Monster Hunter 4 is set to be one of the biggest launches in Japan this year. Famitsu handed out a first score in its latest issue for the much-anticipated game, delivering a total of 38/40.
As far as the actual review is concerned, below are a few tidbits from the editors:
– Whilst being relocated, it’s a dramatically deeper hunting experience
– The length of gameplay has tremendously increased thanks to online play and StreetPass
– The addition of jump attacks and riding monsters makes for a much more enjoyable stereoscopic hunting experience
– It takes more time to master a particular weapon
– Although the in-game mannerisms seem to be drifting, completion with communication tools is high
Polygon has gone live with a new interview featuring Nintendo of America’s Dan Adelman, manager of business development licensing, and Damon Baker, senior manager of licensing marketing. Both had a whole lot to say regarding the company’s indie efforts, policies, and and more. You can find all of their comments after the break.
The Kickstarter campaign for Ghost Song: A Journey of Hope has come to an end. It was very much successful with funds exceeding $50,000 – well past the original $15,000 target.
However, the Kickstarter did miss out on the Wii U stretch goal, which was set at $60,000. How does this impact a potential release on the console?
Well, it sounds like a Wii U version may very well be in the cards regardless. Before the campaign ended, created Matt White sent out a message indicating that Ghost Song had a good shot at coming to Wii U even if the stretch goal wasn’t met:
Seriously, though, I’ve noticed a certain amount of chatter and lamenting statements about the Wii U stretch goal. Keep in mind that this is just a stretch goal, there is life beyond it, and indeed there’s so much to be positive about. I fully believe in this game. Like, utterly and completely. I similarly believe, and have reason to believe, that there will be many opportunities and opening doors down the road for this game as it comes closer to release and after it comes out.
More to the point: If this stretch goal is not met, I still think a Wii U version is something that’ll happen, if not at release, then a bit later. Is this a promise? No. Should you base your backing decisions on this? No, you probably shouldn’t. But if this is something that’s important to you, then hope remains alive no matter what happens tonight.
Originally, Nintendo had a policy in place that prevented independent developers from creating digital games without a proper office space. It ended up being removed earlier this year.
Dan Adelman, manager of business development licensing at Nintendo of America, recently spoke about the policy reversal in an interview with Game Informer. As far as why it was removed, he said:
“We got rid of that policy because more and more indie developers are telling us they work from home and that they’re doing coding there and their artist lives in Nebraska and they do everything over Skype and they meet once every two years. So we are finally able to support that so we updated our policies to reflect that.”
Nyamyam had considered bringing Tengami during the game’s earlier days, according to Phil Tossel. But it wasn’t really until Nintendo contacted the studio that things were truly set in motion.
Tossel told Game Informer in a recent interview:
“We had considered the Wii U before because we knew it had a touch panel and that it could be a really good fit for the game. We were a little surprised when they contacted us because Nintendo has a reputation of being very withdrawn. So they got in touch and asked if we wanted some dev kits and we were like ‘Sure, yeah, that would be really cool.’ There were some problems initially because they had some rules about having a dedicated office, which they said they were looking at getting changed. That took a little while to go through; I think it was about a month before they went through that process of changing the rules. Then once that was out of the way they were able to approach individual developers and within the week they sent us dev kits and we started work.”
Tossel also had praise when it comes to working with Nintendo. He is particularly pleased with the company’s promotion of Tengami thus far.
“They’ve been great to work with so far. Whenever there’s an opportunity to highlight the game they get in touch with us and ask if we’d like to get involved. Recently in the Nintendo Direct Europe where they showed a reel of various European indie games that are coming out and they asked if we wanted to be a part of that and we said that would be great. I think you’ll see them doing more of that, like sponsoring indie events and showcasing the best indie games.”
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The official Monster Hunter 4 website has been updated yet again, mostly with more screenshots and details on the game’s Unknown Forest. You can find the latest content below courtesy of Siliconera.
– Unknown Forest won’t always be the same
– Capcom shared screenshots as an example showing how the Hunter is standing in the same places during different occasions
– Paths may be blocked in one instance but open in another
– Monsters change as well
– Maps aren’t randomized in terms of accessibility, but you won’t be able to continually farm the same areas
– Maps will be different compared to those in regular quests
– Instead of the full area, Maps will only show your immediate area of the Unknown Forest
– Yian Garuga is back in Monster Hunter 4, appears in the Unknown Forest
– Velocidrome and his Velociprey minions are also returning
– Other monsters including Yian Kut-Ku and Basarios live in the Unknown Forest as well
– Excavation Equipment: new set of equipment with unique parameters and designs
– Can only be collected from the Unknown Forest
– Won’t be revealed until you complete the quest
– Players must complete an additional until you can wear the equipment, which has yet to be revealed
