London Monster Hunter Center Opens in July

[Keane Ng]

London Monster Hunter Center Opens in July

Officially open for monster hunting in July, Capcom's Monster Hunter Gathering Hall in London will be the premier destination for Londoners with a passion for killing giant dinosaurs and making armor out of their carcasses.

Capcom Europe is now officially serious about making Monster Hunter into a genuine success. Announced earlier this year, Capcom will be opening up the Monster Hunter Gathering Hall [http://www.capcom-unity.com/snow_infernus/blog/2009/06/11/londons_monster_hunter_gathering_hall] in London on July 3rd, which will be open from 10 AM to 8 PM seven days a week. It's located on 121 Charing Cross Road, which I hear isn't too far from the Tottenham Court Road tube station in central Londontown (notice how I used the word "tube" - see, I understand your crazy lingo, too). Judging from Google Street View, it's also near a Japanese restaurant - so hey, if you want to really feel like a Japanese gamer, this will clearly be the place to be.

If you've got a copy of Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, which comes out toward the end of June worldwide, you can get into the Gathering Hall, where you can download exclusive quests and get schooled in the Monster Hunter ways from friendly staff on hand. It's meant to replicate the social nature of the game and get hunters to play together in person, just like they do in Japan.

Renting a bar or a gallery for a night to promote a game is one thing and pretty much common practice in this business, but renting a space for an extended period of time is a whole other thing. The place will be open until September 1st, so that's a huge investment. Hopefully it'll pay off for Capcom.

In any case, if you live in London you won't have any excuse for complaining there's nobody to play Monster Hunter with. Of course, anyone around the world can play the game online through unofficial means (via a Japanese Xlink Kai [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adhoc_Party_for_PlayStation_Portable]), but if you're in London why not do it the real way, with real people.

Permalink

 

[Chipperz]

This... Sounds like it could be fun! I was one of the mutants that enjoyed Monster Hunter Freedom, right up until I couldn't play any more because of the multiplayer quests. Havinga place that I can just turn up at and play would be awesome!

EDIT - you also don;t understand our crazy lingo until you can tell me what a "fag" actually is...

 

[Cpt_Oblivious]

I thought this would be real monsters being hunted for real.
I am horribly disappointed.

Well done on using our crazy lingo too.

 

[Keane Ng]

This... Sounds like it could be fun! I was one of the mutants that enjoyed Monster Hunter Freedom, right up until I couldn't play any more because of the multiplayer quests. Havinga place that I can just turn up at and play would be awesome!

EDIT - you also don;t understand our crazy lingo until you can tell me what a "fag" actually is...

That's a charcoal right?

 

[Chipperz]

This... Sounds like it could be fun! I was one of the mutants that enjoyed Monster Hunter Freedom, right up until I couldn't play any more because of the multiplayer quests. Havinga place that I can just turn up at and play would be awesome!

EDIT - you also don;t understand our crazy lingo until you can tell me what a "fag" actually is...

That's a charcoal right?

No, but good guess! I'll give you another try

I'll give you a clue - "I'm going outside to light up a fag" is not hate speech in our country.

 

[Ashbax]

I thought this would be real monsters being hunted for real.
I am horribly disappointed.

.

Same here. I thought it was gonna be like one of those fictional illegal scenarios where you forcibly dress people up in monster suits and set them wild in an artificial forest, then give us weapons and send them out to kill and skin them

I too am disappointed. HIGHLY.

 

[Keane Ng]

This... Sounds like it could be fun! I was one of the mutants that enjoyed Monster Hunter Freedom, right up until I couldn't play any more because of the multiplayer quests. Havinga place that I can just turn up at and play would be awesome!

EDIT - you also don;t understand our crazy lingo until you can tell me what a "fag" actually is...

That's a charcoal right?

No, but good guess! I'll give you another try

I'll give you a clue - "I'm going outside to light up a fag" is not hate speech in our country.

Cigs!

 

[BobisOnlyBob]

"Can I bum a fag off you?"

Not a request for homosexual intercourse, but a request for a cigarette when lacking money.

British slang is weird.


On topic, I have very little knowledge of Monster Hunter, and I suspect this venture will be very limited in the scope of people it attracts...

 

[reaper_2k9]

This sounds really cool, i have never played the game but everyone that I know that has, absolutely loves it.

 

[Therumancer]

Well I've played Monster Hunter 1 very briefly (was stolen from me so I guess it was pretty good) and made some half-hearted attempts at Monster Hunter 2. I may or may not get Unite eventually... undecided.

Honestly I've mad very little progress at it, I like the idea, but I've been demoralized, and honestly the camera for this game is absolutly awful, as are the loading times.

If they were to fix the camera, find some way to cut down the loading, and perhaps add some kind of free roam mode the game would be awesome. Right now it's a very neat Action RPG/hunting simulation hybrid but needs polish in places they seem to be overlooking. I'm not surprised it has a big following in general, but I am surprised it's big enough to host a convention like that given the glaring problems with it.

Of course understand what I consider to be a glaring problem might not be one to someone else.

