14 DAY TRIAL // An online survey conducted by Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu shows that Uncharted: Golden Abyss, the first party game from Sony Computer Entertainment, is the most anticipated video game launch for the upcoming PlayStation Vita handheld.
The game is not developer by Naughty Dog, the team that has created the installment for the PlayStation home consoles, but by the SCE bend Studio and will be available on December 17 in Japan and on February 22 in North America and in Europe.
Other games that Japanese gamers plan to pick up when the PlayStation Vita is launched include: Hot Shots Golf 6, Atlus' Persona 4: The Golden, Namco Bandai's Ridge Racer and Spike Chunsoft's Shin Kamaitachi no Yoru.
Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception managed to also perform pretty well in Japan, taking the number two position during its launch week, although the game was much more popular on Western markets.
The fact that Uncharted: Golden Abyss managed to top the preference chart for Famitsu readers is part of a bigger trend which has seen a growing acceptance of Western developed video games.
Another example of it was the perfect score, 40 out of 40, that Famitsu awarded to the Bethesda developed The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim in a recent review.
Even Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, which was published by Square Enix in Japan in a special subtitled package, did well on the Japanese market, selling more than 180,000 copies since launch.
Uncharted: Golden Abyss is a prequel and will show fans of the series a number of Drake adventures that will further develop his personality and will introduce a number of new characters.
The PlayStation Vita handheld will offer computing power that is close to that delivered by the PlayStation 3 home console and Sony hopes that it will prove that dedicated gaming devices can perform better than smartphones.