We're all bummed by Monster Hunter Freedom 2's lack of Infrastructure. It's absolutely mind-boggling. Sure, we can use tunneling services to trick the game, but Capcom should have known better. 1UP's Milkman agrees, and constantly brings the issue up in his latest interview with Producer Ryozo Tsujimoto. Capcom's excuse is absolutely terrible: "The reason we went with Ad Hoc wireless play for the PSP version was because the reason for having a PSP is the ability to take it out on the town, or to play with groups of friends while sitting down. Like when you go to the arcade with friends, you go to play with people in the same vicinity -- you don't go to play with people across the country. So we really wanted to focus on having ad hoc multiplayer, so you could sit with a group of friends and talk about strategies. And that's what the real fun part is."
Excuse me? That simply doesn't make sense. Should World of Warcraft be limited to Ad-Hoc play because that's what "the real fun" is? Sorry Capcom, that doesn't cut the mustard. Tsujimoto does offer a concession: "But in the future, it's something we can think about if the fans want something like that and let us know." But we did let you know!
Capcom offers weak excuse for Ad-hoc only play in Monster Hunter
Posted Apr 14th 2007 4:00PM by Andrew Yoon
Filed under: Interviews, Monster Hunter
Tags: 1up, ad hoc, ad-hoc, AdHoc, capcom, interview, milkman, monster hunter, MonsterHunter, ryozo tsujimoto, RyozoTsujimoto
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
4-14-2007 @ 5:11PM
Joel said...
I just can't believe it...
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4-14-2007 @ 5:25PM
Kade Storm said...
That is bloody stupid. I mean, well said, Yoon. Besides, who's talking about getting rid of Ad-Hoc? We're just asking for the 'additional' option of infrastructure, for those of us that don't have a town full of MH: P fanatics. A mode for those of that don't have gaming-buddies with their own PSPs and copies of MH: P. Shit! The downright cheap reasoning these people resort to is flabbergasting.
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4-14-2007 @ 5:30PM
Andrew said...
Well actually i can uderstand what they were tryin to say. I mean the PSP isn't actually meant for home use, its soemthing you do take outside for fun and stuff... but still they could've put both , but hey atleast in japan it will be easy to find someone with the game to play ad hoc mode....
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4-14-2007 @ 5:35PM
PSP Fan said...
oh my god no infrastructure, the sky is faling the sky is falling!!
Damn them to hell for leaving that out, man thats horrible!
Oh Wait I won't play this game anyways....
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4-14-2007 @ 5:40PM
Hashbrown_Hunter said...
Well that's a really bad excuse.
If and when they DO have infrastructure enabled, I'm hoping they will fix the control scheme. It feels very awkward and I've stopped playing it just because of the weird controls. It added a whole new layer of difficulty and I found it very annoying.
...sorry for the mini-rant...
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4-14-2007 @ 5:42PM
CD said...
I can't help but think if they really thought that wouldn't there at least be an offline multiplayer option on the console versions? The PS2 MH is all about online. And Frontier is basically going to be an MMO. This is just a line of marketing BS, whatever their real reason for not including Infrastructure in Freedom they're not telling.
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4-14-2007 @ 6:20PM
daniel-kun said...
AAAAAAAAAARRGHHH! And I so hoped they didn't exclude the multiplayer from MH2! That's so terribly stupid. For those who did not know, MH1 HAD infrastructure in Japan, from what I know. They can't release a f*cking online-RPG that's offline, they just can't! Grrrr.
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4-14-2007 @ 6:26PM
Joe said...
Having no infrastructure I think will be a big reason not that many people will buy this game. I played the first one and it is hard playing alone but if more people could team up it would be a little easier and would also make it more fun.
So Capcom is dumb all I can hope is seeing as the game will come with a download patch for other levels is the future Capcom will bring out an infrastructure patch just like Killzone:Liberation is doing.
