Monster Hunter Tri for August in Japan

Capcom plans to release the Wii-exclusive Monster Hunter 3 (Tri) on 1st August in Japan.

The news comes from the pages of Japanese magazine Famitsu, translated by IGN.

There's still no word on a Western release, although Capcom's recent financial earnings call suggested an international version before April 2010.

Monster Hunter is phenomenally successful in Japan, but has struggled to do the business in the West. The premise of the game is to run around killing monsters, take their loot and look for something bigger next time.

But there's only so much one person can cope with alone, so along comes Wi-Fi co-op and the real hook of the series.

All of this has been faithfully recreated on Wii, as our hands-on impressions of Monster Hunter Tri point out. It also has split-screen, better controls and an online mode more likely to actually work. Yes please, Capcom.