If Monster Hunter 4 is a massive hit on 3DS then it will very likely mean game over for the Vita in Japan. Considering how the system is doing elsewhere this will probably also decide the fate of Vita worldwide.

I don't think Nintendo had to pay for MH. Capcom always choses gaming platforms with low production costs. Therefore MH will stay on 3DS/PSP.

Actually... capcom released Monster hunter portable 3rd on the greatest hits line around the same time as 3G came out.

I dont think theres anything coming until after Monster Hunter 4 comes out on the 3DS. Thats what the team is working on afterall... best case scenario for the Vita is a simultanious release or a later port.

You have to think about it.... if capcom were to release a MH title on the Vita in Japan, its main market, it would be looking at 600k sales if it sold 1 to 1... thats not gonna happen so an optimistic prediction would be 200k-ish sales. Does it sound worth it? Doesnt to me when they can release it on the 3DS and get above one million sales.

It's not too hard of a narrative to follow. High development costs for the PS3 were more daunting for Japanese developers earlier in the generation (rather than now, where PS3 has become the default platform for big 3rd party JP console games), that combined with some definite efforts at courtship on Nintendo's part brought Monster Hunter G and the bigger Monster Hunter Tri. Nintendo's efforts then at aggressively promoting Tri in the West (which seemed to be more successful than any PSP or PS2 mounted Monster Hunter) then led Capcom to believe this was a sweetheart deal. Add to this the fact that the 3DS initially held promise of being as big as the DS, and you could see that Capcom would want to try to sink their claws into the DS market, and with the 3DS strong enough to run Monster Hunter as we know it, it was an easy decision to make

Now why Sony hasn't fought viciously against this, i cannot say. Sony seems to have done a poor job of money-hatting and cross-promotion this generation, something that Microsoft and even fricking Nintendo have aggressively pursued, though one could say the tradeoff was worth it for those who like Sony's first-party properties, which have improved as Sony's moneyhats have trailed off. The problem then lies in the fact that Sony Computer Entertainment seems incapable of making real megahits anymore.

Well, that Capcom confernce was a disappointment! Hopefully TGS will show something(maybe E3)!

Wasn't that conference, like, ages ago?

Also, I love the expectation that MH will head to the Vita. It hasn't been announced at Captivate, or Vita Heaven. There's the chance of E3, but it's slimmer than the rest (as it's a very Japanese-styled game), and of course TGS. If we don't here anything at TGS, or beforehand, we can pretty much confirm there's no title planned or in the works for the Vita. If so, the Japanese Vita doom will be well-founded.

What ever happened with that Play.com listing of a Vita Monster Hunter? They never said it wasn't an actual product, did they?

It no longer exsists:

http://www.play.com/Games/Games/6-/Search.html?searchstring=Monster+Hunter&searchtype=gameall&searchsource=2&searchfilters=s%7bMonster+Hunter%7d%2bc%7b362%7d%2b

Play has done this before. Probably gets them more site hits.

I know it no longer exists, they took it down because they listed the game before it was announced (or not). Thing is I don't remember either play.com or capcom saying it isn't in production.

Play.com said this:

"The product page and listing for Monster Hunter Portable 3 is genuine and has been live on Play.com since January. Following advice from Capcom and to avoid further confusion in the gaming community we have removed the Monster Hunter Portable 3 page."

"...while we make every effort to make all new games available on pre-order as soon as possible, we are committed to ensuring that we deliver these products within the mutually agreed timelines confirmed with our publishing partners."

They could just be saying that to cover their backs...I mean, it was up in January. It'll likely be June at the earliest we here. That's 6 months before it's made public. So, even if the retailers get a list of possible games to pre-order once a quarter, it wouldn't be on that list.

Fact is, they likely made a mistake and it's actually the 3DS/ PSP game, but they don't want to admit it.