Back in 2004 From Software released a suitably bonkers Xbox game, where you played the usurped President of the United States of America who also happened to have his own power armor. Called Metal Wolf Chaos, it was a brilliantly executed shooter that also had a wonderfully satirical bent to it. Mentioning it here is pertinent though, as the game’s scale and functionality bear a very large resemblance to that of Armored Core V.

Set in a depressingly apocalyptic future, Armored Core V has humanity waging war with all manner of weaponry but the most lethal of these are the newly discovered Armored Cores; mecha dug up from deep underground that retro-actively antiquate all modern day warfare. The premise is a more gritty take on Panzer World Galient as the setting is very close to our own present day. That said, From Software are still continuing to go the rounds on Ryosuke Takahashi’s works when it comes to inspiration for Armored Core it seems.

Considering that the game has been in production now for over 2 years, we weren’t sure what to expect. As normally the duration between releases is around a year but this is meant as a reboot of sorts and coupled with a pretty immense online setup, it’s a good thing they took some time with it. In any case, after the disappointment of Front Mission Evolved, this game is simply wondrous by comparison.

Well, the sales figures for Armored Core V’s first week in Japan are out. For the PS3 version, the game shipped a respectable 163,906 units placing it at the top of the Japanese charts and the 360 variant pulled in a more meager 24,719 and landed 6th in the charts. To put these figures into perspective the Japanese PS3 versions for Armored Core 4 and Armored Core For Answer only sold around 90,000 and 100,000 units in their first year of sale. Likewise the Japanese 360 versions also sold approximately 30,000 to 70,000 units respectively in the same time period. So from a Japanese standpoint this first set of sales figures is incredibly good, especially as it’s been less than a week since the game’s release. Talking of release, on a more personal note our order (which includes both versions) has been delayed somewhat, this means our review will be similarly later than usual. Unfortunately, these things happen occasionally. In any case, these sales figures are awesome news for the Armored Core series.

It’s sad to to report that since the release of Armored Core V’s demo, it has been plagued with problems. The most egregious of which is the inability to play the game online for the most part, something the demo was meant to offer (for a small time admittedly). To make matters more unfortunate, the game has trouble even running at 30 fps (with the PS3 version erring closer to 20 fps). Even with these faults it’s better than the likes of Front Mission Evolved, which is a pretty recent and relevant comparison (especially on the scale of the mecha). From what we’ve played though ACV is a lot of fun, with it handling a lot like a more deliberate Metal Wolf Chaos. The removal of the traditional weapon setup in favour of storing the weapons on the shoulders is an interesting development too, as you have to plan weapon switches ahead as the animation is quite long. In any case, a comparison video of the two demos (showing their respective framerates) is embedded below.

Over on Hideo Kojima’s Twitter account, he recently teased two shots (here and here) of the opening anime for the upcoming Zone of the Enders HD Edition. Whilst the shots are pretty blurry, the footage does look nice and we wouldn’t complain if another anime series came as a result. For ZOE fans in general, we also have a new toy review that will be posted in the next few days that might also pique your interest. So keep an eye out for that.

We’re almost there now folks. In a little over a week we’ll finally be getting our hands on Armored Core V (and even sooner for the demo!). In the recent and final livestream, we also finally got to see the very nice Super Robot Chogokin toy that’s now coming out in April, for the very reasonable 5,040 yen no less. If that wasn’t enough, we’ve also been graced with the final story trailer for the game. It’s clear we’ll be treated to narrative in a similar vein and execution to that of Armored Core Last Raven’s. This is no bad thing at all. Both videos are embedded below for your viewing pleasure.

Famitsu has a preview of Armored Core V’s downloadable content, and it is not for the faint of heart. It appears there will be both regular DLC and a cross-promotion deal for the official strategy guide, which will net you some nice looking parts. The community is likely to be divided over the issue of DLC if the DLC-only parts convey a clear competitive advantage to the purchasers, and given Armored Core V’s multiplayer focus this is especially problematic. But we can also say that paid DLC might encourage From Software to continue supporting their product through updates, as Relic Entertainment has done, with the sale of DLC being used to fund entirely new features for all players.

