VG Thought

Here's a pretty cool article about how weaving in distinctions from your or someone else's culture can give a game a spice or an odor. He suggests (quoting Koichi Iwabuchi) that some things a culture produces can have varying amounts of cultural odor which will make it more universally appealing (odorless) or less so. It also talks about how foreigners often have such a hard time translating someone else's culture into their games and how that can affect your experience.

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/FelipePe ... gaming.php