It’s been nearly a year since Monster Hunter Portable 3rd was released in Japan, leaving fans in the West in a constant speculation frenzy as to when we’ll see the game stateside.  These ravenous mobs have been hammering various message boards and forums across the internet in ceaseless waves, leaving only confusion and foundation-less rumors in their wake.  From the hysteria and pandemonium, a voice of reason has arisen to (if only for a moment) set the record straight.

Yup.  It’s our old friend Christian Svensson (Corporate Officer/Senior Vice-President at Capcom).  He had this to say regarding SCEA and SCEE’s hand in the localization of Monster Hunter Portable 3rd:

They have to make exceptions to approve this sort of project in the West: one that runs on PS3 but doesn’t have trophies or make use of regular PSN for online play… it uses a modification of adhoc party which doesn’t exist in the West.

In short, it requires them to localize and launch SCEJ network services (which is development work and QA/localization and support on their side) that don’t currently exist in either territory and release it from the usual platform requirements for trophies, etc. It’s not trivial on Sony’s part.

And we won’t start the localization process until we know we can bring it out here (as much as I know you guys want it). I know MH fans are frustrated. Trust me, I want to bring more MH games out here too… and games will come, it’s just going to take time.

So, to some degree, my earlier assumptions were correct: the holdup does concern the ad-hoc system structure.  However, it appears the situation is more dire than I had thought.  Initially I imagined it was as simple as assuring the western ad-hoc system could support a massive influx of traffic if the game were released.  Rather, it seems the problem is that we need an updated ad-hoc system.

When Sven mentions that this project entails “development work and QA/localization and support” from Sony, all I hear is “it could take years”.  That kind of mobilization isn’t something that happens overnight, and I doubt this will appear as a priority for Sony in the near future.  After all, this would require them to invest time and money all for (at this time) a 3rd party title…  That would be like your neighbor asking you to get cable so they could steal it.

So those of us waiting for a western release of Monster Hunter Portable 3rd better get comfy, ’cause it could be a long wait.  It could be so long, in fact, that the rumored Nintendo 3DS version (Monster Hunter 3G?!) could be a more likely contender for your foldin’ monies.  Personally, I am just going to try and stay patient and occupy myself with other games until some good news comes our way.