According to Valve, the main issue with lowering the price of digitally distributed games is that the B&M retailers would stop carrying those games because they could not compete. Retail purchases are still a large portion of revenue that I'm sure a lot of game makers don't want to lose.
We had the books and the cassette tapes that we listened to all the time. I remember camping as a little kid, sitting in the tent with my friends listening to those tapes, with all of us scared shitless. It was perfect. The art was terrifying, which is half the reason why it was so great.
The battle gets longer on higher difficulties, so there might not have been a checkpoint on Normal. On Hardcore, it jumps on the tower like 3 times, and there's a checkpoint on the second one (I think).
The final boss battle in Gears 3 did have one checkpoint in the middle of the fight (assuming at least Hardcore mode?) I would have given up and watched the ending on YouTube if it didn't.
If he/you are really interested in learning to play it, it shouldn't be too difficult to wrap your head around. I play a lot of board games and I usually teach others to play, so it's a little hard for me to figure out if others would find it difficult. I really don't think it would be. The article calling the rules impenetrable is hyperbole.
It is a lot like Diplomacy, except it is more dynamic. If you place a March order token in a territory, you don't actually have to commit to where they march until that token is 'activated.' Same with Support. That way to can respond on the fly to how other people are behaving.
The picture of the tattoo was taken in a mirror. You can see his other hand holding the camera, as well as the fact that Miyamoto's signature is backward.