I believe it was something to do with a small majority of the Japanese male population which was staying home prefering to ogle images of female anime and video game characters instead of going out and finding real girlfriends. I remember reading a news story about a while back, and honestly, I could not tell you where I saw it. Maybe someone else out there would know. As far as American males go, I think as a culture, a large majority of us would rather go out and hang with girls than stay at home and dream about pixelated ones. That's just my opinion.
IIRC hentai and the like sells better in the US than in Japan.
Who gives a crap whether or not she's dressed all sexy? The first game was fun, not perfect.. but fun. Its entertainment... women will always be scantily clad and men will always be topless and ripped.
Does it really matter that much? I mean... if we're gonna berate people for admiring the digital sex kittens, why not those that take offense? To me, taking offense validates them even more. If they're just fake anyway, why let it get under your skin? That's the same as people eating it up to me...