Thursday, May 24, 2012

Evidence Suggests Monsters Require Many Hours to Battle - Monster Hunter 3 Report

Coffee Beans
     When did Monster Hunter Tri (MHT) release? Well, if you travel back in time to the near distant past and land on April 20, 2010 in the U.S., you could find yourself in a retail store picking up a brand new copy of Monster Hunter Tri that very day (or, waiting for it to arrive by mail like I was). If you don't know/remember, MHT released with two versions. The "Standard" version was just the game for $49.99, but there was also a Classic Controller Pro bundle, game and controller, with a MSRP of just $59.99.
     The game received an ESRB rating of "Teen" with "Blood, Use of Alcohol, Violence" listed as content for gamers and parents to be aware of, and was developed and published by Capcom.
     When I was writing 2011's "A Year's Worth of Data" report, the game had already seen several price drops and could be found for under $30 for the software only version. Fast forward to 2012 now, and MHT can be found for under $20 on Amazon.com and retailers like GameStop.

     How many hours over the last 2 years have U.S. residents reported hunting monsters? Let's take a look!


The Brew
     Monster Hunter Tri now has approximately 97,023 U.S. Wii owners that have reported data through the Wii's Nintendo Channel with 762 days possibly reported, which is an increase of 27,184 players reporting data since April 25, 2011.
     Monster Hunter Tri's 9,779,977 Total Hours of reported game-play is an increase of 3,466,857 Total Hours of game-play since April 25th last year. The game's average play-time per day/session reported is now 3 Hours 20 Minutes, with the total average hours reported "Per person" having increased by 10 Hours 24 Minutes since last year. This means Monster Hunter Tri is still the Wii's most played game "Per person"in the U.S., according to the Nintendo Channel data.
     MHT's "professionals" review score average has not changed over the last year, and remains at 85.00% based on 46 reviews from GameRankings.com. The game's customers review score average on Amazon.com has changed since last year though, and the average is now 89.06% based on 139 customer reviews between both versions of the game.

Caffeinated Thoughts
     If you have never seen a full Monster Hunter Tri monster hunt, I am providing two hunt videos below that you can watch, but you may want to start brewing some coffee now and when you finish watching the videos the coffee will be finished (double win!):
     I finished MHT's single-player campaign last year, as part of my 2011 video game resolution, but I have not hopped online in a long while. I'm not sure how active the online community still is, but knowing the averages and number of hours reported for the game over just the last year, I would guess it's still pretty active.
     If you're perhaps wondering, "Coffee, would you recommend the game just based on its single-player campaign?" The answer to that is simple. Yes. For under $20, you will get many hours of game-play out of the single-player campaign, and be able to hunt many of the monsters in the game. Now, you should know though, that you will not be able to see/hunt every monster in Monster Hunter Tri, unless you play the game online as well (unless that has changed?).
     Seeing a third party game still being played so much on the Wii in the U.S., I think is great.

Questions
     Have any of you purchased Monster Hunter Tri perhaps just in the last year, and been enjoying your time with the game? If you were one of the early purchases of the game, do you still find yourself returning to the hunting fields near Moga Village?
     Also, if you have played Monster Hunter Tri, what is your preferred method of control? Classic Controller, Classic Controller Pro, or Wii Remote and Nunchuk? I go with the Wii Remote and Nunchuk.

If any of you are interested in Monster Hunter Tri, you can see the standard and bundled versions below on Amazon.com:

25 comments:

  1. This data frightens me a little. I played the game for 30 hours (and yes, barely scratched the surface, I know). But that would mean someone would have to have played the game for 170 hours to average out. My Brother only played his copy for 5 hours before deciding it wasn't for him. That means someone else played for 195 hours.

    This is the most hardcore Wii game, I think.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have played a total of over 700 hours on this game. The only reason it's not more is due to the 170 hours I'm currently putting into Xenoblade. Please Nintendo or Capcom bring Tri G over so I can go for 1000 hours. The the amount of extra content in that game I know I can do it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Canadian data
    1,054,835 Hours 331,284 Times
    Per Person 88 hours 2 min 27.64 times

    That's 11,986 units sold or 12.35% of the US total.


    This is interesting as the only other recent title I've looked into to exceed 11% was Zelda Sykward Sword at 14% of US total. Other titles tend to sit around 10% of the US data. Granted the data sample is very small and it is too early to draw conclusions.

    It seems like Canada has more hardcore Nintendo fans or the hardcore Nintendo fans in Canada tend to go on-line more ! :P

    You asked me if my region played a role, so I changed my Wii settings from one of the Western Canadian provinces to Ontario, the most populous province and back and I got the same results.

    So I can confirm that the data I am getting from my NC is for all of Canada.

    Cheers,

    ReplyDelete
  4. LOL, I'm seeing many comments on GoNintendo 300+ hours, one or two 500...craziness!
    Definitely has a nice following, and I think there will be another one here shortly in the U.S., and perhaps Australia also.

    Thanks for the comment and feedback on your time and your brothers!

    ReplyDelete
  5. 700 hours, helping keep that average what it is! LOL, I'm guessing that you saw/hunted every monster in the game? Also, what was your preferred control method for those 700+ hours?

    ReplyDelete
  6. "You asked me if my region played a role, so I changed my Wii settings from one of the Western Canadian provinces to Ontario, the most populous province and back and I got the same results.

    So I can confirm that the data I am getting from my NC is for all of Canada."

