Games are still rather young. We still use easy solutions in them. However, they are constantly getting more complex. Think about the original Doom. Hordes of enemies get killed, find key, open door, kill more. It was enough back then. However, the new Doom 3 has a plot, characters and even some innovation (I haven't seen manipulation of ingame computers like that before). Think about all the new FPSs that are coming. Half-life 2. Very character and story driven. Vampire: Bloodlines even more so. When did you last see a pure kill 'em all FPS? A game without some sort of story just doesn't cut it nowadays.
Someone said games should be more like in the 80s. Think about violence in 80s hits. Space Invaders. Endless killing and rampage without pause. Only the graphics didn't show it too well
The reason 80s games are considered less violent is because they didn't have the technology to show violence.
