4Gamer has a new piece on the forthcoming Mobile Suit Gundam Online and it seems that they’re really going more for the co-op action route, a la Monster Hunter, rather than an old school MMO. This is mostly down to the combat being pretty standard TPS Gundam fare, with mobile suits broken down into class types (such as assault or sniper for instance). The fact you can also have a suitably massive number of players, 52 per side to be precise, is also pretty damn awesome really. In addition, there’s also a commander mode available that looks and sounds awfully like Armored Core V’s setup (which in turn is influence by Chrome Hounds obviously). Still no word on pricing or release date as yet but it’s looking to be a pretty cool game.

Game Watch has a piece on a recent version update to our favourite Gundam arcade game; Senjou no Kizuna. This particular revision (3.06) features quite an extensive array of changes as well as a few additions. From finally including Johnny Ridden’s proper Zaku, that of the MS-06R-2 Zaku II High Mobility Type, to the slightly crazy addition of the RB-79K Ball Type K as piloted by Shiro Amada at the beginning of 08th MS Team. The other changes are mostly that of balancing, with the Blue Destiny units getting a substantial performance boost as well as the White Dingo coloured gaming classic RGM-79SP GM Sniper II getting a nice hyper bazooka. Finally, there is now a new “Nosedive” manoeuvre available, this is pretty much self explanatory and can only be used on maps set in space. This also fits into a small change to the A Baoa Qu map, as it gets a new corridor to help alleviate some bottle-necking.

Famitsu has a new breakdown on the forthcoming Gundam Unicorn game for PS3. Not only do we have a release date now, the 8th March next year, but that the price will also be a very affordable 5,040 yen for the standard edition and the limited edition at 7,980 yen. The latter will feature additional bonus content on a separate Blu-Ray disc about the making of the anime as well as a new prequel novel written by Harutoshi Fukui with a luscious cover by Hajime Katoki featuring the prototype Sinanju Stein that we mentioned previously. The game has also had it’s “mode shift” controls clarified too. In that there will be an “assist” mode that will handle the weapon selection based on your range to target and a more “normal” setup where you have to select your sub-weapons manually. In addition, you’ll also be able to upgrade your pilots’ and mobile suits’ abilities with points earned in missions.

4Gamer has the news that both Super Robot Wars Alpha and Alpha Gaiden hit the PSN store yesterday for 1,500 yen a piece. The Alpha series was a shift for the SRW series in terms of the difficulty (as in not fascistically impossible) and used more elaborate battle animations. It was also one of the first SRW games to feature the mighty variable fighters from Macross. As with the other SRW archived games on PSN these can also be played on your PSP. Annoyingly, the PS Vita doesn’t do PSone archived games as yet (though weirdly it does do the PC Engine games) but we’re pretty sure it won’t be long until they’re PS Vita compatible. Finally, the article also talks of a 20th Anniversary event on the 18th March next year. No details really on what the event will be but we’re assuming that JAM Project will be present to scream their awesome lungs out.

The suitably bonkers Chousoku Henkei Gyrozetter, with its actual transforming cabinet, has finally received its first trailer for the arcade version of the game (a 3DS game is also planned). The footage shows what effectively is turn based combat utilising a now pretty ubiquitous (in Japan at least) card system. The game looks pretty decent and leagues ahead of anything in the SRW camp, especially when it comes to 3D graphics (as XO and Neo were a bit lacklustre in comparison). Not sure what arcade hardware this is running on though but it obviously looks pretty current. In any case the full trailer is below.

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A good long while ago, the original trailer for Armored Core V showed a pretty awesome set of flaming chainsaws as one of the game’s new “over weapons”, powerful weapons that could down an AC in one hit but required skill to use effectively. Well, those flaming chainsaws now have a name; the Grind Blade. That’s not all, there are a slew of other similarly uber weapons apparently too. From giant missile launchers to huge cannons and an immense part known as the Multiple Pulse, which looks like a pretty damn deadly area of effect weapon. On top of all this, the “Full Burst” live stream has been and gone (it’s archived below thankfully) and From Software also did another breakdown movie covering the customisation in the game. In addition, there’s now also a team play promo (also linked below) that has a tiny bit of gameplay footage showing off the suitably epic Grind Blade in action. Finally, 4Gamer have also highlighted that a new event will occur on December 23rd to a select throng of 50 lucky fans who will get to play the game (the application details are here). The game is still set for it’s January 26th release and we really can’t wait!

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There’s a new shiny update over at 4Gamer for Lord of Elemental II: Revelation of Evil God. It covers a variety of new characters in the game as well as highlighting some interesting aspects in regards to moving around the landscape. Specifically, if the element for a certain machine corresponds to water, then it will be able to move more easily through and thus cover more distance. It also seems that this effect can be passed over to other units too. As always, it’s looking very pretty still and don’t forget you can pre-order the box set here.

4Gamer has an interesting breakdown of the campaign modes in the upcoming Gundam Unicorn game. We already knew about the Unicorn Mode, which allowed players to choose to play through the narratives of several characters in the anime. The latest addition though is that of Custom Cast Mode, this allows you to create a team of six pilots and a warship and undertake a variety of challenging missions. Considering one of our concerns was the somewhat lean singleplayer, this new mode sounds to beef things up quite a bit. The other element is that of a prequel narrative, written by Harutoshi Fukui (who also penned the Unicorn novels), regarding Full Frontal’s stealing of the Sinanju Stein as well as introducing the Gundam Delta Kai (specifically built for Newtypes). On top of all this, there will also be DLC for the game. The first being revealed to be the forerunner to the pimp-tastic Hyakushiki, that of the transformable MSN-001 Delta Gundam. Finally, there are also some more details as to the gameplay; specifically that there is a mode shift present. This sounds a lot like the controls shift seen in the last two Another Century’s Episode games on the PS2, which would make sense as they were also developed by From Software. The game is definitely shaping up though and we’re keen to get our hands on it when it is finally released sometime next year.

The decade long lineage of the Gundam Versus games started out as a simplified reaction to SEGA’s more complex Virtual On. The latter required the player to keep an enemy’s position in their heads, as the camera would lose your target when you moved past them. In addition, the fixed vectored dashes made managing that even harder. The Gundam Versus games took this premise and distilled it down by removing the fixed vectored dashes and ensuring that the player could never lose sight of their target. What mixed it up was the addition of an extra opponent; two teams of two players a piece. Whilst the core mechanics were more accessible the additional enemy made combat more fluid. All of this was undertaken on a pretty standard arcade stick setup and what with the huge Gundam license attached to it, gamers piled in to play a game that was more immediately accessible but still interesting from a versus standpoint.

Fast forward ten years to the present and the Gundam Versus games have changed dramatically. The accessibility the games once had has evolved into something far more involved and in many ways has gone back to a more discerning setup similar to that of the original Virtual On games. Either way, the latest iteration in the form of Gundam Extreme Versus is nothing short of an arcade versus thoroughbred.

Following on from their various summary videos for Armored Core V, From Software will be hosting yet another live stream of the game on 16th December. Entitled “Full Burst” the stream will be 3 hours long and be suitably thorough by the sounds of it, though we’re not sure what exactly will be covered as From Software are being a tad vague on specifics. You can also follow the stream here on the day.