"In Japan, Monster Hunter 3 will carry a fee for online play, a detail that arched some eyebrows on this side of the Pacific."
Why did this surprise ANYONE? In Japan, the console Monster Hunter games have always charged a monthly fee to play. That is why most of us expected the game to be free outside of Japan because Capcom did that too. With the PS2 games Capcom charged a fee in Japan but made it free outside of Japan. So this is not a surprise, but still good news. As for Wii Speak, I saw the GameTrailers interview where the Japanese producer said they were looking into Wii Speak support for the western release of it (among other confirmed changes like new weapons) and I hope they do it.