I completely disagree with most what you say. I'm 34 and I have bought more games this gen then ever before. For example:

Last gen I own over 350 games (PS2, Xbox and GameCube)
This gen I own over 375 games (360, PS3 and Wii)

this gen ended console gaming for me, it's just dragged along far to much.

Well........ Did it really almost kill gaming for you, or change your gaming habits? I agree with you, many of the marketing ploys and gaming directions games went this gen really sucked, but for me at least it made me a better gamer for the most part. Here is somthing to consider.

DLC

-Ruins most games, but improves some drastically. Like you said, map packs ruin gaming, especially since often times really easy trophy's/achievements are linked to them, and they rarely go on sale. My biggest grip is Forza releasing a 9 car pack every month for $9. That's a dollar a car! You get 500 Cars with the purchase of the game, and post game you're expected to pay $1 per car? What's worse is often times the best cars are reserved for limited edition buyers. However on the same note, FallOut 3 GOTY Edition and NV Ultimate Edition are excellent games. Sure they might not be 80 hour JRPG's like you remember (Really, most JRPG's are 30 hours, not 80.....), but it took me 40 hours to complete all of FallOut 3, and I expect NV to be better. Elder Scrolls is also the same, it took me about 80 hours to fully finish Oblivion, and I don't even want to touch games like Dragon Age and Skyrim due to their length.

Pricing

Call of Duty 2 is no longer then Call of Duty 4, or any other iteration. $60 is a lot, but you don't have to buy games on day 1. I on average spend $20 on a game if I wait just 6 months - 1 year.

Multiplatform

What you say isn't really true. Call Of Duty, Resident Evil, and Elder Scrolls all sold much better this gen then any prior gen, and in reality very few games broke 3 million sales last gen, but this gen any AAA game seems to break that mark. Assassin's Creed, FallOut, Batman, Bioshock, you name it. Often a single platform version will break 3 million, never mind combined sales.

Sequals

I agree with you here, this gen is too long, and now we aren't seeing too many new IP's. It's also getting really annoying, how many Halo's do I need?

FPS/Online Play

I agree whole heartedly here.

Patches

You can't blaime the console generation specifically for this. As games get bigger and bigger, the odds of having a bug significantly improve. What you can blaime are large scale open world sandbox games. Since Skyrim is such a big game, it's basically impossible to test everything. I think games should have a smaller over-world. Oblivion was massive enough, and most of the world is just trees and repetetive quests and AI's. I'd rather have a more centralized experience.

Studios Dying

This is true, the longer generation makes it hard for smaller studios to survive after they release a game that doesn't sell well, but this gen is really no different from the last gen. Remember Cloverfield and Okami?

Anyway, here are some pro's to this gen

Length

Being as long of a generation as it is, it's a lot more affordable to own multiple systems now then it used to be. So exclusives present a much smaller barrier this gen then prior. I mean for a good 4 months of the last year, the 360 4GB model was on sale for $130, Wii is priced at $150 and I've seen to sell for $100 often, You can get a DS XL new for $100, and PSP is what $120? With the exception of PS3 (Which is worth every penny), you can be a real cheap ass gamer this gen.

Variety in Games

Imagine buying a PS3 or a 360 in 2010, 5 years after the start of this gen. You would have 5 years of games to pick from, plus 3 future years of gaming where your console is still getting strong support. I have more PS3/360/Wii games this gen then I have PS2/GCN/XB games by far, and you know what? I bought a lot of my PS2/XB/GCN games because of Backward compatibility (something which was exclusie to Playstation and Gameboy las gen). I have a lot more games this gen because it's so long.

Used Games

They are dirt cheap, I can go out and buy Lost Planet 1, Forza 3, Vanquish, Assassin's Creed 1/2/BH, Mass Effect, FallOut 3, Oblivion, Halo, Uncharted, etc, etc, all for $10 each, maybe even less. Who cares if they are old, they still look and play amazing. On average most of the games I buy are 2 years old or so, and I don't mind one bit.

What this gen has taught me is to really think about what I'm buying. I bought a lot of used games between 2008-2011, and I still have to play most of them. So nowdays I'm a more cautious spender. When I buy a game I plan to play and beat it within the next 3 months, and usually I don't get games until they are old. I have more games this gen, but I'm spending less.

