4Gamer has a nice bit of coverage on Gundam Extreme Versus’ presence at this year’s C3xHOBBY. Despite the presence of Kazuki Yao, the voice of Judau Ashta (amongst many others), the interesting announcement is the presence of a new Kunio Okawara design in the game, called the Extreme Gundam. Similar in many ways to the GAT-X105 Strike Gundam but it also has a reverse “face” currently hidden from view. This will be a boss unit in the game and there’s no word on whether it will be playable as yet.

Over at Comiket, Takara Tomy have unveiled the next set of Video Game Robotics gashapon that were meant for a June release (that are now scheduled for December instead). In total, the series will contain four mecha from four different games. They are the PDF-802 X-4+ from Power Dolls 2, a PC turnbased strategy game with mecha designed by none other than Hajime Katoki. Followed by the HIGH-MACS 12 from the original Gungriffon and then the V-MH GLORY from the super rare Metal Slader Glory adventure game on the Famicom (later ported to the Super Famicom). The last mecha, of the four, is apparently a new blast runner from the upcoming Border Break Air Burst. However, all this may sound and look wonderful but the last set of gashapon in the range were pretty awful and they cost 700 yen a piece, these new toys cost 400 yen each. Considering the poor quality of the previous set, reducing the price for the new one doesn’t exactly bode well really.

As part of a summer campaign for Senjou no Kizuna, to tie in with the game’s recent Ver 2.17 update, players will be able to win new mobiles suits to play with. The four mobile suits in questions are the RX-78-6 Mudrock Gundam, the MSM-10 Zock, the RGM-79L GM Light Armor and the EMS-10 Zudah. In order to unlock each suit, the player needs to either win a match as either Federation or Zeon, for the Mudrock and Zock respectively, or lose with either side to get the weaker GM Light and Zudah. On a separate note, seeing the Mudrock in action since the excellent Zeonic Front is very welcome indeed. This “summer battle” campaign will only be in arcades for a short while though, starting on August 12th to the 25th. However, the camapign will also be extended in September as well. If you want to see the new suits in action, there are videos on the campaign page at the official Senjou no Kizuna site.

Kotobukiya have recently announced another Border Break kit, this is the Cougar S – a souped variant from Ver 1.5 of the original Cougar with new weapons and parts. As with all Border Break designs it looks bloody amazing and just keeps on hammering home the fact that this game is still only playable in Japan. The kit will retail for around 3,990 yen and be released in November.

It seems that Taito are planning to release a new Darius Burst game, dubbed Another Chronicle, and one that will potentially grace arcades rather than the PSP. Why talk about Darius here you may ask? Well, in the case of Burst the mecha design in the game was handled by Kanetake Ebikawa and Takayuki Yanase, both of which recently worked on Gundam 00. Yanase’s gaming credits are much longer though and as such fall under the auspices of this meagre site. If you click the image above you’ll get to see the scope of how Burst’s aesthetic direction fell under the remit of these two rather wonderful mecha designers.

Update: Game Watch has some coverage on the new arcade game and its immensely wide screen. There will also be location tests starting next week for the game in Akihabara.

4gamer has an all new update on many of the somewhat overlooked units that will be present in the upcoming Gundam Extreme Versus. From the RX-0 Unicorn Gundam (pictured above) to the LM314V21 Victory 2 Gundam as well as the YMT-05 Hildolfr, the latter being finally saved from its appearance in the appalling Target in Sight. Some may think that the Hidolfr actually appeared in the Dreamcast game, Rise from the Ashes, but in actual fact that was the Rhinoceros. In any case, these new shots really show that the game is looking truly stunning.

The animated version of Gundam Unicorn is receiving its much anticipated second episode this November. Before then though, Bandai are showing off the new footage in a lovely long promo. Apart from looking wonderful in terms of the animation, it’s nice to hear Shūichi Ikeda’s dulcit tones again in Gundam. The promo even shows the glorious Sinanju in action finally, as well as the Unicorn too obviously. Considering that Gundam Extreme Versus is out in arcades at the end of the year, in Japan, the timing of the second episode’s release is fortuitous. For those that want their Unicorn Gundam fix before November, then the unit is fully playable in the brilliant Gundam vs Gundam Next Plus on the PSP. Alternatively, you could pick up the regal Metal Composite toy if you’re after something more tactile. Either way, enjoy the promo linked below.

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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.

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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.