Oh yeah, theres definitely a lot of crap out there, you really need to know what you're looking for. You just made me realize though how difficult it would be to get into gaming on your own though, you would really need someone who knows what they're talking about to recommended you past the mountain of crap games on thous shelves to find the good ones. But that mountain has always been there.
At the same time our standards are getting higher, but in some places quality is being lowered. Look hostly, Nintendo makes great games, but i can only play mario so many times before i get bored of the "fat Italian jumps on goombas heads" primes for a game. My favorite mario game was Super Mario Sunshine, i haven't cared for any since although i hear that they have still been getting better. Same goes for Poke'mon, my favorite was Silver (& Gold) and i really have cared for them less and less as time goes on, they are getting better, but they're taking steps that are even small for a baby. Only experimenting with things that are non-essential (or have a minor impact on)the core gameplay as if they're convinced that they found the absolute perfect formula the very first time.
Indie games are the only thing that seem to entertain me any more, at least there theres experimentation, new concepts, and occasionally new genera. Everyone else just seems to be playing it safe, and like i said, i can only play the same game so many times before i won't touch it again (unless it's really good, cause i must be on my 5th or 6th play-through of fire emblem right now).
Oh yeah back to raising standards they seem to be at a bit of a plateau. I've been going back and playing some games i've heard stories about, Thief III and the Hitman series (both old, both excellent). Then again... these are both part of a largely dead genera of stealth games, more recent examples of this, like your splinter cell, just don't hold the same weight. Stealth is only fun if it's essential to your success, but it's usually treated as an alternate way of playing the game. Like you can kill everyone, OR you can sneak through unnoticed. I always end up finding the "best" way to play the game, so if a mix of stealth and killing is more efficient than pure stealth or pure killing the i'll (want to) pick that, and it'll be really easy and i'll feel let down. Because after all, once you silently kill all the guards you have free reign of the level and the challenge is gone.