TV or movies on the other hand, even the most stupid and superficial ones, put you (virtually) in a social context, where you can observe other people, think about their actions, think about how you would've reacted etc. Stories or characters in TV movies can be inspiring (meaning can influence your goals/actions in a positive way) or can be a cautionary tale. While it's theoretically possible for a game story to achieve the same, in practice the stories and the execution ("acting" by 3D models) are too weak for the positive effects to kick in. The models are probably a lot to blame there - since it's been shown that various facial expressions are one of main ways to estabilish empathetic communication, faces of in-game 3D model are just too fake to trigger the right neurons.
Two clips you might find interesting: - Brian Wong of Kiip talking about how Counter Strike made him good at photoshop (I don't think this is a serious counter arguement to your point): http://youtu.be/BAx7Npsrin4?t=4m40s
- Gabe Newell (Valve) and JJ Abrams (Lost, Alias, Star Trek) talking about similarities/differences between narrative in video games and movies, and at the end announcing that they're working together on one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7mihllgiro
On the other hand, video gaming can be a fairly active activity (depending on the game) because you far more in control over what is happening and you have to make decisions. For some people, this makes it very dull because they don't find having to think about what they are doing relaxing, whereas for other people watching TV is dull because they aren't doing anything.
Prices for AAA+ titles are also ridiculous. Experience went down the toilet, but prices are the same or even higher, something is wrong.
