The wonderful 1/1 scale RX-78-2 Gundam has finally had its opening ceremony at its new home in Shizuoka outside the JR Higashi-Shizuoka Station. The lifesize Gundam now sports a full sized beam saber too. This installation of the Gundam will be held until January 2011, so if you missed it the first time around when it was Odaiba now’s your chance to see it again!

After ten years, it finally seems that Turn A Gundam is coming to the West. As Bandai Entertainment plan to bring the 50 episode anime series to Western shores in the coming future, whether this will encompass the two movies as well remains to be seen. Since its release in Japan Turn A has become a cult series, due in part to the somewhat bizarre and originally very controversial mecha design, penned by none other by Syd Mead. Over the years these designs have grown on the fanbase and many know appreciate the fact that series was very much ahead of its time. From the gorgeous score by Yoko Kanno to the deft characterisation and narrative from a calmer Yoshiyuki Tomino, Turn A is a series that is quite a mature and thoughtful work. The fact that it will finally receive a Western release is good news indeed, though arguably a tad overdue.

Unsurprisingly, Turn A has graced multiple games over the years. From Super Robot Wars Z to the Gundam Musou games as well as Another Century’s Episode 3 not to mention the Gundam Vs games, the SYSTEM ∀-99 (WD-M01) ∀ Gundam has made its mark on gaming in recent years. Due to the immense potency in the anime though, it’s a problematic unit in terms of games design; as an attack that can wipe out all technology via nano-machines is a bit tricky to implement in a functional sense. The gaming connections of this series also span to the character design too, as Yasuda Akira (or “Akiman”) was one of the original designers on Street Fighter II, amongst many other Capcom games. He went to work with Tomino again on the brilliant Overman King Gainer, which even featured a protagonist who was an ardent gamer.

The animated version of Gundam Unicorn is receiving its much anticipated second episode this November. Before then though, Bandai are showing off the new footage in a lovely long promo. Apart from looking wonderful in terms of the animation, it’s nice to hear ShÅ«ichi Ikeda’s dulcit tones again in Gundam. The promo even shows the glorious Sinanju in action finally, as well as the Unicorn too obviously. Considering that Gundam Extreme Versus is out in arcades at the end of the year, in Japan, the timing of the second episode’s release is fortuitous. For those that want their Unicorn Gundam fix before November, then the unit is fully playable in the brilliant Gundam vs Gundam Next Plus on the PSP. Alternatively, you could pick up the regal Metal Composite toy if you’re after something more tactile. Either way, enjoy the promo linked below.

Over at Tokyo Hunter they’re preparing for this summer’s Wonder Festival. From a lovely Arcee kit, including dat ass, to an amazing rendition of Samus. However, our favourite is the SD version of Dancouga from God Bless Dancouga, pictured above, that was used in Super Robot Wars Alpha 3. Whilst Gigabrain released the God Bless variant a while ago, along with a much more limited Final, this is the first SD version as inspired by the game. Anyway, if you want to pick any of these up place your orders now. Bear in mind though that these are meant for experienced garage kit builders only. In any case, enjoy the montage of Dancouga attacks from Alpha 3 shown below, as well as its somewhat epic final attack as seen in God Bless.

Courtesy of donkey show again, we’ve been sent another link to a Gundam themed Little Big Planet level. This one features a playable RX-78-2 Gundam and an antagonistic Zeong. It even has Bright Noa spawn in the level to add his punching expertise (though he’s also a skilled slapper too). Apparently this level will be available “soon” but in the meantime have a gander at the video of it in action below.

After much anticipation, the new and updated promo video for Another Century’s Episode R was shown in Akihabara today. This is the longer promo that stores use to promote game and as such is over twelve minutes long and features predominantly gameplay footage – something that hadn’t been seen until now. There are a fair few interesting developments but the first major one is the open inclusion of the Original Generation of Super Robot Wars mecha, such as the Cybuster, Alteisen Riese and ART-1. Admittedly these aren’t the first OG mecha to be featured, as the Gespenst Mark II appeared in the original ACE back in 2005, but these new OG mecha are featuring full characterisation for their pilots and haven’t appeared in an ACE game before.

Moving on from that, there are a fair few important functional clarifications to be made. Notably that the “chase mode” is actually an on-rails shooter section and that the boost gauge is ominously absent throughout much of the footage – to the extent that much of the encounters seem to be heavily scripted from a camera and lock-on perspective. This is something that does concern us, as the original ACE games afforded a large amount of freedom in terms of movement and removing that would be a functional regression really. This could be easily explained due to the selection of the footage in the video however, as it mostly shows the more flamboyant aspects of the mecha rather than full-on moment to moment gameplay. It also seems that each series also has its corresponding base ship too now, from the Argama to even the Macross Quarter. In any case, the new promo shows the game to be incredibly impressive and we’ll be eagerly picking this game up on its August 19th release. Don’t forget that you can also pre-order the game here.

The upcoming arcade game Gundam Extreme Versus has finally had its official site updated, along with a Twitter feed to go along with it. Thankfully, they’ve opted for a more traditional site (over a flash based monstrosity) so we can link to pages directly, such as the game’s current MS List. This is slightly curious though, as we saw a V2 Assault Buster Gundam in the location test videos a few months back but the MS is noticeably absent from the list (as is the Unicorn Gundam, despite adorning the site’s main page art). In any case, we’ll be keeping an eye on this game over the coming months especially considering that a PS3 port is very likely at some point.

We’ve been keeping an eye on the upcoming anime TV series Mokei Senshi Gunpla Builders Beginning G for a while now. Meant to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Gunpla, it features a model kit building protagonist flanked by his tubby hamburger eating friend (which is quite realistic) and his female love interest (obviously not very realistic). What’s interesting is that despite the vast amount of product placement at work here, the characters seem to play out their Gunpla differences via matches in Senjou no Kizuna. With the main villain piloting a custom coloured Hi-Nu Gundam it will be interesting to see how this series is received by the Japanese public. At the very least the series will highlight the broader pop-cultural context Gundam has created over the years and that gaming is still the means by which people can actually pilot a mobile suit.

4Gamer have managed to cover two new gameplay videos for Carnage Heart EXA. The first video shows the traditional AI controlled OKEs battling it out based of the programming they’ve been given, whereas the second video shows the manual control mode in action. It’s clear that Artdink’s recent mecha gaming expertise on the PSP has paid dividends with EXA. Whilst we were deeply disappointed with Gundam Assault Survive, it’s nice to see Artdink go back to their roots like this and it’s clear from this videos that EXA will be excellent.

A fair few places are covering this year’s Tokyo Toy Show, with Dengeki Online’s contribution being pretty thorough. From the upcoming Super Robot Chogokin Cybuster, pictured above and featured in the recent Nintendo DS port of The Lord of Elemental, to the Composite Ver. Ka Temjin, it’s clear that mecha gaming has had quite the impact on the Japanese toy community in recent years.