Burnout: No, not the game

Maybe it's the brighter days and warmer weather. Maybe it's the string of mediocre games I've been playing for weeks. Maybe it's the steamrolling hype for Smash Bros and GTAIV. Whatever the cause, one thing's for sure: I'm feeling burned out on games.

I don't feel like playing them. Don't feel like writing about them. Don't much feel like reading about them (although Kotaku's story on the haunted Ms. Pac-Man machine was an exception). I've failed to respond to solicitations for pitches from two different publications, which is always a brilliant career move. But what can I say? I'm not feeling the juju, and I don't know why.

Does anybody else ever have this problem? Leigh Alexander once tried to abstain from playing anything for a full week, and found it impossible. Jeff Gerstmann's gamer score is over 55,000. The internet is awash with people who come up with dozens of blog posts per day. That's dedication. It's all I can do to power up my PSP to sock away another level or two of Patapon.

This, too, will pass, but if you were wondering why posting has slowed down lately, now you know why.

And you were wondering, weren't you?

The PS3 has taught me a valuable lesson about early adoption

I could deal with the price cuts, and even to some degree with the lack of quality software on the PlayStation 3. For some reason, the announcement of a Dual Shock 3 really bugs me. Besides spending $100 more on the hardware than I had to, and besides leaving it powered off for months at a time, now it turns out that my controller is lacking a fairly significant function. It would be nice if Sony sent a free Dual Shock to those of us who've kept them afloat for the past year, but of course that wouldn't happen. I'll get to spend even more money on these bastards without getting much in return. Ratchet & Clank had better be good.

Although I guess I wouldn't have gotten a PS3 yet if I didn't need one for work, so I guess it's a wash. Nevertheless, I plan to apply what I've learned here to other kinds of technology. I won't be dropping twenty grand on a 3D display any time soon, no sir!