Games have been made easier to appeal to the casual gamers who are the majority of gamers. The hardcore gamers who prefer a challenge get left out in the cold. Well that's life for you and we have to make do with easy games that are not much of a challenge even on the hardest difficulty setting.  Doom on the highest difficulty level: Nightmare was near impossible to pass unless you used God Mode. Whereas Call of Duty 4 and Halo 3 on the highest difficulty settings are easy in comparison to Doom and old retro games of the past.

So... you say that "games have been made easier" implying a broad generalization and then go on to only talk about FPS games. 

Bravo. 

You do know that there are other types of games besides FPS right? 

Games are getting easier. As a kid, I enjoyed finishing that last boss with a shred of health, and God as my player 2 (Thanks, God!! Death Adder was a son of a bitch!). Now a days, not so much. I work two jobs, have a kid, a girlfriend, and the respect of every member of VGChartz (shut up!). I'm kinda glad games are easier. I don't have the time I used to.

If you need a challenge, there's always achievement points......

Also.. games have been made easier because they're bigger.

I was playing goldeneye recently, and damn it seemed hard. Admitedly this was on old N64 controllers, but still, it felt much harder than any recent games I'd played. The levels were also a lot smaller. If you had to get through a modern game, with every part taking as long as goldeneye did, it would take you years.

fight taboo on hard and tell me games are easy nowadays

All games are easier be it racing, RPG's,action, fighting, sports, etc. They have been dumbed down so more people can pass them. The graphics cover up the lack of gameplay.

RPGs were NEVER hard.  Ever.

Action games aren't necessarily getting easier unless you use Contra as your difficulty ruler.

Shmups are getting harder.  Compare Touhou games to the old Gradius and R-Type games.

sRPGs are about the same as always. 

Really, some games (like Battle Toads for the Game Boy, Shadow Gate, and Wizards and Warriors) were VERY HARD. After mastering them, and playing them again, I realized that these games are SHORT. That's why they were so hard. godf knows what he's talking about. Even Chrono Trigger is an 8 hour (easy) game if you know what you're doing.

Some of them were beatable in 20 minutes to an hour!! 

^agreed about rpgs--just run in a circle and fight till you are uber powerful

Most of the time it was difficult to make the game longer, other times the games didn't get easier the player got better IE the Zelda series after it hit 3D each new Zelda seemed easier then the last, when it isn't the game its the player, I can go back and play OoT now and it feels like nothing, but when it came out and then you had to figure out the best way to beat an enemy/boss with certain item, etc. When you get to Zelda TP its like you figured out how the game flows by now so you know what to look for (when its a weak point) you generally know what items to use unlike on the N64 version, so the core gamer is getting smarter.

And your Doom comment I went back to Doom I had put it on my DS I beat that game on the hardest difficulty in about an hour, and Doom doesn't have anywhere near the advanced controls of modern day FPS games, if a game gets easier because controls are better, I'll take the better controls ANY day.

PS: if you're going to talk about graphics covering up lack of gameplay quit spouting off about graphics of the PS3 and PS2 in all the forums if you believed that so much and you ARE a core gamer, then don't care about the graphics buy a game based on gameplay the best way to change a companies mind is the power of your own dollar ;)