A live concert will be gracing PlayStation Home next week with both Sheryl Nome and Ranka Lee from Macross Frontier. Entitled Super Live, it’s a follow on from the previous concert earlier this year. This new Super Live effort will also come with a variety of virtual outfits and paraphernalia, so they’re not missing a trick with this one. Whether this is part of the build up for a home release of the second film is not yet known, though all we care about is that Artdink get to release the full fat Macross PS3 game they’ve very obviously been working on.

As part of a rather nifty Japanese campaign, PS3 owners that watch at least 6 episodes of various Macross series via the Home video theatres will be rewarded with a new piece of furniture for their apartment in Home; the SDF-1. This being the SDF-1 from the first Macross TV series, as it sports both the Daedalus and Prometheus as arms. That said there are a few elements of the model that bear a closer resemblance to that of the movie version, notably around the “feet” and the tips of the main cannon. Considering that the movie version was rebuilt from a Meltran Gun Destroyer, rather than the Supervision Army variant as in the series, this mix and mash of elements is most curious. In any case, the fact you can have a fully transformable Macross in Home is pretty neat. Thankfully there is also a real world option too if you are so inclined, albeit a bit smaller. This campaign started a few days ago and will finish on March 16th, so get watching while you can.

Over at Anime News Network they’re reporting the news that a live Macross Frontier concert will be held within Home. Despite the obvious Macross Plus/Sharon Apple nerd association of attending a virtual concert performed by human controlled CG characters, it does sound pretty cool and not at all life threatening. In terms of when the event will be kicking off, both Aya Endo and Megumi Nakajima seem keen (in the video below at least) to point us at the official Twitter account. This is obviously in advance of the forthcoming movie released at the end of February and with Macross Triangle Frontier released just in a few weeks too, it’s getting pretty busy for us Macross fans.

It goes without saying that pachinko machines in Japan are quite the curiosity. Never-mind the bizarre legal waters that they tread; it’s how hard they try to dazzle one’s senses that’s most amusing. It’s not easy, asking someone to waste away his or her hard earned cash, not on some kick-ass fighter or shooter, but on a game of chance that involves watching little silver balls that rain down. With the goal being to earn even more little silver balls, to then be cashed out for silly prizes that can be exchanged for money by some shifty Yakuza around the corner from the pachinko parlor. One proven tactic has been to tap into popular film, television programs, and anime (naturally); many machines are undeniably amusing, but hardly anything to write home about. Except for Fever Macross…

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Courtesy of our good friends at HobbyLink Japan we’ve been sent the Robot Damashii Dunbine and Robot Damashii Drumlo from the classic 80’s mecha anime Aura Battler Dunbine. While the Dunbine is an updated re-release from 2012, the Drumlo is a brand new release in Bandai’s ongoing and thoroughly excellent aura battler Robot Damashii range. We’ve also included some anime and game footage at the end of the review.

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One of the most popular games at this year’s TGS, apart from Monster Hunter Portable 3rd, was that of Platinum Games’ upcoming third person shooter Vanquish. Unlike the already released demo, the TGS version had different bosses amongst other things. We also played the game on both the PS3 and 360, with the PS3 version seeming to run a bit smoother (which isn’t surprising considering that was the game’s lead platform during development).

In short, the game really was stupendously good and it did honestly feel like Casshern the game, with guns and set inside O’Neill cylinder. Our impressions after the jump.

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Artdink have been making a name for themselves over the past few years for solid mecha games on the PSP. With the four prior Gundam Battle games, most of which were a lot of fun if a little bit of a slog at times, as well as their two recent Macross efforts. In their latest Gundam based outing though, in the form of Gundam Assault Survive, the design of these games is beginning to wear a little thin.

Considering that the host platform is portable, it makes sense that the main game be based around moderately concise sections of gameplay. The earlier Gundam Battle games executed this approach very well, despite the odd difficulty spike. Assault Survive departs from this concise nature and has undertaken a sprawling approach to its missions instead.

At its core you still have short missions making up the game, the difference now is that there is a map system semi-lifted from the Dynasty Warriors series. So whilst there are brief missions making the game up, they are often chained up together to make a level that’s pretty longwinded and not really suitable for a handheld gaming device.

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In 1999 a developer renowned for its pedigree in creating driving simulators ventured into pastures where high speed mecha roam. The developer was Polyphony Digital, the game: Omega Boost for the original PlayStation.

It was possibly the most accomplished implementation of mecha themed space combat yet achieved.

The player had control over the titular mecha, the Omega Boost, and were able to acquire targets in spherical 3D at incredible speed. Considering the aesthetic influences from anime such as Macross, it was unsurprising that Shoji Kawamori helmed the mecha design with his regular finesse.

Many assumed that the game was an offshoot from Team Andromeda’s seminal Panzer Dragoon series, as the beautifully insane homing lasers were in similar effect. It became an almost apocryphal tale, that was supposedly wholly without credence.

Well, Yuji Yasuhara would probably disagree…

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