Over at 4Gamer there’s a new article on the forthcoming Gundam Breaker for PS3 and Vita. Covering the game’s customisation setup in a bit more detail, it seems that experience garnered will allow increasingly potent parts to be equipped but that this can be bypassed through use of “ace points” or certain parts. In addition the game will allow all manner of visual customisation too, from weathered to glossy kit finishes (as well as decals). Following on from customisation we now have more detail on the game structure too, with new screenshots finally showing some decent in-game HUD. Despite the obligatory tutorial missions, we’ll also have defense scenarios as well as giant Gundam battles. The latter sounds the more interesting of the two if we’re honest. The playable environments also look pretty cool, with the model kit workshop being wonderfully nerdy. Still no word on a release date or price for this but the game is look interesting at least. In addition, Bamco will be holding a free open beta on the PS3 version of the game.

Both 4Gamer and Famitsu are running a piece on network tests for the upcoming Armored Core Verdict Day. For one the site they linked to doesn’t go live until tomorrow and the network test will also only be on the PS3 version of the game. The actual process will be a lottery which you can enter from tomorrow (Friday) onwards until Sunday. There will then be a total of four dates of playtesting; two in April (20th and 27th) and another two in May (4th and 11th). If you’re one of the few to be accepted then you’ll be sent an e-mail as to which playtest you’ll be involved in. The whole purpose of this apparently is to ascertain load on their servers as well as feedback on early gameplay balancing. Pretty standard fare for a closed alpha/beta really.

Following on from the announcement last week, we now have some new screenshots for Armored Core Verdict Day over at 4Gamer. In addition, it’s been revealed that the game will be released internationally this year as well. Currently there are no dates for the international releases, bar “Fall 2013” on the US site, though some places have stated the game will be released this summer. If true that would pre-date the Japanese release and be the first game in the series to do so. All that aside, the new parts and updated operator maps look nice and it seems we’ll also be getting some form of solid shields this time around too. The big thing for us though is that the game should use merged dedicated servers, rather than the regionally locked nonsense we have now. This is simply because there aren’t enough players outside of Japan to make the setup work properly. Admittedly From Software could ratchet back on the design in terms of the online setup but that would be shame, especially when having a global solution would fix the issues we have now. In short, this is in Namco Bandai’s court again and here’s hoping they don’t fuck it up…again.

On February 26th, the Zaku III Kai and Gundam Astray Gold Frame Amatsu will be added to Gundam Extreme Versus Full Boost. Like the last release of Archer Arios and GP-03 last month, these two units that were released as DLC for the home version of Gundam Extreme Versus will be fully realized with the newer gameplay mechanics of the sequel.

In addition, Namco Bandai is getting ready for the 2013 Premium Dogfight tournament by having qualifiers starting from February 23rd to March 31st in select locations in Japan. If you don’t know, Premium Dogfight is the national Gundam Versus tournament sponsored by Namco Bandai. Last year, a team of 00 Qan[T] /Tallgeese III defeated a Zaku II/Hildolfr team in a very thrilling battle to claim the national championship for 2012. It will be interesting to see what sort of high level team synergy will arise from the plethora of units in the sequel. The 2013 Premium Dogfight finals will take place on May 25th.

Maybe we’ll see some info on the home release of Full Boost then as well, similar to how they showed off Full Boost during last year’s Premium Dogfight finals for Extreme Versus.

Over at Famitsu we now have confirmation that there will be indeed be a follow on to the excellent Armored Core V. Entitled Armored Core Verdict Day it will continue the same territorial online setup along with improved matchmaking and the ability to switch sides during battle (!). Though, if we’re honest, we’d be more happy if they were going to merge the various servers for the game. That aside, there will be an obvious singleplayer contingent continuing the overall narrative from the preview game. We also have a release date, that of September 26th this year for both PS3 and 360. Save data from the previous game will also be usable in Verdict Day and there will also be a limited edition version of the game available, which will come with a figure and soundtrack. Considering that Armored Core V was released in January of last year, the turnaround on Verdict Day has been pretty quick.

Following the success of Armored Core Reprises, the internal From Software band called FreQuency (as headed by Kota Hoshino) will be doing another Armored Core remix album. Called Sunrise, the first track to be premiered is that of “Vanishing” (as shown below). Released as a physical copy at the end of the week in Japan and then digitally next week, it’s clear that we’ll be seeing and hearing more of FreQuency in the future. There’s also an excellent fan made Armored Core tribute album called The Answer if you’re at all curious.

Without much of a fanfare at all, the original Virtual On was released on PSN and XBLA earlier this week. As forewarned, the release was indeed Japan only (for both platforms) but thankfully neither version was region locked. Meaning that if you have a Japanese account then you can buy and play either version just fine. In terms of the port, it’s not quite as thorough as the PS2 SEGA AGES release but it’s as pure. In that it lacks all the various options, such as widescreen and split-screen versus, but it does afford online multiplayer and system link version (though only for the 360 version on the latter). As for the online there are already plans for a tournament. Anyway, we can heartily recommend both ports of the classic arcade game and look forward to seeing our readers online.

What with the current Wonder Festival over, we now have all manner of lovely pictures of the event. There were a lot of items of note too, as some very interesting mecha toys surfaced. From the very delayed Blodia from Cyberbots (above) to the likes of Max Factory revealing a line of Dougram toys and even a new kit of the wonderful Tsugumori from the Knights of Sidonia manga (not to be confused with the forthcoming RIOBOT toy). Though it’s very clear that Sentinel, with their RIOBOT toy range, are set to become somewhat of a fan favourite. Having Orgun on show again warmed our heart and it’s clear that the sheer variety of figures that Sentinel have in the pipeline is deeply impressive. Though the best thing we saw was the rescue ship from the end of Virtual On. Anyway, there’s plenty of juicy coverage around (with the following pages here, here and here being of note) and as always there’s no real detail on release date or pricing for many of these.

Update: There are some additional photo reports here, here and here.

As part of the build up for the release of Macross 30 at the end of February, Bandai Namco are running a series of videos narrated by Sheryl Nome. These are sort of a continuation of her Macross Seminar series that was used on Macross Frontier to help newer viewers understand the background of the Macross saga. Considering the game actively tries to cover multiple eras within the franchise, it makes decent sense that they’re trying to help explain more of the backstory to people. Both of the current videos are linked below and you can pre-order the game here.

There’s a rather amazing YouTube channel by the name of Studio Me-Gaane that features Famicom-esque 8-bit chiptune renditions of classic mecha anime theme tunes. Despite being obviously a brilliant thing to do, they are also executed pretty damn impressively too. In addition to the YouTube channel, there’s also an iTunes page if you want to offer remuneration to the studious chap. You can also keep up with his work on Twitter too. Anyway, we’ve included some of our favourite tracks below if you’re at all curious.