Sheesh James, stop being so harsh on monster hunter!
It's an HD Online version of the equivalent of the 2nd expansion pack of Tri. Each subsequent 're-release' is more like an expansion pack, akin to something like the frozen throne for warcraft 3, etc. It adds more content (equipment, monsters, weapon types), a new story mode, and a bunch of other additions to help streamline content. Anyone who is a huge fan can appreciate the amount of content that actually gets added. To anyone who doesnt know much about the series, do not assume this is just a modified port of the wii game. It's much more!
Also, the reason that I like TVii over other services (like xbox, apple, google tv, etc), is that Nintendo does not have its own agenda/marketplace to push. It is unbiased as to what content provider you choose. Nintendo does not provide its own video/music on demand service. Therefore, the interface is not skewed towards purchasing more content, but rather simply FINDING more content. I'll definitely use this provided it works as advertised.
ALSO, I think the virtual console stuff will EVENTUALLY be ported over to be run natively on Wii U, but this is a stopgap for launch.