You sir. Said it all!

Re: your conclusion, I wish that were the case. In fact what happens - as evidenced by the current gaming landscape - is that people just flounder around in other media, and everything regresses.

I don't know what middle you are talking about. I do know of a different middle that exists on channels such as XBLA and PSN.

I don't!

Because I have Nintendo. :>
Really, though. DS, 3DS and Wii have been great "middle" systems. XBLA and PSN have some awesome "middle" games as well. They're out there. You just need to look for them.

Yeah, im also thinking the same thing Evan. Maybe he is referring to the days when AAA game development was cheaper? Didnt stop Nintendo from spending tens of millions on their games though, even in the NES days (Super Mario 3 had a $10 mil marketing campaign if memory serves me right).

Same here, I miss when "AAA" where made by twenty persons. Low quality expectations due to hardware limitations enabled variety, personnality, risks.

Youre right though Adam, the studios are massively wasteful with resources, and I think the main reason they dont refine the AAA development process (which will ultimately make for better and cheaper games) is because it would cause a mini recession. Think of all those mocap artists, programmers, writers and graphic designers who would have to find other sources of income. Oh and lets not forget the marketing department, which is responsible for at least half the cash moving around in most AAA games. I can understand why Nintendo spent millions on a TV commercial for Super Mario 3 (the game was pretty damn amazing), but most games dont freaking deserve a mainstream magazine article nevermind a tv commercial.

For example, theyve completely rebuilt the combat system in AC3. Whereas a game like God of War started with a good combat system, AC only decided to focus on combat now in its third entry. Its symptomatic of having your priorities wrong, whether its graphics over gameplay, cutscenes over gameplay, or imbalanced combat mechanics with poor enemy variety. Its kind of depressing to think about, because the odds are that if you have a genuine passion for game development and want to make something special, the odds are that if you work in a big studio you probably will do amazing work, but it will be completely undone by the system.