No Friend Codes in Monster Hunter Tri

The MTV Multiplayer blog is reporting that a Capcom representative has talked to them and said that the Friend Codes system will not be used in the America release of Monster Hunter Tri when the game comes to North America.  Rather than being hosted on Nintendo's servers, Capcom will host the game themselves.  Online portions, such as a unique friends list and multi-player information, of MHT will be accessed directly from the game's main menu.

Capcom said that the biggest hurdle to the game obtaining a huge following over here is online play.  They feel this will be a big hit in vaulting the game from "obscure curio" to "cult hit" and that it could reach Pokemon levels of popularity. 

The online portion of the game, in Japan, uses Wii Points to give you access for a week or a month based on the number of points used.  Capcom has not commented on whether they will use the pay to play model or if the game will be free to play in America.  We've sent word to Capcom and if we hear any more information on this we'll let you know.

Source: MTV Multiplayer blog
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I have not played a game in the Monster Hunter franchise.  I know it's been available over here, but most of the releases, if not all, have been on Playstation platforms and I currently only own Nintendo consoles.  The game has a bit of a Zelda look to the game and I am a huge fan of RPGs so I'm very interested in seeing this title come over here and getting a chance to really get to play it. 

All I need to know is that there are big monsters and big swords.  As long as I'm running around fighting them, that's all that really matters.  Are any of you interested in the game, or possibly even played it before?