Nice OP, anyway. I agree with bits and pieces of it.
For example, studios dropping like flies as you mention has been a huge upset for me. All these fantastic historic teams - Radical Entertainment; Bizzare Creations; Psygnosis etc. just getting ripped apart by the industry because the cost of development has scaled up so much. It seems like there's no "middle" in the market anymore - just the AAA creations and the indie stuff.
I've already voiced my opinion about first-person shooters, and I kind of have a problem with online-focus as well. I actually quite like online play - because to me, it's a completely new experience because we had laggy dial-up internet most of last generation so it's quite liberating to be able to play all this new stuff online as soon as it comes out. It's just the way it's almost a necessity for any game these days to stick a multi-player mode on - sometimes they can be great (Uncharted) while keeping the quality of the single-player up; often, though, you feel like they needed another 6 months in development (Twisted Metal).
That's not to say they're all bad though. There's a load of online experiences this generation that I have enjoyed immensely - take for example 4 played co-op on Left 4 Dead 2 with 4 friends (absolutely fantastic); or 4 player co-op through community levels in LittleBigPlanet. In that respect, I'm incredibly grateful for online.
Other stuff: DLC - is it really that bad? Sure, it gets abused sometimes, but I don't treat it any differently than expansion packs to games which I would gladly buy back in the 90's. I payed for repeated expansion packs for the original Sims as well as stuff like Tiberian Sun; Populous the Beginning etc. All of them enhanced the experience of a game I loved for a reasonable price. If the same can be said for DLC for a game I like this generation then I have no problem paying for it.
I don't think sequel-itis is really that bad, either. Sure, a successful game gets lots of sequels these games while a flop never gets a second chance. But looking at it (again) compared to generations I loved (5 + 6) - take for example my beloved Spyro. I got 3 games, one per year, on pretty much the same engine with the same basic gameplay from Insomniac. And yet they're 3 of my favourite games of all time. It's not necessarily a bad thing.
Also, patches. I see where you're coming from with this - "release an unfinished game and patch it later", but it that any worse than an unfinished game releasing last generation and never being patched because it couldn't be? Again, taking my great example of Spyro, Enter the Dragonfly released Christmas 2002. It was rushed to get it out in time for the holidays. It was unfinished - but not necessarily a bad game - just buggy and in desperate need of patching. But it couldn't be. So I ended up buying a duff product with no hope of it being fixed.
To sum up (because I could go on for ages): I haven't enjoyed this generation as much as I enjoyed gen 5, but I imagine much of that was nostalgia. I pick my games careful and as such I've had as good a time this generation as I did last generation - there are some stormingly good games out there that seem to keep coming regardless of online focus / opportunities for DLC / sequel-itis. I'm sorry to hear that this gen almost ended console gaming for you but keep at it, if you look carefully there's always loads of stuff to enjoy.