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4-14-2007 @ 6:27PM
Saigon said...
What a piss poor excuse, and most likely a lie. His dev team probably didn't want to take the time to program the infrastructure part...or maybe they didn't know how to.
Now I will have to reluctantly purchase this cool looking game.
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4-14-2007 @ 6:48PM
Jason said...
"Having no infrastructure I think will be a big reason not that many people will buy this game."
Keep in mind this game is primarily made and targeted for the Japanese market (where it did extremely well). Not only do the Japanese have a well-known aversion to online multiplayer, you have other PSP-related factors to consider. Foremost among those are 1) it would cost Capcom money to maintain infrastructure servers-- costs that would have to be passed onto the consumer and 2) infrastructure play requires inbuilt commmunications, and without a keyboard the only other option is voice chat, which is almost unheard of for Japanese games.
North American players should be happy we're getting MHF2 in the first place and stop whining about no infrastructure. Yes it would have been nice, but if you really need it, use XLink. And do enjoy the inevitable cheating and hacking that will ensue.
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4-14-2007 @ 7:08PM
Kade Storm said...
Bull****! I've had it with pussy-footing. Fine, we should be grateful. Thank you Capcom! THANK YOU, for being so 'giving'. You provide us with everything, life, and livelihood! Who the hell are we to complain - we're consumers! *GASP* Shit.
Some of you are missing the point. The real issue here is that they gave a piss-ass excuse! Not only to they deny us a feature that we've been demanding since the first MH, but they also make one of the most half-ass excuses, EVER! And oh, while we're on the subject of market - this is the NA release we're talking about, and not the Jap. I don't care if the Japs have an 'issue' with online play, which is not really a substanitated claim, AT ALL! We don't know this - we believe this! (Monster Hunter Freedom, as it's known in Japan, was online! FF VII: Dirge of Cerberus was only online in Japan. The only Gundam MMO was--righto--JAPANESE! And there's more to this than this half-truth/lie of Japs disliking online.)
Fact remains that the NA/EU release, is a NON-JAP release, and so these so-called 'intelligent' people, I assume, should modify the product to the needs of the demographic in those regions.
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4-14-2007 @ 8:11PM
sicklesdawg said...
First dmc not exclusive now this!! oh well im not buying it anymore.
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4-14-2007 @ 8:22PM
Jason said...
"You provide us with everything, life, and livelihood! Who the hell are we to complain - we're consumers! *GASP* Shit."
Thats a lot of vitriol to be spewing over a game feature; relax. Don't get me wrong- i'm as disappointed as anyone that online play isn't included. And no, not all of Japan hates online (as evidenced by the OL gathering halls completely filled with JP Xlink Kai users when MHP2 released).
Monster Hunter Portable's primary target market is Japan; it's nowhere as popular anywhere else in the world). Now consider that Capcom has a limited amount of resources at their disposal. Therefore when designing a sequel, logically they will put emphasis on features requested the most by Japanese focus groups.
Of course they could have modified the product for the NA release, but adding a complete infrastructure mode would have likely raised costs beyond profitability for a NA release. As such, id rather take what's available over no game at all. If you would rather choose the latter option, then simply don't buy the game.
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4-14-2007 @ 8:50PM
Strike009 said...
someone make an online petition. it worked for bio shock, so many people signed a petition for the game to be released in a limited edition package that the game creators decided to do it. it a petition gets started and the story makes it onto gamespot.com, thousands of people will want to sign and maybe capcom will listen.
probably not..
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4-14-2007 @ 11:06PM
Kade Storm said...
Jason, I am about vitriol, because there's two things I can't stand, in the respective orders.
- Consumers getting screwed.
- Equally insulting excuses being made for consumers getting screwed.
Monster Hunter is clearly -most- popular in Japan, but it's western popularity is not something to dismiss so easily. X-Link Kai's english version of MH is flooded with usually more people than one would find for the average, but successful western PSP title to support infrastructure.
