This was the Extra Punctuation article, which is a companion article to the Zero Punctuation review (segment the thrust of this post follows):

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extra-punctuation/9063-Extra-Punctuation-The-Rise-of-Rail-Roading

I mentioned in the Call of Juarez video that I feel triple-A console games are devolving (indies aren't, indies are fine). This devolution is partly as a consequence of reaching a practical limit for third party development and the desire to be more "cinematic." Sure, graphics technology is all very impressive and can make some very pretty skyboxes, but taking the experiences as a whole, games are shorter, smaller and shallower than they were in the previous console generation. It's especially true of narrative-driven games that gameplay has become less and less organic and more and more confined to rigid structures in which the player is just a pinball to be shunted from place to place rather than anything with ideas of its own.

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In this, I have seen that individuals have called for more and more and more of a movish experience, and how games MUST have stories, and people want to follow characters and so on.  Well, if this is the case, is it possible there would be a trade-off in that you actually get a game that is more shallow?

Only if the developers poorly implement them into the game. There are plenty of games that greatly benefit from these cinematic experiences.

Agreed. I have barely been able to find any good games since around 05/06. It has all become shit movies with scrub mechanics.

AAA usually equals try-hard boring soulless shit, so I'm behind the article 100%.
I'd reference some games, but that won't end well.

100 percent agreed.

Lacks one A ;)

Touche.

However I think he isn't mentioning first party titles specifically (Since they are really polished and excellent titles), I think his focus is on third party titles, namely titles like Call of whatever. As in that is the focus, I could be totally wrong on my interuptation of the article. 

Add: I think his main point is on how titles seem to be using shallow method of story telling and progression in games, namely in heavy miltary setting (He didn't say heavy miltary settings, but most examples fit that setting).

I don't think the focus on making games cinematic nowadays is necessarily a devolution of games, but just another option as to where developers want to take their games.

Two of my favorite games of the current generation are Super Mario Galaxy and Heavy Rain. One is not very cinematic at all, and one is basically one long cinematic. I love both.

What remains important in all games is that the gaming mechanics have to remain fun. If they aren't, then that's what makes a game bad.

I agree that execution is the most important thing for developers to figure out.

I also agree that there are a lot of "me too" games *cough* Activision *cough*, mainly being FPS from what I've seen.

It's all about variety, and if every game was cinematic then that would probably result in a devolution of games.