GameWatch has the details that the forthcoming Treasure shooter, Bangai-O HD Missile Fury, will finally be released on May 4th for 800 MSP. The GameWatch piece also has a good number of new screenshots, all of which show the insane number of missiles the game will have. Following on from this is a new(ish) trailer that was released recently, despite the somewhat ill-fitting soundtrack the game is looking as good as when we played it at TGS last year. Don’t forgot we also have a comprehensive feature on the Bangai-O series if you’re at all curious.

Stardock’s Impulse game download service is currently having a sale on a game named Metal Brigade Tactics, a turn-based mecha strategy game. To be completely honest, it’s not all that impressive, but with the current sale price at $3.00, it’s probably worth looking at for curiosity’s sake. There’s also not much else available on the PC in terms of turn-based mecha strategy games, and with its low system requirements this might just be the sort of game to play on a low-spec netbook.

The mecha designs are fairly original, and while the game system was obviously inspired by both Western turn-based games as well as Super Robot Wars, there are a few unique tweaks added to the mix, such as artillery being fired off at the beginning of a turn and landing at the end of it, making them very effective area denial weapons, as foes need to decide between taking damage or wasting a turn taking the long way around. There is a demo available from the official website.

In the latest edition of Famitsu, Armored Core V’s new Mercenary System has been partially outlined. In that teams lacking in members can pay other players to help build up their ranks. No word on how the pricing works as yet, but the whole soldier of fortune vibe does chime in with series’ history very nicely (as that’s effectively what Ravens were anyway). Team members can also moonlight as mercenaries too apparently.

Separately, it’s been also revealed that the story mode will be much more substantial than previous games. As many of the core game missions will be around 20 to 60 minutes in length, as well as featuring multiple dramatic cutscenes. These will be playable via online co-op too. In addition there will also be shorter “order” missions available, that sound more akin to a beefed up arena but with a mission based context. The latter total up to around 70 missions in all.

Finally, there’s also a new Dengeki Online interview with the game’s and series’ producer Toshifumi Nabeshima. We’ll try and condense the salient points over the next few days.

Update: 4Gamer has a selection of new screenshots as well. Showing more of what appears to be the new HUD as well as various laser blade concept art (some of which look decidedly chainsaw-esque).

In October of last year Konami trademarked Steel Chronicle and we now know what that was for. In short, it appears to be a multiplayer focused mecha arcade game that cashes in on the recent runaway success of Border Break (right down to the character customisation). Except the primary antagonists are giant bugs rather than mecha (basically a bit like the Akrid in the Lost Planet series of games). The game recently underwent a location test at two arcades, one in Akihabara and another in Ikebukuro. No word on whether it’s any good but the general vibe from Japanese gamers is that the blatant Border Break “homage” is a bit lazy.

Famitsu has the details on the recently announced Gundam Memories for the PSP. The line-up is pretty thorough, as you’d expect, and covers off most of the Universal Century timeline as well as the newer alternate universe series. The game will also feature the insanely powerful GNT-0000 00 Qan[T] from the Gundam 00 movie Awakening of the Trailblazer. Admittedly the most important aspect of the Qan[T] was its ability to make war itself redundant, acting as a telepathic conduit to promote mutual understanding between the warring factions. Still, it’s an interesting mobile suit to have in a game.

Whilst it’s not known if Artdink are developing this, it’s probable that they are (on account of their successful Gundam Battle games). That said, some of the screenshots show quick time events akin to those in the Yuke’s developed Gundam Meisters, so we’ll see. In any case, the game is released on June 23rd.

Over at 4Gamer they have a new set of screenshots for the soon to be released Super Robot Wars Z 2. Showing more mecha from not only Gundam 00 but also Macross Frontier. The interesting addition is the appearance of the GNW-003 Gundam Throne Drei, as piloted by the obviously disturbed Nena Trinity. It also follows that the other Gundam Thrones, namely Ein and Zwei, will also be present in the game. The game is still scheduled for its April 14th release and you can pre-order it here.

G.rev’s next shooter is now finally upon us. The almost prog-rock-tastic Seisou Kouki Strania will be released globally tomorrow on XBLA for the very reasonable sum of 800 MSP. To commemorate this happy event, we’ve linked the US trailer and two other gameplay videos below. The last one is especially nerdy/wonderful, as it breaks down each of the weapons quite magnificently. Here’s hoping the game sells well for G.rev (and that they release a soundtrack!)

Over at Anime News Network, they’ve shown that both renowned mecha designers Kunio Okawara and Shoji Kawamori have penned illustrations giving their support to the recent quake victims. The above image of the classic RX-78-2 Gundam also has the text “ganbare nihon”, which basically means “hang in there Japan”. Kawamori’s image featured Alto’s VF-25F and the new YF-29 also paying their respects. If you want to help the effort to give aid to those Japanese in need, then here’s a good place to start.

What with the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan, many gaming events were understandably cancelled. With the live demo of Armored Core V being no exception. However, both the official site and Facebook page have had a few little updates. Notably the fact that our friends the flaming chainsaws of doom are still very much present in the game. This, understandably, makes us happy as chainsaws are normally awesome and doubly so when they’re on fire.

There are plans to reschedule the live demo though but what with rolling power cuts affecting most of the Kanto region (which includes Tokyo in case you’re wondering), then things like this do somewhat get put on the backburner. Once we know more we’ll obviously post it here.

While the past week has been filled with tragedy, there is thankfully some good news to report. During the last flight of the Space Shuttle Discovery before its retirement, the first humanoid robot in space, Robonaut 2, was delivered to the International Space Station. The Robonaut will mostly be running through tests to determine how well its design works in freefall, but it is hoped that with enough data and fine-tuning Robonaut and other robots like him could be used to perform menial or dangerous tasks, freeing the human astronauts for more involved research duties.

We don’t usually report on real life robotics news but the irony here is perhaps too good to ignore. The progenitor of Real Robot anime series, Mobile Suit Gundam, explained their giant “mobile suits” as being upsized versions of the worker pods used in the construction of space colonies. While the concept of these worker machines was mostly an excuse to explain away giant robots as realistic weapons, NASA’s Robonaut 2 will hopefully be fulfilling exactly that role on the ISS: helping construct humanity’s space outpost.

The helmet also reminds us of some of Gundam’s mobile suits in its design, with the stylin’ gold-blinged head being reminiscent of Zeta Gundam’s Hyaku Shiki or the more recent Alvaaron from Gundam 00. And the shape of the helmet visor makes Robonaut look like the smaller brother to the venerable GM (which has inspired other designs, such as none other than Halo’s Master Chief). Most amusingly, Robonaut was developed by a partnership between NASA and General Motors, meaning that there’s a big ol’ “GM” sticker on the bot itself! The classic Gundam fan debate as to what, exactly, “GM” means might finally be over…