The official site for Armored Core V was updated yesterday with two new screenshots showing some of the game’s tank legs on display. Partly due to the reduced size of the ACs themselves, the weapon load-out looks almost disproportionately beefy. Not that we’re complaining, as it makes the new AC’s look suitably kickass. It’s just the more we see of ACV, the more it heralds back to the likes of VOTOMS but in a meaner and tougher sense perhaps. The other screenshot is shown after the jump.

GameSetWatch found a nice new promo video for the upcoming Bangai-O HD Missile Fury that’s set for an XBLA release this year. Still no word on the new online multiplayer setup, which is the main cause of the delay in release, but the game is still looking really fun.

Over at 4Gamer there’s some nice new shots of G.rev’s forthcoming shooter Seisou Kouki Strania. In addition, G.rev have released a brand new HD promo video (shown below) which apart from its awesome soundtrack does show the fact that the player will be able to choose the enemy “Vower” campaign too. Still no word on an exact release date, bar sometime this year, but it will be a global launch via XBLA so that’s something at least.

On the 16th of February, another mobile suit will be added to the ranks of Gundam Musou 3. That of the transformable GN-007 Arios Gundam from the second season of Gundam 00. The Arios was also the upgraded version of the GN-003 Gundam Kyrios. 4Gamer has some nice shots of the mecha too. In terms of pricing the DLC will cost 600 yen (PS3) and 480 MSP (360) and will also feature an additional mission.

To tie in with the newly announced Bayformers sequel Dark of the Moon, Activision seemed to have finally done something smart with their approach to film tie-ins. Specifically, they’ve hired High Moon back to make the game. Considering that War for Cybertron was pretty decent, especially for a Transformers game, we’re suitably upbeat that this game will actually be playable (even if the mecha designs do suck rather horribly). As expected, the game will operate in an almost identical way to that of War for Cybertron, even down to the online multiplayer setup. However, for those concerned on the turnaround in terms of development cycles on this new game, fear not. High Moon started work on this game whilst War for Cybertron was already in development, so they’ll have enough time to polish the game (something that most film tie-ins rarely get the chance to).

After all the hubbub of last week over the re-announced Armored Core V, the official site has been suitably renovated. Whilst the site shows the same trailer and set of screenshots revealed last week, it does cast some interesting light on a few other things. For one, on load the site offers an English language option; something that never happened with any of the previous games. This is a massive shift for the series, as it shows that right up front that both From Software and Bandai Namco are pitching this worldwide from the off. The other elements that are worth noting, bar the blog and Twitter feed, is that the coupon campaign (via the rather dire Armored Core Last Raven Portable) is still valid. So for those that bought the Japanese version of the game, the coupon still applies. This means that a week prior to the game’s release you will start receiving DLC codes for exclusive parts.

Still no word on a concrete release date but both GameWatch and 4Gamer have joined the PR fray this week, so now that the cat is out of the bag expect more regular updates.

Update: In line with the obvious global focus for ACV’s PR, there’s now an official Facebook page for the game. Apart from the screenshots, there are some lovely scans of the new AC designs too.

On the 9th February, another mobile suit will be added to the ranks of Gundam Musou 3. Specifically that of the GN-006 Cherudim Gundam from the second season of Gundam 00. The Cherdudim was also the upgraded version of the GN-002 Gundam Dynames, though with a new pilot that happened to share the same name (long story). 4Gamer has some nice shots of the new playable mecha too. In terms of pricing the DLC will cost 600 yen (PS3) and 480 MSP (360).

Gamespot has managed to land a very interesting interview with the father of Armored Core and producer of Armored Core V, Toshifumi Nabeshima. In addition, there are a slew of new screenshots available too alongside the interview. The full interview is shown below and it’s even dubbed in English. Enjoy!

In the latest issue of Famitsu more details about Armored Core 5 have surfaced. From the news that Bandai Namco will be publishing this worldwide to the increased focus on online multiplayer, it seems that From Software have been quite busy. Regarding online play, the game will be based around players forming teams and undertaking a form of territorial conquest, with whoever taking the most territory winning. Teams are of 5 players a piece, with 4 in traditional Armored Cores and the fifth in a new command unit. If all this sounds familiar, then you’re not alone. This setup was used very successfully in From Software’s other mecha game Chrome Hounds. With the reduced size of the mecha the levels consequently require more strategy too, which is where the whole commander setup comes in. For those concerned about the absence of a singleplayer segment, there will be an option for this but the main online campaign is intended to be an almost meta-campaign. Again, this is a follow on from the Neroimus War concept seen in Chrome Hounds. What with this new information regarding the online setup, as well as the previous nods by From Software to games like Metal Wolf Chaos, it really seems as though they are cherry picking design elements from their previous games and merging them with how Armored Core used to traditionally work. All of this is clearly brilliant and Armored Core 5 could turn out to be something genuinely special. The game is set for a 2011 release in Japan but no actual dates as yet.

Update: Famitsu now has some screenshots on their site. These show the commander view as well a front end war menu, so it is indeed very Chrome Hounds (as we suspected). Bandai Namco have also mentioned the fact that Armored Core 5 will be released in 2012 for Europe and America (rather than this year as was previously stated).

The upcoming G.Rev shooter Seisou Kouki Strania will be present at this year’s AOU show, which to the more astute of you will raise an eyebrow hopefully (in our case, this has the unfortunate result of losing our monocle to boot). The reason this is interesting is that Strania was announced originally as an XBLA only title, however according to this post at 4Gamer it will now also be released via the NESICAxLive system (basically a digital download setup for arcades). This is a fascinating development as it means a new XBLA game will also be available alongside its arcade variant at the same time of its release. Historically ports of arcade games occur after the arcade version, whereas this is a curiously simultaneous release. As for the XBLA version, well that’s still on track for a spring release for the princely sum of 800 MSP.