I miss those old days of playing video games in the arcades. We used to have a cool arcade in my neighborhood. You could play pool practically all day by paying a flat fee. It had Skee ball, lots of good pinball machines, all the good video games, plus trampolines outback in the summer. You could get Soda for a quarter, hotdogs for 50, Milkshakes for 75 and a slice of pizza for a buck. They kept a really strict environment too, no smoking, no PDA's, no excessive swearing etc, so it kept out a lot of the punks who would have been there to make trouble. It was a virtual haven for a kid between the ages of say 10 and 15. The owner was a cool guy who even had TV's set up and would play movies like the Last Starfighter or Goonies, stuff that kids would enjoy.
Once Nintendo and Sega started to become popular it slowly started to go downhill. They began to take out more of the video games and add more pool tables and it started to become a more seedy place, but for about 3 years in my life it was almost like a second home. I have never enjoyed video games so much as did in those days. There is definitely something to be said for those simpler times and games.
I played games for quite a while into young adulthood, before like others have said, it has just become something is too expensive. I just can't justify spending that kind of money for a hobby that feels like it should be more for a younger person with less responsibilities and no family. The last system I purchased was the regular Xbox and when I saw the prices of the Xbox360 and PS3 decided that enough was enough. The only way I would even see myself buying another console in the near future is if it was something that my daughter wanted and I seriously doubt she would be interested in the same kind of games I would be.