The upcoming PS4 game, Chikyuu Boueigun 4.1 The Shadow of New Despair, has finally been given a release date; that of February next year. We got to play the game at this year’s TGS and it was pretty good, despite a rather erratic framerate. The mecha in the shot is called the Balam and is referred to as a “walking fortress”. We’re hoping Sandlot will be able to do a decent optimisation pass before the game is released, as having a shoddy framerate on a PS4 is a bit bizarre really. If you’re curious about Sandlot’s mecha game output over the years then check out our feature on that very subject.

In a recent update covering the forthcoming Gundam Breaker 2, we get to see all manner of new bosses. Such as the Adrastrea from Victory Gundam (as shown above). Bandai also released a new promo and this was the one shown at TGS, that displayed the depth and breadth of the customisation within the game. That’s shown below in case you’re curious. The game is set for a December 18th release and you can pre-order it here.

In a surprising turn of events, it looks like Right Stuf have brokered a deal with Sunrise to bring Gundam to the West. The first series of which being Turn A Gundam, that already had its Western release cancelled a while back. All in all this is fantastic news, as it finally means that Gundam can be released commercially again in the West. Hopefully Right Stuf will handle the Gundam mythos better than those before it.

We’ve now got some more bits and bobs on the upcoming Gundam Breaker 2. Notably that you can square off against battleships now, which is pretty great, as well as the ability to use the FXA-08R Mega Rider from ZZ Gundam. Bar new units and characters, the big new stuff we thought we should mention is that the game engine has had a decent amount of work done on it. It’s clear that Bandai have put a bit more budget behind this one. The game is set for a December 18th release and you can pre-order it here.

Well we’ve just had this year’s All Japan Model & Hobby Show and a lot of very cool stuff was revealed. Notably that of the Perfect Grade Unicorn Gundam (shown above), which will have an internally lit psycho-frame. Considering it’s been a while since we had a PG kit, this is a rather a big deal. Following that we had all manner of toy reveals, with Megahouse’s Orguss tempting us with regular brilliance (come on, just release it already!). Then Bandai’s explosion of various new Robot Damashii figures, including the upcoming Metal Robot Damashii Hi-Nu Gundam. In any case, AmiAmi has a lot of great photos and our friends from HobbyLink.tv also went (we’ve linked their video below too). So if you want to see more, then have a look here, here, here, here and here.

Whilst this year’s Tokyo Game Show lacked any new From Software mecha games, it seems that we might be getting a new announcement in November. Whilst we don’t know for sure that this will be a new Armored Core game, considering the history of the studio it seems likely (or at least a new mecha game anyway). In addition, we may now also start to hear more announcements from other Japanese studios on new games in development. As a lot of stuff is currently being worked on it seems.

First off, apologies for the lack of updates. Things have been pretty bizarre as of late and have only just started to somewhat calm down. In addition, there aren’t that many mecha games to talk about at the moment – though more as to why a bit later. However, we did manage to make it to this year’s Tokyo Game Show and briefly hang out with the nice people at HobbyLink.tv.

Anyway, the console side of things is in a bit of a transition. Most publishers thought, incorrectly, that consoles were dead and as such didn’t bother to develop many games for the newer consoles. Cue the release of them last year and their crazy high sales, publishers freaked and started developing new games for them. The problem is that most big games take at least 2 years to get off the ground. We are halfway through that, so this year’s show was a little barren. It’s also why there aren’t many mecha games on the horizon, yet! This means stuff like Armored Core is very likely being worked on but isn’t quite in a state to be shown to the public at large.

We took lots of pictures though and we also helped out the HobbyLink.tv people, with the video of that shown below (I am the chunky British guy, obviously). The pictures and some gameplay impressions are after the link.

Over the last two weeks, a large number of new Gundam Side Stories DLC has been released by Bandai Namco. Last week saw the release of the RGM-79N GM Custom and RGC-83 GM Cannon II . Both first appearing in the Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memories OVA, they are available for 300 yen each. Along with these two mobile suits, VR Mission 107 was released free of charge. This week saw the release of the EMS-10 Zudah . Initially appearing in the MS Igloo CGI OVA, the Zudah is a Zeon mobile suit devised as part of an extensive Zeon propaganda campaign. The Zudah was described as the new “secret weapons” that would demolish the Federation’s famed Gundam and lead Zeon to victory. The Zudah is now available on the Japanese PlayStation Store for 400 yen. Along with this new mobile suit, this week’s update includes VR Mission 108 as a free download.

In addition to the weekly DLC, Bandai Namco has partnered with Kadokawa Comics to release a Full-Armor Variant of the Slave Wraith. First appearing in the Missing Link campaign, the RX-79[G] SW Slave Wraith is a custom ground mobile suit. The Full Armor variation of this unit has increased defensive capabilities, providing extra protection against the light weapons used by Zeon’s mobile suits through shock absorption. Released on August 26th in Japan for 580 yen, the first volume of the Mobile Suit Gundam Side Stories manga includes a DLC code for this new unit.

Over the weekend, Makuhari Messe in Tokyo (well, technically Chiba) hosted yet another event, that of Chara Hobby 2014. Prior to that Bandai announced a new line of toys called Metal Robot Damashii. We held off on mentioning the latter because we guessed (correctly) that the new toy line would be shown at Chara Hobby. Well, it turns out the first figure in the new toy line will be the mighty RX-93-v2 Hi-Nu Gundam (pictured above). You may be thinking, didn’t they already release a Hi-Nu Gundam recently? The answer would be “yes” (we reviewed it too) but this has all manner of diecast in the joints and other detailing. Subsequently, it looks utterly glorious. No word on price point or release date as yet but we’ll let you know as soon as we do. In the meantime check out the video of the new metal infused Hi-Nu Gundam below.

As for the rest of Chara Hobby, there was a lot of cool stuff on show. From the eye wateringly expensive Soul of Chogokin Gaogaigar which is out in December, to the gorgeous Megahouse Orguss. Anyway, check out the coverage here, here, here, here and here.

If you’re looking for more Gundam Breaker action, fear not! Bandai Namco have announced Gundam Breaker 2 for the Playstation 3 and Playstation Vita for Winter 2014. Not much is known about the title so far, such as possibly carrying over your units from the first game or what new units will be added, but we’ll let you know as soon as more information comes out. Until then, check out the teaser video below!