Looks like some Wii monsters will soon be safe from the maiming weapons of aspiring monster hunter groups. The online multiplayer servers for Monster Hunter Tri, the Wii version of the popular franchise, are coming down April 30th. While hardcore fans will likely be in the midst of Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (which drops March 31st on the Wii U and 3DS), fans who don't have those systems or don't want to buy the game right away will have to go about monster slaying without their online buddies from May onward.

It's a huge hit in Japan, but the Monster Hunter series has never quite taken off here in North America.  Capcom hopes to change all that with their latest entry into the series, Monster Hunter Tri for the Nintendo Wii.

We're just one week away from Monster Hunter Tri's release on the Wii, the first major game in the Monster Hunter series to be released on a non-Sony platform, and Capcom recently announced some new features for this title to entice fans and newcomers alike.  Rather than taking the usual DLC approach to extending the game's life, Capcom has revealed that they will host special online only events once a month that players may participate in in order to face off against rare monsters and earn unique items.  Each of the events are cooperative in nature and, of course, entail taking down gigantic monsters, one way or another.

Hot out of Nintendo's media summit yesterday in San Francisco comes a handful of Monster Hunter Tri news for the Wii.  The biggest news is that the game will be free to play online, something that wasn't a luxury for Japanese gamers who had to fork over $8 a month to play.  

When it was first announced that the next Monster Hunter game, Monster Hunter Tri, would be released not on a Playstation platform, as all previous titles had been, but on the Wii, it caused a bit of a stir in Japan.  However, the folks at Nintendo were quick to offer long-time fans of the series the opportunity to enjoy the game in a similar fashion (from an actual play/interface perspective, at least) as they had with previous Monster Hunter games by bundling the game with a new controller, the Classic Controller Pro.  Well it seems that we here in the States will not only be getting the game in a few months' time, but we will be getting the same game/controller bundle as well.

In preperation for the upcoming Wii release, Capcom has  unveiled a brand new website complete with monster profiles for Monster Hunter Tri - there's weapon information, screenshots and more. There is also a large door with an ornate knocker on the main page, where a gatekeeper tells us to check back later after the "Monster Hunter Launch" is open. We're hoping to see a few new goodies before the games launch, but for now we quiver with antici.......pation for what might be behind that door.