It all sounds like too much work to me. I have played some of these games in the past, and spent so much time trying to get further and further along in the game, only to drop it towards the end when I figure out that you have to be some sort of genius to beat the game or to be the bad ass in it. I am not a genius. Far from it. Don't get me wrong.
Some games are frickin' awesome.
Take SSX for the PS2, for example. This is probably the coolest snowboarding game I've played. Sure, the characters need some building, and you have to master certain levels in order to unlock different snowboards and tricks and courses. You can, however, grab the base character with no bonus packs or hacks or anything else and have a sweet time for 15 to 20 minutes. Then you can start from the beginning next time you want to play.