Well, the sales figures for Armored Core V’s first week in Japan are out. For the PS3 version, the game shipped a respectable 163,906 units placing it at the top of the Japanese charts and the 360 variant pulled in a more meager 24,719 and landed 6th in the charts. To put these figures into perspective the Japanese PS3 versions for Armored Core 4 and Armored Core For Answer only sold around 90,000 and 100,000 units in their first year of sale. Likewise the Japanese 360 versions also sold approximately 30,000 to 70,000 units respectively in the same time period. So from a Japanese standpoint this first set of sales figures is incredibly good, especially as it’s been less than a week since the game’s release. Talking of release, on a more personal note our order (which includes both versions) has been delayed somewhat, this means our review will be similarly later than usual. Unfortunately, these things happen occasionally. In any case, these sales figures are awesome news for the Armored Core series.

The official Super Robot Wars Z 2 Saisei-hen site is now open for business. Whilst there are no promo videos as yet, it does collate all the new series featured and their respective screenshots (which are also duplicated over at Game Watch, minus the flash leprosy obviously). We’re just glad that Final Dancouga is still present and correct. That said, seeing the mighty Shin Mazinger Z sporting its God Scrander (pictured above) brings warmth to our heart. This being the same God Scrander that in its post-modernist brilliance actually transforms Mazinger Z into a giant rocket propelled fist. We can also highly recommend the Soul of Chogokin toy too, if you can find it. Anyway, the game is still set for its April 5th release and you can pre-order it here.

The new browser based Web Power Dolls will be getting a new mecha, as designed by ToMo. Above is a sketch of a lighter weight mecha with more hard points. Its primary functions are for quick surprise attacks and reconnaissance. For those unfamiliar with the Power Dolls saga, it’s been a pretty successful series of PC based mecha turn based strategy games that were birthed in the mid-90′s (with a tie-in anime OVA to boot). Whilst this new game is browser based, it’s still being handled by the same Kogado Studio. This new mecha will be in-game around the 8th February apparently. We’ve included the current game’s promo video below too.

[[Visit blog to check out this spoiler]]

Towards the end of last year an alpha test was carried out on Mobile Suit Gundam Online. Today, we received the results. Of those that signed up, 1,269 opted to play in the Federation whereas 1,320 chose to join Zeon. Despite the slight numerical advantage, the Feddies were more often than not victorious over the Zeeks (Go Feds!). There are also a fair few comments from the testers asking for various features, though whether any of these come to fruition remains to be seen. Another test phase is planned for the end of February apparently and no final release date has been set.

Despite a somewhat unfortunate release date, sharing it with Armored Core V of all things, Gundam Mokubo no Kiseki will be gracing Japanese shops sometime today (as it’s already “tomorrow” in Japan due to the time difference). 4Gamer commemorates this brave release date with yet another update about the game. We’re definitely interested in picking this game up eventually and review it but we’re going to be pretty busy with Armored Core V for a good while. In the meantine you can still pre-order the game here.

With a new Super Robot Wars Mobile brand on the way, Banpresto have kicked this new series of iSuper Robot Wars games off with Super Robo M released yesterday for 525 yen. On the GBA-end of the SRW graphics spectrum it’s not overly new in terms of animations and sprites but it is an awful lot cheaper than the GBA games were. Currently the game is only available on Docomo phones via the simulation submenu in the games section. The roster of mecha series is pretty classic but we’re just happy to see Dancougar featured again. Considering Banpresto are turning this into a brand it will be likely we’ll see something similar on Android and iOS devices too.

Rather shrewdly, From Software have announced that there will be a support app for Armored Core V on both Android and iOS devices (with the Android app already out). The app will allow players to view the game’s parts list and mull over the complex vagaries of their respective stats. Whilst this doesn’t allow you to customise your AC away from your console as yet, that would be a pretty sweet update. In addition, the app will also feature an RSS feed on things like server status and other player related news. From Software are keen to update the app over the course of the game’s life, so we may get more features as time goes on. It’s also entirely free.

Following the recent promo video, we now have a slew of new screenshots for the upcoming Gundam Unicorn game as developed by From Software. In addition to the shiny new screenshots there are some interesting tidbits too. Namely that the previously mentioned DLC for the Hyakushiki-esque MSN-001 Delta Gundam (pictured above) will be available in the first pressings of an HGUC kit of the mobile suit this August. Not only will the mobile suit have its own mission but it also seems that it will be piloted by Quattro Vagina. Following on from this, in addition to the ability to upgrade your units you’ll also be able to customise their weapon load-out too. With some weapons offering a multi-lock feature. There’s also a slightly odd mention of using asteroids for cover, how this will work will be interesting to see as it sounds like it’s a similar snap-to affair as in Gears of War. Finally, emblems (with extra functional bonuses) will also be available in the game.

Whilst there was a bit of criticism over the graphical fidelity shown in the promo, we’re actually pretty impressed with the game thus far. Bear in mind the host work is animated, so a photo-realistic approach would actually be unfaithful and the game is also considerably cheaper than that of other PS3 releases. That said, we’re more interested in the way the game appears to be more manual in terms of control. So all this graphical willy waving is somewhat lost on us.

It’s sad to to report that since the release of Armored Core V’s demo, it has been plagued with problems. The most egregious of which is the inability to play the game online for the most part, something the demo was meant to offer (for a small time admittedly). To make matters more unfortunate, the game has trouble even running at 30 fps (with the PS3 version erring closer to 20 fps). Even with these faults it’s better than the likes of Front Mission Evolved, which is a pretty recent and relevant comparison (especially on the scale of the mecha). From what we’ve played though ACV is a lot of fun, with it handling a lot like a more deliberate Metal Wolf Chaos. The removal of the traditional weapon setup in favour of storing the weapons on the shoulders is an interesting development too, as you have to plan weapon switches ahead as the animation is quite long. In any case, a comparison video of the two demos (showing their respective framerates) is embedded below.

[[Visit blog to check out this spoiler]]

Over on Hideo Kojima’s Twitter account, he recently teased two shots (here and here) of the opening anime for the upcoming Zone of the Enders HD Edition. Whilst the shots are pretty blurry, the footage does look nice and we wouldn’t complain if another anime series came as a result. For ZOE fans in general, we also have a new toy review that will be posted in the next few days that might also pique your interest. So keep an eye out for that.