What is adhocParty? Smarter people than me can tell you all about the service right here.

You’ve probably heard stories about the unbelievable Monster Hunter juggernaut in Japan, and how it’s reached the point that one in every five Japanese PSP owners are playing the game. Capcom has sold millions and millions of copies of the three PSP titles in Japan to date, and Monster Hunter 2G (which we confusingly call Monster Hunter Freedom Unite in North America and Europe) was one of Capcom’s biggest game launches in recent history. Monster Hunter Freedom Unite is available digitally on the PSN, which is perfect for those of you who have just picked up the amazing pocket-perfect PSPGo or for those of you (like me) who are too lazy to get off the couch and hike down to the local video game retailer.

Personally, I’m a recent MonHun convert – in the last few months, it’s sucked me in like no handheld game I’ve ever played. My dedication to the game is comparable to the reaction I had to EverQuest and World of Warcraft: I just can’t get enough. A group of Capcom staffers have been happily hunting away since the release of the game, and we’re now all over 100 hours in on our characters, with the group in the Hunter Rank 8 and 9.

The best part of Monster Hunter is, of course, playing with other people. The secret sauce to MHFU’s uber-compelling gameplay comes in coordinating a group of four hunters, each bristling with diverse weapons and equipment and slaying tricksy beasties that range from a meager 20’ tall Yian Kut Ku to the overwhelming monstrosity that is Fatalis, a dragon so big that you have to fire cannonballs at his face just to get his attention. Finding other hunters in public places in North America can be tough – it’s not as easy as in Japan, where gamers are constantly thrust together in trains and highly concentrated urban areas. Unless you have a group of buddies that you’re hunting with regularly, it’s hard to randomly stumble across other players on the bus or waiting in line to buy a burger. And as a recent convert to the ways of Monster Hunter, let me tell you that taking on the high level G-ranked quests on your lonesome is a daunting and potentially PSP-hurling activity.

With adhocParty, you can now quickly and easily find other hunters. Download the adhocParty service from PSN (it’s free!), connect your PSP with your PS3, load up your game on your PSP and either start a room on adhocParty or join one that’s already established. Within no time, you’ll be able to find a group of dedicated hunters willing to help you with your HR quests and suddenly that giant G-ranked Rathian isn’t so hard to deal with. You can connect several PSPs to a single PS3, so if you have 2 or 3 fellow hunters hanging out in your dorm room or at your house, while another friend is stranded at a distant location, you can all still play. Way to keep the band together!

Since adhocParty runs on your PS3, you’ll be able to communicate with your hunting party in various ways. Yell through your Bluetooth headset (which I’m sure everyone now has, thanks to Call of Duty), or type away the controller keyboard or on a separate keyboard – just make sure to type fast if you’ve got a wyven munching on your face. Running quests on Monster Hunter can be challenging, so instant communication through the adhocParty service makes those all-important key quests even easier to complete.

Over on our own little community neighborhood – the seething and exciting world of Capcom-Unity.com – we organize regular online game sessions on Fridays afternoons. These Play Against Capcom Fridays have been heavy on the Street Fighter and Resident Evil matches over the last few months, but with adhocParty now live and legit, we’ll be hosting regular Monster Hunter Freedom Unite PAC events. Hell, with the amount of Monster Hunting done by myself (“Kramez”), Shawn “Snow” Baxter and Christian “Sven” Svensson, we’ll probably be running adhocParty sessions several times a week. Join up with our community and keep in touch and perhaps we’ll see you in the wild.

Did we mention that adhocParty is free? We’ll see you online this afternoon.

Monster Hunter Freedom Unite is just around the corner. It’s hitting the shelves on this Tuesday, June 23rd. I’ve talked a bit about the game previously when we released the demo a few weeks back, and now you get the chance to dive into one of the most immersive PSP games available.

Monster Hunter is a game packed with variety. As the name states, you’ll be hunting and slaying all various kinds of monsters in the areas around your home, Pokke Village. There’s so many different monsters that I’ve lost count. And you’ll be in a vast and varied landscape of deserts, jungles, swamps, mountains, caves, snow, active volcanoes, and more. Your character can be customized in just about anyway possible, down to even the sound of their voice. Taking pieces of the monsters you’ve carved off, and items you’ve gathered in the world give you the means to create thousands of unique pieces of armor and weapons. With so much to customize, you’ll probably never run into anyone with the same setup as you.

Being that the game is so large, you’ll never run out of things to do. There’s literally over 500 quests to go on, and you can even take three other friends with over AdHoc. In fact, the game is really built on bringing friends with you on the hunt. It’s a blast working as a team to bring down monsters that would seem insurmountable alone.

If you do decide to take on the monsters alone, we’ve implemented a great new AI partner to accompany you on your quests: The Felyne Fighter. They come along with you on your quest and can help you fight the monster, gather materials, and even help you lure monsters into traps. You can level the Felynes up and give them new skills, and even have more than one to choose from for bringing with you.

Also, for all of the fans out there that have been playing Monster Hunter Freedom 2, you will be happy to know that you can transfer your character over and keep all your hard earned work. In addition, we have drastically reduced the load times for Monster Hunter Freedom Unite with the new media install function, which means more hunting and less waiting.

This is all but a small fraction of what Monster Hunter has to offer. There’s something for everyone, whether you like swords, guns, or even a mix of both! Snag the demo on the PlayStation Store, and look for it in stores on June 23rd!

Have fun hunting!
Shawn