Writer Yukari Iwatani Kane asserts that the Japanese are "uncomfortable with the idea of playing video games with strangers over the Internet," and Capcom "overcame that hurdle" by incorporating the Ad Hoc mode on the PSP into Monster Hunter. This brought in unconventional fans such as a 37-year-old Tokyo architect who held a "weekend retreat" with his 14 friends, which included a doctor and corporate executives, to play Monster Hunter together. Members of fan-sites such as Oyaji Hunters (Old Geezer Hunters in Japanese) "participate in regularly scheduled face-to-face get-togethers."
Statistics obtained by the WSJ from Enterbrain Inc. shows that as of June 8th, 9.3 million PSPs were sold in Japan, compared with 4.75 million units in February of 2007 before the release of the first PSP Monster Hunter game. The combined sales of the two games have reached almost 4 million, and they are the only PSP games that have sold more than one million copies in Japan -- Kane attributes these sales partly to the fact that each player needs one copy of the game to play together. The article finally ends with some negative observations, stating that "Capcom hasn't made a serious effort to market the games in the U.S." and noting that the next Monster Hunter game will be on the Wii, rather than the PS3.
Though the article makes some legitimate points, it is hard to trust someone that
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
6-25-2008 @ 1:42PM
PSP Fan said...
Okay, but I think you misinterpreted the post, the way I read it is that the intention of adding Ad-Hoc was to allow friends to play together as stated in the post - "Writer Yukari Iwatani Kane asserts that the Japanese are "uncomfortable with the idea of playing video games with strangers over the Internet," and Capcom "overcame that hurdle" by incorporating the Ad Hoc mode on the PSP into Monster Hunter. This brought in unconventional fans such as a 37-year-old Tokyo architect who held a "weekend retreat" with his 14 friends, which included a doctor and corporate executives, to play Monster Hunter together."
I agree with what you're saying about meeting strangers off the internet, but that is not what the article is saying.
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6-25-2008 @ 3:54PM
Keefe said...
I'm a pretty new PSP owner (just picked one up in April), so I'm still learning about what games have been out there for it, and I realize I may be alone in this, but reading articles about how big this game is in Japan really makes me feel jealous. I wish the PSP was as successful here and this game was available along with the DLC they are providing. It sounds like a cross between a LAN party and an MMORPG. I used to do LAN parties very often years ago, but my group of friends got tired of lugging around equipment and troubleshooting network/software version issues. Having a get-together with PSPs to play a game like this sounds like a lot of fun. :) Especially if you throw in BBQ and cigars....
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