As a result of the ongoing beta testing From Software have announced that, in order to polish the game further, they are delaying Armored Core V’s Japanese release until January 2012. In some ways, this is not overly surprising but it is encouraging. The whole point of the beta testing was to uncover and resolve potential problems before release. So it’s good to know that From Software are doing just that. There will also be another live stream for the game on August 5th.

The latest live stream for Armored Core V’s team based setup happened yesterday and is now archived accordingly. The full video is shown below and as always it’s fascinating to watch. What’s very much apparent is how much like Chrome Hounds the operator setup in Armored Core V really is. The tactical overview you get on the level that’s being generated by real players in the thick of combat is still uniquely wonderful. We really can’t wait to play this come October.

At the recent Tamashii Festival a few curious shots of Armored Core V figures have surfaced. These are specifically Super Robot Chogokin figures, which is a tad incongruous as AC’s are very much at the real robot end of the spectrum. Either way, the fact that Bandai Namco are handling the international publishing means we’ll finally get some decent Armored Core toys. For those that may remember, Kaiyodo did a line of toys back in the day for AC2 and AC2AA (of which most of them were utterly woeful). Now that Bandai have stepped in we are genuinely expecting something pretty damn special. No word on pricing or whether the toys will be customisable but the Super Robot Chogokin toys are pretty affordable. We’re assuming the toys will be released alongside the game in Japan this October.

After the rumours we reported a while back, it turns out the Voltron (aka Go Lion) game will be hitting XBLA and PSN this October. There’s even an announcement trailer (shown below). Apparently, it will be an action adventure game of sorts but the trailer does show some genre deviation from that. Unfortunately this is being handled by the same team that did Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime, so don’t get your hopes up.

Another live stream for Armored Core V is planned for the 21st July, naturally you can check out the stream at Famitsu or you can watch it on From Software’s much more reliable UStream channel (though weirdly they’re linking the same videos). The reason for this new live stream is to show the closed beta in action, so this will likely be very interesting as gamers will be rinsing the game rather than squeaky tarento going incoherently crazy. 4Gamer has also laid down the gauntlet by announcing their formation of a team for the closed beta. We are seriously beginning to think that this shit is going to get real pretty damn soon.

Over at Famitsu there’s a new update regarding Armored Core V’s story. Specifically that the game seems centered around freeing a city from a dictator of sorts, in an almost Seven Samurai homage (as you’re obviously a paid mercenary). The shot of a giant MT (above) is also encouraging as the Arms Forts in AC4 and ACFA were very cool so to see them back, at least in some way, makes us happy. The other cool element is that there will also be an underground city, where the former resistance hide out, which is a nice nod to the original PSone games (as well as AC3 and AC3SL) too. In any case, the game is still on track for its October 20th release and we really can’t wait!

Due to the ongoing maintenance on the Japanese PSN, the closed beta test for Armored Core V’s suitably epic online setup has been indefinitely delayed, at least until the Japanese PSN is back up and running again. Thankfully the 360 closed beta is still good to go and will commence on July 19th. Still, considering that in Japan at least the vast majority of gamers would be playing the game on PS3 (as they did for both AC4 and ACFA) the fact that they are out of the loop until PSN is fixed is a bit worrying. As the whole point of this exercise was to stress test the network setup for the game, so the more more people you have online the better. Fingers crossed the Japanese PSN problems are resolved soon.

Over at 4Gamer there’s a new piece on the forthcoming Ace Combat Assault Horizon. Curiously at the bottom of the page is a picture (shown above) of a DLC specific fighter tentatively dubbed the “F-X” that’s designed by none other than Shoji Kawamori. Whilst it very likely won’t transform, it’s cool to effectively see a VF-9 Cutlass grace a game like this. Admittedly the sound of the Optimum control setup makes us want to gouge our eyes out with a rusty spoon but it’s good to know that the proper “original” controls will also still be available to those that haven’t mated with their closest relatives. The game will be released this October but no word on when Kawamori’s plane will hit DLC.

After the veritable yearly clusterfuck that is E3, Armored Core V has exited out the other side safely. Whilst not displayed at the show, unlike Dark Souls From Software’s other forthcoming title, Armored Core V is still ticking along in terms of its PR. This week 4Gamer have a piece on the details behind area acquisition and how that culminates in effectively an AC face-off as well as some information on the game’s back story. Much like the 1997 original, humanity has suffered a global catastrophe, though this time brought about by environmental forces. With wars erupting across the globe as resources become precious and suitably rare. The interesting twist though is that the AC’s actually pre-date this devastation and are dug up from deep underground, in a manner not too dissimilar to the events in Panzer World Galient. Separately, there are now new character types known as “migrants” that travel between areas of the world to trade resources (including weapons). Whether these will act as mobile shops is not clear as yet though.

Following the shorter CG trailer released week for Armored Core V, From Software have followed up with what looks to be the full version (shown below). As with all their CG movie work, it’s very pretty indeed. The daytime shots look really quite splendid too. It’s also interesting to see how gritty they’re pitching the game now. The release date, for Japan at least, has also finally been confirmed for the 20th October.