Tomb Raider didn't have to be dumbed down for America. It had to be dumbed down for Japan. They can't take action games for some reason. But I guess that does make us look stupider. But I wouldn't say hardcore anywhere. They can tear up a puzzle game. But Tomb Raider is not their thing. Prince of Persia is not their thing. God of War is not their thing. Devil May Cry 3 and Ninja Gaiden. Ha. Speaking of which. Their hard mode? Yeah, that somehow translates into "normal" or even "easy" for us >_>;

And yes, Dark Aeons were in the international and re-released Japanese versions of the game. Which came out after North America's release. Also, when Japan localizes a game for North American shores. It's usually for ALL of North America. Just to point out, that includes Canada.

I have to agree that they just realize we like a different taste in games usually. Which is, or at least was, embodied in the X-Box. A system that was completely modeled after Western tastes was almost completely unwelcome on Eastern shores. 'Cause they push the action games, and first person shooters, and stuff. Our tastes.

And I also agree they have made up for underestimating us over the years. Look at the strategy RPG genre. They were few and far between until the current generation of consoles. Nippon Ichi is soaking that crap up. Finally realizing we like that stuff. We could always rely on Atlus. But now the heavy hitters who usually let Atlus handle their questionable games realized. Namco and Konami aren't afraid to release a certain type of game over here anymore. Capcom has seemed to always love playing risks, I don't think they plan on stopping in the future either. America loves games. Just not as much, or in the same way as Japan.