You may not know it, but ennui is something you've probably experienced at least once in your life, but have you ever experienced it as a gamer?

Ennui is boredom. The dictionary defines it as a "feeling of utter weariness and discontent resulting from satiety or lack of interest." As gamers, we've all probably gotten bored with a game... but rare is the occasion when we've grown bored of actually playing games or of doing something game related.

For instance, ennui sets in for online gamers when they realize that everything they do inside the game doesn't actually have any appreciable impact on the world around them. For console fans, it's probably come across in the form of frustration, or simply the sudden inability to care about what happens to Link, or to your Gamerscore, or to your plans for another ultimately awesome installment of Ponies and Kittens homebrew. Well, either boredom or despair, but they tend to be the same thing in this sense.

In either case, the feeling of WANTING to play seems to disappear out the window for most of us, and it's a shame, because there's something missing in our play that we don't completely understand. It's not the purpose, because the purpose behind play is always there. It certainly isn't the feeling of satisfaction of downing a boss with a well-timed Tatsumaki Senpuu Kyaku- Shouryuken- Hadouken combo.

In fact, no matter what reason you have for stopping, or whatever feelings you've got inside over your current pasttime, let me tell you something very important: it's okay.

Yep. The world (of Warcraft) will keep running without you, and the games you love, the guilds you cherish, and the respect you pick up from the homebrew community will remain intact even if you're not there for a little while. The important thing about games, which we sometimes forget in this day and age of trying to make games more mainstream and worthwhile, is that the worth of a game and the pasttimes we love come from the fun we derive from it.

Our suggestion: do something you haven't done yet. Your pasttime will welcome you with open arms, and you can tell us what else you've been up to. In the meantime, tell us about your stories of gaming ennui. We certainly would like to know how you got past your period of gaming ennui.

Game Politics put up a unique find that might help immortalize some of the most dedicated players of all time. According to their report, the Guinness Book of World Records will be putting up another videogame-related section with records for players who've picked up achievements for determination, high scores, and long life.

As you can see from the shot above, there are some new records being put up along with the quintessential high scores list that remains mostly the same from its previous incarnation 20 years back. Cody Miller's legendary speed run through Halo 2 on the Xbox is now listed, as well as a record for the guy who pulled off a three-hour speed run through the PS2's GTA: Vice City.

The records also hold some noteworthy people who've managed to get high scores in multiple games, such as Greg Sakundiak's records for Dragon's Lair, Tag Team Wrestling, and Twin Cobra, and Doris Self, our dearly departed mistress of all things Q*bert who got her place in Guinness for being the oldest competitive gamer to date.

Hopefully, they'll include some new categories next year, including "Person with the highest gamerscore ever" and "Most annoying leetspeak phrase used in online games." We'll be betting on "STFU Noob," for that last entry.

Looks like we're not through looking for pitfalls in the microtransactions business model. There was a nagging thought left in my head after concluding the last analysis back in early November, particularly about pay-per-cheat. Yeah, it took this long to get those thoughts consolidated, but after a number of articles landed on our desks in that time, those thoughts have consolidated into this:

How do these pay-for-cheats apply in multiplayer games? (Cue Psycho violin screech)

Many downloadable content (or even "downloadable keys to unlock content") normally don't have an effect on gameplay. It normally doesn't matter if my homie be pimping in a Santa costume through Stilwater - he'll end up just as dead from a drive-by if he was wearing regular clothes, 'ya dig? The game changes - and for the worse - if and when the DLC is (a) something that affects the quality of a player's gameplay, usually by improving it, and (b) if that same DLC can be used in multiplayer. You can cue that violin screech again.

In an ideal world, this issue we just brought up wouldn't be so the drama. We enter a multiplayer challenge, the game asks us to bring it (to bring out the best in our game skills), we all bring it, and let the competition be the judge. Still, baseball players juice up on performance-enhancers, prepare to answer some very uncomfortable questions from reporters, the Commission, or even Congress. Likewise, what would the multiplayer online community's reaction be to multiplay-haxxors in their midst?

Continued at the full article. In an ideal world, full articles wouldn't be needed.

N'gai Croal notes in his blog that Sony should address the problem of them not having an active presence in the realm of blogging. He cites Ozymandias (Andre Virgnaud) and other Microsoft bloggers like Major Nelson, Gamerscore, and Game Tycoon as a nice example Microsoft reaching out and making a connection with the citizens of the internet.

