As a developer, From Software are known for their mechanical expertise but they also have several teams at work on other genres too. One such group birthed a selection of Xbox games that were functionally quite woeful but visually rather accomplished. The two Otogi games helmed by this team were consequently, and somewhat mistakenly, elevated by the Western press as being somehow noteworthy. At the time I was personally thankful that this same team wasn’t undermining the work of the Armored Core series, which already had a hard enough time as it did abroad in terms of the press.

Then Metal Wolf Chaos was announced and it was apparent that the Otogi production was supposedly behind this, well at least on paper. In reality, many of the Armored Core team were apparently “getting involved” in the game’s creation and the final result is something truly surprising and quite functionally invigorating.

A new trailer for the upcoming Transformers: War for Cybertron has been released today, apparently it’s a “gameplay” trailer too. Whilst it’s clear that the footage is in-game it’s obvious that much of it is of the cutscenes rather than actual gameplay. Admittedly, the team have dispelled the rumour that the game is similar to Gears of War, the new trailer still doesn’t actually show much of what the final game will play like – which is a little worrying considering the game is out in May. Graphically it looks suitably lush but visuals aren’t normally the stumbling block for the various Transformers games (as Melbourne House’s effort was very pretty, if you stood still at least). Whether War for Cybertron will play decently very much remains to be seen, as the Transformers saga as whole has a very poor record in the gaming department.

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Capcom have announced that the upcoming May release for Lost Planet 2 will also have DLC for both platforms. Entitled “Battle Stage Pack 1″ the multiplayer DLC will feature two levels called “Return Island” and “Spiral Corridor”. The latter is especially interesting as it appears to be set underwater. The PlayStation 3 will also be receiving a demo on the 1st March, that allows up to to four human players to get involved. Whether this is the same as the 360 demo from a while back remains to be seen, but it is likely.

For the upcoming release of Armored Core Last Raven Portable, From Software will be offering a new service to players that choose to upload their arena replay data; Battle TV. This basically allows other players to access other people’s replay data online and view it for themselves. Whilst this is pretty interesting, it does beg the question why they didn’t offer an infrastructure option instead of setting up an Armored Core specific replay library. Players will be able to start uploading their videos on the 4th March and a special replay data movie will be assembled shortly after the service starts, showcasing a variety of “mad skillz” most probably.

These are a pair of custom PC cases using the GZ-X1BPD-100 tower case, based upon the RGM-79 GM and MS-07B Gouf respectively (though they bear more resemblance to the Gundam Ace “Saku” parodies really). Both cases light up with their own LEDs, green for the GM and red for the Gouf. These are currently on display at TSUKUMO eX in Akihabara.

Over at Game Watch they’ve covered the upcoming update for the cockpit-tastic Senjou no Kizuna. The update in question, Rev 2.12, includes an all new map set outside a colony as well as a much needed layout change on one of the pre-existing Jaburo maps. In addition, the article talks about a tournament in March of this year. In any case, it seems that Banpresto have been stepping up their updates as of late especially since Border Break has taken off recently.

At this year’s AOU show, SEGA have showcased quite a few titles but the one that’s the most interesting to us is the wondrous Border Break. Specifically, that the game has received quite a substantial update. From two new maps, to a whole new blast runner and not to mention new parts, it seems that Border Break is still very much a viable enterprise for SEGA.

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While doing a bit of research on the commercial version of Bootfighter Windom XP SP-2, a freeware mecha game similar to the Gundam Versus series of game with an English fan translation, I found that not only was the commercial version already out, but it had received an official English translation all the way back in July of last year. While it unfortunately falls into the massive gulf that exists between “free” and “not free”, with the $20 price tag not doing anything to close that gap, it’s a rare example of a Japanese doujin game seeing official release outside of Japan.

Looking around a bit more, though, led me to discover that CuriousFactory, the fellows involved with that English release, have brought over a few other mecha games in the past (link may not be entirely safe for work, depending on how your employer feels about little cartoon girls wearing only a belt for a shirt), specifically three different shmups.

I can’t speak to the actual quality of these games, because I’m not much of a shooting game aficionado, but what’s most interesting to me is that all three of the mecha shmups are from the same doujin circle, ASTRO PORT, and all three feature entirely different mecha art styles. Armed Seven has a distinctly Armored Core/Real Robot feel, Supercharged Robot Vulkaiser looks like it would have fit right in with the cartoonish 70s Super Robot animes, and Witch-bot Meglilo has a cute female robot girl as the protagonist.

The CuriousFactory games list has links to downloadable trials for all of the games mentioned above, so feel free to give them a whirl.

It turns out the next game in Capcom’s Gundam Versus series of arcade multiplayer games will be called Gundam Extreme Versus. The game will be using a System 357 board, basically a PlayStation 3 in an arcade cabinet, and will feature almost every Gundam series (along with Crossbone Gundam and MS IGLOO). The fundamental gameplay won’t be changing much from Gundam vs Gundam Next though. The game will be beta tested over the Summer for an Autumn release in Japan.

As for the rumour we reported about this game being Gundam Unicorn specific, well that turned out to be false. That said, we were originally told merely that a Unicorn specific arcade game was in development. We assumed that this meant the upcoming Gundam Versus iteration, but it seems that there is another Gundam arcade game in the wings (maybe an update to the hugely successful Senjou no Kizuna?). Considering that the series will start airing tomorrow it’s fairly obvious that Bandai Namco want to capitalise on Unicorn as best they can.

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The somewhat under-appreciated Wave have finally previewed their upcoming 1/72 scale MBR-04-MkVI Tomahawk destroid kit from the original Macross. Despite Yamato already releasing a toy of this design, kit connoisseurs rightfully revere the workmanship of Wave. After all, they’ve been making Five Star Stories kits for years and those mecha designs are some of the most intricate and complex ever conceived.

However, the Tomahawk’s past is a chequered one in the annals of mecha gaming. Specifically, it was re-purposed in BattleTech to form the obviously derivative Warhammer (even the official BattleTech artwork inadvertently retained the UN Spacy logo). It wasn’t long until FASA were sued, as the Tomahawk was but one of a plethora of designs lifted from various notable anime series of the time. That said, the recent MechWarrior reboot also fell foul of this plagiarism as it re-used the Warhammer in its teaser trailer, kicking off a whole new legal mess in the proceedings.

The sad aspect about all this is that the legal steps being taken aren’t meant to recompense the original Japanese team who penned the designs, but instead the Western company that distributed them. In any case, this kit is released in June for 6,800 yen and you can pre-order it here.