Famitsu has the details on the recently announced Gundam Memories for the PSP. The line-up is pretty thorough, as you’d expect, and covers off most of the Universal Century timeline as well as the newer alternate universe series. The game will also feature the insanely powerful GNT-0000 00 Qan[T] from the Gundam 00 movie Awakening of the Trailblazer. Admittedly the most important aspect of the Qan[T] was its ability to make war itself redundant, acting as a telepathic conduit to promote mutual understanding between the warring factions. Still, it’s an interesting mobile suit to have in a game.

Whilst it’s not known if Artdink are developing this, it’s probable that they are (on account of their successful Gundam Battle games). That said, some of the screenshots show quick time events akin to those in the Yuke’s developed Gundam Meisters, so we’ll see. In any case, the game is released on June 23rd.

Over at 4Gamer they have a new set of screenshots for the soon to be released Super Robot Wars Z 2. Showing more mecha from not only Gundam 00 but also Macross Frontier. The interesting addition is the appearance of the GNW-003 Gundam Throne Drei, as piloted by the obviously disturbed Nena Trinity. It also follows that the other Gundam Thrones, namely Ein and Zwei, will also be present in the game. The game is still scheduled for its April 14th release and you can pre-order it here.

A new gameplay trailer for the recently announced Hawken went live yesterday. This shows the game from a first person cockpit view. In short, it’s looking bloody impressive and the mecha appear to handle very nicely too. What’s interesting is that due to the size of the mecha (as in a couple of metres) they’ve managed to keep a solid FPS framework and still infer some weight, without doing the dumb thing of treating 20 metre tall mecha like a human being. In any case, the trailer is shown below.

G.rev’s next shooter is now finally upon us. The almost prog-rock-tastic Seisou Kouki Strania will be released globally tomorrow on XBLA for the very reasonable sum of 800 MSP. To commemorate this happy event, we’ve linked the US trailer and two other gameplay videos below. The last one is especially nerdy/wonderful, as it breaks down each of the weapons quite magnificently. Here’s hoping the game sells well for G.rev (and that they release a soundtrack!)

A new and rather lengthy promo for the forthcoming Super Robot Wars Z 2 was recently released. It shows a veritable panoply of mecha strutting their 2D stuff. The Gurren Lagann and Final Dancouga footage still moistens our loins. The game is still scheduled for its April 14th release, despite the recent quake and tsunami, and you can pre-order it here.

Over at Anime News Network, they’ve shown that both renowned mecha designers Kunio Okawara and Shoji Kawamori have penned illustrations giving their support to the recent quake victims. The above image of the classic RX-78-2 Gundam also has the text “ganbare nihon”, which basically means “hang in there Japan”. Kawamori’s image featured Alto’s VF-25F and the new YF-29 also paying their respects. If you want to help the effort to give aid to those Japanese in need, then here’s a good place to start.

What with the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan, many gaming events were understandably cancelled. With the live demo of Armored Core V being no exception. However, both the official site and Facebook page have had a few little updates. Notably the fact that our friends the flaming chainsaws of doom are still very much present in the game. This, understandably, makes us happy as chainsaws are normally awesome and doubly so when they’re on fire.

There are plans to reschedule the live demo though but what with rolling power cuts affecting most of the Kanto region (which includes Tokyo in case you’re wondering), then things like this do somewhat get put on the backburner. Once we know more we’ll obviously post it here.

To promote the upcoming pachinko cabinet Fever Macross Frontier, Sankyo have released two adverts showing both CG versions of Ranka Lee and Sheryl Nome performing to real world crowds. To those that remembered the prior Fever Macross adverts and the in-game animation, then these are similarly cool. This pachinko cabinet also foreshadows the upcoming DVD / Blu-Ray release of the second Macross Frontier film, the Wings of Farewell, released later this year. Here’s hoping this cabinet gets the same re-animated treatment for the in-game footage as per the previous Fever Macross.

While the past week has been filled with tragedy, there is thankfully some good news to report. During the last flight of the Space Shuttle Discovery before its retirement, the first humanoid robot in space, Robonaut 2, was delivered to the International Space Station. The Robonaut will mostly be running through tests to determine how well its design works in freefall, but it is hoped that with enough data and fine-tuning Robonaut and other robots like him could be used to perform menial or dangerous tasks, freeing the human astronauts for more involved research duties.

We don’t usually report on real life robotics news but the irony here is perhaps too good to ignore. The progenitor of Real Robot anime series, Mobile Suit Gundam, explained their giant “mobile suits” as being upsized versions of the worker pods used in the construction of space colonies. While the concept of these worker machines was mostly an excuse to explain away giant robots as realistic weapons, NASA’s Robonaut 2 will hopefully be fulfilling exactly that role on the ISS: helping construct humanity’s space outpost.

The helmet also reminds us of some of Gundam’s mobile suits in its design, with the stylin’ gold-blinged head being reminiscent of Zeta Gundam’s Hyaku Shiki or the more recent Alvaaron from Gundam 00. And the shape of the helmet visor makes Robonaut look like the smaller brother to the venerable GM (which has inspired other designs, such as none other than Halo’s Master Chief). Most amusingly, Robonaut was developed by a partnership between NASA and General Motors, meaning that there’s a big ol’ “GM” sticker on the bot itself! The classic Gundam fan debate as to what, exactly, “GM” means might finally be over…

Anime News Network has reported that veteran producer and animator Hiroshi Kakoi died in the recent earthquake that has stricken Japan. A key animator on the original Macross TV series and later a producer on Macross II: Lovers Again, he is survived by his wife Kumiko. As with all the thousands that have died and gone missing in this terrible natural disaster, our thoughts are with them and the families they left behind.

Separately, for those that follow this site; I apologize for the lack of updates since the earthquake and tsunami last Friday in Japan. Whilst I don’t currently live in Japan, many of my friends and relatives do. Thankfully none of them have been harmed in this tragedy, but it’s been a pretty tumultuous week nonetheless.

The site’s normal service shall resume in the next few days and we appreciate your patience.