Hasn't this very forum been saying this crap for like 3 years now.

Yeah, the article referenced in that has been making the rounds for the past few days, with PC people decrying consoles as the beginning of the end, and Halo players pointing the finger at Call Of Duty, and Call Of Duty players chalking it up to jealousy, because they're so damned popular.

Ben Kuchera starts right off by saying it's debatable whether it's a problem. Then he says drawing new players and keeping them is not a bad thing. It's supply and demand issue. Developers need to make money and they are not responsible for the habits and desires of the consuming public. The type of gaming Ben talks about may still be viable if there was a supply was more dedicated to a certain player base. That's been said for years too. Someone needs to make a FPS for those who desire skills over game content. It could happen someday but I wouldn't expect it to attract a huge fan base.

The problem with modern competitive first-person shooters, and I’m willing to accept debate about whether this is a problem, is that they’re aimed squarely at the mass market.

It can be difficult to jump into a game like Call of Duty or Halo and to enjoy yourself as a new player. If you’re one of the generation of gamers who grew up playing games like Quake or Unreal Tournament, that was part of the joy. Each level was a chess board, and we all began with the same skills. You could pick up power-ups, and find the best weapons,  but those upgrades were available to everyone, and we all knew where they were located.

In fact, controlling those areas, and using them to predict the movements of your opponent, were incredibly important skills. You could get into their heads, know that they were going after the quad damage power up or the rocket launcher, and use that knowledge to move into position to take them out. The problem is that modern shooter design isn’t used to increase your skill, but to make it easier to draw in new players, and to keep them playing. That’s not a bad thing, but we’re all losing our mechanical edge these days.

This is why it is still fun to play H3 from time to time, until those servers get taken down.  When that happens, we really are screwed.

This is along the same lines. Was it already posted it here? http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/03/13/call-of-duty-red-orchestra-2-interview/

Sad, but true. I don't see it changing either.

i was a avid fps player back in the day of Quake, Unreal Tournament, and people competeted in those games through 1v1 matches not so much team. i dont think the fps games of today take less skill i just think they take a different type. i personally enjoy the cooperative gameplay of fps today as opposed to the lone wolf mentality of the fps back then.

I don't see this trend changing either. Look at Halo. Used to be one of the most skill based games out there, but now with binary rifles and pocket shotguns and fiesta slayer it's never been easier to sit in one spot and just have kills handed to you.

Finally kills get handed to me, I'm so tired of working for them.

Well look at BioShock you just spawn where you die why die at all...

I think we just got  post bombed by FreeRadical.