of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. The screens are taken from in-game scripted sequences. Cranky Gamerhttp://crankygamer.blogspot.com
More About: Graphics , Microsoft , Sony

Wii Hype Will Fade
2007-06-15 19:56:00
In a Reuters interview, Scott Steinberg, Sega 's vice president of marketing comically states: "I am a little concerned about the creative depth of the Wii pool." "The Wii will start to look really dated in a couple years when developers get more value from the 360 and learn more and more about the PlayStation 3." I don't know about you guys, but I'd rather have "a couple years" of some original gameplay, rather than play some of the unoriginal crap that the Xbox and Playstation have been spitting out over the years. Need For Speed 16 anyone? They ran out of ideas years ago. I'm not surprised Sega couldn't compete in the console market with mugs like Steinburg working for them. UPDATE - 16th June GameIndustry.biz reports: Analyst Michael Pachter has told GamesIndustry.biz that he believes a higher spec, HD-enabled "Wii 2" could be on the shelves "in a couple of years". It's easy to envision a Wii 2 in a couple of years that runs at full HD, and has both a Wii-mote and a...
More About: Nintendo , Hype , Fade

Gamespot's Pointless 360 vs PS3 Comparisons
2007-06-15 18:49:00
Gamespot's latest pointless comparison is Armored Core 4. I've never been a fan of these comparisons. In the end it usually boils down to "teh PS3 is brighter zan zee 36teh". There is never going to be a massive difference in quality because developers are lazy and publishers are scary. It may shock some of you that most developers build a game for one console, then port everything over to other platforms, all the while keeping their fingers crossed that it'll work without a hitch. They rarely spend time upping the quality of every asset just because one console can handle more. Developers have nothing to gain from doing that. If a texture seems blurry or is missing a normal map after porting they're not going to go out of their way to fix it. You can't really blame them. Their publisher's breathing down their neck the whole time to get these games finished so they can make as much money as possible. None of this means the PS3 sucks, or the 360 sucks. All it means is that the...
More About: Microsoft , Play , Xbox 360 , Sony , Gamespot

Cranky Gamer is Open for Business
2007-06-14 20:46:00
I'm a very cranky gamer. I'll make sure you're clear on which games are shit, and which ones aren't. I'll name and shame the bad reviewers of the industry. I'll call out anywhere that rates games like Call of Duty highly. I'll list games you should stay away from. I'll list games that are worth paying hard-earned cash for. I'll judge games on the quality of their demo, as we all know 99.9% of it will be in the full game. I'll predict the rating an unreleased game will get on the popular gaming sites. There will be no bullshitting.Crank y Gamer http://crankygamer.blogspot.com
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