Monster Hunter Freedom Unite at Game Developers' Conference 2009

The month of March has been a busy one in terms of events; it's not even summer yet! Capcom's presnece at this year's Game Developers' Conference (GDC) wasn't as big as it was last year. A few from the product development team spoke at panels but this year Capcom didn't showcase much. You can't blame them, since GDC took place right after the launch of two AAA titles.

We did show off one little game though. In March of 2008, Capcom released a little gem titled Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G in Japan. It was the best selling game (over 3 million copies sold) of 2008 in Japan, beating out many big name titles such as Metal Gear Solid 4 and Super Mario Galaxy.

This summer, Capcom will be releasing that same game under the title Monster Hunter Freedom Unite and to celebrate the release, we invited various press outlets to our small event at 111 Minna Street Gallery in San Francico. At the event, we had two tables set up with 4 PlayStation Portables at each table. We then invited people to come sit down and check out the game while they enjoy the free food and drinks, provided by Capcom.

The event was a success. Initially 20 people RSVP'd but we had over 100 come out to the event. The first Monster Hunter Freedom Unite "pub night" was a success and it definitely won't be the last.

Trailer for Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G


Pictures from the event:

Resident Evil 5 Launch Event

Friday March 13 2009, Resident Evil 5 was released. In a recent press release, Capcom announced 4 million units shipped worldwide; and sold 400,000 copies in its first week in Japan. I got the chance to help out with yet another event. This time Capcom didn't have to do anything, the event was all sponsored by Game Stop.

On Thursday, March 12, Game Stop set up a huge tent in Union Square to host the Resident Evil 5 launch event. The side of the tent I worked on housed many kiosks allowing consumers to play full retail versions of Resident Evil 5. On the other side, there were performers, some of the voice actors from the game (see previous post) and a VIP section. IGN's Jessica Chobot was on hand to cover the event and I believe G4 TV's Adam Sessler was there too. At least he got into the event, unlike the Street Fighter IV launch party from the month before.

The event was a success. As midnight drew near, the attendees started getting antsy and couldn't wait to finally get their hands on the game. Sadly I didn't take any pictures during the event or video footage, but hare is a trailer of the game (taken from YouTube).

2008 Tokyo Game Show Resident Evil 5 Trailer

Resident Evil 5 Influencer Event in LA.

February and March saw the release of two of the most anticipated games, Street Fighter IV and Resident Evil 5. Last month, Capcom held the Street Fighter IV launch party in Los Angeles. At the beginning of March, I got to go back to Los Angeles to help out with a Microsoft sponsored influencer event, show casing Resident Evil 5 a week before the game was released.

sThe event was held at a small venue called Soul Assassins Studio owned by famous L.A. artists, Mister Cartoon and Estevan Oriol. Many people showed up to check out the game a week before it was released. Also there was Xbox Live community manager, Larry "Major Nelson" Hyrb who interviewed my boss. For you Xbox owners, you can see the video on Inside Xbox, the episode is titled "Resident Evil 5 Launch." You can even see me briefly in the video right before my boss is filmed on camera.



A couple of pics taken at the event:

Me with voice actor, T.J. Storm. He does the voice for the character Josh in Resident Evil 5.

Capcom's PR team and Community manager.

From left to right, my boss, Chris Kramer, Jason Allen, Seth Killian (Community), and me with Melody Pfeiffer in front.