Battery Drain?

[GWing_02]

So, the other day, I realized that my battery has been draining faster and faster, and I wondered if my battery was on death row less than 4 months after I got it.

Then I noticed one day that when I was playing a full-screen game (specifically Worms World Party from Hexacto... excellent game, if you haven't tried it), and I hit power, the sound didn't turn off, and I could hear the computer-controlled worms moving around! I hadn't noticed this before because I usually play with mute on.

I then tested my hypothesis with Age of Empires, and whaddya know, the music doesn't stop when you hit power.

Now, I know that the Axim never really "turns off," but just powers down, but I was under the impression that the processor and running tasks are suspended, and only enough power to keep the RAM running is fed? Or do some full-screen games change these power settings?

If I put these games on pause, will they react differently? Sorry to sound like a n00b, but I'm trying to resolve the problem without resorting to shutting down and restarting the game everytime, because I'm in and out of them very often.