Wanted to start off with Monster Hunter. Yes, we talk incessantly here about the power of Monster Hunter in Japan and how it has become a cultural phenomenon there the likes of which this company hasn’t seen since the Street Fighter II glory years. This past week had tons of Monster Hunter news. On the first day of the show, we announced Monster Hunter Freedom Unite for North America and Europe. Coming to PSPs this spring, this is the western release of Monster Hunter Portable 2G, a game which has now sold over 2.5 million copies on PSP in Japan. There will be more on MH Freedom Unite in the months ahead, including details which we believe US gamers in particular are going to be quite happy about.

At the Capcom booth at TGS, Monster Hunter Tri was the magnet that drew Japanese gamers like iron filings, sticking them to lines in our booth that stretched to a mind-bending SIX HOUR WAIT on Saturday and Sunday. Even on the “business days” of Thursday and Friday, within 20 minutes of the door opening, the line was over four hours. Keep in mind that there were 50 Wiis running 10 – 15 minute demos of the game for up to four players. This Wii entry to the series was greeted with passionate enthusiam from the fans, locking down the pathways around the Capcom booth, especially when series producer Ryozo Tsujimoto was presenting on-stage. Needless to say, when Monster Hunter Tri launches on the Wii next year, Japan’s productivity is going to take a huge plunge. Thanks, Capcom!

Outside of the show, Monster Hunter’s reach continues to be felt. In my travels through Akihabara, the fabled electronics/games/toys/comics/DVD mecca of Japan, I came across this display in a game shop. Monster Hunter stew! It couldn’t be any tasier than if you had killed it yourself. True story: I bought the set here, which nabbed me two cans of stew along with the cute MH bag, but security at Tokyo’s international airport made me throw the cans away because they did not allow any liquids through secutiry. It’s official: when you can’t take your video game soup on a plane, the terrorists have won.