The recent blunder on Amazon.co.jp has been confirmed in the latest issue of Famitsu. It also seems that this is, as the Japanese fanbase predicted, another entry (of sorts) into Artdink’s very successful Gundam Battle series. Interestingly Assault Survive appears to be taking Capcom’s lead and featuring mobile suits from outside the Universal Century timeline (much like in Gundam vs Gundam). As previous Gundam Battle games worked their way through the traditional UC narrative. The two new series that will be featured are Gundam Seed and Gundam 00, though the mecha from V Gundam will also make a guest appearance (as they were unfortunately absent in Gundam Battle Universe).

Separately to this news, Famitsu also hinted at that a popular mecha action game will be announced in the next issue. Our bet is that it is a new Armored Core game, as another game is about due.

Update: The official site is now up and Famitsu online has a breakdown of the game.

Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love, the steampunk mecha SRPG from Nippon Ichi America, has a pre-order for the game available at their store, Rosenqueen. Most notable is the fact that Sakura Wars preorders from Rosenqueen include a hardcover art book, which is a different item from the PS2 Premium Package’s artbook, so if you pre-order the PS2’s Premium edition from Rosenqueen you walk away with no less than two different artbooks, as well as a poster and an extra disc containing the Japanese voices (the standard edition is English dub only). Considering that the price point for all this is currently only $50, this feels like one of the old Working Designs packages, just without that old Working Designs premium price. Definitely a good last hurrah for the ageing PS2 platform.

The Wii version is also still a go, but other than the hardcover artbook you get from pre-ordering at their store, you don’t get any of the extras the PS2 version gets. To make up for this, it’s available for $40, pretty nice for a next-gen release and a lot better than the other shovelware that gets released for the system at the same price. There’s also a fan art contest (more info here) for you artistic types.

A new PSP game by the name of “Gundam Assault Survive” has been leaked on Amazon.co.jp. With a release date of March 18th, it seems that Amazon have probably jumped the gun on the impending PR campaign. In any case, the name alone suggests that this could be another entry to the Gundam Battle Assault series. Though Japanese fans have been hearing rumours that Artdink may be developing a new game in the same vein as their successful Gundam Battle series (something the two recent Macross PSP games are based off in terms of technology). We’ll know for sure in the next few weeks most probably, when the marketing push kicks off in earnest.

Update: The above product link is now dead, so someone at Amazon is probably getting scalped as we write this.

Several things happened over the Christmas period that we didn’t cover, so here is a brief update on all lovely things Oratan. First, was a new column on Christmas Day over on the official Oratan site. Bar many platitudes towards the fans there was also a brief glimpse of a signed card by Hajime Katoki, the series’ principal mecha designer, thanking the team for the recent 360 port, which is obviously rather nice of him. The other element that was also quite interesting was that the online questionnaire results have been received by the team and they’re digesting the data as best they can. Apparently the number of entries was a lot more than they were expecting as well, which isn’t surprising considering that Oratan is Japan’s number one selling XBLA game. In any case, the hints of a Force port not that long ago may develop into something else as many fans want an all new game.

Second, the HORI TwinSticks are now out in the wild and many Japanese owners have been blogging about their recent purchase. In short, they’re not great (though this feeling is probably exacerbated by the rather larger price tag). It seems that there is a deadzone on the switches at the base of each stick, something the original Dreamcast and Saturn sticks lacked. Considering that a lot of Oratan relies on very quick and precise movements, this deadzone could understandably rub many fans up the wrong way. Interestingly, those that modded their Dreamcast/Saturn sticks say that the new port works better with them rather than the new HORI sticks. Admittedly, it’s still early days and this could all just be fan based grumbling (as we have yet to verify any of these findings first-hand) but it’s not exactly great for those who forked out a small fortune.

Finally, the Kotobukiya Fei-Yen Knight kit has been released. This kit is also of the DNA side colours and costs around 4000 yen. You can also buy it here.

Over on Square Enix’s Downloadable Games page on Facebook it’s finally been confirmed that a PS3 version of Thexder Neo is in the works. As Akira Kokushoh says “THEXDERNEO for PS3 is coming up in 2010! With PS3 graphic THEXDER NEO becomes more THEXDER. Can’t wait to show you. Checking would be almost done! Happy holidays, and please look forward for Square Enix’s Downloadable Games coming up in 2010!”

