Kotobukiya have announced three new sets of Armored Core weapon kits, the first of which will be the HLR01-CANOPUS (which you can pre-order here). This weapon was sort of the spiritual successor to the Karasawa in both AC4 and ACFA. In addition to the Canopus, the CG-R500 and EB-R500 as well as the beefy OIGAMI.

Courtesy of our good friends at HobbyLink Japan, we’ve been sent a toy from GUNxSWORD to review. Specifically, the Robot Damashii Dann of Thursday. In addition, to give the toy some context, we’ve also linked some anime and gameplay footage of it in action in Super Robot Wars K at the end of the review.

4Gamer has a piece on the console port of Gundam Extreme Versus and its all new game modes. From a new “Trial Mission” setup, where you can clearly face off against Crux Dogatie in the skeletal EMA-10 Divinidad (shown above). In addition, the limited release XM-X1 (F97) Crossbone Gundam X-1 Kai Kai “Skull Heart” in the arcade edition appears to be a fully accessible unit in the console port (as also shown above). Following on from that there are two confirmed PS3 exclusive mobile suits in the game, that of the GN-002 Gundam Dynames and the MBF-P03 Gundam Astray Blue Frame 2nd L. You can still pre-order the game here.

Whilst the amazing Five Star Stories has never really had a game or been featured in any over the years, we still adore Mamoru Nagano’s manga based magnum opus. Subsequently we’ve salivated over the various garage kits of the series’ mortar headds for many many years. Though the somewhat stratospheric price point has always deterred us, plus the fact that building them would be akin to doing plastic surgery on your mother’s face. So when Volks announced their IMS line of injection plastic kits with polycap joints, it meant that mere mortals could afford a real mortar headd kit and not have to deal with the fickle mistress that is resin. Admittedly Wave have made injection plastic mortar headd kits over the years too but Volks has always been the daddy when it came to this series. With all that out of the way, Volks have announced a new kit in their IMS line; that of the utterly exquisite LED Mirage. This new kit will be at 1/100 scale and feature the unit’s terrifying flame launcher as well. Both the price and release date are not yet known but whatever or whenever it may be we simply want Volks to take our money.

As announced at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, SD Gundam Generation 3D is still on track for its December 22nd release date. The official site has also been kept up to date, with the new “Archive” section showing off the roster of series the game will feature. Of note are the addition of the upcoming Gundam AGE and Gunpla Builders. Much like the Super Robot Wars games, this series is unsurprisingly solely focused on Gundam. In all honesty, we’re not overly fond of the SD Gundam games but this does look suitably nice and since playing through Gundam The 3D Battle we have a hankering for some more 3D Gundam gaming.

Slightly different from usual, GameWatch has a piece on the addition of two new mobile suits to the arcade version of Gundam Extreme Versus. Specifically that of the CB-002 Raphael Gundam from the Gundam 00 movie Awakening of the Trailblazer and the XM-X1 (F97) Crossbone Gundam X-1 Kai Kai “Skull Heart” (in Full Cloth garb) from the extended Crossbone Gundam manga Skullheart and Steel 7. The update is different in the sense that these mobile suits aren’t permanent entries but will only be available from September 28th to October 17th. This is all part of a cunning plan to help promote a large tournament as well as the upcoming release of the PS3 port in December (the latter you can still pre-order here). Whether both units will be present in the port remains to be seen but it’s likely they’ll be included in some form.

As we’ve mentioned a few times already, the lovely Cloud Breaker 01 from the Xbox game Murakumo is now set for release in January of next year. Whilst the game was a bit bobbins, the mecha designed by Takayuki Yanase were beautiful to behold. It seems that PLUM have done an exemplary job too. You can also pre-order the kit here.

Update: GA Graphic has a nice update about the kit as well.

In a piece over at Famitsu, it’s finally been shown that both the Karasawa laser rifle and Moonlight laser sword are present in the upcoming Armored Core V. The Karasawa is a long-standing series tradition, named after Yasuyoshi Karasawa who acted as producer on the first three PSone games. This version is slightly different though as it has a charge shot setup. As for the Moonlight, it has been present in every From Software game to date, after it originated in the first ever King’s Field. The new Moonlight also has a nice crescent shape too, which is pretty cool. Separately, there’s a picture of a new massive mecha called “TypeD No.5”, which appears to be a tad Arms Fort-esque. Historically both the Karasawa and Moonlight have been hidden unlocks but it’s nice to know that they are present and correct in the new game though.

In addition to a lovely JAM Project concert at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, 2nd Super Robot Wars OG also received a new promo that was also displayed at the show. Showing more units and their animations, it’s looking very lovely. The use of the camera pans and elements of perspective are still suitably impressive. You can pre-order the game here.

Gigazine has a lovely piece on From Software’s recent Game Festa 2011. Considering neither Dark Souls or Armored Core V were present at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, From Software decided to hold their own event in a nearby hotel to Makuhari Messe. Amongst the various events and hands on demos, a new record label was also announced with a new Armored Core album performed by an in-studio band set for release this November. However, the most important piece of information released at the event was the finalised (Japanese) release date for Armored Core V, which is now January 26th.