The Masochistic Gamer

I'm not entirely sure about the rest of you, but I started gaming when I was three. I grew up with the NES and GameBoy, and besides the obvious graphic and sound differences, today's game just aren't the same breed. What I mean by this is simple: today's games, for the most part, are quite easy. Even a lot of games with "expert" or "hardcore" modes really are not that difficult. There are some gems for sure like Ninja Gaiden (which really makes me want to replay the original... well, mainly, the third one).

Now, some games I can really get into and want to utterly dominate the hardest settings. God of War I and II being the most recently I've finished that provided a very difficult challenge. Left 4 Dead is next on my list but is proving to be very much dependent on specific play throughs and partners rather than mastering section by section. Anyway. What I would like to know is:

Do you think gaming has gone soft? If so, why? What is the most recent game you absolute had to dominate even though it was so hard you wanted to destroy your TV? Any games you wish you had beaten completely but had to give up? What about a game that wasn't necessarily hard but you made it hard by giving yourself your own challenges?