The rather brilliant and much anticipated Bangai-O HD: Missile Fury has hit XBLA today. For only 800 MSP you can spew missiles at teeny enemies to your hearts content. This new game also sports online co-op, which is a pretty cool addition really. In any case, we’re just glad the game is finally out as we loved it at last year’s TGS. Again, if you’re at all curious about the Bangai-O games then make sure to check out our feature on the very subject.

The live demo event for Armored Core V originally planned in March, that was obviously delayed on account of the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on March 11th, is now back on. Scheduled for the 13th May at 9pm (Japan time, obviously), Famitsu will also be hosting a live stream of the event too. In addition, the official Armored Core site is now also hosting a new questionnaire for fans of the series to fill in.

In a comment over on the official Facebook page for Armored Core V, From Software have confirmed that the game will indeed use dedicated servers (on account of their new partnership with Namco Bandai). Naturally, for a game to boast such a thorough online setup it makes sense for the investment of a dedicated server setup. Hopefully the servers won’t get arbitrarily shut down like they did on Chrome Hounds though. There’s also another interview up on Dengeki Online talking more about the story missions (amongst other things). With each new update, it seems that Armored Core V could shape up to be something truly special.

TimeGate Studios has released Section 8: Prejudice to the Xbox Live Marketplace today. This of course being the sequel to the not so well received Section 8, released in 2009. Listening to criticism from critics and fans alike, TimeGate has promised to fix or totally revamp much of what was wrong with the previous installment, while retaining, that which made the original…well, original.

So, while all of that is yet to be seen, one thing is for sure; power armor mayhem. Like its predecessor Prejudice will have wonderful Landmate-esque powered armor, to stomp, crush, and blow away your competition. Add to that a cacophony of vehicles, weapons, and customization options and you have yourself one hell of a game (or so we hope).

Now for those of you who actually own and have played the original Section 8, TimeGate has announced that they will be giving away “Loyalty Rewards” based on your player level in the first Section 8. The rewards are: For simply playing the original you get the Aegis Armor and Reactive Plating for your character, if you made it to level 25 then you get the Ablative Plating upgrade, and finally for those who reached level 50 you receive  the Explosives Amplifier upgrade.

A very nice gesture on TimeGate’s part if you ask me, and I’m fairly excited to play. Sadly, however, I will not receive any rewards. While Xbox owners can enjoy Section 8 today, PC and PS3 owners will have to wait a little longer. May 4th for PC users, and sometime in summer for PS3 users. You can purchase and play Section 8: Prejudice on your Xbox, right now for 1200 MSP. Additionally upon release on PC (through Steam and Games for Windows Marketplace), it will be $14.99 USD.

GameWatch has the details that the forthcoming Treasure shooter, Bangai-O HD Missile Fury, will finally be released on May 4th for 800 MSP. The GameWatch piece also has a good number of new screenshots, all of which show the insane number of missiles the game will have. Following on from this is a new(ish) trailer that was released recently, despite the somewhat ill-fitting soundtrack the game is looking as good as when we played it at TGS last year. Don’t forgot we also have a comprehensive feature on the Bangai-O series if you’re at all curious.

In the latest edition of Famitsu, Armored Core V’s new Mercenary System has been partially outlined. In that teams lacking in members can pay other players to help build up their ranks. No word on how the pricing works as yet, but the whole soldier of fortune vibe does chime in with series’ history very nicely (as that’s effectively what Ravens were anyway). Team members can also moonlight as mercenaries too apparently.

Separately, it’s been also revealed that the story mode will be much more substantial than previous games. As many of the core game missions will be around 20 to 60 minutes in length, as well as featuring multiple dramatic cutscenes. These will be playable via online co-op too. In addition there will also be shorter “order” missions available, that sound more akin to a beefed up arena but with a mission based context. The latter total up to around 70 missions in all.

Finally, there’s also a new Dengeki Online interview with the game’s and series’ producer Toshifumi Nabeshima. We’ll try and condense the salient points over the next few days.

Update: 4Gamer has a selection of new screenshots as well. Showing more of what appears to be the new HUD as well as various laser blade concept art (some of which look decidedly chainsaw-esque).

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!)

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.

Kotaku has posted a brief interview with team leader Khang Le at Adhesive Games, the developer making the just announced Hawken. Apart from the reassuring knowledge that the game will be very much real robot in focus, Le also cites the mecha designer Kow Yokoyama as a strong influence for the mecha in Hawken (with Maschinen Krieger, aka SF3D, being notable). Yokoyama is a very interesting mecha designer, as his work melds insect like organic shapes with very gritty industrial elements. He’s also no stranger to games, from the original mecha designs in Front Mission to those in Carnage Heart and Phantom Crash/S.L.A.I., with the latter being especially relevant in the case of Hawken. In any case, the more we hear about this game the more we want to play it.