This month has probably been one of the best for gaming in, well, ever, what with Call Of Duty: World At War, Fallout 3 and Gears Of War 2 all wearing out reviewers’ 5-star stamps. But if you haven’t got the cash to splash, or post-apocalyptic shooters aren’t your thing, there’s plenty of extra mileage to be gained from the games already on your shelves. Bonus and downloadable content is the way forward, and these are the games you need to hold on to a little longer before popping them up on eBay.

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Google has announced that at the end of this year it is to cease running its Second Life copy – Lively. Lively, a virtual world with user-generated avatars and content, rather cleverly allowed you to import content from other Google applications – pictures from Picasa, video etc. But that hasn’t stopped it from the chop because Google wants to “prioritize resources and focus more on core search, ads and apps business.” And that got us thinking – about how much I hate most user-generated content in gaming. Here’s five reasons why you shouldn’t make content for their games:

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Despite being a little late to get behind the whole Internet gaming fad, Nintendo US’s President Reggie Fils-Aime has pledged that his company will “keep pace” with the changing face of games, and specifically the emerging trend for user-generated content. Speaking at the BMO Capital Markets Interactive Entertainment Conference, Fils-Aime showcased four Japanese titles to back his words.

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Sony Computer Entertainment UK’s Managing Director, Ray Maguire, has opened his big gob again. In a bullish interview he proclaims the PS3 as the “most powerful gaming platform ever” that will be “around for a very long time” despite launching late. And that “some other competing formats are on their way down right now”.

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Users who have put hours and days of work into creating LittleBigPlanet levels have reacted with fury to their “moderation” (read: deletion) by server administrators. Sony/ Media Molecule are apparently deleting user-created levels for their game not just on the basis of rude pictures or sticking a willy on their main character, but also for copyright infringement.

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Online review aggregator MetaCritic is being forced to seriously rethink its user registration procedure after an outbreak of fanboy mobbing. While game critics have been almost universally wowed by three of this year’s biggest games – Gears of War 2, Resistance 2 and LittleBigPlanet – their equivalent user reviews paint a completely different picture, thanks to spiteful users artificially lowering the average user scores.

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We’ve heard there’s something happening in the US tonight. Not really sure what it is but everyone across the pond is getting in a frightful tizzy about it. Even game makers have been cashing in the action, whether it is for promotional purposes, satire or more serious interactive concepts. Here are five of the more interesting ideas…

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Sony and Media Molecule are planning to take LittleBigPlanet’s user-created content to a higher level of customisation by Xmas. Media Molecule co-founder Alex Evans has revealed that a patch will soon allow you to upload images from your PS3 hard drive and use them when designing and building your own levels and items. Those errant Qur’an references might soon be the least of LBP’s worries…

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