Damn this post was all fired up π I didn't even notice.
I will just leave my opinion:
The appeal of soul games is to be difficult, thats what makes them popular, yes they target a specific audience because they know casual gamers (like myself) will not purchase this game. When you are selling something regardless of what it is you have to know your market and these games where made for gamers who enjoy a challenge since this is where the developers and publishers will get their profits. They didnt exclude anybody from playing the game, anyone can walk up to a game store and purchase these games and play them, is not like they where made for 3 arm people. (but it damn looks like π). Anyway going back to the topic: Should all games have an "easy" mode? for me the answer is No, most games do have a difficulty selection since they want to target as many gamers as possible but for Soul games being difficult is what makes them to stand out in a very competitive gaming market.