Video Game Difficulty - Why i Like My Games Nice and Easy

Well, it looks like i won't be finishing games anytime soon (and i can only have so many Game Room posts a month) ... so i decided to take this a little different way.

One of the things that kind of bothers me is difficult games.  This came to mind when i was playing Comic Jumper (one of the 5 or 6 XBLA i picked up on sale recently).  i like the tone of the game, but much like Splosion Man - the gameplay not so much.  i know there are semi-frequent checkpoints, but i still find myself dying way more than i would like.  In other words "that was not nice and easy".  There are some people who will say that game X isn't challenging for them - good for them, but they need to realize that games are largely targeted (correctly so) at the mediocre player.  Not every player want an insane challenge (maybe challenge/difficulty spikes are a reason why so few people actually finish games).   

i wish that more games would have easy modes so that people could actually enjoy the story/levels more.  i am kind of curious how things play out without looking for the levels on YouTube.  Some games do have the easy mode - i beat most games on normal, though.  If a game is relatively short and "all about the challenge" - that is ok for that game, i will be avoiding it.  It the game is long and challenging - that is a real problem.  Maybe there should be some thing were challenge in inversely proportional to length (well, excepting for multiplayer focused games). 

i guess there is a fine line between challenge and frustration.  As i am getting chronologically older (not necessarily more mature), i find my frustration level with games increasing.  i don't really get a sense of accomplishment from beating a punishing game on some insane difficulty level.  i know that games used to be harder (some diabolically so), but i could tolerate more frustration when i was younger.  It is also different playing something like Game Room for points rather than a retail (or downloadable) game for story/the gaming experience. 

i grew up mainly with turn based RPGs - sure they have a certain challenge (especially early), but there was a way to deal with the challenge (the always fun level grind).  The problem i have arises when there is no way (like level grinding) to improve my odds.  Enemies leveling up with you is a "feature" that i deeply dislike.  i want to feel like a powerful machine of awesomeness at the end, not a helpless bystander who lucked into vicotry (like i did in Ninja Gaiden 2).