East joining West in video-game world with a new infusion of Japanese flavor

A piggyback to Marci's comments I found this article on the SD Union-Tribune site talking about Japan's influence on American pop culture. It refers to kids who grew up playing "Final Fantasy" and "Pokemon" have paved the way for more games with a greater Japanese influence. One game in particular "Okami" uses the ink-and-watercolor art of old Japan. I saw the trailer and it reminded me of Speed Racer cartoons I watched as a kid before there was video games. The writer rates three games with Okami receiving 4 out of 4 stars. "Rule of Rose" and "Cooking Mama" didn't rate very high. It would be interesting to know if the games actually taught something about Japanese culture as a by product of playing them or do gamers only focus on the goal of winning. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/tech/20060927-0704-games-japan.html