Courtesy of our good friends at HobbyLink Japan we’ve been sent the Riobot Blodia as seen in the classic game Cyberbots. In addition, we’ve also included some game footage of the mecha in action at the end of the review.

There’s a rather interesting Virtual On Memorial Event being held online this Saturday. It will feature various exhibitions of the various games (basically top players kicking the shit out of each other for your entertainment). As well as talking head type segments with various people to do with the series (though Juro Watari appears to be absent on this, which is odd). Some people from Hasegawa and Volks will be present too, though Kotobukiya aren’t for some reason. In any case, the event will be streamed via NicoNico. As this is a week before TGS, our virtuaroid sense is tingling somewhat. New game perhaps?

Looks like next-gen arcade hardware is looming in the near future as Namco is supposedly creating a new arcade board to house its upcoming games, such as the sequel to the Gundam Versus series. Dubbed the “System 478”, the hardware is rumored to be based off of PS4 tech, similar to how the System 357 and System 256 boards were based off of the PS3 and PS2 respectively. The two previous arcade boards ran the Gundam Extreme Versus series and prior Gundam Versus games to include A.E.U.G. vs Titans to Gundam vs Gundam Next. Here’s to hoping we find out more information on the arcade board and the eventual Gundam Versus sequel during the upcoming 2013 Tokyo Game Show!

At a Tamashii Nations event in Hong Kong, Bandai have revealed all manner of new toys in their Robot Damashii line. Notable of which are the NZ-666 Kshatriya and the majestic RX-93-ν2 Hi-Nu Gundam (pictured above). Whilst it is called a “GUMDAN” in various photos, that spelling mistake can’t dampen our palpable joy at knowing a Hi-Nu toy is on the way. Whilst there are no release details present, such as date and price, we are guessing that these two figures might end up as a web shop exclusive (though we’re hoping they won’t). Either way, today is a happy day as the Hi-Nu is probably our favourite Gundam design and as soon as we know more about these toys we’ll be sure to post it.

After losing the mobile contest against the Crossbone X-3, the next suit to be added to the Gundam Extreme Versus Full Boost roster on August 27 will be the Gerbera Tetra, piloted by Cima Garahau. Completing the Stardust Memory mobile suit crew, the Gerbera Tetra is a 2000 cost mobile suit that looks to be rather nimble.

On July 23, the XM-X3 Crossbone Gundam X-3 will join the Gundam Versus Extreme Full Boost roster after winning the mobile event against the Gerbera Tetra just recently. The final Crossbone Gundam unit in the original Crossbone trio, the Crossbone Gundam X-3 is a 2500 cost suit and is very melee oriented as expected. Equipped with its Muramasa Blaster, as seen with the Crossbone Full Cloth, the X-3 has very quick striking melee that can be powered up with its safety release. Other attacks include a nice little whirlwind throw with the EMS-VSX1 Quarvarze, burning tree logs, and the lovely nuke found with the Crossbone Gundam X-1 Kai. To make up for not being equipped with the iconic ABC mantle, the X-3 also has a very quick approach move with the I-Field, blocking all beam like projectiles for a certain period of time. My only gripe with the suit so far is the fact that while it can throw burning logs, it does not have the infamous monkey controlled mobile suit as an assist. Regardless, it’s still very exciting to see it added to the roster! Cecily Fairchild will also be added as an operator as well. Check out the little gameplay teaser for the X-3 below!

In an interesting move, Sentinel have announced one of the Blodia variants from Cyberbots to join their Riobot ranks. Specifically that of the Blodia Riot. Like the base unit, the torso is shared but the legs and arms are somewhat different. The latter being the most notable as it has a Rocket Arm. As with the other Riobot toys, this too will be fairly gimmick ridden as well as sporting a good amount of diecast too. However, all this comes at a price and at 16,590 yen it’s considerably more than the standard Blodias set for release this July. In any case, you can pre-order the Riot variant for its October release here.

Looks like a couple big updates will be on the way for Gundam Extreme Versus Full Boost in the upcoming weeks. The first update is a major unit readjustment that affects around 32 current units, ranging from increased main ammo for Cherudim to several new cancels for many units . This update is included in the June 25th update that introduces the Kapools as playable units. The next update is the Character Battle between the X-3 Crossbone Gundam and the Gerbera Tetra. Like previous Character Battles, they will be voted on through the mobile site and whoever wins will be added in the next game update, which is July 15th. The loser will move onto the next Character Battle and await the results of that round. Until then, check out the video below and see some of the new unit updates in action!

On June 25, the Kapool and Corin’s Kapool will be added to the Gundam Extreme Versus Full Boost roster. Teased in the game’s intro since it was released over a year ago, the AMX–109 Kapool and Corin’s Kapool seem to be one of the most unique units out there. Acting as one selected unit, the player will be able to switch between the two units during the match. Corin’s Kapool appears to be more melee focused, whereas the Kapool, piloted by Sochie Heim, is more ranged. Each unit has its own health, but beware as one unit death means both Kapools go down. Regardless, we are definitely looking forward to playing the Kapools sometime soon. Other additions in the next update include Lunamaria Hawke from Gundam Seed Destiny as an operator and A Bao A Qu as a new playable stage. Check out the video below to see Team Kapool in action!

Following on from their VF-1J re-release it seems we’ll be getting a YF-19 toy in 2014. Now it’s not clear whether this will be a re-release of this. What we do know is that it will come with FAST packs, which were originally sold separately on Yamato’s version (though it was packaged together in a later release). Personally, we’re hoping the updated engineering seen on the Macross 7 era VF-19 toys will make it over to this new Arcadia release. The fact that the toy will be available next year also helps to indicate that as well. In other Macross Plus news, the awesome Japanese BluRay boxset (with English subtitles and dub) is now out in the wild. So pick that up whilst you can!