No kidding.
BioWare got hit hard by the New Engine bug. Combining Mass Effect (new engine for us, and wasn't feature-complete when we started working with it) with Dragon Age (engine switch mid-development to new internal engine) has resulted in our recent games taking a long time to make.
We're hoping for Mass 2 have a shorter to-shelf time than Mass 1. Same goes for sequels on Dragon Age. Making the levels and characters look good will still take time (along with, you know, story, cutscenes, balance, and all the things that make a game a game), but hopefully the lack of "Hey, let's make a new engine from scratch!" will cut off that part of the development cycle.
'Cause that sucks for you guys AND for us. Nobody wants to be a five-year veteran with no game credits.