The second alpha test for Mobile Suit Gundam Online is now underway. With 5,000 or so testers the game now has a few more interesting features to boot. From the use of strategic weapons, such as nukes (that knowingly breach the Antarctic Treaty), to reinforcements in the form of battelships. They’ve also confirmed that if the number of players falls below the maximum amount that bots will make up the difference. What’s still the most compelling thing about all this though is that the game can have over a hundred players squaring off in one battlefield and sagely they’ve not opted for a photo realistic art-style either, so most people can run this on a semi-decent PC. It will be interesting to see how this does once it’s finally released to the public and it goes without saying that a Steam version would be totally sweet (as well as wholly unlikely).

The recently released Super Robot Wars Z 2 Saisei-hen has managed to top the Japanese charts quite nicely, to the tune of 265,439 sales. If you’re wondering why we didn’t report this sooner and why the site has been a bit quiet as of late, that’s purely down to the fact that we’ve been playing the game pretty solidly since we got it last week. Thus far it’s sublimely brilliant and we will be doing a review once we’ve completed at least one playthrough.

There have been two updates about the forthcoming Gundam Seed Battle Destiny’s customisation system over at Famitsu as well as 4Gamer. What’s especially interesting is that the upgrading of mobile suits will be undertaken via GP and TP points. TP is awarded at the end of mission and is linked to the mecha you just used, like the classic Gundam Battle games. Whereas GP is similarly awarded at the end of each mission but can be used on any mobile suit of your choosing. However, it also sounds that GP can be reassigned at a later date (unlike TP which is permanently spent once used). Like in the Macross games, you can also purge parts and this in turn affects the performance of your mobile suit. In any case, the GP and TP setup is a shrewd one; as it affords a more fluid upgrade system and one that probably won’t descend into a motherless grind-fest. It genuinely seems that Artdink are actually trying to move the series on after the really quite shockingly poor Gundam Assault Survive. For that we applaud them. As always, you can pre-order the game here.

It seems that if you buy Steel Battalion Heavy Armor’s on its release, you’ll also be graced with a Chrome Blitzer Pack download code that will allow you to customise your VT with new types of camouflage (pictured above). In addition to this, a new video has also been going the rounds. The more we see of the game in action the more we think that this will be pretty disappointing. Parochial narrative jingoism aside, the whole functional setup looks to be horridly unwieldy. Whilst the original games were by no means intuitive, they were far more precise in terms of input (probably to the extent of being too precise). This looks frustratingly vague by comparison. Considering the game’s nascent production problems, we’re not holding out hope for this to be any good.

A fair while back it was revealed that a game would be released alongside the forthcoming anime series Eureka Seven AO. We now know that this will in fact by a game packaged on the Blu-Ray release of the anime itself, basically yet another hybrid game/anime setup. Considering this will be a long running series, rather than a one shot movie, it will be interesting to see whether the game will become similarly episodic. In any case, still no details as to what type of game this will be but due to the format we do now know that it will be a PS3 exclusive.

Frustrated with Armored Core V’s regional server structure, one person has taken it upon himself to create an open petition to Bandai Namco; to merge the North American, European and Australian servers into one large server. You can find the petition here.

It’s no secret that Armored Core has never exactly been big outside of Japan. Sure, we few mecha gaming fans have played and loved them for years but the general population has, for the most part, skimmed over the franchise. So to start off with the player base is small but to then make it smaller yet, by braking the online players up from region to region, is a bit of a kick in the side. They meant well though. They just wanted to decrease server lag for us, which is a nice thought.

If the servers were to merge, we would have a great many more opportunities for territory matches, the online would feel more alive and I think all around more robust (albeit perhaps slightly laggier). While I’m not sure if Bandai Namco will listen to the pleas made by this petition, I do believe that at the very least, Bamco will take notice, and think about what the players want. Besides the petition’s stated goal, many people hope that it will bring with it the patches required to bring the game inline with its Japanese counterpart, which would be a very welcome thing indeed.

Gundam Extreme Versus Full Boost, the much anticipated follow on to Gundam Extreme Versus, will be released tomorrow in arcades across Japan. Whilst details as to whether Byking are still helming the game are unknown, it remains likely (even with Gunslinger Stratos in development already). Again, the hardware is also touted to be System 357 and that means a another PS3 port is likely down the road. Either way, we’re happy to see another entry into this excellent versus series finally at large.

Both 4Gamer and Famitsu have posted their reports of the recent and now finished closed beta on Gundam Battle Operation. Despite a reassuringly good time had by all, it sounds like the game will need some further balancing work. Mainly because both sites openly state that the moment the MS-07B Gouf came on the scene, much fraping of the Feddie forces did ensue. However, on foot human players were also able to make a difference as blowing up an enemy’s base was in some ways easier on foot. In addition, 4Gamer made a big point of citing how similar the game looks and feels to Gundam Senki 0081. This is very much a good thing. Still no precise details on the game’s release date, bar sometime this June, but by all accounts the game could end up being actually quite decent.

Released in 1989 to little fanfare, Herzog Zwei, an action/strategy hybrid, was one of the most influential titles in video game history despite remaining relatively unknown to this day. Its major innovation was strategic gameplay in real time, with bases creating units that would be carried by your commander mecha’s fighter form into battle. This real-time aspect, the management of resources, and construction of units would inspire what is generally considered the first Real Time Strategy game, Dune 2, which would inspire Command & Conquer, which would in turn inspire Warcraft. Despite helping launch an entire genre, Herzog Zwei has unfortunately never received the modern update it so rightly deserved, other than an indie spiritual successor in Cyber Wing and a stealth homage by way of the brutally underrated Brütal Legend.

Thankfully, Carbon Games is bringing Herzog Zwei to the 21st century with a freemium game called AirMech. While still in alpha, and currently only playable in the form of an add-on for the Google Chrome browser, the game already has all the charm of the original and then some. Many were put off by Herzog Zwei’s almost impenetrable game mechanics, but the short tutorial and simple controls of Airmech allow you to get right into the action. Thankfully, this doesn’t mean the game has been dumbed down; it remains the same hectic mecha shmup crossed with the grand tradition of screwing your friends with a lightning raid of tanks right outside their headquarters.

A second alpha test for the upcoming Mobile Suit Gundam Online has been announced and outline over at 4Gamer. Set within the caves and jungles of Jaburo, players will have access to 6 new mobile suits as well. Whilst you can’t sign-up for the new alpha as yet, the report says that the official site will afford this sometime soon. It’s still looking pretty solid but what with the newly announced Gundam Battle Operation already undergoing it’s first closed beta, it will be interesting see how this visually bland version will fare.