We now have a new Border Break on the way. Effectively Version 3.0, Border Break Union will continue the series and feature new parts and now airborne enemies by the looks of it. There’s a nice shiny new opening movie too (shown below). Interestingly, the game will be shown at the upcoming Tokyo Game Show along with an iOS app. Anyway, we’re just glad that the Border Break games have been doing so well and that SEGA have decided to take them further.

Following on from Macross Last Frontier, Bandai decided to fund yet another mini-game for the suitably epic Macross Do You Remember Love BluRay release. Entitled My Boyfriend is a Pilot 2012, the game covers the events in the film and takes Artdink’s PS3 tech forward a bit further. What follows is our hands-on impressions with the new game.

Whilst we meant to review the awesome PC version of Gunhound we never got around to it (it is awesome though). However, we now know that there will also be a PSP version released in December of this year called Gunhound EX. Sort of a remake(ish), it’s being co-developed with G.Rev this time. In addition, it will still feature music by the lovely Kinuyo Yamashita as well as new tracks from the pretty mad Hyakutaro Tsukumo. The game will also be released on PSN but a limited edition box set will also come packaged with cels and an all important soundtrack CD. We’ll be picking this up though and definitely reviewing it this time.

On the 28th August the mighty GF13-021NG Gundam Spiegel will be added to Gundam Extreme Versus Full Boost. In addition, the African desert stage from the previous game will also be incorporated into Full Boost. Anyway, we’re looking forward to breaking out some Sturm Und Drang in matches again. For those that don’t know, “spiegel” is the German word for mirror. So if you know anything about G Gundam and its story, then that should be something moderately interesting.

Over at 4Gamer they have details on the Maximum Break and Combination Attacks for 2nd Super Robot Wars OG. Specifically that the Maximum Break uses the combined manpower of two Twin Units, for a total of four units bringing their firepower to bear. Whereas the Combination Attacks are when a unit attacks its main target and then also attacks other enemies in the nearby vicinity. There are lots of nice new screenshots in the update too and the game is looking very nice indeed.

Despite not covering the game all that much, Transformers Fall of Cybertron is released in the US today (and Europe at the end of the week). We actually quite enjoyed the first game and this looks at least as good. As a nice touch there will also be a G1 Retro Pack DLC too, which is a cool nod to the fact that this game effectively sets up the narrative arc for the G1 series anyway.

Over the next few days, there will be a vote from fans on adding their favourite classic Armored Core character as a new Com voice in Armored Core V. The voting will start on the 21st and finish on the 27th. After that the character will be announced and a DLC pack will follow. As for the latter, there’s no news on how much it will cost players. Anyway, this is a nice touch and we’re all for having Stinger (as voiced by our favourite Sho Hayami). Though we also have a lot of love for Nobuyuki Hiyama’s portrayal of Hustler One (the pilot of Nineball) in Master of Arena. After that, most of the characters from Nexus and Last Raven do stand out quite a bit too.

In addition to the BluRay anime boxset for 2nd Super Robot Wars OG, we’ll also be getting a separate but equally pricey kit boxset featuring a new Gespenst MK II Kai (which you can buy here). This is from the same Kotabukiya line of kits that have been pretty damn fantastic thus far, so even with the price tag for this it looks like it will be worth it. In addition to this news, apparently a new longer promo video for the game will be going the rounds soon. It’s likely that it will be the one that is made for Japanese high street shops to pimp the game, so it should be pretty comprehensive with any luck. The game will be available on November 29th.

Over at 4Gamer they have a piece on the VR Missions in E.X. Troopers. These are meant as battle simulations whilst you are at the Academy. The cool thing about them though is that not only can you bring AI characters along to help out but also human players to. Naturally on the PS3 this is dealt with online but on the 3DS it’s only a local (ad hoc) multiplayer setup. Still it’s a nice touch and we’re getting more and more excited for the game’s November release.

Finally relenting to the wailing of thousands of fans the world over, Double Fine announced that previously XBLA exclusive Iron Brigade would be coming to PC on the Steam digital distribution service. Effective August 13th, those of you without Xbox 360s now have no excuse to not play one of finest surprises in Western mecha game design. We talked a bit about the game back when it was still called Trenched, so those of you with a sense of deja vu can rest assured that you’re not going crazy–you already were when you imported those Super Robot Wars games despite not knowing a lick of Japanese.

Iron Brigade plays like a cross between a straight mecha action game and a tower defense title: a stream of enemy waves come through generators towards a target you need to defend, and all you have to hold your ground with are deployable turrets powered by super-science and a creaky WWI-era mecha with some truly fearsome heavy artillery haphazardly pasted on. These mecha (“mobile trenches”) don’t just hit the sweet spot between a lumbering machine and an agile player character avatar that all mecha games aspire to, but the fact that your ride is an absolute behemoth means the turrets make sense. Your mobile trench carries enough firepower to devastate a small country, but you can’t waste that firepower on small fry when you have an entire map to defend, so the game’s tactics are all about choosing where you need to get involved personally and when your automated turrets can handle things alone. Thus Iron Brigade neatly avoids the common tower defense trap of giving the player nothing to do once a wave begins, while the necessity for strategic turret placement means the player needs to keep track of the big picture rather than just aiming and shooting as necessary.

The loot system is well designed, with most pieces of new equipment not being straight increases in damage but rather tweaks to old weapons that make them feel new again, and Iron Brigade definitely has the trademark feel that Double Fine has become known for, with titles such as critics’ darling Psychonauts and unapologetically metal Brutal Legend demonstrating their ability to craft the creatively bizarre. Mecha series as of late have become entrenched (pun unintentional) in either Gundam clones which miss the mark of what made the original series special, or entire seasons of cute girls doing cute things in giant robots. Seeing something come out of left field like Iron Brigade, which is based on WWI-era futurism and 1940s men’s magazines, is a breath of fresh air. Any mecha game which challenges you to make no man’s land into Real Man’s land is an inherently noble endeavor and a fitting entry in a genre that practically invented badass.

The PC version will thankfully include the original XBLA’s DLC, “Rise of the Martian Bear,” because there’s simply nothing cooler than sending robots to Mars.