Over at Moeyo (link slightly NSFW), they’ve covered the recently released 1/72 scale Stasis kit by Kotobukiya from Armored Core For Answer. As per their usual standard, Kotobukiya have excelled themselves yet again in terms of the sculpt, as the design itself is really quite intricate (despite looking deceptively streamlined). The only downside about this design, in the game at least, is that the parts aren’t exactly what you’d call aesthetically sympathetic. In that you can functionally attach the head, arms, legs and core to other parts they rarely “look” right. Admittedly, some would argue that this is an issue with most of the parts and designs in Armored Core but due to For Answer sharing three named designers (Shoji Kawamori, Kazutaka Miyatake and Makoto Kobayashi), not to mention the in-house art staff, there wasn’t really a unified art style in the same sense as the older games (which had designs mostly penned by Kawamori). In any case, this kit looks marvelous and the design, despite the above, is actually one of our favourites too.

For the Armored Core inclined, this is quite an important kit. If only for the fact that it defined and adorned the original Armored Core 3 Silent Line’s box cover – a game we rate as being the best Armored Core game of all time (something the recent PSP port really fails to live up to). Not only did this design equip the lethal Karasawa laser rifle but also the highly controversial stealth extensions (which were banned in all Japanese tournaments in case you were wondering). Despite sharing the same core as the updated Nineball, this is an all new kit. Like with all the Kotobukiya kits, all the parts are interchangeable from other mecha in the same range and the sculpt is superlatively good as well. This kit is out in August and will be charged at the very reasonable price of 4,725 yen. Here’s the original game’s opening and it features the above design quite prominently too.

If you’re at all into the nerdy hardcore world of Jumbo Machinder collecting, then this might be of interest. If you’re just a regular gamer though, wondering what these crazy large toys are all about, well in many ways they were the nascent influence for games like Super Robot Wars. The original toys were made by then Japanese toy giant Popy, who later merged with Bandai. Popy also birthed the Chogokin line of toys, with the term referencing the “super alloys” that graced many super robot anime shows of the mid to late 70’s. A line Bandai resurrected a decade ago with their Soul of Chogokin range of toys.

The Jumbo Machinders were unique due to their size and the fact that play fights between robots would inevitably and awesomely break out. Apparently, this was one of the initial and main inspirations for the first Super Robot Wars game that appeared way back in 1991 on the GameBoy. Even the term “chogokin” makes its way into multiple Super Robot Wars games too.

If you fancy a stupidly large Jumbo Machinder of your own, then you’d do well to pick up the new Mazinger Z. It’s pretty damn pimp.

Tail Concerto‘s new spiritual sequel for the Nintendo DS, Solarobo, has had three short gameplay demonstration movies released as well as some nice coverage over at Game Watch.

While their brevity (and the lack of sound) doesn’t tell us too much about the game, what we can see does inform us that the game is coming along nicely. The promotional art’s almost ‘watercolor’ style seems to have very much inspired the game’s current 3D graphics, and the character designer, Nobuteru Yuki, has not only done character designs for video games with similar ‘watercolor’ graphics styles (most notably a few games in the Mana series), but also has worked on mecha-oriented productions before, most notably Visions of Escaflowne and Five Star Stories.

From the gameplay previews here we can also see that the camera angle changes in response to different gameplay needs. A few sections look much like any other 3D game on the Nintendo DS with an overhead view, while other sections make the game look more like an old PlayStation sidescroller instead. Hopefully this willingness to experiment will create a unique flavor for the already somewhat crowded Nintendo DS platformer market.

We also see the character leave the confines of his mecha to do some exploring on his own, which is something that, when done well, has led to good things in the past by making the difference between mecha and man (well, animal man in this case) more obvious. The mecha itself has a unique design, looking as much like a bird as it does a mechanical man, with arms that remind me of the robots both from Laputa: Castle in the Sky and from Tokobot. Those same arms seem capable of stretching a great deal in the gameplay videos, even allowing continuous “combo” throws of enemy mecha.

The official Another Century’s Episode R site received its first update today. Whilst featuring most of the content seen already in Famitsu, there are some other interesting points shown. Notably the breakdown on the new environments in the game as well as the reveal that the image song, called Re:birth (which helps shed light on the “R” in the game’s title), is being penned by Acid Black Cherry. The latest blog entry from Terada-san also talks about units like the VF-25F having Super and Armor parts load-outs, which matches the same approach from ACE3 in terms of how the other variable fighters were handled.

