Posted By: wraggster
News from IGN
Surprise, surprise. Japan's best selling PSP title to date is getting a sequel. Following up on its promise of a big PSP scoop, the latest issue of Famitsu contains first word on Monster Hunter Portable 2nd, a sequel to Monster Hunter Portable. The title was originally hinted during the February release festivities for Monster Hunter 2 on the PlayStation 2.
MHP 2nd starts players off in a new home base, Pokke Village, which features a female chief. The main field of play this time is the snowy mountainous region surrounding Pokke Village. Other areas of play include a forest, a desert, a volcano and a swamp.
The snowy mountain area appeared in Monster Hunter 2. MHP 2nd lacks the day-night-season time flow system of that title, which allowed for conditions to change as you played. Instead, the PSP title features quests which take place at specifics times of the day.
In a show of the PSP's power, Capcom has been able to reuse, wherever it deemed appropriate, model and background data from Monster Hunter 2 in MHP 2nd. Some of the new PSP weapons, including the samurai blade, the hunting horn and the long bow, have also made their way over following a debut in the PS2 sequel.
The one area that's missing from Famitsu's report on the game is mention of infrastructure mode support. The original Monster Hunter Portable had ad-hoc local wireless play, which was a bit disappointing considering the PS2 Monster Hunter titles were all about online play. For the sequel, the Famitsu article only mentions wireless play and the availability of downloads, leading us to believe that infrastructure support isn't on the cards. We'll have to wait for clarification on the issue from Capcom.
Of course, the 650,000 Japanese gamers who picked up the original ad-hoc only Monster Hunter Portable probably won't mind one way or the other.