nice write up. I agree on all fronts especially the MMO one. I went through just about every major MMO in existence and there were just too many of them. The one I liked the most was Guild Wars 2 because there was no monthly fee. I think another factor of MMO's is that almost every player at one point or another decides enough it enough and then reflects on how much time and money they have sunk into this game and then kind of has a feeling of dread about all of that. I know that during Dark Age of Camelot and Anarchy Online I actually ignored friends and family and bailed on many important things in my life in order to just stand somewhere in a group and camp for a particular item or xp. I feel really dumb about that now.

As far as 3-d platformers are concerned, i am happy to see them go away. I have noticed a reintroduction of 2-d platformers, many made by small studios or even just a couple of devs and these games can be a lot of fun. The 3-d aspect just wasn't / isn't necessary. I understand why companies did it because it showed off their machine's capabilities. Bring back the 2-d and keep making inventive games like Rayman I say.