Topic: Monster Hunter Dated, Free Online Play for North America

[NWR_DrewMG]

Nintendo also reveals an upcoming demo disc for the huge release. UPDATED with Press Release.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/22630

Monster Hunter Tri is undoubtedly one of the most highly anticipated Wii games of 2010. Capcom has avoided giving it a set release date for a while, but at today's Media Summit Nintendo confirmed a North American launch date of April 20.

More importantly, Nintendo finally addressed the question of whether or not Tri's online component would be pay-to-play in North America, as it is in Japan. Fans of the series will be pleased to know that they will be able to hunt online completely free of charge.

Nintendo also made good on their promise of helping to market the game alongside Capcom by offering demo discs at Gamestop, which will become available on March 8. There will also be a pre-order incentive of 500 "collectible" Nintendo points, useable towards any purchase of downloadable Wii or DSi software.

Capcom's Seth Killian conducted a live demonstration of the game at the event, which our own Aaron Kaluszka described in his live blog.

CAPCOM® BLOWS THE LID OFF MONSTER HUNTER™ TRI

Free Online Play, Release Date, Wii-Speak Support, Playable Demo, and Exclusive Pre-order Incentives Give Consumers Even More Reason to Join the Monster Hunter Phenomenon

SAN FRANCISCO, CA— February 24, 2010 — Capcom® Entertainment, a leading worldwide developer and publisher of video games, today announced big plans for its upcoming game Monster Hunter™ Tri at the Nintendo Media Summit in San Francisco. Capcom revealed that the Wii™ exclusive would be shipping to retail stores on April 20, 2010 along with the launch of the new Classic Controller Pro™. Limited quantities of Monster Hunter Tri will be bundled in with the new controller for a suggested retail price of $59.99. The standalone game will be released with a suggested retail price of $49.99.

Along with the exciting news of the ship date, Capcom and Nintendo revealed its online plans for the North American fans by offering online play at no cost. Gamers also now have options for how they want to communicate as they develop tactics and strategies for hunting majestic monsters, either by text based chat or Wii Speak™, Nintendo’s hands free microphone.

[TJ Spyke]

More importantly, Nintendo finally addressed the question of whether or not Tri's online component would be pay-to-play in North America, as it is in Japan.  Fans of the series will be pleased to know that they will be able to hunt online completely free of charge.

Um, Capcom already confirmed that a couple months ago, so that is not news.

These demo discs, are they ones people can take home or are they just for the store kiosks? If it's the latter, then big whoop.

The interesting part is 500 free Nintendo Points (although I wonder if they will hold them and let people get the points once the game releases, otherwise there will be a lot of people pre-ordering the game to get the points and then canceling their pre-order_.

[Pale]

FYI: Amazon pays twice as much as Gamestop for Monster Hunter preorders.  There you get 10 bucks off your next video game purchase.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Holy Crap, April for MH3, May for SMG2, and June for Metroid Other M? WOW, I'm impressed and will be broke.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Good, because I already have a $10 off next purchase at Amazon.
I love Amazon, but they really need to not make it so easy to purchase stuff, and stop giving me great incentives to spend more money(like money off your next purchase) and start charging tax so that i'm more hesitant to buy stuff.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Holy Crap, April for MH3, May for SMG2, and June for Metroid Other M? WOW, I'm impressed and will be broke.

anyone wanna predict
July
August
Sept.
?

[Halbred]

Holy Crap, April for MH3, May for SMG2, and June for Metroid Other M? WOW, I'm impressed and will be broke.

I was thinking the same thing.

[vudu]

Holy Crap, April for MH3, May for SMG2, and June for Metroid Other M? WOW, I'm impressed and will be broke.

You forgot Sin & Punishment 2. 

[GoldenPhoenix]

Holy Crap, April for MH3, May for SMG2, and June for Metroid Other M? WOW, I'm impressed and will be broke.

You forgot Sin & Punishment 2. 

True, I am looking forward to that too.

[NWR_Lindy]

Um, Capcom already confirmed that a couple months ago, so that is not news.

Show me where.  I've never seen this officially confirmed by Capcom anywhere, outside of hearsay (and I've been tracking this game pretty closely).  The guys on the Capcom Twitter feed sure seemed to act like it was a new announcement.

