Gaming in Europe

[CM30]

So, given that a few of our members are probably from Europe (and I suspect a few future ones will be), I thought it'd be interesting to discuss why gaming is so different over in European countries, and why Nintendo seems to struggle to gain any momentum in the region.

So first up, Nintendo in Europe. They usually struggle, partly because... well, I think this guy sums it up well:

Or as TV Tropes says:

While the Nintendo Entertainment System was the icon of The Third Generation of Gaming in North America, it was rejected in the UK where the technically-superior home computers already dominated the market by the time the console was distributed in 1987. (Rare, despite being based in the UK, had to produce its early NES games mainly for the North American market)

And

Outside North America, though, the Crash made little impact. In Europe, eight-bit home microcomputers (predominantly the Sinclair ZX Spectrum and the C64) already dominated the gaming market.

They also failed in other European regions either because competitors actually existed at the time or the console was too expensive to compete with the bootleg versions (read, in Eastern Europe and Russia).

So yeah, thoughts? Also on other stuff, like the rejection of arcade culture in the continent, the lack of interest in modern Nintendo or the differences in game design philosophies?