I never really understood the gripe about game length. I mean, some of my favorite games of all time (the Genesis Sonic titles) can be beaten anywhere from 2-4 hours. This doesn't stop these games from being sublime examples of the medium in which I love to play. The gameplay is pitch perfect, the music is incredible, the 16-bit graphics look just as wonderful as they did back in the early 90's, and I could play these game over and over again (which I do...). It's the content of the games that I love, and the experience of playing them again and again is always a treat. Once I was done beating Dr. Robotnik to a pulp (or got a Game Over...), I'd start all over again and discover something new that I never saw before, or go through the adventure all over again and just enjoy the time I had with the game.
Don't get me wrong, when you have a game like Super Mario Galaxy 2 that's still 15-20 hours long yet filled to the brim with exciting content and wonderful gameplay elements that are always surprising you, that's a beautiful thing. But the fact is, it's not that it's 15-20 hours that gets me excited, it's the fact that the game is just so fun to play and experience... that's what gets me ready to play.
