14 DAY TRIAL // It's clear that the Japanese videogame market, both in its hardware and software incarnations, is pretty different from the Western one. So, it makes sense for Sony, a console developer currently manufacturing and selling the PlayStation 3, the PlayStation 2 and the PlayStation Portable handheld, and game publisher, to hold an award ceremony to honor those games which did especially well on the Japanese market.
Among the attendees were Sony’s Chief Executive Officer, Kazuo Hirai, and the father of the PlayStation, Ken Kutaragi. They were joined by representatives of their publishing studios in Japan.
The big winner of the night was Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G from Capcom, which got a Double Platinum Award for selling more than 2 million copies in Japan. The game, which focuses on fighting different kinds of monsters and has been compared to the Pokemon phenomenon, pushed the sales of the PSP throughout the whole year. It is supposed to be released in the United States in spring 2009 under the name of Monster Hunter Freedom Unite. The developers picked up a check for 21,500 dollars.
No title got a Platinum Award, which is given to videogames with sales from 500,000 to one million units. But five games have managed to ship more than 500,000 copies in Japan since launch. These are Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots from Konami for the PlayStation 3, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII from Square Enix for the PlayStation Portable, Phantasy Star Portable made by Sega for the PlayStation Portable, Winning Eleven 2008 from Konami and Super Robot Taisen Z made by Bandai Namco Games, both for the PlayStation 2. It's pretty interesting to see that the aging PlayStation 2 managed to have two very successful titles, while the newer PlayStation 3 only got one with significant sales.