Well for historical purposes and to give my opinion some weight, I was told by my dad the other day that we had a Pong when I was a kid. Then transfered to the ZX Spectrum, PS1, PS2, Xbox, 360, now PS3.. I have a bunch of retro consoles lurkin too as the missus is a N64/Megadrive junky.
As for the OP. I can see where he's comin from, most games are the same shit these days. There's little diff between GTA and half a dozen other titles. Black Ops sits alongside about 40 clones. Finding a fresh spin in a game seems harder n harder these days. I wonder though if it's not really just a case of loving the games you grew up with. I know I could still sit back and waste 10 hours on Crazy Taxi on the Dreamcast, or SSX Tricky on PS2.
Then it comes down to how you play the games. I mean GTA:SA was a bore after a while, but with a few cheats added, everyone on riot mode, me with just a bike and a destination the other side of the map... That's zombie apocalypse territory and keeps me smiling forever. Then I picked up Black Ops and thought it was pretty good but no replay value... until I delved into Multiplayer for the first time, and I still think it knocks the likes of BF outa the water for sheer pleasure.
I'd also put a recommendation in for indie games. In the past few years, no game has pulled as much time from my life as Minecraft on a home server with a couple friends. Then you've got the likes of Prison Architect, which albeit a bit beyond my patience level, really has some depth to it that most blockbuster titles severly lack these days.
I go through games like nobodies business, and rarely finish any of them. My pile of shame is ever increasing... But by blasting through endless games, I've picked out the odd handful that have pulled me through in both storyline, style, gameplay and enjoyment. The AC series has just got better and better I think... I've not done AC3, as I pick my games up when they hit £8-10 second hand. Loved every minute of Portal 2, with it's co-op being the icing on the cake. Dead Island, although pretty piss-poor, was awesome fun online co-opping with a mate. Black Ops still comes out on a regular basis. I can get lost in Minecraft for an entire winter season. Fallout 3 can pull me back in once in a while too... Currently on Far Cry 3, and really loving it to bits. I needs to be played on hard, but so far it's nicely tactical, it's beautifully open and it's immersive enough to get my pulse racing on a regular basis.
I think there's just shitload more games out there, millions of carbon copies, endless rehashes... and as gamers, I wonder if although being spoilt for choice, our preferences in titles has become more and more specific. Meaning we have to trawl through so much shit to find those gems.
