Over at GA Graphic there’s a pretty cool interview with Macross creator and mecha designer extraordinaire Shoji Kawamori, in which he blithely pimps the upcoming 1/60 scale DX Chogokin toy of the new YF-29 Durandal. This is the new variable fighter that was revealed in the just released Macross Frontier film The Wings of Farewell.

Whilst this has yet to be featured in a game, as it’s just been revealed, the fact that Artdink are clearly working on a full blown PS3 Macross game (off the back of Macross Trial Frontier) is reason to think that this will be a playable mecha in the near future. Most are betting that the game will be released around the time of this new movie’s DVD / Blu-Ray release later in the year, though that is obviously still conjecture. In the meantime, you can always play the excellent Macross Triangle Frontier (available here).

The planned release for the toy will be June 30th at the princely sum of 17,850 yen. You can pre-order it here.

A few days ago, a new online questionnaire popped up on the official Virtual On Force site. Something similar happened shortly after the XBLA release of Oratan 5.66 as well, to which we ended up with this new port of Force (so SEGA do clearly listen to what the fans want when it comes to Virtual On). However, as the questionnaire is all in Japanese some studious individuals have been good enough to do a translation of it. The main point that I think everyone is rooting for is question 3-4; “would you like a new Virtual On?”. Our answer is an emphatic “yes”. Thanks to the peeps at Oratan.com and Schooly D for the heads up, there’s even a forum post all about the questionnaire too. There’s also a thanks page for doing the questionnaire that has some sweet wallpapers.

4Gamer has some nice new screenshots and coverage for the forthcoming Gundam The 3D Battle on the 3DS. From various shots of classic Universal Century Gundam mecha, to the news about how the StreetPass system will work. Specifically, that it will allow players to swap mobile suits and pilots with one another, with the former appearing as enemies in missions. All this can be tracked in the MyRoom menu screen, as well as your preferred attacks. In addition to all this, the game will also have a new health setup. In that, damage inflicted can be recovered if subsequent impacts are avoided for a short time. However, there are attacks that bypass this system to incur pure damage. It’s basically the same kind of health regeneration seen in most modern day (Western) shooters, so it’s inclusion here is an interesting one.

Over at Famitsu, they’ve got some nice new shots of the OG mecha for the upcoming Super Robot Wars Z 2. Called the Blasta, it’s meant as a primary means of defense against “dimensional monsters”. Curiously it’s designed by the lesser known Seiji Ono, though he has at least worked on an SRW anime in the past. Some comments have also likened the design to the SVMS-01 Union Flag from Gundam 00, though to our eyes it’s more Dragonar really. In any case, this will be the first of two OG units spread over as many games (bets are on for a super robot inspired OG mecha with a female pilot for the next game). You can pre-order the game here.

On the 23rd of February, another mobile suit will be added to Gundam Musou 3 in the form of another DLC pack. That of the beefy GN-008 Seravee Gundam and its more lithe internal counterpart the GN-009 Seraphim Gundam, from the second season of Gundam 00. The Seravee and Seraphim were also the upgraded versions of the GN-005 Gundam Virtue and GN-004 Gundam Nadleeh respectively. 4Gamer has some good shots of each of the mecha too. In terms of pricing, the DLC will cost 600 yen (PS3) and 480 MSP (360) and will also feature an additional mission. As has been said though, the fact that each of these have been released as separate DLC packs is a bit cheeky really. Hopefully, the Western release will conglomerate the DLC a bit better.

The official site for Armored Core V was updated yesterday with two new screenshots showing some of the game’s tank legs on display. Partly due to the reduced size of the ACs themselves, the weapon load-out looks almost disproportionately beefy. Not that we’re complaining, as it makes the new AC’s look suitably kickass. It’s just the more we see of ACV, the more it heralds back to the likes of VOTOMS but in a meaner and tougher sense perhaps. The other screenshot is shown after the jump.

According to Variety, some THQ published Voltron games are on the way. These are to coincide with a new animated TV show set for a US release later this year. Voltron is actually the Westernised version of Go Lion, a 70’s super robot show where the mecha combines from five robotic lions (hence the name really). As you’d expect, Go Lion recently made it into Super Robot Wars W on the DS so this isn’t the first time it’s been in games.

On the 16th of February, another mobile suit will be added to the ranks of Gundam Musou 3. That of the transformable GN-007 Arios Gundam from the second season of Gundam 00. The Arios was also the upgraded version of the GN-003 Gundam Kyrios. 4Gamer has some nice shots of the mecha too. In terms of pricing the DLC will cost 600 yen (PS3) and 480 MSP (360) and will also feature an additional mission.

As part of a rather nifty Japanese campaign, PS3 owners that watch at least 6 episodes of various Macross series via the Home video theatres will be rewarded with a new piece of furniture for their apartment in Home; the SDF-1. This being the SDF-1 from the first Macross TV series, as it sports both the Daedalus and Prometheus as arms. That said there are a few elements of the model that bear a closer resemblance to that of the movie version, notably around the “feet” and the tips of the main cannon. Considering that the movie version was rebuilt from a Meltran Gun Destroyer, rather than the Supervision Army variant as in the series, this mix and mash of elements is most curious. In any case, the fact you can have a fully transformable Macross in Home is pretty neat. Thankfully there is also a real world option too if you are so inclined, albeit a bit smaller. This campaign started a few days ago and will finish on March 16th, so get watching while you can.

To tie in with the newly announced Bayformers sequel Dark of the Moon, Activision seemed to have finally done something smart with their approach to film tie-ins. Specifically, they’ve hired High Moon back to make the game. Considering that War for Cybertron was pretty decent, especially for a Transformers game, we’re suitably upbeat that this game will actually be playable (even if the mecha designs do suck rather horribly). As expected, the game will operate in an almost identical way to that of War for Cybertron, even down to the online multiplayer setup. However, for those concerned on the turnaround in terms of development cycles on this new game, fear not. High Moon started work on this game whilst War for Cybertron was already in development, so they’ll have enough time to polish the game (something that most film tie-ins rarely get the chance to).