We meant to cover this earlier, but the much anticipated Gundam Extreme Versus was released a few weeks ago in Japan. Following up on its success, the game will also have a Gundam Vs Mobile element that will allow players to theme the HUD of the game. In addition, on the 27th October, a new EX Scene level will become available featuring the GF13-001NHII Master Gundam as an antagonist and subsequently as a playable unit too. 4Gamer has some nice shots of these updates in case you’re curious. No word on a console release as yet but expect something in the New Year in terms of an announcement apparently.

Over at this year’s All Japan Plamodel Hobby Show (photo report here) amongst the panoply of various kits Hasegawa have finally revealed their kit for the fully transformable Myzr Delta VR from Virtual On Force and Marz. This was a continuation of the Viper and Cypher series, so it was an excellent airborne unit as a consequence. GAGraphic also has some nice shots of the kit and the video below (around the 3 minute mark) has some lovely footage it as well, we’ve linked the full video below anyway though. In addition to the Myzr Delta kit Kotobukiya also had their upcoming SAV-07-D Belgdor kit on show too.

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4Gamer has some coverage about the upcoming Virtual On Force, as on release both the standard and memorial box versions will come packaged with a special promotional code for Border Break Air Burst. This will allow Border Break players to gain access to a new a paint scheme for their blast runner, one that is unobtainable within the game normally. Not wishing to miss a trick, players that are only subscribed to the monthly paid Border Break.NET service will be able to use the new paint scheme. There was also a cool press conference for Air Burst about a week ago, where they showed the new game off quite nicely (the video is here in case you’re curious).

Following on from this Game Watch also had some interesting coverage regarding the new training mode in the 360 port of Force. It’s partly based on the one seen in Oratan but will have a great emphasis on structured training levels for novice players (as Oratan’s setup was much more open ended by comparison). What’s also very curious is how the game will handle the various VR types from the arcade, as these were triggered off ranking via the card system. The unfortunate follow-on of this was that often the better performing players received a wider array of VR’s to choose from, leaving the novices to struggle with the default versions. Whether this system has been carried over to the online element in the 360 port still isn’t known but from the description it seems that VR’s are awarded in the new “Mission Mode” now. The latter worries us slightly, as that would make this port of Force a bit too close to Marz for our liking. That said, the Missions also feed into how much you can upgrade your wingman AI – so that could be interesting at least. Finally, the article mentions a graphical option that renders the game with various HDR effects, such as bloom and some specular elements on the surface of the VR. We saw these on the TGS demo we played and they did look nice. The fact they are optional is pretty nifty though (as that very much appeals to our purist tendencies).

Courtesy of our good friends at HobbyLink Japan, we’ve been sent a toy from Mobile Suit Gundam 0080 to review. Specifically, the new GM Sniper II from the Robot Damashii range. The gaming significance of this design is also quite interesting and this review is meant as a companion piece to the forthcoming “White Dingo” version.

The upcoming Gundam Extreme Versus is not only getting an opening song from Linkin Park but it’s also getting Gackt to take the role of the game’s main villain called “ex” (piloting the new Extreme Gundam, obviously). Gackt has a pretty long history of being a publicly vocal Gundam fan. From the somewhat surreal music videos of him piloting an RX-178 Gundam Mark.II for the Zeta Gundam films, to the opening song of the last Gundam Versus game (which was a cover of the classic Ai Senshi no less). Gackt also does some pretty cool impersonations of Tōru Furuya (Amuro Rey) and Shūichi Ikeda (Char Aznable) amongst many others. One nice comment he’s made a few times was that when he went out drinking with the two actors he’d close his eyes and imagine that Amuro and Char were haggling over what beer to get. In any case, it’s kinda nice that such a nerdy fan of the original show has finally been given his own character.

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As we mentioned previously, the upcoming arcade game Gundam Extreme Versus will have its opening movie accompanied by Linkin Park’s song The Catalyst.

Well, that movie is now online and shows how the music will fit the action. Interestingly, the actual functional audio is absent (as in beam rifle shots etc.) leaving the dulcit tones of Linkin Park to shine through. Whilst on one hand the new intro doesn’t feel very Gundam, the music does somehow fit – though in a bit of an odd and unexpected, but still welcome, way. The new opening movie is shown below.

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The next episode in the anime adaptation of Harutoshi Fukui’s Gundam Unicorn novels is still set for release at the end of October. To commemorate the upcoming release of the “Red Comet” a new promo video has been going the rounds. Despite showing off the RX-0 Unicorn Gundam and MSN-06S Sinanju in more luscious detail, it’s really quite something to hear Shūichi Ikeda’s voice again. Now only if the episode could get here three times as fast…

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Like with previous Gundam Versus games, you often get a Japanese singer to do a cover song for the intro (Gackt being notable in this regard). However, for the upcoming Gundam Extreme Versus things are going to be a little…different. Instead of using a Japanese artist, Bandai Namco will be using the American band Linkin Park and their song The Catalyst for the game’s intro song. Following on from this, they’ll also be releasing (in Japan) a modified HGUC kit of the RX-78GP01-Fb Gundam Full Vernian “Zephyranthes” from Gundam 0083 styled by the band. To make matters somewhat more awesome, the above press shot has the band dressed in Federation regalia from the same part of the Universal Century timeline, this is more than a little bit brilliant as far as we’re concerned (and classy too because they picked UC). In any case, this version of the single was released yesterday in Japan and the music video for the song is shown below.

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Whilst wonderful games like Border Break Air Burst are being shown at this year’s JAMMA show, Bandai Namco don’t want to miss a trick either and have had Gundam Extreme Versus at the show too. They’ve even got the full intro for each series running on a gorgeously massive screen and as such it wasn’t long until some diligent fan captured the footage. We’ve subsequently linked the video below (the actual intros kick in around the 2 minute mark). Enjoy!

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4Gamer has covered SEGA’s setup at this year’s JAMMA show and amongst the games on display is the upcoming Border Break Air Burst (effectively Ver 2.0 of the current game). As you know, we love the current game and this “sequel” also has clan support as well as what appear to be in-game dropships. The new game is still slated for a release later this year.