What is somehow more worrying (horrifying, really) is what seems to be purely cosmetic DLC in the form of new pilots. It seems that under certain circumstances (such as when your AC has been knocked out, but your team is still in the fight?) you’ll be able to traverse the battlefield as your pilot, since human models running around in a mecha game has always gone over well. Being able to see human beings in Last Raven was a great change of pace, since it gave you a proper perspective on the sheer scale of the ACs, but the three pilots they’re showing to sell us on this idea aren’t what I would have expected. The first is a woman in a pink jumpsuit and overly large jetpack, and while bright pink doesn’t seem to fit my idea of a bleak and perpetual war for resources, in a wonderful show of constraint, she’s not in a miniskirt nor a bra, and there’s a good ratio of jetpack-to-woman, so it’s a Net Good. Next, we have a ninja flying around in the clutches of a giant raven. In a world exclusive, Mecha Damashii can reveal that Armored Core V will explain how the Raven’s Nest began as a school for ninjas with a talent for falconry. And then we have a giant skeleton with akimbo Uzis lazily soldered onto this 3D model. In case you did not realize that he was, in fact, a skeleton, he conveniently has two giant flaming skulls located next to his shoulders to reinforce the point home. Another world exclusive: the dead will rise from their graves to play Armored Core V.

While I see no problem in allowing other people to customize their own experience as they wish, an integral part of the appeal of Armored Core has always been its dark narrative of a future society which has lost itself to the commercialization of war. If ninjas riding on giant birds and skeletons from heavy metal album covers are buzzing around in my character’s campaign to express his identity as a merc-for-hire, I’d better brush up on my Dadaism before the game’s American release on March 20th.

Americans who preorder from GameStop will also be in on the DLC game, with the ominously capitalized “HEAVY ASSAULT PACK”. Who knows what horrors From Software will choose to include? Yesterday, I thought that weapons from the excellently absurd Metal Wolf Chaos or Solaire of Astora’s armor from Dark Souls was asking too much of the strait-laced Armored Core series. But today, we live in a world where anything–everything–is possible. A giant, ambulatory hot dog bun named ‘Herbert’ for your wingman could be a part of the “HEAVY ASSAULT PACK”. Can we, as a society, take that chance? Will you master the HEAVY ASSAULT PACK–or will it master you?

From Software have announced that there will be a demo for Armored Core V (on both PS3 and 360) available on January 21st, briefly featuring online play (from the 21st and 22nd) and then reverting back to singleplayer only after that. Prior to the demo though will be the final livestream for the game. Called the Last Bullet it will supposedly cover off the final loose ends about the game before its imminent release on the 26th. It’s been a long wait but we’re almost there, just a few weeks more people!

Over at Famitsu, they’ve compiled a pretty thorough breakdown feature for the upcoming Armored Core V. From the different mission types to the suitably massive over weapons. The piece also nicely finishes off with a succinct interview with Toshifumi Nabeshima. There’s nothing really new here, as much of this has been covered before but it does nicely show the game’s equivalent to the Arms Forts as seen in Armored Core For Answer. At present the team at From Software are spending the last month of development on debugging the game as well as fine tuning the online back-end, something that needs to be pretty much pristine as the whole game’s success will rely greatly upon how stable it is. Apparently the beta testing went down very well with both fans and the team at From Software, so it sounds like we might see more of them. Whether they’ll be occurring outside of Japan is still unclear though, likely those will occur through the publisher (which in this case is Bandai Namco). The release date for the Japanese version will be the 26th January, with the European and US releases to follow in the coming months. Weirdly, Europe will get the game before the US with the latter having the game available in April. If you can’t wait that long then you can import the Japanese version of the game here (PS3) and here (360), the PS3 version will obviously be region free like the rest of the console’s software library.

A good long while ago, the original trailer for Armored Core V showed a pretty awesome set of flaming chainsaws as one of the game’s new “over weapons”, powerful weapons that could down an AC in one hit but required skill to use effectively. Well, those flaming chainsaws now have a name; the Grind Blade. That’s not all, there are a slew of other similarly uber weapons apparently too. From giant missile launchers to huge cannons and an immense part known as the Multiple Pulse, which looks like a pretty damn deadly area of effect weapon. On top of all this, the “Full Burst” live stream has been and gone (it’s archived below thankfully) and From Software also did another breakdown movie covering the customisation in the game. In addition, there’s now also a team play promo (also linked below) that has a tiny bit of gameplay footage showing off the suitably epic Grind Blade in action. Finally, 4Gamer have also highlighted that a new event will occur on December 23rd to a select throng of 50 lucky fans who will get to play the game (the application details are here). The game is still set for it’s January 26th release and we really can’t wait!

Following on from their various summary videos for Armored Core V, From Software will be hosting yet another live stream of the game on 16th December. Entitled “Full Burst” the stream will be 3 hours long and be suitably thorough by the sounds of it, though we’re not sure what exactly will be covered as From Software are being a tad vague on specifics. You can also follow the stream here on the day.