So long as you really think about what you buy, this gen is amazing. $60 is a lot for a game, especially if the game get's $60 in DLC, but you know what? If you wait for even just a year that $60 is often $20, and a lot of games now are worth $20. Sure we might not see as many 30-50 hour RPG's (but they are still there, e.g. XenoBlade, Skyrim, FallOut, Tales of -, Lost Odyssey, etc), but the level of quality has gone up.

Shooters are a popular genre right now, and will likely stay that way for some time just like platformers and character action games once were. There are just far more possible settings that involve guns, with modern day, modern military, historical, steampunk, cyberpunk, sci-fi etc. Where for anything that is an action game and doesn't involve guns there is pretty much just fantasy and historical. there are still plenty of games that aren't shooters, you can't blame the industry is catering to the largest audiance. Especially if you are also going to complain about studio closures. It just make it sound like you are complaining that the other kids have more toys than you with that arguement.

Also XCOM is not an RTS and Twisted Metal is not really a racing game ether.

Good read, but I don't agree with most of it.

How does DLC ruin games ?
Why do you feel the need to buy more cars with DLC when the game already ships with 500 ? (Though as far as I recall it was closer to 400)
So even if developers of fighting games hid a character on the disc that should be in the game. How does such a tiny piece of content ruin a game ?

Also how did you complete Fallout 3 and all it's DLC in 40 hours ? Did you only finish the main quests with the occasional side quest here in there ? I got 1500G in it and it took me 80 hours and there weren't any grinding achievements involved either.

I don't feel I need to buy more cars, but when new cars are available, I would like to use them in game. $1 per car (if you buy a pack of 9, $3-$5 per car otherwise) is a rip off. I mean I really want to race in a Scion FR-S among other cars, do I really have to pay $3 to race in one car? I only want to test it out, maybe drive in it for 20 minutes total.

P.S. Forza 3 shipped with 400, Forza 5 shipped with 500, I think. Both have about 100 DLC cars now.

For hiding content, that content should have been a part of the original game, forcing people to pay extra for that content is effectively increasing the price of the game.

Also those aren't my two biggest gripes about DLC. I'm a huge FallOut and Mass Effect fan and because of DLC I am forced to wait another year to buy Fallout GOTY/Ultimate with all the DLC included. Without DLC the game is okay length, but you know what DLC is basically just as long as the game. I don't want to spend $140 on a 40 hour game. With Mass Effect, since their is no GOTY ed, I buy the DLC as it releases, and this sucks for 2 reasons. a) it makes the game expensive and b) it forces me to play a second run of the game just to activate the DLC chapters.

As for FallOut 3, how did it take you 80 hours? I took my time and got 1500/1500 in actually a little under 40 hours. My XBL is Pay4NameChange, you can see my achievement history if you need confirmation. The core game took me about 15 hours, which was also the average on most reviews and each DLC took me about 3-4 hours. Then add in 5 hours for non achievment quests and stuff and....40 hours.

Oblivion took me 80 though.....wow that game is long.

The biggest problem for me has been the change from pure gameplay to a more cinematic cinema approach that involves more gritty realism and darker tones.

I miss Mario 64 and Banjo Kazooie.... :(

Things are becoming more linear, more scripted, and we have less room to express ourselves, explore the environment, and figure out things by ourselves. I wish games could be simpler yet broader in nature like they used to be.

Luckily PC gaming has saved this somewhat.

" It shouldn't be the meat and potatos, but the dessert that enriches the experience as a whole."
couldn't have said it better myself.

comeplelty agree. the thing is with me though, is that it takes me maybe even 6 months to finish any game.

heavenly sword, cod's, and KZ3 being the exceptions. all COD games took about 2 days. heavenly sword took 1 month. KZ3 took 2 wks.

i watch the dlc being realeased to see if i'll purchase. just wait till next gen. you won't even be making this thread by the time it ends, if things remain the same.

See and Oblivion took me 40 hours to get 1250G. But that was admittedly almost a speedrun.

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=80065

The only time posted for Fallout 3 GOTY was by you and they heavily differ from the completion time of Fallout 3, which were posted by several people.

I got 1000G after 55 hours and the remaining 500G from the DLC took me 20 hours. I did however additional quests that were not achievement related (84 hours is my total playtime and the point where I reached level 30, so you can't say that I did a lot of grinding)
Even if you didn't perceive it as such, but you rushed through the game, just like I did with Oblivion. But I played the PC version before, so I knew what to do mostly.

Therfore I don't doubt that someone can get 1500G in 70 hours or even 60, but 40 sounds like a speedrun, since it's significantly lower than the average.