see deal Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate - Nintendo 3DS $19.99 on Gamestop

As fans of Monster Hunter Tri can no doubt attest, a multiplayer game is only as good as its platform, and community allow it to be. Dedicated though the MH faithful may be, the realities of multiplayer gaming on the Wii made forming groups, coordinating strategies, and even basic communication a real chore. But after sitting down for some group hunting action with Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate

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Communication is the foundation of most multiplayer games, especially highly tactical, cooperative experiences like Monster Hunter. In Tri, if you wanted to talk to the rest of your party, you needed to possess a legendary, rare item known in the the real world as the Wii Speak. Good luck finding someone who bought that thing. Thankfully, those dark days are behind us, because Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate supports voice chat natively, right through the Wii U GamePad. But don't worry if your the type who prefers anonymity, as you'll have access to a full virtual keyboard to tap away at, as well as an option to plug in any USB keyboard via a day-one patch. With all that functionality baked right in, absolutely everyone who plays online will have a voice.And that's not the only way the GamePad is going to make things more convenient. Aside from the ability to move UI elements to the second screen, you can also tap on the name of any player in your party to see their stats, equipment, and item load out at a glance. Properly preparing your inventory before leaving base camp is vital to success, so seeing what your allies are packing makes covering all the bases a lot easier. No more waiting until a Deviljho randomly crashes your hunt to find out no one brought dung bombs!Of course, all of this means nothing if you can't find people to party up with, but that generally doesn't look like it's going to be a problem this time either. Thanks to Friend Codes going the way of the dodo, your Monster Hunter friends list directly integrates with your Wii U one, making it far simpler to friend new players, and invite others to lobbies (though Capcom is still restricting communities by region - so don't expect to play with anyone in Europe or Japan). And remember having to hit message boards to look for people to help you with that pesky 6-star quest? Something tells me that posting on Miiverse will prove a lot more convenient than parsing NeoGAF or GameFAQs.Further expanding your pool of potential hunting partners is the local cross-platform play with owners of the 3DS version, which allows players to import their characters, items and progress from their Wii U data, and take it on the go to hunt with other Wii U players in person. I got to experience this feature first hand, and was surprised by just how seamless it was. And since the two versions are content identical, everything you earn in one, carries over to the other. Expect this feature to drive sales on both platforms, which means that many more folks to take down a Diablos with.All told, it looks like Capcom is poised to finally give the Monster Hunter franchise the multiplayer treatment it's always rightfully deserved when it finally releases on March 19th.

Vince Ingenito is a freelancer for IGN. He likes puppies. What are you going to do about it?