Whilst we have lost somewhat all hope for Lost Planet 3, this new trailer has re-ignited a modicum of interest on our part. In so far that this trailer covers the multiplayer aspects of the game, it also reveals that the game will have early vital suits (rather than the huge and fugly “rigs” that we’ve seen thus far). Admittedly you still seem to control these VTs in first person (why Spark, WHY?) but the fact they’re here at all is still a blessing. Especially as from a multiplayer standpoint VTs are more comparable in terms of size to that of human players and that makes it more of a fairer and faster paced fight (read: good). The game is still on track for it’s late August release this year and we will be reviewing it once it’s out.

Over at 4Gamer they have a nice piece on a lot of the new parts for Armored Core Verdict Day. Whilst we’ve seen some of these images, there are a lot of new ones. From the Heat Machinegun, which sounds worrying, as well as a plasma missile. The latter having shades of the Kojima missiles from For Answer. Though the beefy physical blade (shown above) does look awfully boss. The September 26th release is still on track and you can pre-order the (Japanese) collector’s edition here.

Following on from our previous post about a forthcoming E-MF-LZ-00X-2 Layzner Mk2 toy, it turns out in fact that we will be likely getting it as a Soul of Chogokin Spec iteration (something we hoped and suspected). On top of that, it seems that demand is high enough for the suitably bling SPT-ZK-53U Zakarl (shown above) to get the same treatment. What’s interesting about this is that fans wanted continuity from the previous, and thoroughly excellent, Soul of Chogokin Spec Layzner. We wholly endorse this request. No word on pricing or release as yet but once we know more we’ll let you know.

The first livestream for Armored Core Verdict Day has been archived and we’ve linked it below. Whilst there’s a noticeable absence of gameplay footage the new weapon switching animations are pretty damn sexy. As for the collector’s edition figure, it does indeed seem that it isn’t a proper Super Robot Chogokin but instead some nasty ABS monstrosity. For the price tag it does seem somewhat cheeky too. Anyway, enjoy the livestream and it’s nice to be seeing some more Armored Core again.

We now have our first trailer for Armored Core Verdict Day (shown below) and it looks pretty cool. It also thankfully lacks any wubwub nonsense that we got with the last game’s trailers. In addition, we also have details on a collector’s edition release of the game. This will come with (in addition to the game itself) an artbook, soundtrack and a figure. The latter won’t be part of the Super Robot Chogokin toyline annoyingly but instead will be just made of ABS plastic, so it’s likely to be a bit pants. It will be priced at 16,800 yen. Finally, don’t forget that the first livestream for Verdict Day is today.

Over at Famitsu there’s a new update on Armored Core Verdict Day, primarily covering the new solid shields (shown above) and the return of weapon arm parts, the latter will have interesting ramifications to the current hanger setup for weapon switching. They also make a big deal that there will be a greater amount of part variety over the last game, specifically catering for more energy type (KE, CE and TE) variance. In addition, we now also have details on the first live stream for the game. Hosted on the 12th April, it sounds like it will follow the same format as previous live streams. Once it’s archived online we’ll be sure to post it here.

The mighty GX-9901-DX Gundam Double X from Gundam X will be getting the Robot Damashii treatment this July. Sold for around 4,800 yen, the toy looks to be pretty beefy and featuring all the necessary gimmicks you’d expect. No word yet on the GS-9900 G-Falcon but it has been previewed already, so it will likely end up as a web shop exclusive. Anyway, considering the original series was cancelled mid-run it’s nice to finally have a decent toy for the Double X on the way.

What with a Metal Build Gundam Exia recently being released, Bandai haven’t missed a trick and have announced a Metal Build 00 Raiser as a web shop exclusive. This is shrewd as this toy already existed in two parts; the Metal Build 00 Gundam Seven Sword and Metal Build 0 Raiser (with the latter again being a web shop exclusive). Combining the two sets produced the mighty GN-0000+GNR-010 00 Raiser. This version, despite being a little cheaper than the previous sets combined, will also have all manner of new bespoke decals as created by Kanetake Ebikawa, who was one of the main mecha designers on Gundam 00. We’re actually big fans of the new Metal Build toys as well as the 00 Raiser, so we’re pretty tempted to snap this puppy up once it is released in August.

Some nice juicy news for Armored Core Verdict Day has surfaced today. The main point of good news is that the game world will be reset at the end of each game season (or if one team dominates all areas, effectively winning that season). The season resets will also have each group revert back to their starting positions, so no one group will have the advantage over the other. This is a big improvement over the previous game and harks back to how the various factions in Chrome Hounds were handled. Following on from that there will also now be a total of 56 maps in Verdict Day. This naturally includes the levels from the previous game (though we imagine they’ll be tweaked) but this is quite a big jump up in terms of playable areas. Hopefully these won’t be night and day versions of the same map, as that would be a bit bloody cheeky really. Finally players that relegated to jetpack status during a match will be able to take photos. These will be stored in the player’s garage and propagated through the game’s status updates. Whether this feature will work with the (Japanese) Armored Core Official Partnership site remains to be seen but it would be pretty great if that were the case.

Both 4Gamer and Famitsu are running a piece on network tests for the upcoming Armored Core Verdict Day. For one the site they linked to doesn’t go live until tomorrow and the network test will also only be on the PS3 version of the game. The actual process will be a lottery which you can enter from tomorrow (Friday) onwards until Sunday. There will then be a total of four dates of playtesting; two in April (20th and 27th) and another two in May (4th and 11th). If you’re one of the few to be accepted then you’ll be sent an e-mail as to which playtest you’ll be involved in. The whole purpose of this apparently is to ascertain load on their servers as well as feedback on early gameplay balancing. Pretty standard fare for a closed alpha/beta really.