PSP Game Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G Sold-Out
It would seem the latest Monster Hunter Game, Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G has sold out within hours of being released in Japan. The Monster Hunter series has always been one of the big games for the PSP, selling a combined 3 million units for the first two games alone.
Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G got Japan to rise early on a chilly Spring Thursday morning as many major retailers gave the game the Dragon Quest treatment and opened shop ahead of the standard 10:00AM opening time. One such shop was the giant Tsutaya retailer in Shibuya. The home to the official launches of products such as the Xbox, the Xbox 360, and any number of Dragon Quest games was given the honor of being the official starting point for MHP2ndG.
The Tsutaya launch event kicked off at 6:40AM, twenty minutes ahead of the start of sales. Famitsu.com reports that over 120 people were lined up for the event. But more telling was the presence of television cameras, signaling that Monster Hunter may have some mainstream appeal. Either that, or Capcom had gotten some celebrity talent to join in on the launch fun.
While Monster Hunter may very well have penetrated the mainstream, it turns out that there were, in fact, two major stars in attendance at the event. Junichi Koumoto and Satoshi Inoue from comedy duo Jichou Kachou took to the stage prior to the game’s release and offered a few words on their love of all things Monster Hunter. In addition to being fans of the series, they’re also featured in the commercials.
MHP2ndG producer Ryouzou Tsujimoto was also in attendance at the launch event. He greeted the crowd, then said he was surprised at the number of fans and media in attendance.
To give you some idea of how well liked the Monster Hunter franchise is, its reported that some players of the second game have clocked up over a 1,000 hours of gameplay.
While I can see the appeal of the game, and if I had the time I’d quite possibly get sucked into it myself, but I don’t think I could possibly find 1,000+ hours to give to it.
The PSP has been at the top of Japan’s hardware charts for the past couple of weeks. Judging by the impressive showing today, it will likely keep that crown throughout the remainder of this month, and possibly into next month as well. This time, however, there’s an unexpected cause to the system’s success: a game.
Via: IGN