The official site for the forthcoming E.X. Troopers has been updated with some new screenshots (with one shown above) and details on two new characters. The first is W.I.Z. Alpha, an information based AI that helps the player with the demeanor of an older sister, and the second is Diana a teacher at the academy. As always, the more we see of this the game the more we want to play it.

Update: Famitsu has some new screenshots too.

The forthcoming Mobile Suit Gundam Online is now in the throes of its third alpha test. The biggest changes they’ve made to the game are its graphical engine as well as how they’re handling battleships. For those that have managed to sign up for the alpha test, players will also be rewarded with a special wallpaper penned by Naochika Morishita. Still no word on a final release date or how much it will cost as yet.

There’s a new update over at 4Gamer for the forthcoming Eureka Seven AO BluRay Hybrid disc. Showing more elements of the game in action (as seen above), it reminds us more of the sadly rather lacklustre PS2 games made by Bandai. No word on what developer is handling this but it could be in-house. In any case, we are still pretty excited about the fact that both the Nirvash type Zero and Nirvash type the END will be playable from the original Eureka Seven. The hybrid disc will be released on September 20th.

Since the game’s release last Thursday, Gundam Battle Operation has already amassed 300,000 downloads. It’s worth understanding that this isn’t the same thing as sales but it’s not bad going. To commemorate this, Bandai Namco have offered some free energy (as in play tokens) via their site, sadly it only allows Japanese mobile phone e-mail addresses to be entered.

After playing it a fair bit though, we think the game is wholly awful. From the mobile suit handling to the truly appalling framerate, it all harks back to Target in Sight. We’re not alone in our scathing appraisal of the game either. We’ve not experienced any lag however, which some people have reported. For those few that are enjoying this though; would you still enjoy it as much if it had cost you the same as another boxed game?

Our good friends at HobbyLink Japan have rolled out a new setup for the site and shipping. The new system will allow you to track the details of your orders in realtime as well as control how you group your items together. Below is a pretty thorough video explaining the rationale behind all the changes and what that will mean to all their customers. Personally, we’re really glad that these changes have happened and they were a really long time in coming but the wait was worth it.

As of today Assault Gunners is now available on the PSN store to buy, for a very affordable 1,480 yen no less. In addition to this there is also some day one DLC, moreover it’s entirely free as well. Don’t go crazy though, as the DLC is simply new voiceovers from some SDN48 members and here’s a video of them feigning interest too. Bar this rather hackneyed PR stunt, the game itself is actually pretty decent. Admittedly it’s based off the Destroy Gunners games made by Shade but Assault Gunners has far superior controls and looks a lot nicer too. Once we’ve played it a bit more we’ll be sure to post our impressions.

We now finally have some in-game screenshots for the forthcoming Eureka Seven AO BluRay Hybrid game. Set as a narrative bridge between episodes 8 and 9, the OVA on the disc is meant as a standalone release (hence the packaging of a game with it). The game itself, called “Attack of Legend”, will apparently allow players to pilot the new Nirvash (seen above) as well as classic LFO’s from the original series (as the plucky Renton Thurston is shown in one of the shots too). The BluRay Hybrid will be released on September 20th and cost 7,980 yen for the standard release and 10,500 yen for the limited edition.

4Gamer has an update on how the ground combat will be handled in Gundam Battle Operation’s. Specifically, the troops will be effectively invisible on a mobile suits radar until they start to attack. Naturally, if a mobile suit walks over a human sized player then that will kill them instantly. Again the usage of ground troops as makeshift repair teams has also been highlighted, as both bases and mobile suits will be repairable in the field. The more interesting tactical element though is that ground troops can place as well as defuse bombs at bases. So it seems that the human sized players will be a bit more useful and effective compared to the likes of Operation Troy.

Finally, the unit we’ve most wanted to see in Gundam Extreme Versus Full Boost has been revealed. The mighty MS-08TX (EXAM) Efreet Kai from the pretty damn fantastic Blue Destiny games on the Saturn will be added to the game on June 26th. To be fair, this mobile suit was telegraphed a while back in a “blink and you’ll miss it” segment of the game’s first promo. Much like the RX-79BD-1 GM Blue Destiny Unit 1 in Full Boost, the Efreet Kai is very much based around melee combat and it also only costs 1000 points to use (half that of the Blue Destiny GM). Anyway, we’re just glad the Efreet Kai has finally made it into the game.

The brilliantly mad Chousoku Henkei Gyrozetter is now gearing up for a national Japanese release. The official site lists areas where the game will be installed and they’re also not missing a trick in terms of pimping the forthcoming merchandise either. Talking of which, at the recent International Tokyo Toy Show there were some very nice Gyrozetter toys shown. These appear to be entirely made of plastic but the sculpt and finish put pretty much every US made Transformer toy to shame. As always, you’ll be able to buy the toys here.