>>>----Therumancer--->

 

[Keane Ng]

Well I've played Monster Hunter 1 very briefly (was stolen from me so I guess it was pretty good) and made some half-hearted attempts at Monster Hunter 2. I may or may not get Unite eventually... undecided.

Honestly I've mad very little progress at it, I like the idea, but I've been demoralized, and honestly the camera for this game is absolutly awful, as are the loading times.

If they were to fix the camera, find some way to cut down the loading, and perhaps add some kind of free roam mode the game would be awesome. Right now it's a very neat Action RPG/hunting simulation hybrid but needs polish in places they seem to be overlooking. I'm not surprised it has a big following in general, but I am surprised it's big enough to host a convention like that given the glaring problems with it.

Of course understand what I consider to be a glaring problem might not be one to someone else.

>>>----Therumancer--->

Getting used to the camera is half of the learning curve in MH. I thought it was awful too, but now I don't even really notice it. Hitting L to center is just half the work, the real trick is to use your the side of your index finger to rotate it left and right on the d-pad. Everything gets about 1000 times easier once you can do that.

 

[Chipperz]

This... Sounds like it could be fun! I was one of the mutants that enjoyed Monster Hunter Freedom, right up until I couldn't play any more because of the multiplayer quests. Havinga place that I can just turn up at and play would be awesome!

EDIT - you also don;t understand our crazy lingo until you can tell me what a "fag" actually is...

That's a charcoal right?

No, but good guess! I'll give you another try

I'll give you a clue - "I'm going outside to light up a fag" is not hate speech in our country.

Cigs!

Congratulations! You are now an honourary Brit! You may start spelling words like harbour and colour properly!

Back on topic... Naah, I got nothin'

 

[Lord_Jaroh]

Well I've played Monster Hunter 1 very briefly (was stolen from me so I guess it was pretty good) and made some half-hearted attempts at Monster Hunter 2. I may or may not get Unite eventually... undecided.

Honestly I've mad very little progress at it, I like the idea, but I've been demoralized, and honestly the camera for this game is absolutly awful, as are the loading times.

If they were to fix the camera, find some way to cut down the loading, and perhaps add some kind of free roam mode the game would be awesome. Right now it's a very neat Action RPG/hunting simulation hybrid but needs polish in places they seem to be overlooking. I'm not surprised it has a big following in general, but I am surprised it's big enough to host a convention like that given the glaring problems with it.

Of course understand what I consider to be a glaring problem might not be one to someone else.

>>>----Therumancer--->

Getting used to the camera is half of the learning curve in MH. I thought it was awful too, but now I don't even really notice it. Hitting L to center is just half the work, the real trick is to use your the side of your index finger to rotate it left and right on the d-pad. Everything gets about 1000 times easier once you can do that.

"Learning Curve" nothing! I'm sure you can learn to walk from now on on your hands and use your feet for everything, but that doesn't mean that you should. It's still amazingly uncomfortable. I wish that Capcom would actually come out with a decent control scheme for the game, as that is one of the things truly bad about it.

 

[nova18]

They should dedicate a whole street to Centers like this.
Open up a L4D London Saferoom.
That WOW themed restaurant from Beijing.
Final Fantasy style Inn for the tourists.
And have convert the road into a Mario Kart track.

I'd live there.

 

[Keane Ng]

"Learning Curve" nothing! I'm sure you can learn to walk from now on on your hands and use your feet for everything, but that doesn't mean that you should. It's still amazingly uncomfortable. I wish that Capcom would actually come out with a decent control scheme for the game, as that is one of the things truly bad about it.

I'll be the first to admit the camera isn't great, but I think it's something that's negligible in the face of everything else the game has to offer - and it's not an insurmountable issue, either. It doesn't break the game, and can actually become very useful if you learn its tricks.

Camera aside, if you're complaining about the controls in general, then I'd have to argue with you there. I think the controls are fantastic.

 

[Lord_Jaroh]

"Learning Curve" nothing! I'm sure you can learn to walk from now on on your hands and use your feet for everything, but that doesn't mean that you should. It's still amazingly uncomfortable. I wish that Capcom would actually come out with a decent control scheme for the game, as that is one of the things truly bad about it.

I'll be the first to admit the camera isn't great, but I think it's something that's negligible in the face of everything else the game has to offer - and it's not an insurmountable issue, either. It doesn't break the game, and can actually become very useful if you learn its tricks.

Camera aside, if you're complaining about the controls in general, then I'd have to argue with you there. I think the controls are fantastic.

I found the controls much better on the PS2 (barring the assinine camera work). It kinda sucks that that is what I got used to. Now after so long not playing and playing games with much better button layouts, it just feels clumsy on the PSP.

 

[Aedrial]

I hope its a huge success! So it will encourage more around the globe!

 

[MasterSqueak]

"Can I bum a fag off you?"

Not a request for homosexual intercourse, but a request for a cigarette when lacking money.

British slang is weird.

Yes, now I must go kill me some U's.

 

[AlexTheBucket2112]

must...buy...plane ticket...to...europe...