Capcom said that it would be giving Monster Hunter a massive marketing push in the west and, from the email we just received, it seems it wasn't lying. The UK branch is planning on opening up a Monster Hunter drop-in center this Summer in central London. The building will facilitate the playing of Monster Hunter Portable Unite in teams -- the way it's meant to be played.
One of the reasons the series has been so poorly adopted in the west is that we tend to play either alone or online. In Japan it's far more common to play together in the same room -- particularly with handhelds. The details have yet to be finalized but it looks as though an entire three story building will be made available throughout the month of July for gamers to drop by and play with other Monster Hunter players, enjoy free "sweets and fizzy pop" and charge up their PSPs.
The Monster Hunter den will be open until "at least 8 p.m." each evening, after which the games can continue down at the pub. Sounds like an ingenious (if costly) marketing ploy to us. We'll keep you informed of the details once they're finalized.
