GA Graphic has a preview of the upcoming Zebra kit from Border Break. This is one of the new blast runners from the Ver 1.5 update that was released in the Japanese arcades not that long ago. As with Kotobukiya kits, the sculpt is wonderful and the price won’t break the bank either. The kit will be out in September and you can pre-order it here.

Not long after the announcement that Virtual On Force will be hitting the 360 this Winter, 4Gamer have followed up with some very pretty HD shots of the game. This is also one of the main points that’s been made to the fans; the original game will be getting an HD facelift for the 360 port. Admittedly, like with Oratan 5.66, the textures and engine won’t be radically changed, so for those hoping for a full graphical update then this port will disappoint.

The other interesting element I forgot to mention is that this is not a digital download game but instead a full boxed title. Which is a curious choice on the part of SEGA after Marz bombed.

Over at 4Gamer they have a bunch of really nice HD screenshots for ACE R, which ties into the updated playable unit list we mentioned a few days ago. What’s especially good about these shots is that most of them are clearly ripped from the VRAM, rather than full on renders. This means you can actually see how sweet the game really looks and in the case of the Dijeh, just how pimp that blue beast really is.

That said, we feel compelled at this point to spend a quick moment on saluting the series we personally loved in the older ACE games that didn’t make it into ACE R. We shall miss you!

Update: The game will be released on 19th August in Japan for 8379 yen.

It seems that Famitsu finally broke the news that Virtual On Force is indeed on its way to the 360, like Oratan 5.66 before it. This won’t be the first home console port for Force either, as Virtual on Marz tried to make the leap to the PS2 back in 2003 (with pretty lacklustre results). One of the main reasons for its failure, despite a functionally surreal singelplayer campaign, was down to how it neutered the four player versus the original arcade game offered. Something the arcade scene has embraced to this day, despite the fact that the game hasn’t had any meaningful updates since 2002. In any case, the fact that Force is getting a release on XBLA means the HORI TwinSticks will at least have some further usage. What will be interesting to see with this port is how SEGA plan on dealing with Force’s player card/VR balancing setup. As the original arcade game effectively punished newer players with crap starting VRs. Force is also quite notorious amongst the fanbase for other reasons too, read our feature on the series to find out more.

Update: The official site is now live for the 360 port and includes a pretty cool advert to promote the game.

Over at AmiAmi they have some nice coverage surrounding the announcement of a new mecha toy line from Bandai, which will be called Super Robot Chogokin. This will be a smaller scale and more price friendly range of toys to supplement the flagship Soul of Chogokin line. The reasoning behind this is most probably down to the increasing popularity of Kaiyodo’s Revoltech toys not to mention Bandai’s own success with the Robot Damashii range. In short, consumers now prefer smaller and more durable toys that can be played with as well as dynamically posed without having to pay the GDP of a small country.

From a gaming standpoint, this new Super Robot Chogokin line will also sport multiple “original generation” entries from the Super Robot Wars games. With the Alteisen being shown prominently in the coverage thus far. Considering the cost of the other Soul of Chogokin variants not mention the scarily fragile Volks figures, this new range sounds spot on for the gaming populace.

The forthcoming Another Century’s Episode R, or just ACE R, received a nice spread in this week’s Famitsu as well as an official site update. The main news was down to the increase in the number of playable units that will be featured in the game. It’s worth clarifying that these updates, whilst enlightening, aren’t entirely comprehensive. As the three previous games ended up having far more units in the game than was initially disclosed. We’ve listed all the units and their respective pilots announced thus far below.

To commemorate the year since the XBLA port of Oratan 5.66 was released, Yamashita-san has posted a somewhat vague but interesting entry to the official blog. Now, we already know that the port did very well but it turns out that the sales figures also exceeded SEGA’s own internal expectations (though actual concrete sales figures weren’t specified unfortunately). Couple this with the various online questionnaires over future Virtual On ports as well as newer entries into the series and this starts to make more sense. The most obvious follow on from Oratan is a home port of Force, something that Marz tried rather dismally to cater for. Despite SEGA not supporting Force in terms of updates, the arcade community is still very active across Japan so a proper home version (with online multiplayer) would make a lot of sense. It would also help justify the crazy price tag of the limited edition HORI twinsticks that were released not that long ago. Considering that After Burner Climax is also doing quite well, a game that Yamashita-san’s team also worked on, there’s probably an understandable amount of chin stroking going on within SEGA when it comes to their pretty epic arcade gaming back catalogue. Apparently, there will be one more final Oratan 5.66 column quite soon and with any luck some more overt announcements might surface. We’re hoping for an all new game, as that’s what most fans actually wanted (scroll down to see the questionnaire results).

Updated: Turns out SEGA are already planning a Force port for the 360. Thanks to Excellen Browning for the heads up.

Those indomitable people over at FrontMission.info are in the process of finally translating one of the most interesting entries into the Front Mission saga. Specifically, the far more RTS focused Front Mission Alternative. Unlike most other Front Mission games, Alternative didn’t use the fixed turn based approach to strategy, instead it opted for a real time command system using a form of waypoints. In terms of development Alternative was actually meant as a means for Square Enix to recoup the very large development costs for Front Mission 2 at the time, as it shared much of its core technology. As a consequence, the game was released less than three months after Front Mission 2 (a game that the above translation team are also studiously working upon). In any case, it will be wonderful to think that more people will be able to appreciate Front Mission Alternative in the not too far off future, especially with the far more action focused Front Mission Evolved around the corner. The team have also been kind enough to put together a trailer for their upcoming release, which we’ve linked below.

For many, Last Raven was the last “real” Armored Core game before the paradigm shift of the next generation entries. It was also a brutally difficult and thoroughly exacting game, expecting nothing short of absolute concentration and a steely set of gaming skills in order for the player to survive. In short, Last Raven was a bit of a bastard (to find out how much of a bastard feel free to read our review of the PlayStation 2 original).

However, like bastards are prone to behaving; it was relatively fair. Almost every time the game spat out your charred robotic carcass onto the heap it was invariably your fault. You’d been too cocky and wasted too much ammo, only to have a Pulverizer introduce you to the business end of several rather terrifying weapons. With enough practice and forethought though, you could endure and eventually triumph.

In this PSP port though, there are problems. Quite serious ones in fact. Despite resolving the input framerate issue via a data install, the entire game is still balanced as it was in the original PlayStation 2 version. Except, this time, you don’t have a DualShock 2 to help you out.

The much anticipated Lost Planet 2 has been released today in Europe and the US (the Japanese release will follow next week). This is the sequel to Lost Planet: Extreme Condition released way back in 2006, a game which bore many thematic similarities to Robert A Heinlein’s Starship Troopers. Due to the player having to battle large insect aliens, called Akrid, in a variety of mecha. We will be reviewing the game shortly as well as covering the new Kotobukiya toys on their release, so keep an eye out for that.