With almost 60 milllion consoles in homes around the world the Wii could be the next major launch pad for a MMO. Anything from major monthly-payment titles to free-to-play micro transaction games could find a successful home on the Wii. It all comes down to which publisher/developer has the guts to follow through with such a project. Home console MMOs haven’t had the best of luck over the years nor have developers had the budget to support such projects. However, the possibility of a Wii MMO is bright with games such as Monster Hunter 3 which utilize four player co-op in a massive world.

Just a quick weekend thought to ponder over. Would you like to see a MMO on the WIi?

Famitsu’s live blog has reported that the highly popular Monster Hunter G’s online features will require a monthly subscription in Japan. Capcom will charge 800 points for one month, 1500 for two months, and 2000 for three months. Famitsu is naming the monthly purchase a “hunting ticket”. At this time it is unknown if Monster Hunter 3 will support an online fee.

There’s no doubt in my mind that Japan would pay even more than $8 a month just to play some Monster Hunter. It’s like drugs for them. Monster Hunter G probably won’t be released outside of Japan, but if so would you pay a monthly fee considering the title was built from the ground up for defeating monsters and quests with friends online? I know I would…I think.

Monster Hunter G will be released in Japan on April 23rd, 2009 and includes a demo of Monster Hunter 3.

Famitsu

Warhammer Online creative director Paul Barnett seems to think that if an MMO is to be successfully launched in the console arena, Nintendo will be the only company that could do it justice.

“You would have to build something very console centric from the get-go,” Barnett told CVG [link broken, linked to Wired -- Jack]. “I think probably the best chance of someone doing something like that is Nintendo — doing something crazy that no one expects.”

Animal Crossing Wii, anyone?

My two cents: the “crazy” part would be some kind of “easter egg hunt” functionality with a Nintendo DS. Live updates or live face-to-face interaction, kind of like that water gun game Assassin. The install base is there, anyway, and it grows every month by about 300-500k for both systems.