A few of you may remember that we reviewed the 1/72 scale Kotobukiya White Glint kit from Armored Core For Answer a while back. Well, that kit is now discontinued but fret not as Kotobukiya are releasing an updated version as per the colouring in the opening movie along with its Vanguard Overboost pack. Naturally, this pushes the price up a bit; to 9,800 yen to be precise. The updated kit will be available in May and you can pre-order it here.

For fans of augmented reality and Virtual On, this will be quite cool. The ARToolKit has been used to render a Virtual On type HUD with an ultrasound distance measurer. The video is quite innocuous to begin with, as it just shows how the device works but when a small “T” card appears that designates the 1/100 scale Kotobukiya model kit of HBV-502-H8 Raiden as just that – then it opens fire with its lasers (to which the cameraman wisely dodges). Admittedly this is just a tech demo of sorts but its nice to see this kind of technology used in a manner partially sympathetic to a game such as Oratan. What’s especially classy though and something not overly obvious to most people, is that the HUD used is actually the RNA variant (as in 2P). Why is this noteworthy? Well, the Raiden colour scheme of the kit is actually the DNA variant (or 1P) so the logical follow on from that would mean the cameraman would have to be an RNA player. The video is linked below and thanks to Saur for the heads up.

This is one of those interesting finds that doesn’t happen that often in the anime industry. A veritable gold mine of Artmic’s production drawings from Mospeada and Southern Cross have been unearthed (which were the last two thirds of Robotech basically). They were originally for use at the model kit company Imai. These drawings include a lot of fascinating sketches for early designs from the respective shows, much of which was penned by Shinji Aramaki (who recently directed “The Package” for Halo Legends). It’s also very timely considering that Capcom had also tried to include the mecha from Mospeada in the latest Tatsunoko vs Capcom. The discoverer of this treasure trove, Roger Harkavy, has very kindly archived his findings in a comprehensive PDF (you can get it here).

via Gears Online and Matt Alt

The sequel G.rev’s arcade versus shooter has finally had its 360 port dated for release. Senko no Ronde DUO will be released in Japan in both normal and limited edition versions on April 28th exclusively for the 360. No word on the differences between the two packs as yet but the game will feature online multiplayer again via Xbox LIVE. Though they’ll hopefully sort out the lag issues between players playing each other across the globe this time.

The above is the Volks toy of the SRX-00 from the Super Robot Wars series. It’s from the collection of a compatriot over at the wondrous Zinc Panic by the name of Edward Armstrong. It’s worth explaining why this toy is quite a big deal on a few levels. The SRX-00 originally appeared on the PlayStation game Shin Super Robot Wars in 1996. It was part of bigger project within the narrative that finally equipped the SRX team, who piloted real robots, to combine to form a very beefy super robot. It was also part of the Banpresto original designs too, in this case penned by the almost omnipotent Hajime Katoki. This toy is probably the only material representation that covers the gattai of the various units (though with an understandable amount of parts swapping). It’s also quite large, coming in at 32cm but the scary aspect is its price tag; 58,000 yen. Well, at the original retail price anyway as you’ll be lucky to even find one these days and when you do they normally go for 80,000 yen plus. In any case, mecha gaming designs don’t normally get this kind of epic treatment the SRX-00 has and for that alone this toy of it is truly quite special.

The official Gundam Assault Survive was recently updated with more mobile suits and was featured on Famitsu as well. The game is looking polished and the unit line-up is pretty thorough too. The site also links to the Gunpla 30th Anniversary site, which hints that an interesting model kit tie-in could be on the cards.

The wondrous Max Factory have added to their prestigious line of diecast “MAX Gohkin” toys with the Dragonar 1 from Kiko Senki Dragonar. The mecha were designed by veteran Kunio Okawara, however this toy is using the design interpretation by Masami Obari (who also worked on the series and directed the two opening animations). The Dragonar units were used in a fair few Super Robot Wars games but the series’ real resurgence came when they were featured in all three Another Century’s Episode games. In any case, this toy looks epically good and despite the massive price tag (22,000 yen) it does somewhat eclipse the prior Soul of Chogokin Spec toys by Bandai. If you have a deep wallet, you can buy it here.

As part of the build up to the release of Gundam Unicorn, a new PlayStation 3 exclusive service is being beta tested. Called the Gundam Viewchives it aims to educate people on all things to do with the massive mythos. Apparently there will be a AI controlled guiding hand that will help people negotiate their queries as well. Whether this new service will handle the distribution of Gundam Unicorn is not entirely clear but Unicorn will be featured on the service in some way for its release. In any case, this is all being done purely for the Japanese market at the moment with the beta test starting on the 28th January and running until the end of March.

The renowned Japanese voice actor, or seiyuu, Daisuke Gouri has passed away this Sunday at the age of 57. It was reported that Gouri was discovered in Nakano (a ward of Tokyo) by a passer by who observed blood dripping from his wrist. A knife was discovered under his body and his last will and testament were also discovered nearby, Japanese police are treating this case as a possible suicide.

Gouri had a long and distinguished voice acting career. Many of you would most probably recognise his voice as a consequence of him playing the roles of Dozle Zabi in the original Gundam as well as Basque Om in Zeta Gundam and Gundam 0083. Not to mention his multiple other anime and videogame roles.

His characteristically deep and rich vocal timbre will be sorely missed. Our thoughts and condolences are also with his friends and family.

The official Armored Core 5 site was updated today, along with some new screenshots (with one of them above). In general, it’s now becoming clear how big the scale shift in the game has become and that ultimately it looks an awful lot better for it. It also seems that a form of overboost maybe still present as well. In any case, we’re liking the rain and the generally improved texture detail in the environments. Still no word on a release date or any gameplay footage though.