Yes, most of us think that SCEE London's Beats is awesome, and it's about time that someone from the homebrew community thought up of letting PSP owners play the game with their own customized "beats." Yes, here's Beats Off, where you can load and play custom compiled BJS files. Important details in the full article!

Download: Beats Off v0.1

We've played through various 'brewed FPS games based on homebrew developer charnold's PSP Dungeons, but how about making our own shooter game? charnold offers everyone a shot at making their own game with the latest release of PSP Dungeons, which includes PSP Dungeons: Assault Run and the game editor.


Download: PSP Dungeons: Assault Run - 3D Editor
Visit: QJ.Net PSP Development Forums

A well-informed readership gamers have become. At least, that's what is being implied by a recent trend being discussed over at Three Speech. Going into detail, gamers are becoming less and less dependent on official game reviews, and are instead going by their own resources to see for themselves if their copy of a game like Gundam Crossfire is really up to specs, or if it's better swapped out for Resistance: Fall of Man. 

This trend works off the fact that since the upsurge of net-based media like game trailers, screenshots, and demos, gamers are being given more choices in deciding on a video game's merits, and that these media forms allow a first-hand glimpse of a video game weeks before its release. Think back a little - how was your play-through of the Lost Planet or Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2's free demos, and how much did it get you psyched out for the game's launch, at least with regard to Lost Planet?

And it's not just the official game teasers that hold influence - think back to the times you guys made a decision on whether a video game "roxxorz" or "suxxorz" based on the responses you've probably heard on websites (like QJ here), your local circle of friends (ex: your Xbox Live Arcade posse), or even your resident MMORPG guild threads? Double for the homebrew community - homebrew applications and homebrew games alike are rated according to the first few brave souls who test them, though it's almost like an unofficial review.

Looking at the other side of this perspective, could it also be that gamers in general aren't as trustful of gaming reviews as they were before? Everybody's got his own perspective, and game reviews, as impartial as they (hopefully) try to be, are still guided by human hands. And with the information players can get with demos, we're looking at an informed readership (or is the term gamership) that's more observant of any possible bias that goes into game reviews, whether it's some personal piece, or a pre-release review out from some of the premier gaming sites we have conveniently bookmarked.

What's your say on this, guys - just how much do you take a game's review into account when you make a purchase?

  

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.