As well as many good things I might remember this decade as the decade when everything got dumbed down, especially computer games.
I can probably single out the console as the source of all the me too titles. If people are having a good time playing multiplayer, I guess it is providing entertainment.
There is obviously no risktaking in new releases and I'm sure the marketing department is pulling all the design strings. I heard recently that the creators of farmville are now bigger than Electronic Arts. I hope the industry learn a lesson from that. Not that you should make games for low spec computers... They should learn you have to be competitive and constantly evolve your games, not dumb them down and add more eye candy.
In the (not too) old days someone made a game because they wanted to see their ideas come to life. Nowadays it's all about the money.
I agree with you on major publishers, but I don't agree completly. Type in 'flash games' and you'll find many, many portals, all making money allowing you to play thousands of decent games. Many are Amiga like (personally, I think plants VS zombie and Zuma etc, would make ace Amiga games). Also, mobile app stores are chock full of bedroom coder games, many of a very high standard (well..not all). Same is true of XBLA. I play more XBLA games than £40 blockbusters. Handhelds like the DS also allow for small teams to create games they believe in, with out so much finiancial risk
