I personally think that gamers nowadays have been too babysitted by the last gen games and as a result, didnt develop the pacience needed to enjoy a game that has difficulty as one of its pillars.
Having a game over and lives are necessary because it gives meaning to what you are doing.If you fail, you lose your progress and go back to the beginning.If you succeed, you suceeded over a difficult task and feels that much more rewarding.Game overs arent a legacy of the arcades, its a legacy that was built with the foundation of any games.In Sports, you win or lose.If you lose, its game over.Someone needs to lose for the winner feel satisfaction, otherwise there are no stakes involved.
Plus his Dark Souls example is just plain terrible.At the very least, Dark Souls is much less forgiving with its game overs.If you die and didnt reach a bonfire, which there arent that many, you lose every single thing you have obtained, and exclusing bosses, everything you achieved, and you go back to the previous save point.Much like Sonic, you learn by your failure.
My (locked) thread about how difficulty should be a decision for the developers, not the gamers.
https://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=241866&page=1
