[Stroggy]

Serves you right!
Anyway my gamingattitude changed mostly because I used to play the games together with my brother.
We would solve it ourselves and have an excellent time doing so.
But now I see my brother about 2 days every 3 or 4 weeks. So now I play alone and am thus more prone to consult a walkthrough for some games (instead of brainstorming over the problem/puzzle with my brother)

Games aren't exactly bad these days, or in any way worse than back in the day. It just a pity that we are now in an age that pretty much every type of game has been discovered. Sounds and Music has reached a high too (just look at games like Myst III: Exile and Myst IV: Revelation and Fable which now use orchestras for their mainthemes and such) the boundries of 3d are pushed forward.
But it appears that most developpers have left gameplay at a point that makes a balance between quality of the game and quantity of the game sold. And with a heap of people buying games for shock-value and such this optimum isn't always that great.

Not many dare to explore new territories because, whilst it could be a great succes, it could also become a good game with high production values, but with an average gaming audience. Just look at Beyond Good and Evil (the game, not the book by Friedrich Nietzsche) pretty graphics, wonderfull sounds and music, great story and gameplay. Yet the game didn't really do all that well.

To me Beyond Good and Evil reminded me of the games i used to play with my brother.

And I think thats the problem: there are still quality games, but they rarely get a lot of media attention, or they don't jump out as much with games that have got Blood and Gore written all over them in big flashy 3d letters.
Beyond Good and Evil is a strange example because it did get media attention (mostly after release) it did get good reviews and it was in almost all the Top 10 charts of Games of The Year.

Anyway I'm off to study my history exam.
Vienna congress here I come!