The third batch of DLC for Gundam Extreme Versus has been updated over at the official site. The new suits featured are the MSN-02 Zeong and the ZGMF-X10A Freedom Gundam at 500 yen a piece. In addition to this are the additional missions, as per the other updates (these are found in the “Extra” section in the Trial Missions menu in case you were wondering). One big difference about this new set of DLC is that as a thank you for the game’s good sales the Hi-Nu Gundam will now be available for free. This was originally a pre-order bonus unit but now the slow pokes can enjoy the suitably uber mobile suit too. All of these updates will occur on the 26th January.

Update: 4Gamer has a nice set of screenshots for the forthcoming DLC too.

4Gamer has a new update regarding the forthcoming Gundam Seed Battle Destiny for the PS Vita. Naturally, this will be part of the long running Gundam Battle series so for those familiar with the games Artdink are promising more of (roughly) the same. Nothing new in terms of the information about the game over the intro piece in Famitsu but there are more and larger screenshots of the game. It’s planned release will be sometime in Spring this year.

From Software have announced that there will be a demo for Armored Core V (on both PS3 and 360) available on January 21st, briefly featuring online play (from the 21st and 22nd) and then reverting back to singleplayer only after that. Prior to the demo though will be the final livestream for the game. Called the Last Bullet it will supposedly cover off the final loose ends about the game before its imminent release on the 26th. It’s been a long wait but we’re almost there, just a few weeks more people!

Since its release in Japan on December 1st, Gundam Extreme Versus has sold over half a million units. What’s interesting about this is that Japan basically shuts down for a week over the New Year, so these sales figures occurred in spite of that. As we saw in the arcades, it has garnered a very large and loyal following. If anything the two versions, console and arcade, have mutually aided one another it seems. The console version’s DLC will also factor into the success of Full Boost, as many of the new units will be appearing in that too. So there’s already some cross promotion going on. Talking of DLC, we’ve been playing around with PMX-003 The O and it’s nice to see the PMX-001 Palace Athene (pictured above) again. In any case, we’re glad to see the game doing well.

We’re now but a few days away from the release of Lord of Elemental II: Revelation of Evil God. There have also been a few recent updates over at 4Gamer too, showing that the intermission screens will have characters talking to you (which is nice) and the ability to rank up your upgrades for your weapons. The latter basically seems to work after you’ve maxed out an attack, so you can make it even more uber. More importantly the game is release this Thursday and you can buy it here. Don’t forget that you can also get the boxset, also sold here, that features the first Lord of Elemental game too.

Welcoming in the new year, Bandai Entertainment in the US let this drop on our doorstep. Followed by a pretty insightful interview, what’s effectively happened is that we are no longer getting a Western release for the rather special Turn A Gundam. If you remember, this was something we were pretty happy about when it was announced way back in 2010. The fact that Bandai Entertainment is effectively pulling out of selling and distributing anime outside of Japan is definitely a hammer blow for people who enjoy the medium abroad though and Turn A Gundam is just a deeply unfortunate casualty of that.

The second batch of DLC for Gundam Extreme Versus has been updated over at the official site. Featuring both the ZMT-S33S Gottrlatan and the PMX-003 The O (picture above). Each mobile suit will cost 500 yen each but the additional trial missions will be free to download, as per the first pack. We’ve been playing the game quite extensively in the arcades in Japan as well and we can vouch for the fact that the PS3 “port” is pretty much identical in every way (especially if you have a good arcade stick to hand). Admittedly the arcade version allows you to pimp your HUD out as well as other similarly superficial customisations, but the game itself looks and plays the same. It’s thanks to this that we’ve had a pretty long win streak, as our skills developed at home have been entirely applicable in the arcades here. Naturally, our favoured ride of choice is the XM-X1 (F97) Crossbone Gundam X-1 Kai, as mecha with capes are just plain awesome.

Over at Famitsu, they’ve compiled a pretty thorough breakdown feature for the upcoming Armored Core V. From the different mission types to the suitably massive over weapons. The piece also nicely finishes off with a succinct interview with Toshifumi Nabeshima. There’s nothing really new here, as much of this has been covered before but it does nicely show the game’s equivalent to the Arms Forts as seen in Armored Core For Answer. At present the team at From Software are spending the last month of development on debugging the game as well as fine tuning the online back-end, something that needs to be pretty much pristine as the whole game’s success will rely greatly upon how stable it is. Apparently the beta testing went down very well with both fans and the team at From Software, so it sounds like we might see more of them. Whether they’ll be occurring outside of Japan is still unclear though, likely those will occur through the publisher (which in this case is Bandai Namco). The release date for the Japanese version will be the 26th January, with the European and US releases to follow in the coming months. Weirdly, Europe will get the game before the US with the latter having the game available in April. If you can’t wait that long then you can import the Japanese version of the game here (PS3) and here (360), the PS3 version will obviously be region free like the rest of the console’s software library.

In a slightly surreal turn of events, Famitsu went live with a full blown update for Gundam Seed Battle Destiny on the PS Vita, only to pull it down pretty much straight away. In any case, the cat is out of the bag now and it seems that Artdink are indeed returning to the Gundam Battle series yet again but this time with souped up graphics and some additional touch screen support for (some) weapon selection. In addition, the PS Vita’s right analogue stick will also be used to control the camera. This is an interesting development as the Gundam Battle games have historically used a circle strafe lock system and a free camera look setup would change that somewhat. This may mean the games may becoming even more like the original Another Century’s Episode series, as they retained a circle strafe lock for movement but with an independent camera. The other big shift is the fact that this will be the first Gundam Battle game to be exclusively non-UC in terms of the timeline featured. As the name says, this game will be all things Gundam Seed and the roster of series it covers is suitably thorough. Whilst we’re not fans of Seed, we’re happy to see Artdink back in the saddle again and we’re hoping this will be a return to form after the depressingly and uncharacteristically dire Gundam Assault Survive. Apparently the game is around 70% complete and will be released in Spring of next year.

Update: Famitsu has updated their site with the breakdown on the game.

What with the current game already on PS3, Bandai Namco are keen to keep the momentum going and have unleashed a new update over at 4Gamer for Gundam Extreme Versus Full Boost. Covering a new “Boost Attack” that can be activated during Burst Mode (something that most units already do, which is a little odd) the other big addition is that the PS3’s DLC will basically be added to Full Boost’s roster as a matter of course. With the current exception to this being the MSN-02 Zeong and the GAT-X105E+AQM/E-X09S Strike Noir (the latter pictured above), which are currently an exclusive units to Full Boost (though this will likely change no doubt). Talking of DLC, our favourite Hi-Nu Gundam that was given away as a pre-order code for the PS3 game is now in the arcade version too. So if you practiced at home to beef up your skillz on the unit you can use it in the arcades too.