In a piece over at Famitsu, it’s finally been shown that both the Karasawa laser rifle and Moonlight laser sword are present in the upcoming Armored Core V. The Karasawa is a long-standing series tradition, named after Yasuyoshi Karasawa who acted as producer on the first three PSone games. This version is slightly different though as it has a charge shot setup. As for the Moonlight, it has been present in every From Software game to date, after it originated in the first ever King’s Field. The new Moonlight also has a nice crescent shape too, which is pretty cool. Separately, there’s a picture of a new massive mecha called “TypeD No.5″, which appears to be a tad Arms Fort-esque. Historically both the Karasawa and Moonlight have been hidden unlocks but it’s nice to know that they are present and correct in the new game though.

Gigazine has a lovely piece on From Software’s recent Game Festa 2011. Considering neither Dark Souls or Armored Core V were present at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, From Software decided to hold their own event in a nearby hotel to Makuhari Messe. Amongst the various events and hands on demos, a new record label was also announced with a new Armored Core album performed by an in-studio band set for release this November. However, the most important piece of information released at the event was the finalised (Japanese) release date for Armored Core V, which is now January 26th.

In a recent event at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, Hideo Kojima got up on stage to tell the amassed throng that the forthcoming Zone of the Enders HD collections will be receiving new anime footage (as done by Sunrise). Amounting to an additional 4 minutes or so, it’s not clear whether this will be solely present in Anubis or a re-make of the CG animation from the first game. More interestingly though is the fact that a sequel to Anubis may finally be on the cards, they even finally admitted that a sequel had already been attempted a while back but was dropped. The obvious thing about all these renewed ZOE products, from toys to game remakes, is that it’s a clear attempt at marketing foreplay to hype the series back up again. The reason behind this is that, in reality, the ZOE games have never sold well and Konami need more than just a tiny vocal fanbase to bank roll what will end up being a hefty budget for any kind of modern sequel on PS3 or 360.

4Gamer has a piece on two producers from Capcom waving their arms around with the new Steel Battalion Heavy Armor for Kinect. Fundamentally the game uses proper, pad based, controls for movement and firing weapons of your vertical tank. However, certain switches and gauges in the cockpit require the player to directly gesticulate in midair to interact with them. In addition, your AI co-pilots apparently need cajoling in a similar manner as well, to the extent you get to enact a virtual Bright Slap if they start to turn into blubbering pansies. In some ways the fact the game is split like this is a good thing but it does openly show the inadequacies of the Kinect’s capabilities (as if it were truly a viable control setup, you wouldn’t need the pad at all). Considering that the first game was suitably revolutionary when it came to its controller, the new Kinect game seems to be partly following in its footsteps but we are still hugely skeptical about any of it actually working properly in the wild. We’re also a tad saddened that no-one on the From Software team were involved in this demo to the press.

Back in 2001 From Software announced their support for Microsoft’s first foray into the console market. With games like Murakumo and Gaia Blade many of the Japanese press and public regarded the Xbox as a possible contender, after all this was a staunch Japanese developer making games for an American console. The thing was that whilst Murakumo was available shortly after the Xbox’s release in Japan, Gaia Blade disappeared into insignificance.

The promotional in-game movie for Gaia Blade that was shown at the 2001 Tokyo Game Show displayed a rather lush “real time simulation” RPG set in a mythical almost ancient Greek inspired landscape. A scantily clad female warrior dispensed with multiple beasts in a pretty brutal fashion.

Roll forward a year to the following Tokyo Game Show and now people were asking what had happened to Gaia Blade. This time there weren’t any in-game movies but instead a few instances of pre-production artwork. Again, set in the mythical world but now with bipedal mecha and the game’s name had been changed to that of Gaia Gear. Admittedly, very few were surprised to see mecha in a From Software game but they were confused after seeing in-game footage of what looked to be an entirely different type of game. The question on everybody’s lips was what in the hell was From Software doing?

A year later a game finally appeared, the name had changed yet again as had the setting but the same design of bi-pedal mecha were present; the world had finally been introduced to Chrome Hound: Age of Arms.

A bunch of places have covered the material released at this year’s GamesCom for Armored Core V. With 4Gamer being one of the better ones. Showing off three areas; a buried city (above), a mountain base and an abandoned city. The big thing that seems to be hammered on about is all about the base defenses. Some places have rather snarkily interpreted this setup as being akin to glorified tower defense, which is entirely accurate if the tower defense genre has been broadened to include online combat with massively customisable mecha. Well done there, no really. That asinine nonsense aside, the update also talks about the involvement of two voice actors. Namely Chiaki Takahashi and Keiji Fujiwara, of which the latter was recently Ali Al-Saachez in Gundam 00 (though we’ll always remember him as Holland from Eureka Seven). What’s really clear about all this is how important the operator will be, as the status of your territory will be very much reliant on the team’s “eye in the sky”. Getting a good tactician on your team will clearly be as crucial as skilled gaming ninjas for the mecha piloting aspect, something that’s pleasantly reminiscent of Chrome Hounds.

What with Gamescom under way, Armored Core V has received a new trailer to show off its online setup. Whilst the voice over is a bit stiff, it conveys the premise of the game well. As always, it’s looking very nice indeed. In addition to the video, a selection of new screenshots are also up on the official Facebook page. Here are some additional videos from inside the Gamescom booth.

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The upcoming pseudo-sequel on Kinect to Capcom’s much loved Steel Battalion games received a new trailer today. Despite not looking like actual gameplay, though with Kinect it is sometimes hard to tell, the game engine at least looks pretty decent. That aside, we’re not really feeling it with this new game. As without Junji Okubo’s designs and that huge controller it just doesn’t seem right.

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For those that don’t know, in addition to running this site I also work at doublesix as a senior designer. So it may not come as a massive surprise to see that they’re now releasing a game featuring transformable mecha designed by none other than Junji Okubo. Entitled Strike Suit Zero, you’ll be piloting the eponymous strike suit in a desperate conflict to save the Earth from destruction. To see some of Junji’s concept work for the game then have a gander at this.

In addition to Junji Okubo’s involvement Paul Ruskay will also be composing the game’s music, of which you can hear some of it already in the teaser trailer shown below. Paul worked on the wonderful Homeworld games and created a very memorable aural landscape for those games.

To be honest, it’s a little odd to be covering the game here as the team and I have poured a lot of love into this for a good while now. So I hope you don’t mind my indulgence. The game will be shown at this year’s GamesCom and will be released on XBLA, PSN and Steam in Q1 2012.

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The latest live stream for Armored Core V, shown yesterday and embedded below, is quite an eventful one. It shows all manner of gameplay elements in far greater detail than we’d seen previously. Whilst the Overweapons are noticeably absent, the rest of the live stream is suitably illuminating. In many ways the delayed released is clearly a shrewd and sensible move, this is clearly a complex game with some very advanced multiplayer elements at work. Taking the time to get it right is something we wholeheartedly endorse.

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