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Ask Joystiq: On Monster Hunter, Tipsters and Soda
This week's Ask Joystiq: Monster Hunter 3, our tip line, our comment system and, most importantly, our soda preferences. If you have a question you want answered, drop us a line at ask AAT joystiq DAWT com. Let's get down to it:Q: Joystiq! I need some new info about Monster Hunter 3!!! Seriously, there is nothing out there. I know it is coming to Wii, but please tell me it is coming to the US.-MikeThe Monster Hunter series in Japan is quite a sales phenomenon -- one in five PSP owners have a copy of the game, according to Capcom. The same can't be said for North America, whose enthusiasm for the title has been noticeably less. Capcom gave us a rather lengthy statement on the issue (which we've printed after the break), but in a nutshell: the publisher is planning "a significant marketing program" for the Monster Hunter brand over the next two years in the west. "While we have not made specific announcements regarding Monster Hunter 3 in North America (or Europe, for that matter) to date," said the statement, "you can bet we'll be talking more about it in the future."
Iwata: Monster Hunter acquired to attract core gamers
In the U.S., Monster Hunter doesn't seem like much of a big deal, but it's serious business in Japan. It's not exactly Japan's Halo-- Halo 3 is actually doing a pretty good job of that right now-- but Famitsu and the other Japanese gaming sites manage to post about a Monster Hunter game nearly every single day. Such serious business is Monster Hunter that Nintendo's president Satoru Iwata celebrated Capcom's move of Monster Hunter 3 to the Wii as a strategic play on Nintendo's part to attract more hardcore gamers.In a statement made during Wednesday's Nintendo Conference, Iwata said "I understand that some experts argue that our success is short-lived and temporary. So, now we need to make efforts to [offer] services and titles that can appeal not only to those who have never played games but also to those who play them hard."In a delightfully hilarious understatement, publisher Enterbrain's Hirokazu Hamamura declared that "The transfer of the platform is a positive surprise for Nintendo and negative news for Sony." Yes, we'd say that a series that has sold 4.5 million copies on your systems moving toward the competitors is negative news. We think that there's almost no reason for Capcom to release a big game like Monster Hunter 3 on the PS3 when they could do so on the Wii. It costs less to develop Wii games, and there are more Wii owners to sell to. Oh, plus it sounds like Nintendo made them a very attractive deal, which doesn't hurt.The Wii's relatively lacking online integration is the only thing that could hurt Monster Hunter, and we imagine that Nintendo will bend over backwards to help out in this case.[Via Game|Life]
PS3 loses Monster Hunter 3 to Wii
One of Nintendo's many bombshells last night had to be the announcement of Monster Hunter 3 for the Wii platform. However, it was unclear at the time whether or not the previously announced PS3 version would be affected.According to Forbes, it appears that Capcom is abandoning the PS3 version altogether, making Wii the only platform for Monster Hunter 3. "Due to high development cost of titles for PS3, we have decided to switch the platform to which we release our Monster Hunter 3 title," Capcom managing corporate officer Katsuhiko Ichii said. This statement comes just weeks after Capcom pledged increase support for Sony's next generation platform.While the Monster Hunter franchise has a relatively small following in the States, it is a powerhouse franchise in Japan. The last iteration of the franchise, Monster Hunter Portable 2nd, sold over a million copies when it launched on PSP.[Via Next-Gen]
Monster Hunter 3 moved from PS3 to Wii
Nintendo's going to have to divert every Wii shipment straight to Japan for this one. The Monster Hunter series, while certainly doing decent business in the U.S., is an absolute sales monster in Japan. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd on the PSP sold half a million copies on its first day and became the first million-selling PSP game in Japan.Monster Hunter 3 was previously announced for the PS3, but Capcom has now changed their plan and announced it as a Wii exclusive. Without the barrier of having to buy a new $500+ system, Monster Hunter 3 (tri-) (that's the official title-- we don't know either!) should be quite the hit. An important part of the Monster Hunter experience is online play. We expect such a feature will appear on the Wii, though we don't look forward to seeing how the game will integrate friend codes.
