Japanese PlayStation 3 owners have been enjoying Ad Hoc Party for nearly a year now, but when will we get it here in North America? Maybe as early as next week?
That's when fighting game Fate/Unlimited Codes releases for the PlayStation Portable, according to the official PlayStation.blog. That game's trailer promises that PSP owners can "play online with Ad Hoc mode." Fate/Unlimited Codes is one of the games that uses Ad Hoc Party for its online multiplayer in Japan, turning the PlayStation 3 into a multiplayer server for PSP games without an infrastructure mode built-in, so one might think it will do the same in America.
Sony Computer Entertainment recently trademarked Ad Hoc Party in the United States, a good indicator that it plans to introduce it to North American PS3 owners.
Granted, the trailer for Fate/Unlimited Codes may be out of date and we wouldn't leave it up to the publisher of that game, Capcom, to determine the launch date of a Sony product. We were told at E3 this year that Ad Hoc Party support in the West was "in the works," but weren't given a release window.
We've reached out to Sony to get confirmation or clarification on the release date of Ad Hoc Party, but did not hear back before publishing.
Thanks to Gambit07 for the heads up!