DokoGaTV recently did an interview with mecha designer Shoji Kawamori and it makes for very interesting viewing. Considering that Kawamori is very prolific in both anime and games, his take on how he went about handling the designs for Armored Core are particularly enlightening and that the use of “core” in the game title’s name is by no means an accident either. It also again shows how integrally linked mecha gaming is to the overall pantheon of mecha and that it very often has a tangible functional outcome. Separately, he talks about his early work on Transformers (or Diaclone as it was originally known in Japan) and his hand in creating possibly the most well known design, that of Convoy (or Optimus Prime). His comment about how the mecha in the recent live action Transformer’s films operate, in that they use henshin (shapeshifting) rather than henkei (modular transformation), was also quite interesting as well as being depressingly very accurate.

This is quite a cool little indie game by Teasoft, entitled Shining Blood you control a mecha across five stages via an over the shoulder camera viewpoint. In many ways, it handles a bit like Armored Core 4 and For Answer, especially when airborne. Bar that, it’s pretty standard third person shooter fare, though considering the indie roots it’s damn impressive nonetheless. Not only can you download a PC version but it’s also an Xbox Live Arcade community game too.

Square Enix have been fairly diligent recently at posting new gameplay videos on their YouTube channel for the upcoming Double Helix developed Front Mission Evolved. Much in the same way our hands-on impressions indicated that the TGS demo was functionally rather lacklustre, these videos only seem to confirm that appraisal further.

This happened a few months back but a shrewd VJ by the name of Bonsajo re-purposed an old Steel Battalion controller for his VJing. It’s impressively done and makes a lot of sense considering how many buttons the device had, so you could pre-bake multiple inputs off that for quick access. Plus, it also looks pretty cool when all the buttons light up. In any case, Bonsajo uploaded some videos of the kit in action.

The upcoming DS bound Super Robot Wars Original Generation spin-off Endless Frontier Exceed has been given a new promo video. This is more your traditional RPG fare, rather than the turn based strategy that the series is normally based around. The big difference with the Endless Frontier games is also how they depict the human characters in game, as they’re not disembodied pilots. Considering that this doesn’t use licensed mecha, like its precursor, Exceed will most probably get a Western release at some point. The game is released on February 25th next year but there is also a limited edition version that offers a soundtrack CD, artbook and additional software features (of which the latter are currently secret).

Over at the Rookie Borders blog on Famitsu’s site, there are a fair few interesting videos of Border Break’s network games in action. For those curious as to how the game plays and who already read the hands-on impressions we posted not that long ago, then these videos are well worth a look. In addition, a Ver. 1.0.5 update was released a few days ago. This patch improves some of the matchmaking and addresses a few minor balancing issues.

The Super HCM Pro line of toys has had a new addition, in the form of the Hajime Katoki designed RX-0 Unicorn Gundam. The Super prefix denotes that the toy is of a larger scale than the normal line, as they’re normally 1/200 scale rather than 1/144 in the case of the Supers. The detailing and articulation is also considerably more advanced than the smaller HCM Pro toys but that comes at a considerable price increase. In the case of the Unicorn, both Unicorn and Destroy modes are catered for (with some parts removal) but the technical nature of the transformation has meant the price is even higher due to the increased engineering costs. Considering that the Gundam Unicorn anime is around the corner and Gundam vs Gundam Next Plus is released at the beginning of December, you may want to wait for the larger GFFN toy. As the new Gundam Fix toys use more diecast in the joints for stability. In any case, you can buy Super HCM Pro Unicorn Gundam here.

Over at the official Gundam vs Gundam Next Plus site, some new videos have surfaced. One being a TV commercial and the other an extended promo video. The latter is similar to the original video we linked not that long ago except that it shows a lot more gameplay footage and it covers pretty much every Gundam series featured in the game. What’s especially interesting to see is how the Trans-Am abilities for the Gundam 00 mecha are handled, notably that of the 00 Raiser. The game is still scheduled for Japanese release at the beginning of December.

One of the lesser known Virtual On releases was the Seganet version that shipped at literally the end of 1996 for the Saturn. This utilised the then hugely cutting edge technology of dial up modems, to connect peer-to-peer with other similarly equipped Saturn gamers. This meant you could actually play online matches on the Saturn port of Virtual On. Pretty heady stuff. A few years later, in 1998, the Sega Netlink service was started up in the US and the Saturn port of Virtual On followed along with it.

Matt Schulz managed to capture his online matches from way back when and has uploaded them to his YouTube channel for all to see. For fans of the Saturn port and even Virtual On in general, these videos are definitely worth a gander.

A new promo video for Super Robot Wars Neo is now online. This video is particularly noteworthy as it shows the new non-grid based map setup and how that interlinks with the battle system. In short, it looks to be masterfully fluid in terms of how the strategy will work out. Naturally, this is ideal for Neo as it’s being clearly aimed at a younger audience due to its slightly kiddy mecha show line-up. That said, having a similar setup for the subsequent Super Robot Wars games would also work extremely well as it would add more tactical intricacy and depth if handled well. The game’s release is still scheduled for the end of October in Japan.