Monster Hunter announcement soon

Capcom promised this week to unveil a European release date and firm online plans for Monster Hunter (working title), another PS2 title that featured at its Las Vegas editor's day event.

We already know that the game, which unsurprisingly sees a player and/or his mates delving into a richly detailed world full of monsters and, er, hunting them, will allow for up to four players to compete or work as a team (for example, creating traps together, or distracting a monster as friends pinch its valuable eggs), and that new quests and items will be available exclusively for use over PS2 Online, but we await more specific details and we should hear about those shortly.

Of course the game will be fully open to single players as well, and sounds quite intriguing. Players will explore vast, detailed environments, confronting and battling mammoth creatures for rich rewards. Starting off as young monster hunters (customised to the player's requirements, natch), gamers will be able to choose from a wide range of assignments, be they defeating specific beasts, protecting towns or collecting items, and depending on their choices will be able to utilise all manner of fighting techniques.

Rewards for the player's skilled hunting include cash to spend on more powerful weapons, an almost limitless range of armaments (which vary in effectiveness depending on the materials used to produce them), and of course new areas of the game world to explore. You can see how it's shaping up in this batch of shots straight out of Vegas. We'll bring you more when we hear it.