There's definitely something to be said for the availability of content. Would we be as nostalgic for our childhood games if we had more games available to us when we were children? I mean, there were surely exceptions, like children of rich parents who may have bought them more games than they could keep up with, and rentals expanded exposure for some, but I think generally speaking, older gamers had less available to them in their youth than today's young gamers, and having little choice but to replay a game over and over because you had nothing else to play builds a stronger attachment than blowing through a game once and never thinking about it again.

Today, even if you set aside piracy and deep discounts on Steam and what have you, just the sheer volume of free-to-play content is staggering. A child today can easily find a game to play that's new to them even without spending a cent.