Word.
Personally, I also find myself irritated by short, unreplayable games. Doesn't matter if it is easy or hard. Something about beating a game in one day just really irks me. It's cool if it has replayability you know? Like an addictive game, like having a different experience each time. That's why online play, open ended games, and skirmish modes are so fun. They're never really over until you feel like you had enough.
When a game is heavily scripted and linear, that's it. You beat it once and it's done. Like a movie. Just put it back on your shelf and remember if fondly. Don't get me wrong, some of these games can be very good. Recently I played Condemned and Call of Cthulhu. Absolutely no replayability and they were beat in a pretty short amount of time, but they were good. The Call of Duty SP campaigns can be very enjoyable, but I can't imagine anybody playing them much more than once.
In the end I guess it's about value. Why pay $40-$50 for a game I beat in 1-2 days and never play again. When I can pay $40-$50 for another game that will be played for months or even years?
If only we could rent pc games.
But I guess that's all just me
ps. I can't actually beat Call of Cthulhu. There seems to be some annoying bug at the very end that prevents me from finishing the game.