Another live stream for Armored Core V is planned for the 21st July, naturally you can check out the stream at Famitsu or you can watch it on From Software’s much more reliable UStream channel (though weirdly they’re linking the same videos). The reason for this new live stream is to show the closed beta in action, so this will likely be very interesting as gamers will be rinsing the game rather than squeaky tarento going incoherently crazy. 4Gamer has also laid down the gauntlet by announcing their formation of a team for the closed beta. We are seriously beginning to think that this shit is going to get real pretty damn soon.

4Gamer has the scoop on a new update to Gundam Extreme Versus next week on the 20th July. Whilst it features the wonderfully evil XM-X2 (F97) Crossbone Gundam X-2 Kai, piloted by the suitably toffee nosed Zabine Chareux, the update will also include the somewhat controversial GNT-0000 00 Qan[T]. Controversial in the sense that the Quan[T]’s main functional remit is to make conflict redundant, through mutual telepathic understanding via sparkly green fairy dust. How this will be implemented in the arcades remains to be seen but we expect a logarithmic increase in hugging and love-ins post matches involving the new suit. Either way both new suits look lovely in-game and we’re seriously losing our minds over the lack of a home console port.

Game Watch has a new piece on the forthcoming Rev 3 update for Senjou no Kizuna, aka that Gundam arcade game with the palpably awesome cockpit. Emphasising its palapable awesomeness, the new revision will feature a “real frame” cockpit (pictured above) too. Apart from some additional unit unlock changes, the update is a bit sparse and seems to be more a framework for further additions (much like Rev 2.5 was really). Considering that the hardware that runs this game is now eight years old, we’re moderately impressed that it’s survived this long.

Over at 4Gamer they have an update regarding Konami’s upcoming Steel Chronicle, which is sort of a Border Break/Monster Hunter clone. Basically the location test will start today and to commemorate that Konami have released some footage of the game in action. To be honest, it looks pretty awful and really rather pedestrian/dull. Hopefully the location test will garner some useful feedback in order for Konami to improve, what appears at least, to be a woeful arcade game.

Over at Famitsu there’s a new update regarding Armored Core V’s story. Specifically that the game seems centered around freeing a city from a dictator of sorts, in an almost Seven Samurai homage (as you’re obviously a paid mercenary). The shot of a giant MT (above) is also encouraging as the Arms Forts in AC4 and ACFA were very cool so to see them back, at least in some way, makes us happy. The other cool element is that there will also be an underground city, where the former resistance hide out, which is a nice nod to the original PSone games (as well as AC3 and AC3SL) too. In any case, the game is still on track for its October 20th release and we really can’t wait!

The lesser appreciated Gihren’s Greed series of strategy games will receive another iteration in August on the PSP. Entitled Shin Gihren’s Greed, the game will feature new parts of the UC timeline, such as Gundam Unicorn. For those not versed in the series, the Gihren’s Greed games effectively allow players to rewrite Gundam history based off the decisions and outcomes of various battles. So this means you can have Char pilot a red custom RX-78-2 (which also travels three times as fast, obviously). Due to the various licenses involved, these games have never been officially released abroad so much of the narrative nuance and references are pretty much lost on the foreign fanbase due to the lack of localisation. In any case, you can pre-order the game here.

Apologies for the lack of updates as of late. In any case, along with Level 5’s Gundam AGE on the way it seems that the Gundam The Origin manga penned by the artistic luminary that is Yoshikazu Yasuhiko will also be animated. The Origin manga is an interesting choice as it’s not overly popular in Japan (compared to the Crossbone Gundam manga) but it does fill a fan based desire when it comes to re-animating the original series and movies. Narratively, The Origin deviates from the original series in lots of interesting ways and the designs themselves are a bit different too. Whilst the gaming connection with this new project isn’t as overt as with Level 5’s Gundam AGE, we’re already seeing new merchandising rear its very pretty head so gaming won’t be far behind.

Due to the ongoing maintenance on the Japanese PSN, the closed beta test for Armored Core V’s suitably epic online setup has been indefinitely delayed, at least until the Japanese PSN is back up and running again. Thankfully the 360 closed beta is still good to go and will commence on July 19th. Still, considering that in Japan at least the vast majority of gamers would be playing the game on PS3 (as they did for both AC4 and ACFA) the fact that they are out of the loop until PSN is fixed is a bit worrying. As the whole point of this exercise was to stress test the network setup for the game, so the more more people you have online the better. Fingers crossed the Japanese PSN problems are resolved soon.

XSEED Games, quirky localization company and lovable bastards responsible for putting out niche-within-niche Japanese games for the American audience, have ensured their place in Mecha Valhalla with their announcement of a North American release for Solatorobo. The press release says the game is coming out this fall, while the Amazon page, which is taking preorders, lists the release date as September 27.

We’ve often sang the praises for Solatorobo, eventually got the game into our own grubby mitts, and when a European release was announced we just about lost it. I wouldn’t call living without a game about a mercenary dog in a transforming steampunk mecha taking on pirate cats in airships as really living, and the game has a new subtitle now, “Red the Hunter,” which shows that neither this game nor XSEED are messing around. This sure ain’t your daddy’s dog-on-cat, floating steampunk island mecha platformer. Unless your daddy played Tail Concerto, in which case then, yeah, he’s played the spiritual prequel.

One of our favourite arcade games, is getting another new and quite substantial update. The recently “released” Border Break Airburst will be updated with all manner of new mecha and maps on June 29th. As well as having a slightly modified but more focused twist to a core game type. Specifically, Border Break works by having opposing teams kill each other and capture spawn points. The more spawnpoints and enemies killed results in a win for that side. However, each team has a well defended base with a vulnerable core. Destroying an opposing side’s core nets a win instantly. This new mode effectively has the focus shifted to directly attacking or defending a side’s core, eschewing all the tactical land grabs from capturing spawn points. From our experience, some of the most heated battles were always around a team’s core so it’s cool that a game mode has sort of taken this into account. In addition, in a partial nod to Armored Core no doubt, players can now also customise emblems for their mecha.

Whilst there is still no news of a home console port of the Border Break games, the fact that the Wii U is on the horizon (with a nice touchscreen setup) could mean we may see this on a console sooner rather than previously, well, never.