Over at Gpara there’s some new coverage for Front Mission Evolved and what’s interesting about this little nugget of PR, is that it focuses a lot more on the characters of the game. What’s most striking to me is that the characters themselves look a lot more anime inspired than I was expecting (especially from a Western studio). Considering that the original Front Mission’s characters were penned by Yoshitaka Amano, you’d expect a nod to this kind of artistic heritage but seeing it nonetheless warms the cockles of our merciless robot heart. Naturally, the update over at Gpara also goes into lots of nice nerdy detail on the garage as well as displaying more pictures of the wanzers in action. Still no word on an actual release date though.

Update: Here’s also a fascinating insight into the mecha design behind Front Mission Evolved, as its primary designer Skan Srisuwan at Imaginary Friends is penning the new wanzers. What’s reassuring, despite the man’s obvious talent, is that he’s quite open about his influences. Such as Hajime Katoki for one and not to mention the Yutaka Izubuchi designed Hygogg kit on his disk, all of which clearly shows in terms of the game’s overall aesthetic for the mecha. Thanks to LegaiaRules for the heads up.

Over at Famitsu they have uploaded lots of very nice screenshots for the upcoming From Software developed and Banpresto published Another Century’s Episode R. There have also already been a fair few blog posts by Banpresto producer Terada-san about the game, with some of these being misinterpreted rather negatively.

It’s clear that ACER is in a similar position to the original ACE, where the line-up of mecha is quite focused so as to allow the development of the engine and other code tasks to have a chance to work out (as this is the first time the series has graced the PS3, so an all new code base would obviously be required). Bear in mind though that ACE featured a total of 9 series initially and ACER goes all the way up to 11 (ACE2 had 14 series and ACE3 had 17 in total in case you’re wondering).

That said, the screenshots thus far look absolutely bloody fantastic. The game is apparently around 70% complete too and a Summer release is planned for it.

The internet is currently abuzz over all the details that were disclosed at yesterday’s Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker event, like the appearance of creatures from the Monster Hunter series, or the wacky in-game product tie-ins, including Doritos, Pepsi, and AXE body spray. For those interested in learning more, Google will service those needs quite nicely, but let’s focus on the latest trailer, which highlights the new cast, and also features the three heavy machinery that the action will revolve around. I’m talking about the AI units, two of which we’ve already covered due to their apparent connection to the mecha in Snake Eater.

But near the very end, we also get a quick glimpse of something that can only be described as a real deal Metal Gear, since it fulfills one of the core criteria, that being a bipedal tank. Up till this point, the first unit to actually stand on two legs was from the very first title, the TX-55. And the Metal Gear before that, from the game that immediately precedes Peace Walker (timeline-wise), Portable Ops, is the RAXA, which had four legs. Hence why this latest mecha might be, in fact, the first true Metal Gear. Then again, it could be revealed that it has zero nuclear capabilities, another important criteria. In that case, it can only be viewed as a Metal Gear successor, which is still significant nonetheless.

As for what it’s called, apparently it’s the Basilisk. At least according to the documentation that accompanies the shot of the Square Enix Play Arts toy, which was also revealed at the same event, from above. Try and see if you can spot the mystery machine:

Last Raven Portable received a new trailer today for its Battle TV service. These are player submitted replays that are then uploaded as videos for the public at large to see. It’s a pretty cool service, as capturing PSP footage to something like YouTube is a bit of a technical faff. The trailer nicely encapsulates the general skill seen across almost all the Battle TV videos thus far and it’s nice to see From Software supporting their large fan community like this too. Last Raven Portable will be receiving a Western digital release via PSN at the beginning of May.

In the latest issue of Famitsu, From Software and Banpresto have announced another instalment into the successful Another Century’s Episode series; Another Century’s Episode R exclusively for the PlayStation 3. Now for those that played the last PS2 game, this new game might be a bit of a shock. As the name of that game had, well, the word “Final” in the title. Well, it seems that it was only final for the PS2 series at least as we now have a very new and very shiny ACE game on the way.

For those not versed in the ACE games, these are basically third person action interpretations of Super Robot Wars. As they utilise mecha from disparate series all in one game, however the main focus has mostly been that of real robots as supers would cause all sorts of problems. Admittedly, mecha like Shin Getter Robo have made the cut but their ability sets have been drastically limited. In any case, the full list of mecha series in ACER is as follows: Super Dimension Century Orguss, Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, Char’s Counterattack, Crossbone Gundam, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny, Overman King Gainer, Full Metal Panic!, Code Geass, Genesis of Aquarion, Macross Zero, Macross Frontier and various Banpresto originals

Personally, we miss not having Dunbine and Layzner in the ACE line-up. Those were, what we like to think, as the good old days.