A new MMO mecha game by Gamepot, entitled Gigantomakhia, will be starting its alpha testing as of today. It’s being touted as an MMO FPS/action game, with what looks like customisable mecha as well as on foot sections for the pilots. This sounds awfully similar to the unfortunate Gundam Online that was eventually canned. If that bombed with such a huge license attached to it, Gigantomakhia will clearly have its work cut out for it. Apparently the game won’t run on PC’s using Windows XP and needs DirectX 10 compatible graphics card. The screenshots at least look nice though.

What with the indie mecha game Hawken getting its film rights optioned, it seems that the multiplayer only game will also have something in the way of a story. The trailer below sets up the premise that the full on mecha combat is the result of an over industrialised colony world pushed to the brink of environmental collapse. All we do know is that it’s still preposterously pretty and that we are very curious to see how it actually plays. Eye candy is one thing but there’s a suspicious lack of hands on previews, considering that the game was announced a while ago now. We’re still cautiously optimistic though and at the very least it will look gorgeous.

The upcoming Hawken has had another video for E3. Showing quite a bit of the game in action, it’s all looking very lovely but we’re increasingly curious to find out what the game will actually play and handle like once released. The full video is shown below.

If you remember, we reviewed the Composite Ver. Ka Temjin a while back. It was suitably awesome but maybe a little pricey for some. Well, pricey it is no longer. HobbyLink Japan are featuring the toy in their current sale at a whopping 60% off the normal retail price (coming in at 1,920 yen). It goes without saying that this a fantastic bargain but they only have a finite number in stock, so if you want yours then you better move quickly!

In a recent blog post, the team working on the anticipated Hawken link to a selection of new videos that show more of the game in action. Whilst there are no confirmed platforms (bar a tentative “PC”) or release dates as yet, the team are in apparently a number of talks to figure out how best to get this game to market. The new level, pictured above, looks suitably lovely though.

Battle Armor Division, a mecha action sidescroller, has been released by developer Crian Soft. As we’ve noted before, Battle Armor Division’s gameplay runs in a similar vein to the classic Assault Suits series, which inspired other recent efforts at recreating the Assaults Suit magic such as Gunhound and Gigantic Army. It’s always a pleasure to see a Western-developed mecha game (European, no less) that’s not afraid to combine elements of both Japanese mecha anime and Western military science fiction, especially when it leads to gritty Real Robot conflicts filling the screen with explosions.

On the official site you can find a demo, and the full game is available via digital distribution for 8.90 Euros (around $12.50). Along with the game, a new trailer has been released, asking: “can you survive at the war in 26° century?” Ah, it just wouldn’t feel like a mecha game without a slightly awkward localization.

TimeGate Studios has released Section 8: Prejudice to the Xbox Live Marketplace today. This of course being the sequel to the not so well received Section 8, released in 2009. Listening to criticism from critics and fans alike, TimeGate has promised to fix or totally revamp much of what was wrong with the previous installment, while retaining, that which made the original…well, original.

So, while all of that is yet to be seen, one thing is for sure; power armor mayhem. Like its predecessor Prejudice will have wonderful Landmate-esque powered armor, to stomp, crush, and blow away your competition. Add to that a cacophony of vehicles, weapons, and customization options and you have yourself one hell of a game (or so we hope).

Now for those of you who actually own and have played the original Section 8, TimeGate has announced that they will be giving away “Loyalty Rewards” based on your player level in the first Section 8. The rewards are: For simply playing the original you get the Aegis Armor and Reactive Plating for your character, if you made it to level 25 then you get the Ablative Plating upgrade, and finally for those who reached level 50 you receive  the Explosives Amplifier upgrade.

A very nice gesture on TimeGate’s part if you ask me, and I’m fairly excited to play. Sadly, however, I will not receive any rewards. While Xbox owners can enjoy Section 8 today, PC and PS3 owners will have to wait a little longer. May 4th for PC users, and sometime in summer for PS3 users. You can purchase and play Section 8: Prejudice on your Xbox, right now for 1200 MSP. Additionally upon release on PC (through Steam and Games for Windows Marketplace), it will be $14.99 USD.

Stardock’s Impulse game download service is currently having a sale on a game named Metal Brigade Tactics, a turn-based mecha strategy game. To be completely honest, it’s not all that impressive, but with the current sale price at $3.00, it’s probably worth looking at for curiosity’s sake. There’s also not much else available on the PC in terms of turn-based mecha strategy games, and with its low system requirements this might just be the sort of game to play on a low-spec netbook.

The mecha designs are fairly original, and while the game system was obviously inspired by both Western turn-based games as well as Super Robot Wars, there are a few unique tweaks added to the mix, such as artillery being fired off at the beginning of a turn and landing at the end of it, making them very effective area denial weapons, as foes need to decide between taking damage or wasting a turn taking the long way around. There is a demo available from the official website.

A new gameplay trailer for the recently announced Hawken went live yesterday. This shows the game from a first person cockpit view. In short, it’s looking bloody impressive and the mecha appear to handle very nicely too. What’s interesting is that due to the size of the mecha (as in a couple of metres) they’ve managed to keep a solid FPS framework and still infer some weight, without doing the dumb thing of treating 20 metre tall mecha like a human being. In any case, the trailer is shown below.

Kotaku has posted a brief interview with team leader Khang Le at Adhesive Games, the developer making the just announced Hawken. Apart from the reassuring knowledge that the game will be very much real robot in focus, Le also cites the mecha designer Kow Yokoyama as a strong influence for the mecha in Hawken (with Maschinen Krieger, aka SF3D, being notable). Yokoyama is a very interesting mecha designer, as his work melds insect like organic shapes with very gritty industrial elements. He’s also no stranger to games, from the original mecha designs in Front Mission to those in Carnage Heart and Phantom Crash/S.L.A.I., with the latter being especially relevant in the case of Hawken. In any case, the more we hear about this game the more we want to play it.