A lot of people call this age by a name like  Modern/Platinum/Diamond Age, and some of us feel that the new age of comics has lost its connect to the past stories
 In your opinion is the old Darkseid any way connected to the animated one? What age is Darkseid in today and why do many of us readers think the new guy is not the same as the old?  
 
I never remember the old one losing so many fights !! That's why I can't respect him, a lame new guy in a different era.  Many of us who picked up the classic stories complain that guys like Darkseid was de-powered or dumbed down after the Silver/Bronze age of comics. 
 
It seems like even the animated weaker version of Darkseid gets more respect from WB and its animators than he gets in our comics. 
EVEN THOUGH THE EPISODES ARE ALMOST EXACT COPIES OF THE COMICS 
 
So what is it that makes him more respectful? Better dialogue? The fact he wasn't killed by some random plot device? Or maybe its the way the big screen is a better way to tell the villain's story?  

watch this animated Batman beat him, its straight from the comic 
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZE5RXhPwlKc
but  as the clip plays out the bad guy fails with a measure of respect....batman outclassed him in a game of chess, but for some reason the original comic fails to capture the essence of this story like the movie can

Forgive me but I haven't read much of Darkseid in comics. The most exposure I've had to him was in Final Crisis...That being said he seemed pretty powerful and just downright evil in that. I really liked the inner monologue that Turpin gave as he became Darkseid "trying to fight Darkseid is like trying to tackle the ocean." The way people talk about him in everything I've read and seen he seems pretty powerful, but just seems to try and keep control of himself at all times...

I don't think Darkseid is better off in the DCAU than he is in the comic books, really - Both had a sort of fall from grace that was far from ceremonious. DCAU Darkseid gets battered by a ton of cheap shots from Batman, and then Superman 'cuts loose' and batters him for a while, whilst in the comics, Batman beats up Darkseid in hand to hand, during Loeb's Superman/Batman stories, right? One is done to make the heroes look good briefly, to make it look as though they have a hope of beating him - Note that Superman's pretty much pounded down by Darkseid before Luthor turns up with the ALE. The other? Loeb always had zero grasp of powers and levels and how two characters should face off. Look at his Hulk run. Not that he's entirely to blame, given Darkseid had pretty much been wasted in the DCU since Kirby left. 
 
Morrison, for my money, is the only person who recognises the proper worth of the character. I don't agree with the designation of Darkseid as a 'God of Evil', but the way the character is used, basically as an unstoppable force gradually forcing everything to his will, is perfect. Morrison's Darkseid is terrifying because he's everywhere. He's in all of us, not just this giant stone slab of a God, but everywhere, and he will not stop until all the lights are out in the universe and he can hear nothing but one voice; His own. So Morrison is the only one, for me, who really, really gets Darkseid.