Like most gaming writers, I subscribe to a daily newsletter from the authoritative GamesIndustry.biz website.
It's an exhaustive wrap of the day's news and views inside and outside the booming video game industry.
There are snippets about exciting new technologies, previews of big games, interviews with the major figures and lots of interesting statistics.
Lately, the newsletter's been like a harbinger of death.
The headline has invariably been about the latest gaming company to cut jobs, and the follow-ups have been either doom-sayers predicting a slide in the business or at least a significant plateau.
Boom has become bust.
Like the oil industry in the 1980s, the gaming industry has seemingly slid into a rather nasty pit of recessionary muck.
Here is a selection of recent headlines:
• Midway Games, the publisher of the Mortal Kombat series, files for bankruptcy.
• Square Enix offers a lifeline to struggling Eidos (developer of Tomb Raider).
• Infrogrames acquires Atari in a fire sale.
• Nearly 90 staff lose their jobs at prolific development company THQ.
• Microsoft's chief financial officer warns the gaming industry faces a "contraction of some substance".
• Sony's games division reports a plunge in revenue of 32%.
• Seventy percent of gaming experts predict the industry will deteriorate throughout the year.
And so it goes on, and has gone on for months.
Even mighty Electronic Arts, the big papa of the gaming world, has been struggling, with declining sales leading to it cutting 1100 jobs around the world.
When the empire is crumbling, you know there is a problem.
So what does this mean for Joe and Jane Gamer?One of the first and most positive results of the slump is likely to be the decision by the major hardware designers to slash the cost of consoles to stimulate extra business.
This could be particularly the case for Sony's PlayStation 3, still comfortably the most expensive piece of machinery on the market.
What follows won't be so exciting.
Publishers will become more risk-averse, for a start, meaning many intriguing projects will be shelved and others won't even be taken out of the wrapping.
This is bad for gamers because the industry isn't just about churning out sequels or formulaic first-person shooters.
It's about finding the next LittleBigPlanet or Wii Sports, about finding a unique perspective on an old formula.
On the flip side, the recession could lead to a resurgence in independent publishing.
If the major companies start scaling back on projects, that could mean the smaller ones find a home for their more low-profile efforts.
The profile of gaming could also plummet this year if major media groups target it as an easy way to make cuts.
As an example, The Sydney Morning Herald recently axed its weekly gaming coverage, reportedly because of a lack of advertising support.
That seems a little short-sighted given the boom in the gaming industry over the past decade, but the Fairfax paper obviously decided gaming was the first to go.
While there's been plenty of rumbling about the decline of the gaming industry, there have also been signs of its ability to withstand the economic pressure better than other sectors.
Sales are not down.
In fact, overall sales of computer and video game hardware and software titles jumped 22.9% last year, up to a staggering $US22 billion ($NZ44 billion), making gaming a bigger entertainment sector than either movies or music.
Even though the economic crunch hit later in the year, the gaming business reported sales of $US5.3 billion ($NZ10.6 billion) in December alone - a record.
This January, US sales of video game hardware and software rose 13% from the previous January.
"The industry is very healthy in terms of demand and revenue," analyst Michael Pachter said.
As well as the healthy state of gaming sales, the indication is E3 - the annual expo that attracts all the major gaming companies - is planning a return to its glory days.
E3 used to be all about hype, glitzy shows and scantily clad booth babes until it was scaled down in recent years.
Now, the feeling is the industry could use a good party.
