Even the venerated Wall Street Journal is sitting up to take notice of of the fact that some of the West's biggest gaming companies are taking games into the realm of 'free to play'. In an article in the newspaper's 'Tech' section, writer Nick Wingfield talks about both Sony Online Entertainment and Time-Warner shifting popular titles Everquest and Lord of the Rings Online to a new monetary paradigm.

The shift, which game companies in Asia figured out years ago, underscores how broadly a once foreign-seeming approach to business is coming to permeate the games industry. U.S. games companies are far more dependent on retail sales of software in stores than their counterparts in Korea and China, where rampant software piracy forced local companies to be more inventive about making money through methods like virtual goods sales.

While the article doesn't share any earth shattering news, it's an interesting read. Check it out at The Wall Street Journal: Tech page.