Cubed3 have some interesting stats on game sales for Thursday 22nd Feb in Japan. It looks like the release of Monster Hunter Portable 2nd (Freedom 2 in the UK, when its released) took the charts by storm, selling 500,000 units and nearly selling out (77% of stock sold).

Other bigger sellers on the day included Fire Emblem Akatsuki no Megami, on the Ninrtendo Wii. This sold 50,000 units.

Its great to see that there is still alot of excitment about new PSP titles, and even though Monster Hunter Portable 2nd is a sequel, it has still been snapped up quickly on the day of release. While I expect Monster Hunter Freedom 2 to sell in lower volums in the UK compared to that first day of sales in Japan, its still going to be one of the big games to hit the PSP in the UK.

I’m probably going to hold off getting MHF2 until I’ve got a bit further through the first game – I’m struggling to find the time to play at the moment, and any spare time I do have I end up playing World Snooker Challenge 2007 for some reason.

The underground PSP hacking scene has finally surfaced in the mainstream media, with Fanjita (and the Noobz team), Dark_AleX, and Team C & D getting some overdue exposure on the BBC News website.

The article covers some of the efforts of the above in terms of getting the PSP homebrew capable, regardless of the efforts by Sony to stop (via firmware updates) their attempts.

While its not particularly in depth, and in places slightly out of date, it does highlight the work done by the PSP hackers.

Sony are quoted as saying

“The problem experienced here is not with homebrew applications, but with hackers who pirate commercial titles,” a Sony spokesperson said.

“Piracy is illegal and we strongly oppose any acts which either aide or profit from it.”

which is the first time I’ve Sony openly acknowledge the homebrew scene in the mainstream press. Its good to see that they acknowledge the problem is with piracy, and not with homebrew itself, but the second line stating that “they strongly oppose any acts which aide it” (my interpretation).

This implies, in my mind, that a case could be made against any of the PSP hackers who enable the playing of pirated PSP games, such as the custom firmware versions by Dark_AleX which allow you to play iso versions of PSP games, or even Fanjita and the Noobz team for enabling the PSP to be downgraded easily.

Whether Sony would ever pursue a prosecution of any of these people is unclear, but as David Court (aka Fanjita) states :

Sony have never been in touch with me, so I am confident that what we are doing is legal

Overall, nice to see that the PSP scene is getting some attention from the press.

Although there is never any shortage of online magazines for the avid PSP user, its always nice to hear about a new publication, especially one written by professional journalists. This new publication is HGZine, and is available for download in pdf format from Gamerzines.

From the press release:

Free magazine for Sony PSP and Nintendo DS gamers launches

HGZine, for handheld gaming, brings top quality editorial to gaming fans of the Sony and Nintendo mobile platforms.

After the successful launch of 360Zine for Xbox 360 gamers and PCGZine for PC gamers in 2006, Cranberry Publishing Ltd is pleased to announce the launch of HGZine for Sony PSP, Nintendo DS and mobile phone gaming enthusiasts. The launch issue is available now from the Gamerzines website.

“As an avid handheld gamer myself, it’s great fun to edit a magazine dedicated to DS, PSP and mobile games. They’re usually herded to the back of multiformat print mags and never given the attention they deserve – it’s time to redress the balance. ,” says HGZine Editor, Keith Stuart. “With HGzine, we can offer the editorial values and beautiful, readable design of a print publication, with the immediacy of online. It’s absolutely the best of both worlds.”

Keith is a veteran game journalist, and is one of The Guardian’s game bloggers. He has previously worked on respected games magazine, Edge.

HGZine is written by professional games journalists and made available in digital format for free. On top of the high quality editorial, the magazine is enhanced with embedded video and interactive media, such as quizzes, annotated screenshots and animated images appearing on the pages themselves.

Issue 1 includes reviews of Sid Meier’s Pirates!, Mario vs Donkey Kong 2, Ghost Rider, Dungeon Siege Throne of Agony, Castlevania Portrait of Ruin and Bomberman Land Touch. There are also previews of Driver 76, Burnout Detonator, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, Zelda Phantom Hourglass, Manhunt 2 and Call of Duty Roads to Victory, and many more.

HGZine is a Gamerzine, published in PDF format. Readers simply require a copy of the free Adobe Reader (version 6 or above) to read the magazines. Each Gamerzine includes more than 30 pages of professionally written games journalism and is enhanced with embedded video and multimedia.

So I suggest you head on over to the site and download their latest issue to see what its all about.