Monsters Get Huge

Tecmo's Monster Rancher is the latest game to capitalize on the virtual pet craze that is sweeping the world. Sales so far have prompted Tecmo to go back to Sony for a third order of discs which the company expects will sell out before Christmas.

A Tecmo representative told GameSpot News Friday that already it has received additional orders from Electronics Boutique and Babbage's stores - evidence that the title is already selling through the roof. In addition to advertising inserts in many of the specialized gaming publications, Tecmo will soon launch a radio campaign to promote the game.

As in Japan, Tecmo is also thinking of sponsoring Monster Rancher competitions, although exactly when and where these events will take place hasn't been decided.

As for its popularity so far, the game has built a cult following on the Net and spawned at least a dozen web sites covering the game. The PlayStation Usenet newsgroup is also abuzz with Monster Rancher breeding talk.

Rebecca Colbourn, who maintains the Monster web site, says, "Monster Rancher is something that we really haven't seen much of here in the US. I thought that the concept sounded interesting when I first heard of it - it sounded like a cross between a virtual pet and a fighting game. I like virtual pets, but I found that they can get annoying really quickly and don't really simulate a real pet. Real pets don't beep at you every ten minutes and neither does Monster Rancher."