Yes. "Replay value" is, inherently, a good way to judge a game. And by that token, almost ALL of the digital games that have come out in the last 15 years SUCK. Exceptions would be some multiplayer games, sports games, and abstract games. Regarding Morrowind: "playthrough and still haven't seen everything" - this idea that games are about "seeing all the content" is a major, major problem. You see all the content of "Go" instantly, yet you can play it for a lifetime, and indeed people have played it intensely for four thousand years. Video games need to take note of the long history of games and learn something about their fundamental nature.

What's really frustrating about this is that the author, and everyone engaged in this debate, are all missing the real point. Everything is *not* amazing - not even close, but most of the people who are complaining are complaining about the wrong things. The issue is that we have an extremely immature medium that has exploded into a cultural rock-star status way too quickly. In short, it has no idea what it is and what to do with itself. We use the term "video games" as a blanket term for simulators, toys, puzzles, interactive fiction, movies where you just have to press A every few minutes, and some actual games. The issue is that very few people in the industry, it seems, have a solid understanding of games to begin with. "Every game is too short, although we never finish the games we play." This statement is just chock-full of incorrect implications about the nature of games. Games aren't something you "finish". Games aren't linear. Games don't have a "length" in the way that's being espoused here. A game is a system of rules in which one or more agents compete by making decisions. The problem is we're building games as though they were movies, and there's a deep cultural problem behind this, which I call "game shame". Games are not considered to be on the level of other mediums, and so developers and gamers think that by emulating other mediums, games become more legitimate. We need to look at the fundamentals of what a game is. Only then will we be able to improve in a significant way. I wrote more in depth about this on this post: http://www.dinofarmgames.com/?p=219

Perhaps what we need is to dilute a very small virus into a 120 gigabyte text file, over and over and over, and then run it in AUTOEXEC.BAT, that should solve it

I think I would hate this possibly even more than touch screens (if that's possible). What's wrong with having buttons? Am I the only one who enjoys the feedback of a good clicky button?

How is being "behind other gamers" even worth mentioning? Is that important on any level at all?

Yes.

I kinda pictured the Slashdot community as being above this slot machine of a game. =[

2D gameplay is generally best when playing on a 2D surface. All the problems come about from the discrepancy between 2D gameplay on a 3D surface. -Keith -www.expensiveplanetarium.com

...Except that Black Isle isn't a series, it was a development studio. (BTW, Black Isle lead design Leonard Boyarsky is now working for Blizzard on Diablo 3... may be interesting.) I write frequently about this exact topic on my blog The Expensive Planetarium (www.expensiveplanetarium.com). There's so much focus on the quote "casual" gamer these days, and that word doesn't mean what it should to these people. Ideally, every game should be quick to learn, and difficult to master. Today it's "retarded to learn, retarded to master." Let Tetris DS prove this to anyone who doubts my claim. Even though Tetris was a "casual game" when it came out back in the 80's, it had incredible depth and is as much fun to play today. The latest incarnation, driven by the 'casual fury', 'Tetris DS' is seriously a goddamn joke. Not only do you have SIX count em SIX "Next" boxes, AND a little "reserve" box where you can swap out a piece that you don't like, but get this: you can perpetually spin the piece at the bottom and it will never lock as long as you keep hitting a button. I'm serious. So therefore, the speed of the level means nothing. Not only that but you cannot turn any of these features off.