The mighty GX-9901-DX Gundam Double X from Gundam X will be getting the Robot Damashii treatment this July. Sold for around 4,800 yen, the toy looks to be pretty beefy and featuring all the necessary gimmicks you’d expect. No word yet on the GS-9900 G-Falcon but it has been previewed already, so it will likely end up as a web shop exclusive. Anyway, considering the original series was cancelled mid-run it’s nice to finally have a decent toy for the Double X on the way.

What with a Metal Build Gundam Exia recently being released, Bandai haven’t missed a trick and have announced a Metal Build 00 Raiser as a web shop exclusive. This is shrewd as this toy already existed in two parts; the Metal Build 00 Gundam Seven Sword and Metal Build 0 Raiser (with the latter again being a web shop exclusive). Combining the two sets produced the mighty GN-0000+GNR-010 00 Raiser. This version, despite being a little cheaper than the previous sets combined, will also have all manner of new bespoke decals as created by Kanetake Ebikawa, who was one of the main mecha designers on Gundam 00. We’re actually big fans of the new Metal Build toys as well as the 00 Raiser, so we’re pretty tempted to snap this puppy up once it is released in August.

What with all the hybrid BluRay Macross movie releases, it was obvious that Bandai was funding Artdink’s R&D for a bigger PS3 game. Considering Artdink’s pretty damn solid Gundam and especially Macross PSP games it made sense that they’d make the leap to PS3. However, Artdink is a small studio and one that’s thrived on maximizing the most out of previous generation’s console hardware. The Hybrid games they produced were functionally competent but technically very far behind.

Their latest effort, an ambitious open world “flight action RPG”, is again functionally competent and even quite progressive too but it is sadly marred by Artdink’s technical inexperience. That said, it remains a surprisingly compelling game throughout.

We now know that Gundam Breaker will be released on 27th June for a pretty standard sum of 7,890 yen (thus disproving the theories that this would be another freemium game). In addition, the beta version of the game is now available to download via (Japanese) PSN. It has a few levels and some initial customisation. Gameplay-wise it’s pretty close to the Gundam Musou games but with more restricted boosting and firing. Pretty standard arcade fare really. What’s especially interesting is that the game is directly connected to Gundam Perfect Games, a website that’s dedicated to Gundam related gaming. This means you can upload your kitbashed creations for all to see. This alone is a pretty nifty feature. It will be interesting see how Bamco treat this beta release, and whether anything useful in terms of balancing will come out of it.

As we mentioned previously, the moderately lacklustre Virtual On Marz will be getting a game archive release on (Japanese) PSN on the 21st March for a very reasonable 800 yen. In addition to this, the newly released PS3 specific HORI TwinSticks will work with this version of Marz. After this release we will have had all the Virtual On games ported to this generation of games consoles. We can only hope that SEGA will follow through and give us another arcade iteration of this classic series.

Considering Yamato’s absence from a variety of shows as of late, their official site going down and the emptying of their offices, many people have assumed that they’ve gone bankrupt. Considering no-one from Yamato is willing to comment on what’s happening, it’s only helping to fuel the uncertainty. That said there may be a merger occurring between Yamato and Arcadia but again due to lack of concrete facts on that, this may just be wishful thinking. Personally, if Yamato were to go under then that would be an incalculable shame as their various Macross toys have been amazing. Whilst they’ve also had some quality assurance issues over the years their output, for a relatively small business, has been thoroughly world class. Once we know more on the company’s status we’ll let you know.

Some nice juicy news for Armored Core Verdict Day has surfaced today. The main point of good news is that the game world will be reset at the end of each game season (or if one team dominates all areas, effectively winning that season). The season resets will also have each group revert back to their starting positions, so no one group will have the advantage over the other. This is a big improvement over the previous game and harks back to how the various factions in Chrome Hounds were handled. Following on from that there will also now be a total of 56 maps in Verdict Day. This naturally includes the levels from the previous game (though we imagine they’ll be tweaked) but this is quite a big jump up in terms of playable areas. Hopefully these won’t be night and day versions of the same map, as that would be a bit bloody cheeky really. Finally players that relegated to jetpack status during a match will be able to take photos. These will be stored in the player’s garage and propagated through the game’s status updates. Whether this feature will work with the (Japanese) Armored Core Official Partnership site remains to be seen but it would be pretty great if that were the case.

Over at 4Gamer there’s a new article on the forthcoming Gundam Breaker for PS3 and Vita. Covering the game’s customisation setup in a bit more detail, it seems that experience garnered will allow increasingly potent parts to be equipped but that this can be bypassed through use of “ace points” or certain parts. In addition the game will allow all manner of visual customisation too, from weathered to glossy kit finishes (as well as decals). Following on from customisation we now have more detail on the game structure too, with new screenshots finally showing some decent in-game HUD. Despite the obligatory tutorial missions, we’ll also have defense scenarios as well as giant Gundam battles. The latter sounds the more interesting of the two if we’re honest. The playable environments also look pretty cool, with the model kit workshop being wonderfully nerdy. Still no word on a release date or price for this but the game is look interesting at least. In addition, Bamco will be holding a free open beta on the PS3 version of the game.

Both 4Gamer and Famitsu are running a piece on network tests for the upcoming Armored Core Verdict Day. For one the site they linked to doesn’t go live until tomorrow and the network test will also only be on the PS3 version of the game. The actual process will be a lottery which you can enter from tomorrow (Friday) onwards until Sunday. There will then be a total of four dates of playtesting; two in April (20th and 27th) and another two in May (4th and 11th). If you’re one of the few to be accepted then you’ll be sent an e-mail as to which playtest you’ll be involved in. The whole purpose of this apparently is to ascertain load on their servers as well as feedback on early gameplay balancing. Pretty standard fare for a closed alpha/beta really.

We now know that the transforming Vic Viper from Anubis will have its Revoltech incarnation released sometime this May. Like the version in the game, the toy also also transforms too. Considering the very meagre price point, this functionality is surprising and wholly welcome. Admittedly Kaiyodo have done wonders with their variable fighter Revoltechs from Macross, which also transform, but it’s nice to see a supporting mecha design from a game get similar treatment.