Well you get your PSN wish

http://pspupdates.qj.net/Capcom-releasing-whole-slew-of-PSP-PSOne-games-on-PS-Store-next-year/pg/49/aid/127611

Pretty sweet...now all we need are some new games.

But for the record...thank you Capcom!

Dec 30, 2008 -- 12:09PM, TAS wrote:

Sven, I have one question - have you considered making multiplayer Devil May Cry or Resident Evil for PSP? Your company has created the PSP multiplayer craze in Japan; however other companies like SEGA and KOEI are starting to cash in, but I think with your experience AND with the frachises that you have, you could really make a 'killing' on PSP, and not only with Monster Hunter, but with multiplayer orientated versions of DMC or RE as well.  Well here's the thing, we all know that MH does really well in Japan, but not in the western market, while DMC and RE are properties that do well in both regions. You also make the point how other companies are now starting to copy MH with upcoming games like Dynasty Warriors, Final Fantasy XIII Agito, Phantasy Star Zero, etc, etc, but we don't know how successufl the MH clones will be, ie this may be one of those cases where the trend starter is the only thing that is successful with it, so maybe it's a good idea to sit back and see how the imitations do first before applying it to other Capcom franchises if it's the type of thing that's only going to work with MH.  It's also been established that the RE Outbreak games didn't do well, so that's something to keep in mind when thinking about doing a new multiplayer based/themed RE game, however I will say that applying the MH aspect to RE on the PSP makes alot more sense to me then the idea of a RE MMO that people like to bring up from time to time, which just baffles me to a certain degree. I know people want to see their favorite franchises turned into an MMO given all the franchises that have done it in recent years, but then it never occurs them how few franchises are really suited to function properly or well as an MMO. For instance RE doesn't work well as something that can be played with thousands or hundreds of people at the sametime. It doesn't have a large variety of enemy types, weapons, character types/classes, mission structures, etc, ie it doesn't offer anywhere near the freedom something like Warcraft did when making it into an MMO, not to mention a zombie apocalypse doesn't seem like a problem if you have thousands of players all playing at the sametime together, but a game that's limited to just a couple of players like Outbreak, Monster Hunter, etc, like you're talking about does.   When I think about it none of Capcom's franchises really lend themselves well to a "massive" multiplayer experience, but when you limit it to just a couple players it does, or rather they could do stuff on a bigger scope if they combined franchises. Like if you combined aspects from all the different MegaMan series, then you could possibly have a proper MMO, or I've thought about how instead of figuring out how to do a RE, DMC, Dead Rising, etc, online game to just combine elements from all their supernatrual franchises, since no one offers alot of freedom to explore in terms of what they could achieve, but if were to combine RE, DMC, Dead Rising, Darkstalkers, Ghost N Goblins, etc, into a single universe/narative then you could do alot, you'd just then face the problem of it then being an all new IP and not having a marketable brand name that people are familiar with.   I'm still waiting for something to come along that recaptures the experience of Phantasy Star Online, and I think alot of other people are too, but nothing has and I don't if anything could or will. Maybe an actual proper PSO2, but we'll probably never see/get that.

That was a good read, TAS. There is already one VERY successful Monster Hunter Portable clone though - Phantasy Star Portable. Phantasy Star Portable is one of the best selling games in Japan this year with close to 700,000 copies sold. What's even more impressive is the fact that it managed to outsell all of the previous (and on all platforms) PSO/PSU games COMBINED - in Japan.

Dec 30, 2008 -- 2:31PM, TAS wrote:

That was a good read, TAS. There is already one VERY successful Monster Hunter Portable clone though - Phantasy Star Portable. Phantasy Star Portable is one of the best selling games in Japan this year with close to 700,000 copies sold. What's even more impressive is the fact that it managed to outsell all of the previous (and on all platforms) PSO/PSU games COMBINED - in Japan.  You're right, I forgot about Phantasy Star Portable. I just knew of so many off the top of my head that were coming out that I didn't remember it. That and the fact that since it's been out for awhile with nobody in the US really talking about it probably didn't help me remember either.  Anyways I guess that game proves a clone can/will work, and not only that but that a slightly retooled version of a game that people weren't satisfied with (PSU) can do way better then the original. I know that Zero is meant to be more like PSO and that Portable was PSU retooled to be more like PSO, which obviously worked, yet as far as we know there's no plans to do another proper PSO game, which seems odd. I guess that the risk factor, development costs, and production times are just way less then a PSO2 would be, thus we have no PSO2 and instead have Zero and Portable. It still should be noted that Portable so far is only a Japanese success, just like MH, and Portable when released in the US probably will only be as "successful" as MH's US release. Maybe the handheld multiplayer thing is just something more suited to Japan then the US and vice versa, ie US gamers would rather play a multiplayer game on a console/PC, where as the Japanese would rather do it on a portable/Arcade. It seems like the Japanese are more about actually going out to game where as westerns are more stay ins.

Oh, I absolutely agree. But maybe Capcom and SEGA could advertise their local multiplayer games more to raise the awareness, and increase the potential audience in US. These games definitely sell much better in Japan, but it would be in Capcom's interest to market the upcoming Monster Hunter Unity a bit more than usual to create the audience for the future Monster Honter Portable games.