I tend to believe there's a huge maturity aspect as well. I don't think its a choice between cutesy or badass. Western games are trying to be more "mature". While in the process you end up catering to a huge "juvenile" demographic (original Mortal Kombat, anyone?) but to me, Japan likes to cater a lot to immaturity. And cutesy fluff-balls just don't entertain me anymore on an intellectual or emotional level. And I rarely play "pick-up-and-play" games. So Mario and Katamari just aren't for me. I grew out of that kinda stuff. Japan didn't. Though it should be noted, a lot of Western gamers have not, either