The upcoming arcade game Gundam Extreme Versus has finally had its official site updated, along with a Twitter feed to go along with it. Thankfully, they’ve opted for a more traditional site (over a flash based monstrosity) so we can link to pages directly, such as the game’s current MS List. This is slightly curious though, as we saw a V2 Assault Buster Gundam in the location test videos a few months back but the MS is noticeably absent from the list (as is the Unicorn Gundam, despite adorning the site’s main page art). In any case, we’ll be keeping an eye on this game over the coming months especially considering that a PS3 port is very likely at some point.

We’ve been keeping an eye on the upcoming anime TV series Mokei Senshi Gunpla Builders Beginning G for a while now. Meant to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Gunpla, it features a model kit building protagonist flanked by his tubby hamburger eating friend (which is quite realistic) and his female love interest (obviously not very realistic). What’s interesting is that despite the vast amount of product placement at work here, the characters seem to play out their Gunpla differences via matches in Senjou no Kizuna. With the main villain piloting a custom coloured Hi-Nu Gundam it will be interesting to see how this series is received by the Japanese public. At the very least the series will highlight the broader pop-cultural context Gundam has created over the years and that gaming is still the means by which people can actually pilot a mobile suit.

4Gamer have managed to cover two new gameplay videos for Carnage Heart EXA. The first video shows the traditional AI controlled OKEs battling it out based of the programming they’ve been given, whereas the second video shows the manual control mode in action. It’s clear that Artdink’s recent mecha gaming expertise on the PSP has paid dividends with EXA. Whilst we were deeply disappointed with Gundam Assault Survive, it’s nice to see Artdink go back to their roots like this and it’s clear from this videos that EXA will be excellent.

A fair few places are covering this year’s Tokyo Toy Show, with Dengeki Online’s contribution being pretty thorough. From the upcoming Super Robot Chogokin Cybuster, pictured above and featured in the recent Nintendo DS port of The Lord of Elemental, to the Composite Ver. Ka Temjin, it’s clear that mecha gaming has had quite the impact on the Japanese toy community in recent years.

4Gamer has some new coverage for the upcoming 360 port of Virtual On Force. Despite showing the four-player splitscreen mode, the above screenshot was of more interest really. For those that may not know, that’s a picture of TWO Jaguarandi’s against a MBV-04-10/80adv “10/80 ADV”. The best description for the above picture is probably along the lines of “incongruously terrifying”. This somewhat insane screenshot actually shows a special mission in progress, which is interesting as it’s something Virtual On Marz attempted as well, in terms of its level structure at least. Having a 10/80adv pitted against the Force era Jaguarandi’s does seem brutally unfair though.

SiliconEra has an interview with Shinji Hashimoto, producer of Front Mission Evolved, teasing some sort of cross-promotion with Hideo Kojima and his PlayStation Portable game Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.

This cross-promotion seems to be in addition to an already announced cross-promotion between the two games, where items unlocked in Peace Walker will be available in Front Mission Evolved, and/or vice versa. Considering the very different nature of the two games’ mecha, I’m wondering how this will actually work; if it’s robot-to-robot part swapping it could look awkward, albeit possibly interesting. The mecha in Peace Walker are heavy tank-like walkers and reworked versions of Metal Gear Solid 3’s Shagohod, while Front Mission Evolved’s mecha conform more to the Real Robot standard of quick-moving humanoid weapons, equipped with thrusters and ground rollers.

I wouldn’t mind the big secret being a face-off against the venerable Metal Gear REX from the original Metal Gear Solid. I’ve been waiting years to go mano-a-mano (well, mecha-to-mecha) against that monster without support from an insane cyborg ninja. Getting help from an insane cyborg ninja always felt like cheating.

A somewhat disgruntled Satoshi Kubo recently mentioned that a new Super Robot Wars anime is on the way and that he’s not working on the project due to the involvement of one Masami Ōbari (pictured above with the Max Gohkin Dragonar 1). Despite Kubo’s somewhat petulant demeanour, the news of an Ōbari helmed super robot show is most welcome. As Ōbari has pretty much encapsulated the “hero spirit” in much of his mecha designs. Admittedly, he’s faltered somewhat in recent years as Dancouga Nova was pretty underwhelming, especially compared to the brilliant original. In any case, a new Super Robot Wars anime normally heralds a big game release and a proper 2D PS3 or 360 game is long overdue (XO doesn’t count, as that was effectively a GameCube port). That said, we just want Ōbari to go back and pitch Dai Mazinger again.

Update: It appears that a new SRW game on the PS3 may surface at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, which ties in with the release of this new anime quite nicely.

The wonderful full size Real Grade Gundam is nearing the final stages of completion in its new home of Shizuoka. Over at Gundam.info, they’ve also got a new set of night time photos showing off the new beam saber in action. What’s curious is that the light source inside appears to be a form of arcing plasma (similar to those in a plasma lamp). If the frequency of the arcs are fast enough you could get quite a nice dramatic effect. The Gundam will be open to the public again from July 24th 2010 till January 10th 2011.

Game Watch has a nice breakdown on the upcoming Front Mission Evolved that shows, amongst many things, the backpacks that the wanzers can equip. From anti-missile hardware to, the more interesting, hover/flight backpack. Interesting in the sense that wanzers have historically been ground specific mecha, much like the AT’s in VOTOMS in fact as they too have “rollers” in their feet. Admittedly, some of the Front Mission games have allowed the wanzers to jump and hover but this was relatively rare in the series as a whole. There’s no reason why it can’t work though and the backpack element means it’s by no means a permanent fixture either. The update also shows some of the antagonist characters, with emphasis on bewbs no less. The Dylan mercenaries sport wanzers with skulls for heads, just so that gamers get that they are the “baddies” (way to go on the narrative subtlety there). In any case there are lots of nice screenshots to look at and, for all our worries about the game, it is looking nice.

Over at 4Gamer they’ve got a few updates regarding Artdink’s upcoming Carnage Heart EXA for the PSP. From nice new screenshots to a promo video, it seems that Artdink are keen to promote this game as being something of a genuine continuation for the series. What’s slightly odd about the promo video, shown below, is that the opening explosion montage is actually from the film Starman. Why they decided to choose that is somewhat of a mystery to us. In any case, seeing the new variety of OKEs the game will offer is rather encouraging and we can’t wait to get our hands on the game when it comes out in October.