Monster Hunter Tri coming to America, Europe in 2010

Capcom Entertainment announced plans to bring Monster Hunter Tri to North America and Europe in early 2010. Monster Hunter Tri is a Wii exclusive game where players explore and hunt a living, breathing ecosystem where man co-exists precariously with fantastic beasts that roam the land and inhabit the sea. Featuring both online and offline cooperative modes, players can join online hunting parties with up to four players or play with two players on a single TV for select quests.

Players also have the option to face Monster Hunter Tri’s quests as a single player experience accompanied by Cha-Cha, an AI controlled hunting partner with a particular talent for tracking and trapping. The game will also introduce new items, weapons and armor sets in the Monster Hunter universe though what those are we do not know at this time.

Those attending this month’s GamesCom European gaming convention in Cologne, Germany August 19-23, will be the first to sample a localized version of the title at Capcom’s exhibit. GamesCom attendees will have the opportunity to play the same game that impressed attendees at the Tokyo Game Show by storm, which, according to Capcom, had lines that stretched around its stand as people waited for over five hours to play.

Capcom Launches Encyclopedia Gigantica for Monster Hunter Fans

While you might have to wait until June 23 to play Monster Hunter Freedom Unite in North America, Capcom wants you to be ready for the journey. To get prepared, Capcom has launched the Encyclopedia Gigantica website. Hoping to prepare westerners for the arrival of Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, Capcom has enlisted the help of the top four Japanese Monster Hunters in the world. Amongst the four of them they have hundreds of years of experience hunting down some of the world’s most ferocious and challenging beasts. With the arrival date of Monster Hunter Freedom Unite coming up on June 23, this team of experts has passed on their knowledge in the form of the Encyclopedia Gigantica.

The Encyclopedia Gigantica is a huge online resource packed full of information about the upcoming Monster Hunter Freedom Unite game, including a quick start guide for rookie hunters, overviews of the quests you will face, a bestiary and data on the extensive range of weapons and armor available. Whether you are a Monster Hunter vet or a newcomer, you will find this an indispensable resource.

Capcom Hit with Major YTD Losses

In case you haven’t noticed from all the headlines lately, it’s that time of the year when companies have to report on their progress for the third financial quarter of the year. The most recent game company to step up to the firing line was Capcom, who released details of its year-to-date financials to investors late yesterday. The results were pretty rough, with the company reporting an overall loss of net income totaling a whopping 95 percent. However, things aren’t as bad as they seem, and the company expects to change things by the end of the financial year.

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Monster Hunter Freedom Unite Coming to North America

Early today at the Tokyo Game Show, Capcom confirmed that Japanese multi-platinum selling PSP title, Monster Hunter Portable 2G will be coming to North American gamers as Monster Hunter Freedom Unite. Monster Hunter Portable 2G was the Japan-exclusive expansion to the popular Monster Hunter Freedom 2. Since its release in Japan earlier this year, the game has sold over 2.4 million copies, easily making it one of the most successful games ever for Sony’s PSP. In fact, according to Capcom, the Monster Hunter franchise has sold over 7.8 million units worldwide.

Packed with more than five hundred hours of gameplay and a slew of unreleased monsters, weapons, and missions, Capcom is promising that Monster Hunter Freedom Unite will be the biggest game of the series so far. One of the new features in Monster Hunter Freedom Unite is a customizable AI “felyne” companion who will accompany players on quests and gather extra resources and can be shared and traded with other players. The game will also include an improved “Media Install Option,” which gives players the ability to save portions of the game from UMD to Memory Stick, resulting in much faster load times as well as improved battery life. Plus, as an added bonus, fans of the series will be able to transfer their character and data from Monster Hunter Freedom 2 over to the new game.

Monster Hunter Freedom Unite is scheduled for a North American release on PSP sometime in Spring 2009.