I was surprised and excited to read the headlines following Capcom's "big announcement" for yesterday -- "Monster Hunter for Xbox 360." Finally, I thought, they're bringing this series to a system where it will actually reach a western audience. The Xbox's multiplayer capabilities seemed like a perfect match for Monster Hunter's brand of co-op play.

Then I looked a little closer and realized that it will be a port of a 2007 PC MMORPG. Guess that changes things a bit.

Now, Monster Hunter Frontier is not your standard MMO spinoff. It maintains much the same combat as the original, but expands the scale exponentially. Cruising around the Internet, I saw many favorable comments from fans along with fervrent requests for localization. So when I wonder if Monster Hunter Frontier represents a missed opportunity, it's not because they're porting a lousy game (to my knowledge). It's because it probably doesn't have a chance to make it over to North America.

I think Capcom itself put it best in their lengthy explanation of why it's not really feasible to bring it over here, "This is not a "spend $750K localizing, $500K on cost of goods and $500K on marketing, ship it and you're done" type of project the way many of you are making it out to be."

"The resources Japan has dedicated to MHF are considerable. They are indeed part of an entirely new business unit for that territory (called our Online Business Unit). They are the tip of the sword. We are not and it will take some time before we are able to allocate/get approved the necessary resources. For fans, that’s the unfortunate reality."

The other unfortunate reality is that Monster Hunter is not a hugely popular brand in North America, which should be obvious by now. Making Monster Hunter the "tip of the sword" of an effort like the one in Japan would be an untenable business risk on Capcom's part. It's not the non-entity it used to be, but we're not talking about Call of Duty here.

If Capcom were ever to release a true Monster Hunter sequel for the Xbox 360 (or PS3) though, they could drum up some serious interest in the west. It would certainly have a better chance of drumming up casual RPG fans than the PSP versions, and the co-op play would really have a chance to shine (assuming that Capcom didn't go for the "double subscription" angle they're taking in Japan). So if they're serious about continuing to grab the attention of westerners, why aren't they making a true Monster Hunter game for high-defintion consoles that have an actual chance to be released in North America?

Well, I have two thoughts on this. The first is that porting Monster Hunter Frontier to the Xbox 360 is Capcom's way of testing the waters in Japan. It won't be as easy as porting a standard game (we are talking about an MMORPG here), but I have to imagine that it's easier than creating a new game from scratch. It could be that Capcom is interested in making a true sequel for the Xbox 360 or PS3, but that they want to see what kind of response it would garner first.

My other thought is that Capcom really is interested in bringing this whole thing over to North America, and that this is there first step in doing so. If that's the case, then it might be a smart move. It could just be me, but an action-oriented Monster Hunter MMO seems like it would have a better chance of finding an audience on the Xbox 360 than the PC. Who knows, maybe this is Capcom's next big step in pushing the brand over here. If that's the case, we may be in for a treat.

There is, of course, a third possibility -- Capcom doesn't actually give a damn about North America when it comes to Monster Hunter, and they just want to find a way to continue exploiting one of Japan's most popular brands. That would be counter to their recent strategy of pushing the Monster Hunter games in North America though, building up the franchise's popularity bit by bit. In porting Monster Hunter Frontier, I wonder if they aren't paving the way for a true sequel that will be popular in both countries, which would be a true coup.

In the end, I think this news is only relevant to western gamers insofar that it might be a harbringer for an HD Monster Hunter 4. It really is tough to imagine Capcom going all out in porting a Monster Hunter MMO at this stage of the game. But if this is a glimpse at things to come, count me interested.