For those of you who need a little mecha shoot ’em up action for your PC, Playism has just the thing for you. They have recently released the English translated version of Astebreed, a doujin PC SHMUP created by Edelweiss. You take control of the titular Astebreed mecha and shoot and slash your way through waves of of alien hordes, known as the Filune. What separates this game from other SHMUPs is the larger focus on melee which is not only used to slice up your enemies, but is also used to tactically defend yourself against certain types of attacks. Of course, this is also used in conjunction with your typical long range attacks to deal massive damage while building up your score multipliers. It’s a very pretty game visually and the gameplay really intense and satisfying when slicing away at enemy hordes and giant bosses. It took me about 2 hours to play through the first time, constantly dying while trying to figure out boss patterns and whatnot, but in the grand scheme of SHMUPs in general, it isn’t too hard. It also carries several achievements and unlockables such as character art and mechanical models. If you’re interested, the game is currently on sale at the Playism store for $15.99 and Steam keys will be available for the game when it is later released on Steam. Until then, check out the gameplay trailer below!

What with less than a week until release, we now finally have the full blown Cross Dimension 0079 promo for Gundam Side Stories. This was the first Gundam Gaiden game and was released back on the SNES, it was also a turn based strategy game. In addition to this, we also have new promos for both Rise from the Ashes and Space, To the End of A Flash. The promos are shown below. You can still pre-order the standard edition here.

Well that didn’t take long; Masoukishin F now has its first promo video (shown below). This will indeed be the final entry to the Masoukishin saga and the engine has had a fair bit of improvement. Now with a modified forced perspective, it makes the 2D models almost appear 3D. It looks quite impressive in fact. That aside, the game has been scheduled for a release on August 28th. There will be two versions available; a standard release at 7,120 yen and a limited edition at 10,930 yen. The latter will have a full soundtrack set for the series and a 100 page artbook included. The standard version will also be available to download from PSN on the day of release.

As we saw at Tamashii Nations recently, a Full Action Crossbone Gundam X2 is on the way. Released this September at 4,800 the figures looks to have had considerable work done on it compared to the original Robot Damashii release. The ABC mantle is noticeably absent however, though that might end up as an option set. Talking of option sets, the X1 Ka Kai we reviewed recently is getting an option set to match its setup as seen in the Skull Heart manga. In addition to the X2, we’re also getting a majestic God Gundam figure released at the same time and price. So it looks like September will be a costly month.

In a nice move, Bandai Namco have announced what appears to be the last entry in the Masoukishin series; Masoukishin F: Coffin of the End for PS3. Considering all the prior games have been helmed by winkysoft, it’s likely this will be too. If that’s the case, then the “F” suffix harks back to their SRW glory days on F and F Final. No news on a release date or price as yet but an interesting omission is the lack of a Vita version. That aside, we’re looking forward to this quite a bit!

In an interesting move, Hidetaka Miyazaki (pictured above) has been made the new president of From Software. Following on from Kadokawa’s recent acquisition of the company, long time president Naotoshi Zin is stepping down to an advisory role. The latter is the interesting part; Zin has been at the helm of the company since its inception during the mid-80s (back when it made business software). So this change in leadership does fall squarely into the big deal category. However considering Miyazaki’s prior experience working on Armored Core and the Souls games, does make this appointment a good one. As he does have an understanding of how games are made firsthand (you’d be surprised and disappointed at how few execs in the games industry have a clue about game development). Anyway, all that aside we wish him luck in the new role as the industry is in a funny place at the moment.

Courtesy of our good friends at HobbyLink Japan, we’ve been sent a toy from the Mobile Suit Crossbone Gundam: Steel 7 manga to review. Specifically, the Robot Damashii Crossbone Gundam X1 Full Cloth that’s on sale. In addition, to give the toy some context, we’ve also linked gameplay footage of it in action at the end of the review.

We now have two new videos for Gundam Side Stories, this time covering more gameplay from the Blue Destiny and Zeonic Front segments. The good news is that the Blue Destiny arc will get the full treatment, covering the spaced based segment of the story. The bad news is that unlike the previous videos, these ones look clunkier and heavier. Considering the game is out next week, we’ll keep our fingers crossed in the hope that it turns out good. You can pre-order the standard edition here.

This year’s Shizuoka Hobby Show is now in full swing. As such, the likes of AmiAmi have been covering it. The big announcements are a new kit line (called Reborn One Hundred) and the MSN-04II Nightingale being the first kit in the range (pictured above). To make matters even more fabulous, we’ll also be getting a Ver Ka MG of the RX-93-v2 Hi-Nu Gundam as well as the announcement that a Beltorchika’s Children manga will be serialised in Gundam Ace. Bar that, there will also be a new 1/48 scale kit of the live action Ingram. All in all, it looks to be a pretty kickass show this time around. If you’re at all curious, there is some additional coverage here, here, here, here and here.

It’s been a while since the last entry in the Z series, Saisei Hen, not to mention the noticeable lack of a full blooded Super Robot Wars game on current console hardware. Admittedly we’ve had the odd side story game but no real proper 2D multi-anime series game on either the PS3 or 360. Jigoku Hen pretty much changes all that.

The first in a two part finale for the Z series, Jigoku Hen is also the first major release to have both a home and portable console version. This has produced some very interesting design aspects to the game as a whole. It’s also one of the prettiest Super Robot Wars games around and an enormous amount of fun.