Over the last few weeks, I've run into a very strange problem. In the summer, I tend to have more time then usual for playing video games, and as a running tradition I will pick up a RPG with the goal of completing it before the summer ends. This summer it was Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga, which I ended up burning through in about a week, completing it in about 25 hours, though I didn't do every side quest in the game. So I immediately picked up the sequel, Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 2, but only had about two sittings with it until I just decided I wanted a break before making any serious progress in DDS2. That was two months ago.

Since then, I've picked up Crackdown 2 and Persona 3 Portable, and while I've put a good deal of time into Crackdown 2, theres still a lot more I want to do with that game. P3P has only seen a few hours of play, where my most recent session ended in me suddenly feeling sick of the game. I've already played P3, and I've been playing P3P on "Maniac" difficulty so far, so maybe that might just be why, but I've done a second play through on plenty of games before, so I don't understand why I'm already feeling bored with a game I enjoyed a lot my first time through.

Not only do I have those 3 games with progress to be made, but next week is the release of Starcraft 2 which I will definitely be picking up day one, but for some reason I can't say I'm incredibly hyped for it. BlazBlue: CS also comes out next week, which I will probably pick up since it's $40, and I can't say I really enjoyed the first game. 

But since I had what was almost a "Fuck this!" moment with P3P, I haven't really played any games (outside of a bit of Super Street Fighter 4). And here I am now, instead of playing one of those games, writing this rant of a blog.

So my question to you, Giant Bomb community, do you ever experience a sort of "video game fatigue", and how do you deal with it?

 You're not crazy. If you take a break once in a while, the urge to play will eventually come back to you.

i do.  in fact, i'm experiencing it now.  i'm taking a break by going out, playing guitar, doing martial arts.  you know, just doing different stuff.
 
eventually i'll have the urge to play something again.  probably with Starcraft 2

you're not alone.  my urge to keep on gaming has been steadily dropping off since a few months after the 360 was originally released. console gaming has zero interest to me anymore. computer gaming is slowly dying out in my life. earlier today i downloaded alien swarm. i played it for about an hour and couldn't get into it. i gamed heavily from teh time i was 4 1/2 years old to around the age of 23. i highly doubt i'll still be playing video or computer games in the next 8 years. my interest for them is fading as the years go on.

Ive been suffering from burnout recently and ive just hopped off to other media, currently watching DVD sets of scrubs and lost.

Try something different a try. Alien Swarm is free on steam. It sounds like your kinda tired of RPGs right now. It happens to the best of us.  
If nothing else just stop gaming for awhile and eventually you will have that urge to play again and everything will seem new and fresh.

We all get that at some point, don't worry we won't hold it against you.
 
Go on my profile, look at my games on the 360, nearly all of them are incomplete, because I get burnt out really quick, I find you should either take a break, or mix up the kind of games you're playing.
With having so many games that I've not finished, if I get tired of one, I switch up the genre, and I'm normally back in. Maybe just take a break for a short while and see how you feel.
 
I also find gaming with people I know helps, the reason MW2 has had such long legs for me, is I play it with a friend, and we don't talk much but knowing there's someone else there I know adds some fun cause we can rush/cover/defend and what not.
I hardly just go online these days and jump into a game on my own, I wait for the invites most of the time.

"  You're not crazy. If you take a break once in a while, the urge to play will eventually come back to you. "

Man, you know what a hard game to play through multiple times is? 
 
Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime. I played through that damn game like three times. 
 
Worth it.

That's too many MegaTen games for a short period of time.
 
Hell, I got the urge to play my copy of Persona 3 FES, but decided to skip the main portion of the game in favor of the dungeon crawl only The Answer portion this time around. The whole social linking and school life thing is a burn out that I do not wish to get into again. 
 
Hell, unless Persona 5 streamlines the tedious time management aspect, I'm not touching it. 
 
Also buying games that you know you probably don't like (Blazblue for instance) is really not the direction you should take. Incidentally, Blazblue (and KOF 13) has been out of my radar dispite my current goal to own a copy of every proper fighting game to come out recently (Got SSFIV, TK6, SC4, planning on getting TvC and MvC3, VF5 is a maybe... ). Played the game a bit but it just doesn't seem that fun... It doesn't grab me like GGXX does.

My PSP is dusty as hell...wherever it may be.

I stopped playing for about 8 months. I didn't miss it and it felt great. It wasn't necessarily my choice (life turmoil, ya know?), but I think it's necessary. You need to experience the many other adventures life has to offer. 
 
If fact, I still don't play many games. Pretty much just TF2 and the Fifa 10 demo I downloaded on my PS3. Oh and now Alien Swarm, because Valve is the tits. 
 
Just do what feels natural. If you feel like playing a game, play a game. When that gets boring, go for a hike, goto a night club, goto the library. I know it's hard for gamers to understand, but there's like, litterally a world of things out there to do, lol. 
 
There's no reason to feel beholden, nor ashamed of what you do. I've thought a lot about the "gamer" lifestyle recently, and I think we put too much thought into it. You should've feel obligated to fulfill your favorite hobby. We also shouldn't feel ashamed to whittle away the hours, ultimately accomplishing nothing, other than increasing our endorphin level. 

Argh!  Yet another of these posts.  I really don't understand why some gamers can't figure this out for themselves.  It should be common sense, but I guess when you've attached your identity to a specific ideal, any deviation from that can seem scary.  "I game, therefore I am.  If I do not game, who am I?"  Well, looking over the above posts, most of the folks have offered the correct advice, although DFSVegas said it best in my opinion:

@DFSVegas

" .... Just do what feels natural. If you feel like playing a game, play a game. When that gets boring, go for a hike, go to a night club, go to the library. I know it's hard for gamers to understand, but there's like, literally a world of things out there to do, lol.  There's no reason to feel beholden, nor ashamed of what you do. I've thought a lot about the "gamer" lifestyle recently, and I think we put too much thought into it. You should've feel obligated to fulfill your favorite hobby....  "

I took me 6 months to actually play through Mass Effect 2.  And that's a straight-up GOTY contender for most people.  I can only imagine how long i would resist playing Crapd-- I mean, Crackdown 2.

I actually burnt out completely. I pretty much have no desire to play games anymore apart from some like SMG2 and Portal 2.

I find myself talking about games more than playing games nowadays :(  I miss all those gaming till 7 AM moments.