maybe that's becuase game companies are at the bleeding edge of nickel-and-diming their customers?  

Well the last line is a great get out of jail free card for Jack there.

As for used games, TBH if online passes become the norm then if I was a publisher I'd actually be for them because they make games the only entertainment medium (so far as I know) where the publisher would get potentially multiple follow up cuts of the second hand market.

I mean theoretically one physical copy could change hands four times and generate four online pass purchases. Heck - I'd be encouraging people to trade on games.

You're forgetting inflation. Technically a $10 increase from one generation to the next doesn't even cover that. A $50 game in 2001 would be a $63 game today. So that increase wasn't really helpful, and could be argued as actually hurting their bottom line. Add increasing development costs and games really should have gone up to $70 this gen and looking at going to $80 right around the corner if not higher. The market is so fickle and opinionated that raising prices can be a death sentance so the industry had to get creative and provide more services and special editions to create profit revenue streams. Price increases usually only happen in between console gens now, but they are small. There seems to be an expectation among the consumers of a price cap when really games should be allowed a spectrum of prices. Vita right now is the best example(that I know), having retail games from $20-$50 new. I think more console games should take note.

Though I understand your sentement on developers keeping things simple it is just not possible. It's like an arms race, if you don't advance you can get blown up. It's not going to stop unless everyone stops. That and consumers will flock to high production titles like you mentioned. Cheaper games that sell in droves are rare, usually they recieve more modest sales but still turn profits. On the other hand, It is sad to see games flop when they cost so much to make. The rising costs of development aren't all bad, the new advancements in graphics and hardware really do innovate the industry even if there are some games that are mostly rehashing with shiny graphics.

I think that developers should just cut out the online multiplayer. Make it a digital download like they did with Killzone 3, which is $15 bucks on PSN. People wouldn't even have to buy the single player. Developers could even release the game first and develop the multiplayer later(not recommended). It would eliminate online passes, stop troubling consumers that don't know about them, and divide the costs up for those they don't want multiplayer and those that want only multiplayer.

Yeah I'd like that approach.

i don't think so... gaming is a non essential activity, like breathing or eating. its a luxury. i don't feel forced on anything... i know that i don't need to play every piece of software out there. one thing many people should learn... in time everyone will. i know that gamers are, in the majority, young teens that are still in personal development, but we all get the bad rep of whiners.

Luckily next-gen will have a bigger emphasise on digital distribution which will lower production costs and raise profit margins, this won't completely make up for the increased costs of course, but it'll help :)

Movies and Television shows aren't essential, they too are entertainment, yet you don't have companies claiming that we're all vagrants and need to be punished.  we don't have film makers bitching and whining about digital rights management or any of that shit.  I mean yeah, they complain a LOT about piracy, and they make the fines for it pretty severe, but they're not punishing good customers by making us all suffer through intrusive DRM just to avoid it.  same with the Music industry; another entertainment industry suffering from the losses thanks to piracy, but instead of forcing  us ALL to suffer thanks to a vocal minority, they found creative ways to get music out to the masses, and while album sales are down, the music industry is doing just fine thanks to stuff like iTunes and other digital distribution avenues. 

Gamers, on the other hand, are all being punished.  we have to endure horrible, faulty, invasive DRM, you have companies trying their damndest to make selling used copies of games illegal or at least impossible, and are claiming that even if we buy a game, we don't own it. Fuck them!  No wonder pirates are so persistent; it's long since stopped being just about greed and has become a movement about making a point, making a statement, and telling companies they can go fuck themselves. 

And the funniest thing is, I NEVER pirate games, and even berate pirates on a regular basis, but that doesn't change the fact that this is a lot of bullshit.