For those that may remember, we reviewed the excellent PSP version last year so the confirmation of a PS3 version is good news indeed!

(via Gamerbytes and Game Set Watch)

Not that long ago, Banpresto funded the development of a rather insane Gundam arcade game called Senjo no Kizuna. The player would literally sit inside a panoramic cockpit and pilot a mobile suit. In addition, each of the hugely expensive cabinets would be connected via an online network to other such machines across Japan. Upon its release, Banpresto soon realised they’d cornered a new part of the arcade gaming market. As queues lengthened to play the game, the main draw wasn’t just the amazing cockpit but also its online capability.

It wasn’t long until other publishers like Sega decided to get in on the act. Learning from Banpresto’s example, Border Break was birthed along with a new arcade board called the Ring Edge. Sega also didn’t miss a trick either, instead of having a theatrically huge cockpit they instead opted for a smaller and more standardised cabinet, whilst also upping the potency of the board that would run the game (as Senjo no Kizuna’s was suitably basic in a graphical sense, which is why its PSP port was even feasible). However, to classify Border Break as a mere herd following cash-in would be a great injustice. To be perfectly frank, Border Break is probably one of the most refreshing mecha games seen this decade.

One of the most potent “original generation” mecha in Super Robot Wars is finally getting the figure treatment. Specifically the RaiOh from Alpha 3 will be released in June of 2010 for 15,750 yen. In addition, this is a Dengeki Hobby magazine exclusive item with a fixed pre-order period ending on the 15th February. Thankfully, Tokyo Hunter is taking orders so you’re not completely stuffed when it comes to tracking one down. There’s no word of RaiOh’s upgraded form, that of DaiRaiOh, making a similar leap to toy form but we can always hope. In any case, we’ve also included some game footage from Alpha 3 below of the RaiOh and DaiRaiOh taking a few names.

In addition, Terada-san (one of Super Robot Wars’ producers) recently announced in the series’ official blog that a new and as yet unannounced game will be released sometime in 2010. Here’s hoping it’s a shiny new 2D effort on either the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360.

You may remember a while back that we posted about a collection of classic mecha gaming gashapon released by Takara Tomy. Truth be told, most of the figures in the set were pretty woeful but a few weren’t. Notably, that of the assaults suits from both Leynos and Valken. It seems that the Japanese online shop, AmiAmi, is releasing a custom desert camouflage Valken figure from the same line. In addition to sporting a new colour scheme the toy also has the booster pack attached to its rear. This was seen in the second mission of Assaults Suits Valken (or Cybernator as it was released in the West). The figure will be released in March 2010 for 1000 yen, though you can pre-order it now from AmiAmi. Many thanks to Matthew Hawkins (aka Fort90) for pointing this out.

Bandai have recently released a new Nintendo DS stylus set and DSi pouch via their Plex subsidiary. Entitled the “Touch Pen G” set, the package contains two styluses, both from the RX-78-2 Gundam’s weapon loadout; that of its beam sabre and beam rifle. Following on from that there are two DSi pouches called the “Smart Pouch G” set, in either Federation or Zeon colours. Admittedly, the Gundam’s beam sabre and rifle may look a tad odd within a Zeon styled pouch but it’s a small sacrifice when you think that each time you touch your DS screen you can shout in your best Tohru Furuya impression; “soko da!”.

Valve’s Steam digital download service has been having a holiday sale, with daily deals with extreme price discounts, and one of today’s is Mr. Robot for $1.99, down from the usual $9.99. Mr. Robot isn’t what I would normally term a “mecha game”, per se, but more of an Western adventure/puzzle game with some fairly good mechanic designs, but at the current price point I figured I’d let the terminology slide. It’s developed by Moonpod, an indie company who also produced the excellent Starscape, and Mr. Robot was released to what were excessively positive reviews for an indie title at the time of its release.

Even if you aren’t interested in Mr. Robot, checking out Steam’s daily deals until January 3rd is definitely advised, because some of the price drops are extreme, even for a few fairly recent titles. While I and many others don’t feel secure with the idea of owning a digital copy of a game over a physical copy, getting hot titles for a fifth of the price makes the idea a lot easier to swallow.