The upcoming Super Robot Wars Z 2 is looking sweeter and sweeter with each succulent release of assets. 4Gamer has a selection of lovely shots from the game and it’s impressive how pristine they are, even over the PS2 original. Our attention, naturally, fixated itself upon the wondrous Final Dancouga. Although it partially bodes for a rather depressing situation; in that Final Dancouga is normally a secret version of the beastly super robot in SRW. The fact it’s so prominent already belies the fact that Dancouga’s narrative may be somewhat cursory in light of the far newer, though arguably crappier, Dancouga Nova. Thankfully, Ryoma’s screenshots redeem this situation with their pure unbridled awesomeness. The game is still set for it’s April 14th release and you can pre-order it here (or here if you’re in Europe).

Lately we’ve seen a bumper crop of games inspired by classic mecha action platformer Assault Suits Valken (aka Cybernator), in the forms of Gunhound, Gigantic Army, and Explosionade, and now it looks like we can soon add one more to the list: B.A.D. : Battle Armor Division.

Battle Armor Division’s mechanical designs follow closely to those of the original Assault Suits Leynos, and this could very well be a case of where ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ The gameplay in the video that the developer, Crian Soft, has released seems a bit slower than we’d probably like but there’s no use in making judgements until it’s yourself at the controls; hopefully the promised demo is released soon. As it is, the “mecha invasion of Normandy” scene at the beginning of the trailer gives Battle Armor Division quite a bit of hype to capitalize on.

Interestingly, the studio creating this game appears to be Italian, giving yet more support to the idea of mecha games development becoming more of a worldwide effort. Italy also has had their own mecha fans and culture for a while now, and it’s great to see them hitting a critical mass where that pool of talent can be tapped towards further creation.

Over at Anime News Network they’re reporting the news that a live Macross Frontier concert will be held within Home. Despite the obvious Macross Plus/Sharon Apple nerd association of attending a virtual concert performed by human controlled CG characters, it does sound pretty cool and not at all life threatening. In terms of when the event will be kicking off, both Aya Endo and Megumi Nakajima seem keen (in the video below at least) to point us at the official Twitter account. This is obviously in advance of the forthcoming movie released at the end of February and with Macross Triangle Frontier released just in a few weeks too, it’s getting pretty busy for us Macross fans.

In an update scheduled for the 27th January, the shiny gold MRC-F20 SUMO will be added to Gundam Extreme Versus. The Sumo, like with many of the Turn A Gundam designs, was penned by renowned futurist Syd Mead. The Sumo is normally of a silver colouring though but the gold variant was exclusively reserved for the somewhat awesome Harry Ord. Both the gold colouring and Ord’s awesome shades were a partial nod to Char’s appearance in Zeta Gundam and his piloting of the MSN-00100 Hyaku Shiki. There’s been no word on a console release for the game as yet but it’s still looking oh so shiny.

Over the years there have been a fair few attempts at making a cogent Eureka Seven game. From the misguided attempts by Bandai, in the form of New Wave and New Vision respectively, to the somewhat better approach seen in Another Century’s Episode 3 and Portable. Well, there’s now a new game made by fans using the Unity engine. Called Lift, it offers some pretty damn cool multiplayer action with suitably comprehensive controls. The latter is important to emphasise, this game has been made without functional compromise; surfing mecha through the sky isn’t meant to be easy. It’s also wonderfully free, so there’s no excuse not to play it really. The playable roster of mecha is pretty focused but there’s more than enough to keep multiplayer games interesting. For those that can’t wait to surf the trapar in their LFO, then you can download the game here.

In a world driven mad by a hunger for browser games, only one can claim to be based on Sakura Wars, and that game is Sakura Taisen Taishou Roman Gakuentan.

