Many Wii U owners in North America and Europe are eagerly anticipating Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. While we only have to wait until next moth for the game, Capcom has dropped some bad news for us: Monster Hunter 3 multiplayer will be region locked. This means that North American gamers will only be able to play with others from North America, etc. So if you have any friends in Europe or Japan, you won’t be able to slay monsters with them.
While it’s obvious to blame Capcom for this issue, remember that Nintendo will run the Monster Hunter 3 servers for the Wii U multiplayer. Which means that Nintendo could have had a hand in the decision to region lock the multiplayer part (although we think this is unlikely). The Wii U console is already region locked, which means games purchased in one region cannot be played in another.
Monster Hunter 3 on the original Wii also had region locking for the multiplayer portion, so it was likely Capcom’s decision to continue this on the Wii U. Why do this, that remains a mystery…
While you’re waiting, check out an hour of Monster Hunter 3 gameplay footage.
