There are countless reviews that support your claims. When looking for a compact P&S I considered a few. Ricoh by far had the worst noise out of three I considered. My choices were also limited because I insisted on being able to shoot RAW.
Onto the G10. First, anyone crying that the whole industry should be exposed and people should be informed that more MP doesn't equal quality needs to get out more. This is an argument that I can safely say has been voiced for well over 5 years industry wide. That said, you'd have to be a complete goon to think that somehow a 14 MP P&S is going to produce images with acceptable noise without some in-camera post processing. In the end you will see sharpness degrade as the noise filter will undoubtedly have to pass through a couple of times to reduce noise. The G9 actually has done well with noise, as well as I expect it to. The only thing the G10 gives me that I would like to have is the 28mm lens and the grip. For under $20.00 I have a grip for my G9 and for less than the price of the G10 I can have a 26-28mm wide angle. Yes, it's heavy and it's an attachment, but it's still easier and cheaper than buying a whole new camera and having to deal with 14MP on a small sensor.
The question of "when will this end" is a fantastic one. The answer is probably never. I think technology will wow us and we'll see some way of reducing noise in-camera without losing too much detail, but in the end, I think the higher MP need to be left to the full frame DSLRs.