    Nice! I wasn't sure, I thought I had originally switched between provinces and gotten different results a few years back. I should check again, it would be interesting if the data shown to U.S. residents is different than Canadian.

    BTW, have you played the game?

    ReplyDelete
  7. The most I've played any game on my Wii is Samurai Warriors 3 at 87 hours... Xenoblade, Fire Emblem and Chocobo Dungeon not too far behind.

    I really, really wish I could get so into a game that I would play it for 500... it would be a pretty special game for that person, I would think.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Lol I'm ashamed to say that I haven't. I have the MH Tri/CCpro bundle still shrink wrapped. They were being cleared out for $29.99 someplace recently. But I've heard they've been sold for as low as $19.99.

    Waiting to see if 3G makes it out to NA, I might try that :")

    ReplyDelete
  9. i have over 700 hours, i think the reason for the games addictive nature is playing with friends is so much fun.
    DESPITE this however, the internet play was horrendously tempramental for me untill i bought a wii lan cable adapter(not disconected once since) playing on a wireless connection resulted in me getting disconected on a regular basis and it was maddening, especially on the tougher quests which can take upwards of 45 minutes.
    it says a lot about how good the game is, if i can keep playing after those annoyances.

    also, I LOVE COFFEE!, great blog :D

    ReplyDelete
  10. I agree, playing with friends is a lot of fun, and the online runs extremely well with the way the hunting is setup in phases, probably helping beginners get used to running around the worlds.

    As for, "DESPITE this however, the internet play was horrendously tempramental for me untill i bought a wii lan cable adapter(not disconected once since)", kind of interesting as I believe I played every single time online connected with the lan adapter. I do know that our microwave, nearly 75% of the time, will cause issues with Netflix when we run it and Netflix is going...which I find kind of interesting.

    Also, I not sure if you have played the offline multiplayer/arena quests, but I tried it out with my wife and recorded it:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZHl-6N1tKg

    I totally forget about that mode!

    Thanks for the comments and feedback, and as for " I LOVE COFFEE!", I'm going to drink some now!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I've never sunk as much time into this as I meant to. A couple of dozen hours or so is all. I like it, but it seems like something else new and shiny comes along, and I forget about it for a couple of months or so. I was sort of in the middle - I didn't pick it up in the last year, but probably about 9 months after it released. I'm classic controller myself, all the way. :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. " I have the MH Tri/CCpro bundle still shrink wrapped."
    Haha, it's okay, I still have two games in their original wrap that I received for Christmas this last year, not to mention Metroid: Other M that is still around here somewhere due to Best Buy's utter FAIL.
    At least you got the game (and controller) at a great price.

    Thanks for the feedback!

    ReplyDelete
  13. "....but it seems like something else new and shiny comes along,"
    I can't make this up anymore! Irony is the definition of my life right now! So, as I was typing about my answer to your "shiny" part, all of a sudden, I get the "Programs need to shutdown..." message, on my PC and all tabs go blank. Why? Because our oldest saw the SHINY PC POWER BUTTON! LOL.

    Anywho, I was saying...
    "but it seems like something else new and shiny comes along,"
    New and shiny simply = BACKLOG! Getting it 9 months after it released though was still a-okay, as the data even over the last year shows there are players still playing it a good bit.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Here's what the pages on all my open tabs looked like: VVV

    ReplyDelete
  15. I have played the PSP MH's for over 1000 hours. To me, even 300 hours is scratching the surface :P lol

    ReplyDelete
  16. "I go with the Wii Remote and Nunchuk."

    Me, too.

    ReplyDelete
  17. You're one of the few I have heard say it, it seems the CC or CCP are the preferred way...
    I would just like Nintendo and Capcom to know though, PLEASE DON'T TAKE MY MOTION CONTROLLED GAMING AWAY! I do enjoy it. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  18. "I had to send my Wii in..."
    Such a sad, sad, sad day for a Wii gamer.

    "Also there is some monsters that you can only hunt offline and the same goes for online."
    One of the late monsters in the offline I'm guessing (don't want to spoil anything)? But most seemed to be available online from what I can remember.

    ReplyDelete
  19. ROFL @ the shiny power button. I usually have to worry more about my cats killing my PC.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Well what I mean is that there is monsters that you can only hunt online that you can't hunt offline. 3 in peticular online and there is one offline that won't show up online. The ones I am talking about are high rank monsters which I don't think you made it up to yet so that may be why you don't remember them.

    ReplyDelete
  21. "Well what I mean is that there is monsters that you can only hunt online that you can't hunt offline. 3 in peticular online and there is one offline that won't show up online."
    Oh yea, that's what I was talking about. Only ONE monster in the offline hunting that isn't online, and I have heard of the horrors I haven't yet experienced in the online...

    ReplyDelete
  22. I've had the game since launch. I've logged 1200 hours. I think Nintendo only knows about 200 or so though.

    ReplyDelete
  23. The PSP, using THE CLAW?! Wow, that is dedication...
    I saw a YouTube video on that control style, and was amazed that people did it for so long!

    Thanks for the comment!

    ReplyDelete
  24. "I think Nintendo only knows about 200 or so though."

    You can help the game crack 10,000,000 hours faster by reporting those extra 1,000 game-play hours! :)
    Just wondering, out of the 1,200 hours you played, did you finish the single-player campaign? Or, are most/all of those online?

    Thanks for the comment!

    ReplyDelete

Keep the comments clean. Rated "E" for Everyone. :)

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...