[Mop it up]

Now we just need confirmation on whether or not it is region-restricted. Since the Japanese service is pay-to-play and doesn't have support for Wii Speak, it seems highly unlikely to me that the two games are compatible. Europe and Australia are still possible though.

[NWR_Lindy]

I don't really see the lack of Japanese Wii Speak support as an issue.  You just wouldn't be able to voice chat with Japanese players.  It would be no different than grouping with somebody that doesn't have a Wii Speak microphone.

[NWR_Lindy]

Now we just need confirmation on whether or not it is region-restricted. Since the Japanese service is pay-to-play and doesn't have support for Wii Speak, it seems highly unlikely to me that the two games are compatible. Europe and Australia are still possible though.

Mop, Aaron and I are trying to find this out for you right now.

[broodwars]

These demo discs, are they ones people can take home or are they just for the store kiosks? If it's the latter, then big whoop.

I'm curious about that as well.  I don't care enough about this game to be willing to drive down to my local GS and spend however long on a Wii demo kiosk with their usual faulty Wiimotes.  But if it's a demo disc I can pick up when I'm picking up my midnight release of FF XIII and then take home to play in the comfort of my own home and with my own controllers, that's a different story.

Wise move making this game free online in North America.  I just don't think there's the kind of community on Wii in North America to support this game's online like there is in Japan, and this game's going to be a hard sell here as it is.

[NWR_Lindy]

http://www.capcom-unity.com/jgonzo/blog/2010/02/24/monster_hunter_tri_demo__pre-order_clarification

From JGonzo's Capcom blog:

"the Monster Hunter Tri demo (which will be available to pick up in Gamestop stores starting March 8th) will be free to all. No pre-order required. Just head on over to Gamestop on that date and pick it up. If you like it, then we can hope that you'll pre-order it :-)"

[broodwars]

http://www.capcom-unity.com/jgonzo/blog/2010/02/24/monster_hunter_tri_demo__pre-order_clarification

From JGonzo's Capcom blog:

"the Monster Hunter Tri demo (which will be available to pick up in Gamestop stores starting March 8th) will be free to all. No pre-order required. Just head on over to Gamestop on that date and pick it up. If you like it, then we can hope that you'll pre-order it :-)"

Yay!      Here's hoping the SP can hold up on its own, as I doubt the demo disc will have online multi.

[GoldenPhoenix]

I wonder how much Nintendo is going to help market the game beyond the demo disks.

[Chozo Ghost]

I don't really see the lack of Japanese Wii Speak support as an issue.  You just wouldn't be able to voice chat with Japanese players.  It would be no different than grouping with somebody that doesn't have a Wii Speak microphone.

Its just as well anyway because of the language difference.

[NWR_Lindy]

Now we just need confirmation on whether or not it is region-restricted.

Mop, Capcom just confirmed that the online play is region-specific.  In other words, North American players will only be able to play with North American players.

[Mop it up]

All right, thanks for looking into it.
The reason I wanted to know is because I know a few people from Europe were interested in NWR's Monster Hunter game night, so this will probably be disappointing to them.

[KDR_11k]

To be fair I avoid cross-region play anyway because of latency concerns.

[NWR_insanolord]

I'm beginning to understand Nintendo's stance toward demos. I'd most likely have preordered this game by now, but I'm waiting to play the demo disc to make sure I want it.

[NWR_Lindy]

I'm beginning to understand Nintendo's stance toward demos. I'd most likely have preordered this game by now, but I'm waiting to play the demo disc to make sure I want it.

Are you saying you prefer not being able to play a game ahead of time, giving Nintendo your money, and then finding out you don't like it?

[NWR_insanolord]

I'm beginning to understand Nintendo's stance toward demos. I'd most likely have preordered this game by now, but I'm waiting to play the demo disc to make sure I want it.

Are you saying you prefer not being able to play a game ahead of time, giving Nintendo your money, and then finding out you don't like it?

No, I definitely like having the demo, I'm just saying I understand why Nintendo might not care for them, as they can discourage people who would have otherwise bought the game as much as they'd win over people who were on the fence.