When they first popped this on the screen, I said to my fiancee 'this looks really, really stupid,' but when the dude said it was free, I looked at her and said 'well, OK, maybe it's not that bad!' That happen with anyone else (well, maybe sans the talking to the other person)?

I think the fact that this is free means there will be more hands on it than otherwise, sure. The question is if those people will stay; I doubt the vast majority of them will, to say nothing of buying premium content. But those that do probably make up for it.

This is basically the Korean "free-to-play" method, and its been incredibly profitable.