Left4dead, gears 2, and half life 2 have all crashed on me.

I did certainly notice Sev's lack of height, it was ever so slightly weird

Likewise.

On PC that's usually a sign of incompatibility, which also doesn't address the first 20 minutes...

Nope, played the console versions :P Half life2 was xbox, other 2 were 360

HL on Xbox was a buggy port and was hit hard for having those bugs, and you still don't address the first 20 minutes :P

One example isn't representative though.  Clearly the majority aren't having any problems.  Clearly Twest is unlucky to be in the minority who have had an issue.  Unless I'm missing something the 'net boards aren't on fire with this, which indicates it is not widespread.

I've neer had a single crash - which in itself means no more than Twests example, except it would appear I'm in the majority who aren't having problems.

If this was a definite, major issue then most players would be experiencing it.  Also, these days, search the net and you'll find examples of every complex game freezing or crashing a few times.

first 20 mins, last 20 mins? does it make a differnce where the game decides to fuck itself in the asshole with a bronze bladded condom?

There's numerous issues I've had though not really voiced nor cared about, with glitches galore, and GG is even addressing the bugs with patches so it has to be a bigger issue then it "seems"

The same can be said for any game.  I've had a few lockups (Only on the Multi-player though) in Kill Zone.  My PC was the same way.  It had nothing to do with incompatibility.  It was just random lockups or crashes.    I don't believe Kill Zone 2 is perfect or bug / error free.  

But then again,  No game is.