Back in 2004 From Software released a suitably bonkers Xbox game, where you played the usurped President of the United States of America who also happened to have his own power armor. Called Metal Wolf Chaos, it was a brilliantly executed shooter that also had a wonderfully satirical bent to it. Mentioning it here is pertinent though, as the game’s scale and functionality bear a very large resemblance to that of Armored Core V.

Set in a depressingly apocalyptic future, Armored Core V has humanity waging war with all manner of weaponry but the most lethal of these are the newly discovered Armored Cores; mecha dug up from deep underground that retro-actively antiquate all modern day warfare. The premise is a more gritty take on Panzer World Galient as the setting is very close to our own present day. That said, From Software are still continuing to go the rounds on Ryosuke Takahashi’s works when it comes to inspiration for Armored Core it seems.

Considering that the game has been in production now for over 2 years, we weren’t sure what to expect. As normally the duration between releases is around a year but this is meant as a reboot of sorts and coupled with a pretty immense online setup, it’s a good thing they took some time with it. In any case, after the disappointment of Front Mission Evolved, this game is simply wondrous by comparison.

Whilst there’s no game footage to see here, Ichiro Mizuki has been wheeled out to promote Super Robot Wars Z 2 Saisei-hen. It’s a nice little advert, as it has him prepare for a concert by using the series’ well-known seishin. The ones he uses, in order, are Concentration (集中), Hot Blood (熱血) and Soul (魂). Normally Hot Blood (2 x damage) and Soul (2.5 x damage) can’t be stacked (as that was the case in Super Robot Wars J) but this is Mizuki we’re talking about, so he’s allowed license to do whatever he pleases really. That said, we like the fact they used the in-game sound effects and so overall this gets a very nerdy thumbs up from us.

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Along with a bunch of other series related blurb over at Famitsu, the upcoming Eureka Seven AO anime will also have a game too (as published by Namco Bandai). Whilst there is no word on what platform(s) it will be on nor its expected release date as yet, we’re still somewhat cautious about another “official” tie-in game. For those unaware, there were a few PS2 games developed by none other than the (now defunct) Team White Dingo. These were sidestories to the original series, which the new AO is a sequel to obviously. Unfortunately, they were functionally pretty dire. This wasn’t the developer’s fault really, as all the funky surfing LFO combat in the anime was totally meant as eye candy and trying to replicate that properly wasn’t really feasible (something that was proven in Another Century’s Episode 3, as the functionality was hugely simplified to make it work). Basically, an in-house studio wouldn’t have been given the same kind of leeway From Software would have and the official PS2 games suffered as a consequence of that. Still, they could go down the more RPG route seen in the PSP game and that wasn’t half bad. In any case, we’ve included the latest promo for the anime below.

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Whilst most people would celebrate Valentine’s Day by giving their loved one chocolates or flowers, Bandai Namco thought that a few more mobile suits in Senjou no Kizuna would do the trick. The two new units are the FA-78-1B Full Armor Gundam Type B, as seen in the serialised novel MSV-R: The Return of Johnny Ridden, and the MS-11 Act Zaku. The new Gundam also apparently has similar ranged potency to that of the YMS-16M Xamel, which sounds pretty brutal. The Act Zaku though is more of a superfly Zaku II, basically like a Gouf or a Kampfer but without the predilection towards sucking a big fat one. If anything, the Act Zaku supersedes units like the Gelgoog (well, at least it did in the awesome Gundam One Year War). Game Watch has some nice new screenshots of the units in action too.

A short 30 second TV advert for the forthcoming Gundam Unicorn game on PS3 has been released online. It shows much of what was in the gameplay trailer, bar the Delta Gundam now being a total boss. The combat is looking very interesting and dynamic though, so we’re really keen to get our hands on it come its March release. Especially as it sounds like there will be free DLC too, which is a pretty novel move on the part of Bandai Namco. In any case, the video is shown below.

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For those that played the last game on the PSP, there are some link bonuses to be had in the forthcoming Super Robot Wars Z 2 Saisei-hen. The first is a bonus for a single playthrough on Hakai-hen, followed by a bonus based on how many times you did a playthrough (maxing out at 10) and the final is if you completed all the scenarios. These will net you a variety of upgrade points as well as parts. So whilst you can pre-order Saisei-hen here, you may want to go back and pick up a copy of Hakai-hen (also here) so you can squeeze out a good head start when Saisei-hen arrives on your doorstep.

The latest Wonder Festival has had all manner of lovely trinkets on display. From Sentinel’s RIOBOT versions of Anubis (pictured above), Jehuty and Detonator Orgun (though we’re more excited by the inclusion of the Tsugumori from Tsutomu Nihei’s brilliant though overlooked Knights of Sidonia manga), to some very nice figma toys of both Tekkaman Blade and Tekkaman Evil. The new VOLKS injection plastic LED Mirage is still looking all kinds of sexy too. Though the biggest and nicest surprise of them all is the appearance of Kazutaka Miyatake’s power armor from the 80′s Starship Troopers OVA as a new Revoltech figure. If you want to peruse more pictures at your leisure, then you can do so here, here and here.

For those that have been wondering what has happened to Hawken, well there’s now the chance to sign-up for what looks like a closed beta test. We’re assuming that this closed beta will be PC based (via Steam?) but this is entirely conjecture on our part. There’s also a Twitter feed you can follow for the beta test. What we do know is that some people will be playing the game on “12.12.12″. Catchy.

Update: Looks like this will indeed be a PC only title, published by Meteor Games. It also sounds like it will be freemium.

As promised, the first promo video for Super Robot Wars Z 2 Saisei-hen went up over the weekend. It’s a glorious 5 minute showreel with lots of very shiny battle animations. Interestingly, Bandai Namco are hosting the trailer on their official YouTube channel as well (so the encoding is actually decent). Overall, this game looks as lush as the first one (which we adored) so we can’t wait to play this too. Don’t forget that this is also out at the beginning of April and you can nab your copy here.

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4Gamer has a really nice report on the Premium Dogfight event that happened for Gundam Extreme Versus last year. Not only did players duke it out in a tournament on the current game, the development team were also present to talk about Full Boost. The latter sounds even more intense now, as the gameplay mechanics appear to be even more immediate and visceral. Considering how fast paced the current game is, it will be interesting to see how far the team at Byking will push it further. On top of that Full Boost will receive a new opening song called Fight It Out Feat.K (Pay Money To My Pain) by Akihiro Namba and Takeshi Ueda (audio clip below). If we’re honest, we’re a bit disappointed that Linkin Park didn’t do it especially as they’re such big Gundam fans (especially of the UC timeline). Finally, the Extreme Gundam (aka: that annoying boss in the current game) has received its own serialised manga in Gundam ACE called Gundam EXA. If you’re still on the fence about getting the PS3 port of the current game, then have a read of our review and remember you can still buy the game here.

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