Although Ozymandias' motives are, as N'gai Croal puts it, "hilariously transparent" Ozymandias' blog does well to bash anything and everything Sony. Furthermore it provides that consumer to company link that Microsoft needs.

N'gai notes that Sony fails at giving consumers information that they really need, straight from the company they purchased or acquired the products from. For example he says that when PS3 firmware updates are released, nothing in the download process really explains what the updates to. Yes, the updates page on the official Sony site gets updated from time to time, but it's nothing as powerful, reassuring, and as effective as say, a Major Nelson blog update. Often times people will have to go to sites like like QJ, or at NeoGAF for immediate word on the matter.

Remember PS3 Firmware Update v1.3?

The gap is there. A Sony "fan-boy" would sooner trust an obscure post by 0okm or a quick how-to from Pranav, than wait for the Sony site to update. A Microsoft "xbot" will go to Major Nelson's blog. Big gap right there.

Click on Full Article to read the rest of this post.

During a Gamers' Day press event in San Francisco, Sony finally showed the public a few features that their PlayStation Network will have; video streaming from PS3 to PSP, downloading games directly to the PS3's hard drive, etc.

Naturally, this drew a huge crowd, and we think it's safe to say that Microsoft engineers were probably part of this crowd and tuned in too. So, after the whole PS Network shindig, Gamespot thought it would be interesting to hear what Xbox Live's group marketing manager Aaron Greenberg had to say about Sony's PlayStation Network and its features.

The interview also touches on what Greenberg thinks this could mean for Xbox Live, now that Sony's PlayStation Network looks like it's shaping up to be a really worthy adversary of Microsoft's XBL. First, Gamespot asked Greenberg what his impressions were of Sony's online initiative, and here's the console-wars-inducing reply: "We're proud that we've created a smash hit service that has prevailed over four years by growing to 4 million members during that time. And we're flattered that we've created a service that is breeding yet another knockoff."

Tsk tsk tsk. But before fanboys start swarming our site, Greenberg pulls back a bit by saying that it's still too early to comment on what the PS Network has to offer because there are still a lot of questions left unanswered like (and we quote): "Is this a fully connected service with one identity across your entire gameplay experience? Is every game online with voice chat integration? Do they have Achievements and Gamerscore? How are they handling safety, security, hacking, viruses, and parental controls?"

In addition, Greenberg said that they welcome competition but at this point, they're sure that XBL will continue to thrive and the fact that they have a four-year AND four-million member subscription headstart keeps them confident in the continuing success of XBL. Gamespot also fished for info on the fall update, whether there are plans for a bigger hard drive, as well as backward-compatibility updates for XBL.

Oh, and here's another kicker, when asked how Microsoft will justify charging their users for games when the PlayStation Network will offer FREE downloads, here's what Greenberg had to say: "There is so much more for gamers to experience on Xbox Live and so little new news in Sony's online announcements. Heck, do they have exclusive titles that can compete with Halo 3, Gears of War, Geometry Wars, Next Splinter Cell, Halo Wars, and exclusive episodic content for Grand Theft Auto IV that you won't be playing on the PS3?"

Also, Gamespot prods Greenberg on whether there are plans for integrating Web browsing functionality into XBL since the PlayStation Network will have this and Nintendo seems to be moving in the same direction with the Wii. The interview tackles a whole lot more, so if you're interested in reading all about it (as we know you guys are), simply click on the read link below to see the full interview. We'll keep you posted for more.

Microsoft Corporation has always boasted about its online gaming service, Xbox Live. Probably a pioneer in its own right, this online feature has been, for a number of times, a redeeming factor of the X360. As of this week in fact, a grand total of 4 Million users have logged on and used Xbox Live since its introduction in 2002.

Not to be outdone, Sony included an online service for its soon to be born baby, the PlayStation 3. However, it would be hard for gamers of the rival console to just jumped in and shout "copycat" for Sony tweaked its gamerscore features and SCEA Executive V.P. Jack Tretton thinks its a rather intelligent change.

Instead of having the "Achievements" feature Xbox Live style, PS3 would have it in a game by game basis. "It's very difficult to draw analogies your success on SOCOM and your success on Madden. Madden players care about peoples' success on Madden," Tretton declares. Publishers, as the executive put it, would then have a robust ranking system on a game-centric level rather than pan-platform  style.

As of now though, Sony has yet to come up with a name for this, although the name "Entitlements" has been mentioned in some speculations. Also, there would be a total of 19 online games at launch day. Tretton can not ascertain whether those games will have the mentioned feature or not though.