Has plug and play become less of a priority for consoles?

I would say yes. I'll give you an example. You buy a PS4, the controller has more buttons than you know how to use with not one, but two really confusing buttons in the middle: the track pad thingamajig, and the home button. You might not notice because you've played games for decades, but I promise you that you can't hand that controller to a non gamer without confusing the hell out of them. There's more buttons than any normal person could figure out without a time investment, or help from a gamer.

Then there's the invisible buttons that do things I haven't even figured out on the console. I shut everything off from the screen because I don't understand them even now. I wish I was kidding you, but all I know is that even breathing on them can trigger those things, and I'm sure they do special things if you hold them down, and wait for secret beeps.

That's not all by a long shot.

You buy a game, and it doesn't play after you insert the disc. Instead it downloads an install file. Then it installs the game. Then it restarts the system. Then you start the game, or so you think, only the update file hasn't downloaded, so now you wait for that. Then it's ready. Oh no, your system restarts again. You're ready, right? Oh what's this? There's a bunch of codes in with the game for free stuff in the game. Oh cool, but where do I enter the code? I finally found it in the online store. Oh goody! What? It's not showing up in my game? Where is it? Oh, off back to the store I go. It says I bought it. I thought it was free? Oh that's why it didn't download! I forgot to check the special download button after confirming my free purchase. So stupid of me...

I don't know about you, but that's been my experience. It's more like a normal computer than a console. Only it's a gimped computer. (It should be noted that not all games are like this, but enough are somewhat like this now to give you an idea what I'm talking about.)

Yes, it's totally normal for us to ignore this, get a coffee, get a snack, or take a bathroom break, but for a non gamer this is all very tedious to go through. Here's a thought that might not occur to us because we know how computers work: What happens if you get tired of waiting and unplug? I don't know. It could brick the console for all I know. The thing is, impatient people do silly things like this all the time.

Okay, so you've got the game installed and ready to play:

How is the experience? Well, here's what my experience has been with Arkham Knight. I played the two previous games, and 100% completed Arkham City. You know what I found as an experienced gamer? I was confused as all hell by Arkham Knight. There's simply too many items, too poorly explained, or not explained at all.

If you haven't played the previous games, you better be an experienced gamer who is okay looking over screen after screen of options, moves, and upgrades because if you aren't you're going to walk away with one hell of a migraine. In fact, I would be surprised if you managed to play the game at all. I think most of the people who have played the game probably haven't even touched half the moves, and barely used any of the items.

Then there's the on screen prompts. They're so fast sometimes I can't even tell what they're telling me to do, so it's a good thing I'm watching for them while people are trying to kill me with electrified hands, or shield bash me to death.

If so, when exactly did this change occur?

It happened gradually, one new feature at a time. One console generation at a time. It's design by committee at its worst. You'll find that almost nobody is removing features. Instead, they're throwing them all in with the kitchen sink. Here's an extra button. Oh, here's an entirely new kind of sensitive switch that will accidentally auto eject your disc if you brush it, and sometimes even if you don't! I wish I was kidding. You don't even want to get me started on the social media crap. I'm 32, I don't have a Facebook account, and I don't want my social circle seeing the games I'm playing, how often, how many hours, or what hour of the night. It's none of their business. (Yes, I know I'll get hate for saying that because too many people have bought into the idea that they should be tweeting mindless nonsense every hour of the day.)

Will gaming soon become inaccessible to those without good internet?

In general, console gaming is already inaccessible to casual gamers. The controller is far too complex for a non gamer to pick up and play with. The regular console gamer tends to overestimate how easy it is to pick up and play a game. They're coming from years, sometimes even decades of gaming experience. They often had siblings who introduced them to gaming, or started playing when they were young.

It's already inaccessible to those without good internet with so many of the leading games releasing half broken until patches are released. You can forget about downloadable content without an internet connection. You can forget about multiplayer without a half decent connection. It should also be noted that even if you live in an area with decent internet, gaming is getting to be an expensive hobby for a lot of us. I've had to go on to a shittier internet plan because we couldn't afford a good one. It was either that, or cut back on our tiny monthly entertainment budget which is an allowance we budget for as a couple.

I don't think we should kid ourselves. These current gen consoles aren't really an easy thing to plug in and play with if you're not already an experienced gamer.

It's tough enough on some of us who are.