It always vexes me when people use the word game as though it were some filthy word better used for describing parasite infested testicular cysts. The example comparing 4th edition to a first person shooter is one that implies that games are purely for the simple minded and easily amused while the Grand High Art of Roleplaying is reserved for those of refined sense and taste. What you forget is that games are meant to be fun, as is D&D. As a leisure activity, it competes for your time and money against going to the movies, playing video games, going out and getting drunk, snowboarding and going to the museum. If the gameplay is not fun, then no one will play it.
Those who would justify having the wizard as the most powerful character in the party by using the flawed logic of "the wizard is a wizard, and that's what wizards do" is failing to see the point at which D&D goes beyond being a fantasy fiction novel. If I happen to like playing as a savage and bloodthirsty half orc barbarian, I do not want to have my character start to suck when the Gandalf clone learns to cast Enhanced Deathspell 4. I probably also do not like it if we have to focus the game on the Gandalf wannabe and plan around the 15 minute adventuring day. Per encounter and Per day powers may break immersion for you, but the current system simply makes the game kind of suck.
