Capcom demos Monster Hunter PS2 NGP

Capcom hasn't revealed a new Monster Hunter game for PSP2/NGP (Next Generation Portable). Not yet.

To start with, Japan's most recent game, Monster Hunter Portable 3, will be adapted to fill that gap.

Capcom's Jun Takeuchi demonstrated MHP3 on NGP at Sony's PlayStation Meeting this morning.

Key improvements come from camera controls finally being mapped to a right stick as well as, presumably, the inherent networking capabilities of the NGP and the new LiveArea user interface.

"The stick feels... great!" gasped Takeuchi, apparently playing the NGP for the first time.  "You can quote me, that's my first impression. I think it is very suitable for an action game like this."

Takeuchi moved swiftly on to talking about Capcom's MT Framework engine which is "getting ready for NGP as well".

To demonstrate its potential, he showed Lost Planet 2's opening cinematic rendered in real-time on NGP. "It looks spectacularly good, to be honest," noted Oli Welsh, who flew to Japan to attend the PlayStation Meeting for Eurogamer.

The NGP MT Framework engine can produce the same qualities as on PS3: HDR rendering, shaders, light filters, shadows and complex physics.

What's more, Takeuchi revealed that "the NGP environment is very flexible and very easy to develop for" - not a sentiment often associated with Sony's new machines.

But Takeuchi wasn't to announce any new games.

"Today I'm not announcing any new titles," he closed, "but before long we will be able to announce new titles for NGP."