We managed to not only have several playthroughs on the upcoming port of Virtual On Force but also try out the HORI TwinStick EX peripheral that will be compatible with the game on its release in December. From what we saw, pretty much all the VR and their variants were playable and the following impressions were undertaken using Temjin 747. We’ve also linked a video at the end of the post to show the sticks in action with the game (we aren’t the ones playing though, in case you’re wondering).

We managed to put some time into the playable demo of Solatorobo at this year’s TGS. The game is 90% complete and it’s quite polished as a result. We’ve also had a somewhat unofficial confirmation that the game may be receiving an English localisation, which is great news indeed. In any case, the demo had two playable levels and was accompanied by a wonderful opening movie with suitably impressive animation. It’s worth highlighting at this point that the setting coupled with Nobuteru YÅ«ki’s striking character designs, gives the whole game a feel of Laputa meets Escaflowne (with furries). Of all the games we’ve played this year, bar Ni no Kuni, it was pretty much our game of the show. More after the jump.

From the number of tweets we’ve been getting, it seems only fair to answer some of your questions. The recurring questions we’ve got regard the absence of Armored Core 5, Bumpy Trot 2 and Macross Trial Frontier. In the case of the latter, there is a looping movie being shown at the Bandai Namco stall but despite the game being finished there’s nothing playable at the show (though the game footage does look lovely and it’s pretty clear that the game is indeed very similar to Artdink’s recent PSP games). In addition, Irem have quite a nice presence this year but when we quizzed them about Bumpy Trot 2 they simply had a “no comment”. As for Armored Core 5? Absolutely nothing, not even a video preview and due to From Software not having a presence at the show we’ve been unable to quiz anyone about it.

Considering that Front Mission Evolved is playable in about three separate booths this year (despite being available in the shops already in Japan) it may be that From Software decided to wait this one out, as Armored Core 5 is potentially quite similar in approach. In any case, it’s not as though From Software needed to be worried as after playing Front Mission Evolved quite a bit its is really quite painfully average.

Apologies for the slightly blurry photo above but we’ve managed to play a fair bit of Koei’s upcoming and now cel-shaded Gundam Musou 3. To give both releases a fair chance, we put some time into the PS3 and 360 versions. The show demo only has two playable units; the RX-0 Unicorn Gundam and the GF13-017NJII God Gundam. You can also pick your partners too, such as Kamille in the MSZ-006 Zeta Gundam and Four in the MRX-009 Psycho Gundam. Our impressions are after the jump.

4Gamer has the scoop from Capcom’s press briefing today. In short From Software are developing a new Steel Battalion game for Capcom that uses Kinect to control the vertical tanks. This looks like a reboot as well, as the tech seen in the previous games is narratively absent apparently. Naturally, there aren’t many functional details at present but of all the developers – bar the original Nudemaker – who could handle Steel Battalion well it would easily be From Software (especially considering that Chrome Hounds pretty much went down that route already). No word on who’s penning the new mecha designs as yet, as the original games used mecha designed by the very talented Junji Okubo, but we’ll hopefully know more on that in a day or two. In the meantime, here’s the teaser trailer.

Update: It’s been confirmed that Junji Okubo is not penning the mecha designs for this, which is a pity, but the good news is that the Chrome Hounds team are developing this Kinect only game – so we’re very cautiously optimistic about this.

So we’re at this year’s Tokyo Games Show and over the next few days we’ll be giving our impressions on a variety of mecha games. From Front Mission Evolved (moderately meh) to Bangai-O HD (awesome) as well as lesser known games such as Danball Senki by Level 5 on the PSP. In any case, if there are any particular games you want details on then feel free to tweet us and we’ll do our best to oblige.

Like with previous Gundam Versus games, you often get a Japanese singer to do a cover song for the intro (Gackt being notable in this regard). However, for the upcoming Gundam Extreme Versus things are going to be a little…different. Instead of using a Japanese artist, Bandai Namco will be using the American band Linkin Park and their song The Catalyst for the game’s intro song. Following on from this, they’ll also be releasing (in Japan) a modified HGUC kit of the RX-78GP01-Fb Gundam Full Vernian “Zephyranthes” from Gundam 0083 styled by the band. To make matters somewhat more awesome, the above press shot has the band dressed in Federation regalia from the same part of the Universal Century timeline, this is more than a little bit brilliant as far as we’re concerned (and classy too because they picked UC). In any case, this version of the single was released yesterday in Japan and the music video for the song is shown below.

4Gamer has covered SEGA’s setup at this year’s JAMMA show and amongst the games on display is the upcoming Border Break Air Burst (effectively Ver 2.0 of the current game). As you know, we love the current game and this “sequel” also has clan support as well as what appear to be in-game dropships. The new game is still slated for a release later this year.

4Gamer has covered the upcoming port of Virtual On Force’s new VR Viewer mode as well as the game’s extended online setup. With the latter, due to the original game being four player, the online ranking is now calculated per individual competitor at the end of the match – meaning that you can’t rely on your teammate to do the grunt work for you (like you originally could, to a certain extent at least, with the old card system the arcade version used). It’s an interesting and beneficial addition, as it will help ensure more active teamwork with any luck. The VR Viewer, on the other hand, will just allow moe-tards to ogle robo-bewbs.

In the latest issue of Famitsu, yet another Gundam Musou (aka: Dynasty Warriors Gundam) game has been announced. Whilst we’re not overly fond of the games, as they’re functionally Musou games with a mecha based veneer, we do enjoy them nonetheless.

That said, the line-up for this game is pretty thorough (see list below) and prior to a Gundam Extreme Versus port this game may partially satiate our Unicorn Gundam fixation. At present Gundam Musou 3 is scheduled for a Japanese release this Winter on both the PS3 and 360.

Update: Game Watch has covered the fact that this new Musou game will be using a form of cel-shading for the rendering. The official site has also been updated.