Sure, a great 6-10 hour game is worth the price of admission. But a great 40 hour game is better. But you don't want a button masher game to be 40 hours, so if you're a button masher game fan then 6-10 hour games are what you should expect.

I would prefer something like Uncharted to be double the length (but not 40 hours), but realistically the story and [effectively] the on-rails style makes it impossible to get game legth beyond that 10 hour limit.

Fortunately for me I'm quite a slow gamer, so if people say a game is 6-10 hours, my first play through will be more like 15 hours. My second play through (if I do it) will be closer to the 6-10 hour mark.

I agree with the author especially on point #1. I like getting things down to a cost/hour basis. 

Movie I just saw last night - $11 for 1 hour 45 minutes (the movie was Unknown)

Fallout 3 - $40 (got a good deal on it) for well over 100 hours, probably closer to 200 hours. 

Yeah I agree.

I started playing Persona 3 Portable. At first I thought it was amazing and then it got even better! But now I'm 50 hours in and I'm bored. All of the unique features, quirky RPG elements and gameplay that I liked about the game have become repetitive nuisance. I would enjoyed the game a lot more if it finished at around the 40 hour mark.

the length is just one aspect.  this to me is very similary to people who ask whats the point in wanting better graphics.

imo its all a piece in the same puzzle.  better graphics on there own don't make a game better imo but how they are used (with other aspects especially conveying of emotions) they can make or break the game.  

having a long story doesn't mean anything if it is filled with boring and repetitive things and a short game isn't good if it doesn't have much to it either.  where as if you change the aspect of the content in contribution to the length you can make the longer game more interesting which should allow it to last longer for the user and the shorter game more meaningful and leave the user wanting more.  

so I guess I would say how its used, how does it effect the game length may suit one game and not another.

I agree WHOLEHEARTEDLY with this article.

I guess industry must be very unhappy with my rule of never buying any game shorter than 20 hours for more than 20 pounds (and prefererably 5-8 euro on steam for games <10h) ;)

I look at my huge stack of games sometimes, wondering what I'm going to play.  I have some good, long games like Saints Row 2 or Lost Odyssey and I say "Fuck that".  They just require too much commitment.  I'm more than happy to replay a Metal Gear, Bouncer, Batman, or even a shitty/fun game like Bullet Witch. 

I like my epic games that require the investment and actually become part of my life for a long time but like a girlfriend, sometimes I like to have one night of fun and then forget about 'em.

@CGI-Quality

I totally agree with this article. Old games were much shorter and still no one complained. And you know what? We did have fun and appreciated every title we bought. And about movies, I agree once again. Plus when you watch a movie at a cinema you can't sell it back. Even if you want to buy a copy of it (especially the blu-ray version, since the games are in HD), it's still quite expensive and when it comes to drama or horror movies they are much less enjoyable the second time around, while a game may offer something unique with each playthrough.

One of the reasons I've been postponing to play Final Fantasy XIII is that it's so long that I would have to stop playing any other games for months. Same with GT5. I had a blast with Heavenly Rain and I wish there were more games like it.

Now about the price I never pay full price. I wait till it goes down to £10-15 (the most I've paid for a game is £35 for Naruto: Ultimate ninja Storm 2, which was so epic that I couldn't wait to get it).

Hell freaking NO!

This is one of the worst thing about modern gamer and I am unsure if statement like this is cause of the effect. Game too short? Pff, throw in multiplayer and online and suddenly everything gets better!

I hope this philosophy dies a painful death.