My favorite for blaming it all on piracy has to be Crytek. Gee guys, maybe Crysis didn't sell the insane number of units you were expecting because you coded a game that ran like crap on all but the newest hardware.

Publishers like EA and Ubisoft are the most annoying thing about the gaming industry.
1. They buy up developers for their IPs and milk them for all they can. When they're no longer using it, they still won't sell the rights even to the people who came up with them e.g. Total Annihilation. The only exception I know about is Interplay selling Fallout.
2. They eventually kill off their studios and merge them into some [Insert publisher name][Insert location] studio.
3. They add draconian DRM that limits installs and forces activation.
4. Graphics over gameplay.
5. A bunch of other stuff I can't think of at the moment.

Don't forget Acti-Blizzard.

Yeah I used to play WoW when it started and was thinking of playing again. So I asked a friend who keeps playing and he told me they watered down the game for casual gaming, made it a lot easier and such.

I liked WoW when it was new and I could solo or just duo stuff that people have to group to kill now. I find the whole gangbang mentality of mmos is anything but a challenge. Zoning out for a battle until something is dead over chat spam that removes me from being immersed in the game is blah. That kind of gameplay in mmos is going to change though, I know this for certain.

Wow is good because it runs smoothly. Many other games are jerkish, like War. Sure I could buy better hardware, but hey, I already bought a machine, I don't want to hunt additional stuff for it to work. Some people go after good hardware, but I guess I stick to Wow then.
I really hate bugs and annoying things. War has good ideas, but I hate it for the bugs and general graphics. Wow has larger icons and better user interface, though War has more stuff, but harder to see. My screen is not set to 100% bright even. But in general, bugs are what I hate most.
Also the user interface should be usable, not "usable". Some games try to max usability, but fail miserably and the result is a mess. In Wow the chat window doesn't move if I rotate the view on it. In War the chat window moved instead of the view rotating when I tried to rotate view on the chat window. In Wow nothing happened if I tried to rotate view on the edge of the chat window. That happened surprisingly often, and I hated it. In War the whole chat window is a problem zone (unless they have fixed it by now).
Good old games didn't have much bugs:
Switchblade II

Pfft that's not new! anyone remember the "John R. will make you his b*****'" ads? sheez...
Where is he now? HMMMM???
..anyway back to the thread heh.

Like Cliffy? heh

Every one wishes they were rockstars, especially comedians.

EA is being absolutely crushed now because they bought so many publishers (Maxis, Tiberium, Bioware, Pandemic, etc.) so fast. The massive increase in overhead costs caused them to lose A LOT of money in the first quarter of this year, and that's when the economy was still solid. Now their stock is dropping like a rock, and they've already gotten their big releases from those companies for the year.

EXACTAMUNDO!

What annoys me the most about the gaming industry?
People who are too full of themselves. Be they gamers, developers, publishers, columnists, "concerned parents" or whatever. Not everyone in these categories are too full of themselves, however.
Gamers who pirate games and attempt to justify it. Theft isn't acceptable, you don't have a "Right to be Entertained" unless you pay for it.
Developers and publishers who blame piracy or rentals for high game prices and the need for invasive DRM. Poorly planned/managed development cycles, greed and fear mongering are the real issues here.

Probably DRM. The stuff itself isn't so much of a huge problem, it's the sheer temerity of publishers who try to claim it exists to combat digital piracy. I don't like having my intelligence insulted.
Another PC-specific problem is the "cutting edge mentality" - every game released MUST have the latest graphics or its worthless! Once you're at the level of say, the Source engine, is the extra bit of detail here and there really worth the huge amount of extra power required.
The current shoddy state of certain genres, particuarly RPGs, also nibbles my goat.

Lots of things...
1. DRM - it's one reason why I refuse to buy brand new games these days, I'm simply not paying £35 a game to be treated like a thief. I don't even copy the games, I wait until they're patched and CD-cracked, then buy them at Budget prices. The only exceptions are Valve and Stardock for Half-Life and Galactic Civilizations - no DRM, just online registration with both game companies.
2. Poor quality - the majority of games are sequels to previously popular titles & I don't believe it's just pretty graphics that makes a good game. That's why GOG is appealing because many of the games being sold here were made by the "last of the independents" before EA swallowed everything up. Otherwise, the majority of new games are generic rubbish or finishable in 6 hours.
3. Up it's own a**e - the games industry is too full of itself and far too cock-sure. It's been able to get away with shameless hype and advertising for far too long that appeals to the kiddies who badger there parents for the latest game because it was on the TV or because their friends at school have it. In one sense, this is why a recession will be good - because one of the first things people do during a recession is stop spending money on entertainment. The industry needs to be taken down a step or two and be forced to work hard for its money by producing better quality products.