I'm a big believer in design as the ultimate trump card when it comes to games. A small game with a good, solid design will beat out a much larger game that is not very well designed. Granted, this does not account for things such as marketing or even simple craftsmanship in what is included with the game. A game's value comes mainly, in my opinion, from the implementation and arrangement of its mechanics. If these are done well, the game is "fun"; otherwise, it "sucks".
So what about all these games that come out now that have "hundreds of hours of game time" through this riveting story that will just knock your socks off? It's all gravy. Games with budgets on the scale of Hollywood movies are essentially just Hollywood movies with a controller. A new and interesting form of entertainment, no doubt; however, as the rising tide of iPhone games, and soon Android games, and maybe even Windows Phone 7 games (that's a mouthful, isn't it?) are showing us, great games can be made even today without multi-million-dollar budgets. I'd argue that they may even be easier to make without multi-million-dollar budgets. It's all about good design.