I am sure they has some corners to cut; now that's a quasi-legitimate, albeit pathetic excuse. On the other hand, making up down-right insulting reasoning is just asking for scathe. This is beyond gaming, because it's a matter of PR principles, and consumers getting jacked around.
Quite honestly, MH has -no- appeal to me without active multiplayer prospects. It doesn't exactly have a linear, but epic narrative like some traditional Japanese RPGs. The whole concept, and attraction behind this game exists in its robust quests which requires one to mingle with other players. Now, to achieve this game's niche, from an NA/EU point of view, infrastructure would be the practical option more than sole reliance on Ad-Hoc. Capcom had one whole title, and a massive slew of constructive criticism to figure sort the sequel out, but they didn't act on it for reasons that they clearly do not wish to share with us, not when they're busy insulting our intelligence with half-baked excuses.
This is going to result in problems for EU and NA audiences, but hardcore fans will still make do; I mean we know they'll be willing to go x-link, again.
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4-14-2007 @ 11:22PM
-Jad- said...
As simple as that. Capcom don't cares about they costumer over US & Europe... deal with it. Since the lost exclusivity of DMC4 hahahaha nothing that came from Capcom shock or impressive me anymore. Capcom only want the money as easy one... not matter what... even cut or make a game even worse. Capsici.
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4-15-2007 @ 2:38AM
vR said...
-Jad- hit the nail on the head. Capcom doesn't care about their customers outside of Japan. For years, the Street Fighter community has been trying to get Capcom support for its tournaments. NEVER has there been any real support. We have succeeded in getting the top Japanese players to fly here to compete against America's best. We have even gotten Toyota to sponsor recent tournaments, for God's sake, but Capcom won't even sponsor tourneys for their own games.
This is not a small matter. Bad on you, Capcom.
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4-15-2007 @ 10:10PM
Kade Storm said...
...true. Yeah, I'm not gonna' be getting this game despite its stunning visuals. I mean, until and unless one of my friends gets a PSP and a copy of this game, I'm just going to pass.
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4-16-2007 @ 6:50PM
eddy_88_nite said...
Well i see this is a heated discussion but its true capcom made a big mistake on this one. Online is a must for this game. Especially with the amount of game play not to mention the difficulty of the later wyverns.
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4-17-2007 @ 8:20AM
Preacher said...
"Like when you go to the arcade with friends, you go to play with people in the same vicinity -- you don't go to play with people across the country"
A rebuttal to that point: In America arcades have been in a decline since the 80's, clearly Americans have given their opinion of playing games with people in the same vicinity; that being, playing games from home is just more appealing to us. Because of this decline in a social arcade scene I can honestly say that, other than the ocassional PC LAN party, there are no public places I can go to play games with people in the same vicinity. Even the few internet gaming cafes that pop-up in my town never seem to last more than a few months. Now that's just for PC gaming! imagine the rarity of finding a local social spot for people playing not just games but PSP games and not just any PSP game but specifically the Monster Hunter title. In Japan that may be quite easy to do; arcades are still popular; people hang out there and can bring their PSPs, along with the very popular Monster Hunter UMD, it can be expected with some reliability.
Where I live, in suburbian America, arcades are dying and if you go there it's to play the actual arcade machines and not soak in the atmosphere and play a few missions of Monster Hunter. I wish it was like that here, but it just isn't.
Maybe Capcom just isn't aware of how different the situation outside of Japan is. It's not just that we Americans like to play games at home over the internet rather than going out to play games with other people in the same vicinity, it's just that more often than not we can't.
Infrastructure mode on MHF2 isn't just a nice extra bonus feature that we'd like for the game, for us infrustructure is a critical feature that for many would be the only means for us to play the multiplayer portion of the game. Seeing as the multiplayer portion of the game is rather intergral to the whole design of the game, it seems foolish not to make it a priority to include infrustructure for the NA/EU release.
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