Monster Hunter roars again on PSP

The first Monster Hunter Portable sold more than 2.4 million units worldwide, making the title the most popular PlayStation Portable game in Japan. The latest title, Monster Hunter Portable 2nd, also has "remarkable" shipment numbers, according to Capcom.

It's therefore perhaps no surprise that the Capcom team will be releasing the game overseas, where it has been renamed Monster Hunter Freedom 2 for its Western release.

The first Monster Hunter Freedom game was released in the US and Europe in May 2006 and was virtually a straight port of the Japanese game, with the exception that it had been stripped of the online play elements.

The new title addresses this by including a multiplayer mode where up to four players can fight cooperative battles in a wireless ad hoc mode, along with the ability to download extra content and quests. It will also include 50 percent more content than the original game, and similar gameplay--gamers increase their skills by defeating a range of different creatures.

The US release date is likely to be within a similar time frame, a spokesperson for Capcom told GameSpot.