Are games shorter now?

[Bells]

I recall that a trend, not very old, got picked up around these days... games seem short.

8-6-4 hours to complete a game. Even 2 hours (i'm looking at you Transformers 2...)! With around an extra 2-3 hours for 100% completion of any Arbitrary collectible the game has.

Big games with slower gameplay pacing, or overall larger content go around 10-12-15-20 hours tops. Big RPG's go from 25 to 40 hours to completion.


But is that long? is that short? I don't know.

Before the 3d era, back in the NES / SNES days you could also beat games around 3-4 hours. It just required the reflexes and the mind of a Olympic athlete, because it was so god damn hard. But even in the early 3D era, games took what? 6-8 hours?

Go back to the early days, how much time did Panzer Dragon Orta asked of you? How about Jet Force Gemini? or Medievil? How about Spyro or Legacy of Kain? Banjo Kazooie?!

Certain games in the early 3d days would -reward- you if you completed them in a short time, like Resident Evil. Finished in 3 hours? Here, have unlimited ammo!

Then i see the new games and how people complaint about how Modern Warfare 2 is so short, and how Heavenly Sword was short. And at first i agreed to that sentiment... but now? I just keep asking myself if they were really that short.

So, what you guys take from this?