video game disability

I have a video game learning disability. Since getting this Game Cube for Simon for his bday I have discovered that games no longer progress in a linear fashion. By that I mean from left to right of the screen like Pit Fall and old Super Mario Brothers type games, from top to bottom like Tetris, or from bottom to top like Donkey Kong and Snow Bros.
 
I tried to play Eternal Darkness. I opened doors and books and windows and read all the little clues but I didn't know what the hell to do next. Where are you supposed to walk and how are you supposed to know? How come the bad guys that I see on the cover haven't come out to fight?  Gave up on that one.
 
Tried Mario Sunshine, I figured that couldnt be too hard. So there I was in the middle of some tropical place but I can walk in any direction and talk to people and jump and stuff. But what exactly is the goal and how am I to know where to go and what to do next? Actually I couldn't even figure out Hamtaro for Christ's sake.
 
I think game playing is now a social thing where you learn by watching others. And also cross-media, people read about game strategy online and in magazines. You can't just start the thing and know what the hell to do. Unless it's just me and I'm seriously just a video game retard.