Joystiq has some hands-on impressions of Thexder Neo from the Tokyo Game Show. As someone who missed out on playing the original Thexder, reading how the new one plays has gotten me a lot more excited about it. Sounds like the transformation ability is being used as more than just a gimmick but instead as an integral part of gameplay.

The upcoming PSP port of Gundam vs Gundam Next has been finally given its own site. Noteworthy is the information emblazoned across it that it will be present in video form at this year’s Tokyo Game Show. The Japanese release date has also been specified now as being the 3rd December this year.

The upcoming PSN/PSP re-make of the classic NEC PC-8801 shooter Thexder has had its site launched. Apart from a selection of interesting screenshots there’s also a gameplay trailer. Thexder is an interesting game as it was one of the first dedicated mecha gaming IP’s and it successfully featured in-game transformation. Unsurprisingly, it was hugely popular at the time of its release. The game will be available on October 1st for a 1000 yen via the Japanese PSN store.

The latest issue of Famitsu has announced another PSP port for the Gundam vs Gundam line of games. Now, we already reported that Gundam vs Gundam Next is getting ported to the PlayStation 3 but it also seems a PSP version is also on the cards and slated for a December release this year. Interestingly, the PSP port seems to be getting additional playable mecha in the form of the Reborns Gundam and 00 Raiser from the second season of Gundam 00 as well as the Altron Gundam and Wing Zero from Endless Waltz.

In a recent update to the official Silent Line Portable site, a new data install option was disclosed. This is especially good news for anyone who bought the previous Armored Core 3 Portable, as it spent half the time reading game data straight from the UMD (rather than caching it like it did on the PlayStation 2 version) and consequently sapping your PSP battery dry. Now, you’ll be able to install all the necessary data onto the PSP’s memory stick negating this issue entirely. Considering the lengthy bouts of furious multiplayer we had on the original Silent Line, the fact that we won’t need to spend quite so much time re-charging our PSP is nice to know. For those interested, there’s also a promo video for Silent Line Portable going the rounds. The port istelf looks to be pretty solid, more so than the last effort at least.

The recent Armored Core Championship Tournament 2009 Season 1 Finals were held in Tokyo over the weekend. This was for the recent release of Armored Core 3 Portable. There were over 40 participants with only 13 qualifying. The three levels used for the tournaments were “Arena”, “Wasteland” and “Abandoned Factory”. Even Toshifumi “Mr. Armored Core” Nabeshima himself was there for the fans and thanked them cheerfully for their diligence in terms of their mad skillz. The winner was a rifle user, one who manually fired shots (something that was prevalent at the final for the PlayStation 2 version back in 2002). For more info Dengeki has the scoop.

Here is the latest promo video for the upcoming PSP game Macross Ultimate Frontier. This is the sequel to the previous Macross Ace Frontier, also developed by Artdink (who in turn have helmed the Gundam Battle series as of late, though the older of us will most probably remember them for making Carnage Heart). Ultimate Frontier boasts even more variable fighters to choose from now and the addition of several extra Macross series (notably that of Macross Dynamite 7, Macross Zero and the somewhat ill-fated Macross II). The game is out at the beginning of October in Japan and like the previous game it most likely won’t make the jump abroad, as the rights surrounding Macross are quite awkward (courtesy of Robotech and Harmony Gold). The music in the video is also a new Fire Bomber track made specifically for the game as well, as anything involving Yoshiki Fukuyama makes everything so much better.

Back around the time of Armored Core 2, there were a fair few issues with the game not only in terms of its pretty awful frame rate but also in regards to the unbalanced parts list when it came to human versus. One part in particular, the Karasawa Mk2, was cheese incarnate. In the original Armored Core the Karasawa was a meaty laser rifle that fired needle like shots of immense power, to the extent that it could kill an enemy AC with around 10 shots (it had a total capacity of 50 in case you’re curious). In Armored Core 2 it kept the shot potency but also increased the shot velocity and also had an additional stun for each shot. This meant all you had to do was land the first shot and the Mk2 would take care of the rest.

Fast forward to today and the upcoming PSP port of Armored Core 3 Silent Line now features an almost identical inclusion of that dreadful weapon (though with a slightly reduced ammo capacity). The weird thing is that Silent Line already had it’s own Karasawa, so having another is a bit of an overkill. Whether this will unbalance the new port as much as it did with Armored Core 2 remains to be seen however.