Call of Duty Black Ops Voted ‘Best Game Ending’ Of All Time
18 hours 41 mins ago
Courtesy of Colin Ferris (Product Marketing Manager, Capcom), we've been given some reassuring information that Monster Hunter Freedom Unite is coming to the West.
Also, it's been told that CAPCOM has planned a surprise for all gamers sometime in June, to let as many of you to "experience the game" as possible. Do I smell a possible demo?
It’s a rare treat to be able to tell people that I’m working on the best selling game in Japan last year. To those who are unaware, they immediately think of PS3 games like Metal Gear Solid 4. Nope, my game outsold that and every other console game on the market.
The game? Monster Hunter for the PSP.
The latest version (Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G) was the top selling game in Japan last year and no amount of giant robots can change that. With over 3 million copies sold to date in Japan, about one in four Japanese PSP owners have the game. To be able to work on bringing a game of that caliber to the US is both a pleasure and an honor. It’s also the best game you’ll ever play on the PSP.
Yup, I’m a little biased…but, it’s hard not to be.
The upcoming release of Monster Hunter Freedom Unite is exciting to everyone involved in the title. For those who don’t know, Monster Hunter puts you on the hunt for a variety of majestic beasts that you have to defeat in order to become the ultimate hunter. With thousands of different types of weapons and armor, as well as over 500 hours of gameplay, this is the most engrossing action/RPG title for the PSP ever created.
What really makes the game shine, however, is the excellent multiplayer that makes use of the PSP’s built-in Ad-hoc multiplayer. Join with three of your friends to hunt monsters that you simply couldn’t defeat on your own. Playing the game with friends is truly the best way to play it, and with the PSP’s network abilities, everyone has their own screen to play on.
Though we’ve had an awesome group of core fans in the US, our goal is to let everyone experience the adventure with Monster Hunter this time around. To introduce you all to the world of Monster Hunter, we’ve put together this “newscast” with our intrepid reporter covering the imminent onslaught of monsters into the west and the phenomenon they caused in Japan. Ever go on a weekend getaway in order to learn new strategies and play new games with friends? Well, 5000 Japanese gamers did that very thing with Monster Hunter.
This initial video is just the tip of the Narugakuruga’s tail when it comes to what we have in store for you with Monster Hunter Freedom Unite. In upcoming weeks, we’ll have numerous videos to teach you about some of the weapons, monsters, and strategies you’ll need when Monster Hunter Freedom Unite ships. We’ve also planned a surprise for all PSP gamers in June to let as many of you experience the game as possible.
In the meantime, sharpen your swords, join your friends and equip yourself to hunt down some of the most majestic monsters you’ve ever seen. I’ll be hopping on the PlayStation boards from time to time to fill you guys in on the latest and try and answer all the questions you might have.
News story attached to:
Comments
That's probably changed now, but there most likely too far to bother now.
Would it KILL those guys to make good use of the Infrastructure online?! Seriously?! I'm sure a lot of us have friends who own PSP's and find the time of day to get together and play some *bleep*ing Monster Hunter. christ.
Plus if it were on the PS3 there's no way they'd make it out of Japan, whereas with the Wii, they have a shot at the global market not only due to production costs, but because of the fanbase they could have.
Secondly, the fanbase? You mean when all the other MH games have come out on the PS systems? The production cost is the only thing that makes sense here. Still, knowing Capcom, I sincerely doubt that Japan is the only country a franchise as HUGE as MH would be coming out on.
Besides, this is a talking about a fanbase for a game series, not a console or its company. I love Monster Hunter, its the greatest game series to grace the planet and any console its on. I've played it on the PS2(Monster Hunter), the PSP(Monster Hunter Freedom, Monster Hunter Freedom 2, Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G), the PC(Monster Hunter Frontier) and I have no problem with making the Wii my next Monster Hunter player.
Monster Hunter 2 never left Japan, and I'm sure it could have sold better on the PS2 and cost much less to produce than a PS3 Monster Hunter game would, yet the game still didn't come out anywhere but Japan. The same goes for Frontier, its on the PC, has a huge fanbase and relatively easy to run. Once again, cheaper to produce and has a bigger potential market.
The fact is, its ONLY insanely popular in Japan, and companies arent going to take a risk like making a world market for a console that costs the most to produce on.
And as I said before, DR was a port, Monster Hunter has been remade from scratch. The AI seems amazing, with the creatures interacting with their habitat and other creatures as they should realistically. Carnivorous beasts hunting their prey, herds and packs traveling together through the entirety of the map. In the desert, creatures will even do things like roll in mud to stay cool.
I honestly thought that MH2 only came put in JPN and PAL territories. The sales must've been horrible for the game, which would explain why they continued production on the PSP. I'm still scratching my head as to why a game that basically COERCES you to go online, doesn't have any infrastructure mode (saving up on production costs again?).
Again, the whole thing falls down to costs, all those features would've been a lot more expensive to make on the PS3, hell they probably would've needed to set the bar a little higher than that too. Whether the game is a port or not, production costs is where the problem is at, and it doesn't matter where the fanbase is, the game is selling anyways.
The game just works better on-line, Infrastructure mode was one of the most requested options from MH players and yet capcom still left it out.
TBH I would have preferred a full infrastructure mode than the map download thing they put in there.
As for online, Unite has the Playstation Network option of connecting through a PS3, its basically Xlink, but using the console instead of a PC.
I have my doubts about PSN's Infrastructure setup, Untold Legends lagged like hell over it, and thats nowhere near as complex or demanding as Monster Hunter.
You need another console to connect online through a Portable system? That's quite *bleep*. I'd like to bring Killzone: Liberation as an awesome example of how developers CAN include infrastructure as a FREE patch (Guerrilla even threw in an extra campaign chapter).
As Slumpy Monkey already pointed out:
SOCOM: Fireteam Bravo (1 and 2)
Killzone: Liberation
Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror/ Logan's Shadow/ Combat Ops
Resistance Retribution
Etc, etc, etc.
We're talking 6-16 players here PLUS community options, AND mic support.
Much like with Untold Legends, Killzone: Liberation isn't a very demanding game for online play. In fact, unlike all of the games listed there, Monster Hunter and Phantasy Star are actually better, and with much more content than the current console versions of the game. The only Monster Hunter game to have more in it right now is Frontier and thats because they add more creatures and equipment every season.
And I still say that Monster Hunter is more demanding since you're not just fighting other people. Its much different to run a game with multiple characters fighting AI enemies than it is to throw some people in a map and let them kill each other.
Doesn't really make it any less *bleep*.
I'm sure you have all the technical details to make such a claim and make it a fact, right? You're gonna tell me that Monster Hunter, a game that houses 4 players at most without any mic support or clan support or any of that is more "demanding" than Killzone: Liberation, which houses 6 players at once with amazing graphics, community options, mic support, etc? You're gonna have a hard ass time selling that without any actual proof of any of that. Much less a game like Combat Ops which is MAINLY online (complete with user-created content)?
I'm not an expert in this field and I'm not going to pretend that I am, but wouldn't it be harder to keep up with 6 to 16 people shooting and blowing each other up simultaneously?
Now that I see the reasoning, this isn't such a bad move. They are putting more effort into the globalisation of Monster Hunter, expand the fanbase and general audience. It's not as if they'll stop all Sony Console game developments. I hope *bites tongue*
This news story is archived and is closed to comments now.