Making good on their promise to push Monster Hunter awareness in the West, Capcom is planning on opening a Monster Hunter Freedom Unite play center in London this summer.
Monster Hunter is huge in Japan, not because hunting monsters and ripping out their organs to make armor and gigantic swords is something that has intrinsic appeal to the Japanese, but because over there they play the game the way it’s meant to be played: with other people. See unlike us antisocial types in the West, getting together with other people and playing the game together locally is common practice, which is why the game only technically supports ad-hoc play.
Capcom wants Monster Hunter to be just as huge in the West, and to do that they’ll have to show Western gamers how to play the game for real. So the company is going all out and opening a Monster Hunter drop-in center this summer in London: a three story building where gamers can congregate, hunt monsters and enjoy complimentary treats. It’ll be open throughout July everyday until around 8 PM, at which point players can proceed to various public houses to continue their hunts in a drunken stupor.
I just hope Capcom US is willing to shell out the cash to make something like this happen in the States, maybe somewhere in San Francisco, please? I mean, it’s not like they need to worry about homeless people stinking up the place and stealing all the candy and soda or anything.
[Via Joystiq]
