There’s some good news on May 28th for those who are stuck waiting for Maxi Boost to get a console release. Bandai Namco has released information about the upcoming 1.08 patch to Gundam Extreme Versus Full Boost for the PS3 that has some very interesting and well needed additions. First of all, four units from Maxi Boost are ready to join the Full Boost roster. Full Armor Unicorn Gundam, Avalanche Exia, Char’s Zaku II, and Gundam Sandrock Kai will be available as DLC units for 476 yen plus tax.

Second, you will be able to purchase HUDs, pilot costumes, and navis permanently with a new GP points system. You earn GP points from a daily login bonus, by winning matches in the online Arcade Mode, Player Match, and Ranked Match, and playing these game modes at least once per day. Aside from using GP points to permanently purchase the items mentioned before, you can also use the points to trial DLC units that haven’t been purchased with real money. Once you use your GP to start your trial, you will be able to use the unit in any mode until you either lose, finish the game mode you are currently in, or get disconnected from the servers. To use the unit again, you must use more GP or purchase it properly.

Other additions to the game include a new camera to replay mode, have up to 6 units in your favorites list, view individual unit win rates and usage much easier, remove win rates from lobbies, convert your endurance conversation messages, more Full Boost missions, and balance updates that nerf both Banshee Norn and ReGZ. Also, it looks like there’s more DLC in the near future as Perfect Gundam has appeared next to Char’s Zaku II in several released screenshots of the unit select menu. Hopefully we’ll get an update soon on upcoming DLC units on top of some info on a home release for Maxi Boost.

In a rather bizarre way, Bandai Namco have announced Gundam Battle Operation Next for PS4 and PS3. This is indeed the follow up sequel to the previous Gundam Battle Operation game on PS3, that was the first foray into freemium for the series. This is also the much touted PS4 Gundam game that was previewed a good while back, so the fact it turned out to be this is a tad…disappointing. The good news is that this new game seems to follow the Gundam Breaker and Gundam Extreme Versus approach in terms of the high-speed team based action. The game has currently started its beta on the Japanese PSN as of today and will continue running until this Sunday. So jump in while you can and check it out, hopefully it won’t be utterly terrible!

Kotobukiya have announced an all new kit from their Armored Core Verdict Day range, that of the massive tank AC the Matsukaze mdl.2. Released in August it will cost around 18,8000 yen. That’s a lot for a kit but it’s really bloody massive. The only catch is that this appears to be an online shop only purchase, which is a shame. The other slightly odd thing is that this actually looks a lot like the tank AC seen in the original intro for Armored Core V, so we’re a bit stumped as to why it is included in the Verdict Day range. In any case it’s nice to see Kotobukiya supporting the Armored Core series with more kits, they always do a fine job.

Update: It looks like the kit won’t be a webshop exclusive after all, you can pre-order it here.

Now this is a toy that’s been a long time in coming. Previewed way back in 2011, it now looks like we’ll be finally getting a Riobot Anubis. Following on from Sentinel’s thoroughly excellent Riobot Jehuty it does however cost a bit more. Quite a lot more actually. Clocking in at around 22,000 yen, it will cost nearly double that of Jehuty. There is a good reason for this price hike though, compared to Jehuty this figure is clearly massive and a lot more complex. Still, that’s a lot of money for a range of toys that doesn’t tend to have much in the way of diecast (bar the lovely Blodia) but the spec of this toy does sound like it might be more diecast heavy. So that too might help in the way of explaining the increased price. In any case, this lovely looking Riobot Anubis will be released in October of this year. Prepare your wallets!

In the latest Japanese chart results Super Robot Wars Z 3 Tengoku-hen has come out top. Clocking in around 230,000 sales between the PS3 and Vita versions it has even outsold games like Bloodborne, which was released a few weeks ago. Considering that these only represent a few days sales for Tengok-hen, that’s pretty good going already. We also picked up both versions of the game ourselves and a review will be forthcoming once we’re done with it. Thus far it’s a lot like Jigoku-hen and we’re liking it a lot. If you haven’t picked your copy up already then you totally should.

After nearly a year and a half since its release on the PS3, Gundam Extreme Versus Full Boost will be getting a Best re-release on May 28th. If you were waiting on a cheaper price point, the game will now sell for 3,800 yen excluding tax. It will also come with the Ex-S Gundam downloadable code which was initially a first print exclusive to the original release of the game. No other DLC will be packaged with it at the moment, so you will have to get those separately. Of course, the online pass will probably be included as well. And if you’re one of the lucky ones to be playing Maxi Boost in Japan, there is also a limited edition Haro HUD, emblem, title, and 100,000 GP points for your Maxi Boost profile. Hopefully we’ll hear of a Maxi Boost port to either the PS3 or possibly PS4 sometime soon.

So out of nowhere you can now buy the original PSone Armored Core on the US PSN store. Costing a very reasonable $5.99, it’s compatible with the PS3, PSP and Vita. Due to the way the Vita is setup you can also force the game to use dual analogue controls but we don’t recommend it. Simply because the camera isn’t at all set up to work with those controls and makes the game pretty much unplayable. That aside, this is a fantastic addition to PSN and we’re hoping that both Project Phantasma and Master of Arena will join the first game sometime soon. It would be nice to see the whole trilogy released on the European PSN too but that’s unlikely as the last two games never received a European version. As these games are already on the Japanese PSN we can vouch for them quite happily. Considering you can play this classic game on a modern HD display, as well as via a variety of portable devices, is pretty damn great. So definitely pick this up, as the game is still fun to play even today.

Super Robot Wars Z 3 Tengoku-hen received a new promo over the weekend (shown below) and it’s rather marvelous. From showing off new animations and some of the updated game system, it’s all looking rather great. The absence of Final Dancouga is still admittedly disheartening but there’s a lot of good stuff still present and the addition of Rengoku-hen is a pretty big deal if you’ve been playing this series since the first game on PS2. Set for a release at the beginning of April we’ll be picking this up for sure.

Wonder Festival 2015 Winter has now come to end and it was a good one. Apart from the legion of amazing garage kit figures on show and on sale, the future commercial announcements were decent this time around. The mother of which being Fewture’s transformable EX Gohkin Garland (shown above) from the first Megazone 23. Now we’ve already been graced with toys of this from Yamato back in the day but they all had serious quality issues (the joints often shattered). This will be different though as most EX Gohkins use a lot of diecast and go through rigorous quality assurance. No word on a price or release date but we want this, really quite badly. Apart from the Garland, we had a lot of cool stuff on show from Sentinel and Megahouse. The former had the amazing Metamorforce Dancouga and also showed the prototype Black Wing too, so a Final Dancouga is an option again. The latter showed off the upcoming Orguss toy and it is utterly pristine and will be a definite purchase come its release in March. Arcadia also had a good Macross showing too this year.

If you want to check out some photos then feel free to go here, here, , here, here, here and here. We will also be doing an event report for Forbes in the next few days too, so keep an eye out for that.

Courtesy of our good friends at HobbyLink Japan we’ve been sent the Metal Robot Damashii Hi-Nu Gundam as seen in the novel Beltorchika’s Children (one of the adaptations for Char’s Counterattack). In addition, we’ve also included some game footage of the mecha in action at the end of the review. This is a companion review to the original Robot Damashii figure.