In a rather cool move to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Macross this year, Bandai Namco will be releasing some new DLC for Ace Combat Assault Horizon with some F-14D’s made up with the livery from Hikaru Ichijoe’s VF-1J and Roy Focker’s VF-1S. What’s especially lovely about this is that the F-14 was in fact the base by which Shoji Kawamori penned the original VF-1 series of variable fighters in the first Macross. So to have F-14D’s made up like this brings a nerdy tear to our eye. Naturally, these jets don’t transform but both will be available (as a set) on March 21st for either 600 yen (PS3) or 400 MSP (360).

Despite a few announcement hiccups, it seems that Gundam Seed Battle Destiny will finally be released on June 7th. Sony have subsequently been doing a slew of videos to assure new PS Vita customers that games are indeed on the way, with Battle Destiny being notable (shown below). Even Terada has been summoned to talk about the forthcoming PSP game Super Robot Wars Z 2 Saisei-hen, which whilst technically not a PS Vita game per se it can be run on the system (just like Hakai-hen already is). That aside, the game footage of Battle Destiny looks good and seems very much in line with the prior PSP games in the series. If you haven’t done so already, you can also pre-order the game here.

Updated: Despite elsewhere stating that an SRW is being made for the Vita, the video with Terada that we linked doesn’t actually state this. He merely says that they’re investigating how the system works at present. Whilst it’s likely an SRW game will come to the Vita, it’s a bit early to make any such assertions. Saisei-hen will definitely work on the Vita though.

The new Gundam Unicorn game has been released today, along with a first set of DLC. The DLC encompasses free and paid content, with various mobile suits and missions. What we’re most happy to see is that Quattro LadyParts is present and correct when it comes to piloting the MSN-001 Delta Gundam. Unfortunately, this version doesn’t have the classic spelling of his name but we’re okay with that. The paid DLC will only cost 500 yen too, which is pretty decent. We will be reviewing this game but considering how long Armored Core V took to reach us the Rapture may have already occurred by the time our copy of Gundam Unicorn ships. If you haven’t done so already, you can also order the game here.

What with the next installment around the corner, Banpresto have released the first Super Robot Wars Z 2 Hakai-hen on PSN. This not only means you’ll be able to play it on your PSP but also on your PS Vita (pictured above). The latter means it will have some very shiny upscaling on the handheld’s new screen. Despite the 7,330 yen price tag, the game is totally worth it. We bought a Japanese Vita last year when it was released and we love it, though the lack of PSone classics in the store seems like a huge oversight. Anyway, Saisei-hen is almost here and playing Hakai-hen again seems like a really good idea. Don’t forget you can pre-order Saisei-hen here.

In addition to having Steel Battalion Heavy Armor’s release date listed (as June 19th for the US, June 21st for Japan and June 22nd for Europe) we’ve also been graced with some new videos. Whilst one deserves some pretty hefty defenses against excessive use of fromage, the other is some actual gameplay footage. The latter is more interesting but seems to have a lot of dumb actions thrown in for no good reason. Maybe this is the bright new future Kinect will afford us but it comes across as being pretty hokey and jarringly out of place in the video. Until we get to play the game we’re not going to know for sure but what we’re seeing doesn’t exactly excite us very much. Both videos are shown below.

G.Rev have recently announced that they’re developing a new Senko no Ronde for the PS Vita. We’ve loved the last two games, especially DUO, and having a handheld Senko no Ronde just sounds totally sweet. In terms of release, the game is still in the early planning stages so we won’t be seeing the game this year but likely next year instead. That said, G.Rev were quick to point out that this game may branch off entirely from the series and be something completely new. Either way, we’re just happy G.Rev are bringing their expertise to the Vita.

Now that we have Super Robot Wars Z 2 Saisei-hen to look forward to, there are some more juicy bits of information about the game. First is the new Emblem items, these will be very rare/difficult to acquire but will afford some very nice bonuses. Notably, the Iron Emblem will quadruple your experience accrued once equipped. Following on from that Nekki Basara’s song powers will be able to make enemies like the Vajra, from Macross Frontier, retreat. Even the more standardised abilities, like the Zero System on the Gundam Wing Zero (pictured above), will get a reworking. As always, you can pre-order the game here.

The recent 360 port of Virtual On Force will be re-released under the Platinum Collection this April. The main benefit we’ll get out of this is that the game will only cost 2,940 yen this time around. There’s also still some chance of an actual sequel too, as the new 360 ports of Oratan and Force have rekindled the interest in the series again. What with big hits like Border Break and Gundam Extreme Versus also blitzing the arcades, we may be getting a new Virtual On some day soon.

At a recent display of upcoming Kinect games in Japan, a slew of titles have finally been properly revealed (notably that of the Panzer Dragoon-esque Crimson Dragon, which looks to be pretty exciting). However, whilst the production team for Steel Battalion Heavy Armor where present the demo they showed was the same as last year’s TGS. Doing their best to stress the fact that the game is perfectly fine, it seems that it very likely isn’t. Bear in mind that this is a joint venture between Capcom and From Software so the recent releases of Dark Souls, Armored Core V and soon Gundam Unicorn means that From Software’s resources have clearly been stretched pretty thin already. Hopefully this is more Capcom trying to take time to help From Software get things right, as Bandai Namco have had a habit of rushing the developer resulting in a fair few cut corners (the respective framerate issues in both Dark Souls and Armored Core V are very clearly testament to that). That or they’re having trouble showing the underside of a vertical tank’s foot?

Whilst the current roster of mobile suits in the forthcoming Gundam Extreme Versus Full Boost is basically a combination of the current game’s lineup plus the PS3 version’s DLC, there aren’t that many new units for the game. Well, that’s changing already as apart from the scant few new additions we’ll also have the LM312V04 Victory Gundam, ZGMF-X56S Impulse Gundam and the GSX-401FW Stargazer Gundam added to the game’s playable selection on release. We always quite enjoyed using the standard Victory Gundam on the older Gundam Versus games as it was quite a resourceful, yet cheap, unit. Hopefully that same economical ass-kickery will be present in its re-introduction.