Steve

I downloaded the demo for Dreamfall, which was actually the entire game (with most content locked off). They charge $40 to unlock it. That's more expensive than Amazon or buying it in the store. Pretty ridiculous.

What about Crash Bandicoot? The series started around the same time as Super Mario 64 came out and was widely viewed and marketed as the "American" version of a 3d platformer. Mario 64 is literally as free-roaming as you can get in a platformer (I don't think any game since has been as vague about the objectives), while Crash was totally linear.

The article seems to throw a lot of trivia about Japanese culture around to reach tenuous conclusions, and doesn't seem particularly well-thought out. Other times it's just wrong (the intro to the article identifies Mario 64 as an American game, for example).