It’s that time again! Last night, Capcom announced Monster Hunter 3G for the Nintendo 3DS, and today, they’ve launched a website for the game, giving glimpses of what’s new. The last time we went on a Monster Hunter frenzy was the lead up to Portable 3rd’s release, which was about a year ago. It’s been too long.

First things first. Touchscreen. Monster Hunter 3G will be using the Nintendo 3DS bottom screen to streamline various in-game functions. Amongst these is the camera. The image above is of the bottom screen display. The button on the bottom-left is for items. You’ll be able to tap things on the touchscreen to use them. We’re not sure what the d-pad button does at this point.

The button on the bottom right is the Target Camera Panel, which you can toggle on and off by touching it. When the panel is turned off, tapping the L button will re-centre the camera behind your hunter. When it’s turned on, however, pressing the L button will turn the camera in the direction of the monster you’re fighting. To re-centre the camera behind you with the Target Camera Panel turned on, you can tap L twice.

Additionally, 1UP are reporting more details from Famitsu’s reveal of Monster Hunter 3G, which featured an interview with the game’s director and producer. 3G, the game’s director, Kaname Fujioke says, can be played entirely in 3D but is not a game that’s designed to rely on the 3D effect. This makes sense, since 3G is an upgraded version of Monster Hunter Tri for the Wii. A new portside area, however, has been built from the ground up for the game, and was created with the 3D effect in mind.

Moving on, here’s Blachydios. As always is the case with Monster Hunter, we’re not sure how that’s supposed to be romanized and likely won’t, until Capcom provide an official English spelling. Blachydios is 3G’s mascot monster:

You may notice his arms are pretty prominent. He’ll be using them to punch and will also be able to headbutt you. It also releases a sticky material over the ground that builds up over time and explodes.

Here’s a few others:

If you played Tri, you’ll remember Cha-cha, your helper character. In Monster Hunter 3G, he appears to have a rival named Kayamba (right), who’s from the same tribe as him.

As previously reported, Monster Hunter 3G will have 12 weapon categories. The game will be playable at Tokyo Game Show next week.

Monster Hunter 3G is slated for release before the end of the year. The Expansion Slide Pad peripheral that was revealed alongside it is meant to replicate the feel of using a Classic Controller on the Wii, according to producer, Ryozo Tsujimoto. So far, it doesn’t sound like the device is mandatory for playing the game. We’ll likely learn more next week, both about 3G and the Expansion Slide Pad.

In the meantime, here’s a few tiny screens from the website: