Famitsu have got the scoop on the new Carnage Heart EXA for the PSP that’s coming out in October. For those unfamiliar with the Carnage Heart games, these have historically had the player program the game’s mecha, called Overkill Engines (or OKEs), before sending them into battle to fight on their own. At the time of the original game’s release, this type of approach to mecha gaming was unique and Artdink have fashioned a unique niche for the series ever since.

EXA will be the second PSP game in the Carnage Heart series, as Portable was released a good few years ago now. Despite having an all new dating-sim-esque scenario mode, EXA will also allow the player to manually control their OKEs. Admittedly, the older games had this option available but it was only a cheat, whereas this will be actually a full fledged mode now. Naturally, what with all the Gundam Battle and Macross games Artdink have been making recently, this shift shouldn’t be too much of issue for them.

If the above sounds a bit familiar, then you may be thinking of Armored Core Formula Front as it was a game that used a similar setup to Carnage Heart’s and was released for the PSP’s launch back in 2004 (though it also got a rather cool PS2 port too). In any case, it’s nice to see that they’re still using some of Kow Yokoyama’s mecha designs for the OKEs in EXA. That makes us happy inside.

The wondrous Armored Core For Answer has had a selection of rather nifty fan based animations since its release in 2008. The one below shows the face off between White Glint and Stasis, with the track Dragon Dive from the game’s soundtrack playing in the background (though our choice would have probably been The Bloody Honey Cannot Stop). Thanks to therumblefish77 for the heads up and enjoy the video linked below!

The official Virtual On Force blog kindly reminded fans today that the HORI TwinStick EX pre-orders will stop tomorrow (30th June). We’ll know shortly after that whether HORI and SEGA reached the minimum number of pre-orders before they can greenlight the production of the sticks again. Fingers crossed.

Gametrailers recently uploaded an interesting dev diary for the upcoming Front Mission Evolved, as it covers a lot of ground on how the new game is handling the classic wanzers. From customisation to the three available leg types the game will offer, it’s all pretty standard Front Mission fare. However, one comment especially from Michael Willette (the game’s lead producer) concerns us. Specifically, around the 4:50 mark he talks about the responsive controls being something no-other mecha game has yet offered. From the various reports from E3, as well as before that, it’s clear that the jury’s still very much out on that statement. In addition, that kind of comment is a pretty bold claim considering the scope of mecha gaming. After all, games like Armored Core For Answer have the player travel in excess of 2,000 km/h just in normal gameplay. I’m not sure how much more responsive you can get from that without your eyeballs/hands melting. In any case bold comments infused with testicular fortitude aside, we’re still curious to check the game out come its September release.

What with this year’s BotCon having finished over the weekend, the peeps over at TFORMERS.com have uploaded a rather interesting Q&A session with some of the team members who worked on the recently released War for Cybertron. Both Matt Tieger and Aaron Archer talked a fair bit about various aspects of the game but some of the more curious tidbits where the mention of future games that were either to be RPG orientated or even a Twisted Metal-type racer. Bear in mind that these comments were more of the “wishlist” variety and by no means binding, but at the very least it’s a refreshing take and one that does break out of the overtly standardised genre types.

As for the game itself, we’ll be reviewing it very shortly and overall we were very impressed with High Moon’s effort. Considering that the Transformers series often gets a bum deal with games, it’s a great relief to finally play one that doesn’t suck horribly.

Over at GA Graphic they’ve got a preview of the upcoming Hasegawa kit of Guarayakha Queen from the Sky from Virtual On Force that’s out on July 11th. Hasegawa will also be releasing the holographic finish separately for the wings as well. This is a follow on kit from original released a few months ago.

The iconic PTX-003C Alteisen has finally been previewed in its new Super Robot Chogokin form over at GA Graphic. This design was one of Banpresto’s earlier original generation or “OG” efforts for Super Robot Wars and was apparently meant as a riposte to Capcom’s Blodia from Powered Gear and Cyberbots (though that information remains largely apocryphal). It was first featured in the second Compact game on the Wonderswan and then went on to reappear numerous times after that in both games and anime. This new toy, out in October, looks to capture the design rather magnificently and for the price of 5,040 yen it’s a bargain too. Considering that Bandai are using their prior Chogokin expertise on this new toy line, these toys could end up being rather special indeed.

The much loved Real Grade 1/1 scale Gundam has almost been fully resurrected in its new home next to Shizuoka station. Over at Japan Probe they’ve managed to nab a nice video of the almost finished behemoth. What’s interesting now is that the beam sabre is present in the right hand of the mobile suit, something that will act as a bright pink light fixture in the oncoming months. Not to miss a trick, Bandai are booting a new model kit line at 1/144 scale with the same moniker as this beastie. The new “Real Grade” kits will sport much of the gimmicks of their larger Master and Perfect Grade brethren, with a fully poseable endoskeleton being amongst them. One of the first of these is naturally the RX-78-2 Gundam with the same markings as its full size brother. Anyway, enjoy the video below and remember that the full size Gundam is open to the public again on July 24th.

Over at 4gamer they have some excellent new coverage for Gundam Extreme Versus, featuring a veritable overload of new screenshots for the hotly anticipated arcade game. Most of these feature the new units that will be featured in the game, as well as the more familiar entries from the previous Gundam Versus games. In any case, it’s still looking utterly superb and considering the System 357 board it’s running on we can’t wait to get our mitts on the inevitable PlayStation 3 port.

Over at Game Watch, they’ve been covering the SEGA PRIVATE SHOW 2010 SUMMER and tucked within that is the news of a Border Break update. Technically a new game it’s still falling under the versioning of the original (so this game is literally Ver 2.0). With the subtitle of “Airburst” the biggest addition is that the game has doubled in network capacity; from 10 vs 10 players per side to 20 vs 20. That alone is a pretty epic increase in scope. In addition, the name “airburst” also refers to a new aerial dash manoeuvre and that the new game will feature sea based levels. All in all, it’s clear that SEGA are happy to support Border Break for the forseeable future. Still no word on a home port though, sadly.