Complaints about Diablo 3's look, concerns about Left 4 Dead, Starcraft II's lack of LAN support, World of Warcraft: Cataclysm's 5 level increase, EA's secuROM (sp), etc. seem to reach epic proportions. Thousands stating that they will not support these companies products, and hundreds actually doing so, which leave some people feeling that "extreme" fans are taking it way too far. 
 
Well let me come right out and say that they are not. While you might personally feel that these people are crazy, or that the companies are setting expectations too high by giving away free stuff, it is not a bad thing. In fact, I am glad that some companies like Valve adapted the principal of "if you take care of the customer, they will take care of you" BECAUSE it creates higher customer expectations. 
 
Listen, use the model of Hollywood as an example of what gaming will end up being: The customer has almost no influence in the industry, and so they just pump out iterations of previous products because they have never received backlash. This includes IP that had a strong new idea, and then they slap the old model on it and call it a day. Hollywood products often lack the massive amount of creativity that the game's industry still thrives in. 
 
Finally, it is the spoiled rotten fans of games that keeps game publishers on their toes. It keeps them from trying to place Hollywood values to games because of the fear of fan retaliation, because like it or not, there is a greater forum for gamers than there are for film goers. And these people have a rather large sway in the industry because of the community that has developed through the fan base and due to developers giving them that power. Fans can make or brake games, for the better in almost every situation, and the reason is simple. The more companies try to push the industry into a more confined space of "less is more" the more they will see their profits shrink. 
 
"at the end of the day" it really is a good thing to see the industry fail and restart, because the recession only hurts the little guy and will allow these big (and often careless) companies to pull their check books out to buy the talent up. It is good to see the fans interest shift, because it insures that the fans (including most developers) will eventually triumph when it becomes obvious that there is a great need in the industry that is not being filled. 
 
As a fan myself, I have seen a great deal of preposterous things happen with gaming that left me pissed. But, it should put a smile on every fans face to see a company will change their beat when they realize that fans actually do make a difference, and regardless what they might want you to think (what are those PR dollars going towards anyway, right?), things change when people get pissed off.  
 
So go ahead, have your cake an eat it too. Because it will only get much sweeter when the big companies come to the ultimate conclusion that this difference between Hollywood and gaming will never change because of the few wonderful people early on giving us that kind of power. 
 
I say, lets get pissed.. and play good new games or good old games, and support those that support us.