Sakura Wars is a popular series of strategy RPGs mixed with elements of dating sims and visual novels, and the jump to Web 2.0 is all the more inexplicable considering how story- and character-driven the original games were. Sakura Wars was defined by its pioneering use of character relationships affected by the player’s choices, as the main character attempted to woo one (or more) of the female actors/mecha pilots he was leading into battle against demons, and any attempt to scale what was a personal experience into a multiplayer one is going to be an uphill battle, if it wants to stay true to the series.

Luckily for us mecha nerds then that we care far more about making robots slice bloody swathes through the Enemy than we do about making cute girls blush, because the mecha for the browser game are looking just fine. The mecha of Sakura Wars have an interesting aesthetic, combining the extremely realistic elements of the VOTOMS series with the characteristic boilerplate feel of steampunk, and as what little we know of the game suggests it will be battle focused, this could turn out to be an utterly superb multiplayer mecha strategy RPG, albeit one that is likely to cause purists to tear their hair out.

Of course, with the reportedly poor sales of Sakura Wars in the West, the chance of this being localized for English speakers is astronomically small. However, the language barrier hasn’t always stopped us foreigners from trying to play Asian multiplayer games before, and really: those mecha have different production versions, with all sorts of different tubes and doohickeys going every which way: how can you not be excited for that?

The official site for the game has a very short but also very Super Robot Wars-looking video on it, teasing us yet more with a fruit us Westerners might never taste (those of you having trouble with that link, try this one).

The recently released Another Century’s Episode Portable has topped the Japanese charts in its first week of release with over 70,000 sales, toppling Monster Hunter Portable 3rd in the process. Compared to the impressive sales of ACE R, the newer ACE P only sold a third as much by comparison. Some think this is the result of massive public disappointment with ACE R, as ACE R’s success has been attributed to the quality of three previous PS2 games, which built up the fanbase in the first place. Though it’s more likely that PSP shortages in Japan have affected the sales of the game too, on account of the Monster Hunter fervour that’s been gripping the nation as of late.

In any case, from what we’ve been playing the new ACE P is a vast improvement over ACE R and we’re happy to report that the original boosting setup from the PS2 games is definitely back. With any luck our review will be up over the weekend. In addition, you can still buy ACE P here.

Back in the fall of 2009, TimeGate Studios released Section 8. A fairly robust, though nearly totally ignored, multiplayer shooter title for the Xbox 360, PC, and later the PS3. Although the game suffered from poor controls, it remained popular with those who had discovered this gem.

The game itself featured power armor clad soldiers, a variety of vehicles, weapons, custom load outs and even larger powered armor akin to Gasaraki’s Tactical Armors.

Although Section 8 was passed over by many. TimeGate, being an independent studio saw fit to make a sequel. Bigger. Better. Cheaper. Section 8: Prejudice seeks to correct many of the design flaws of its predecessor. The game will feature much of the same core game elements as the last and then some, as well as an all new single player campaign.

One feature that seems to be getting a little more focus is the heavier mecha you can purchase through play. Playing similar to some sort of Halo: Reach/Planetside mash up, Section 8: Prejudice promises to be a fun, engaging sci-fi shooter. Prejudice is set to come out early this year at a very affordable 14.99 (USD).

4Gamer is showing that the next DLC pack for Gundam Musou 3, that’s released tomorrow, will feature the NZ-666 Kshatriya from Gundam Unicorn. This suit is a successor of sorts to the NZ-000 Quin Mantha and the ORX-013 Gundam Mark V (with the latter forming the basis for the AMX-014 Doven-Wolf). However, much like with many of the ill-fated designs in Gundam ZZ, the Neo Zeon mantra of “more power” rarely seems to work out for them, as the lighter and nimbler mobile suits often take them to the cleaners. As with many of the Unicorn mecha, there is a strong ZZ connection though. Especially as the pilot of the Kshatriya, Marida Cruz, is actually a grown up clone of Elpeo Puru. The DLC pack will cost 600 yen (PS3) and 480 MSP (360) respectively .

For years OverClocked Remix, perhaps the most widely recognized fan-based community of game music remixers, has been releasing special collections (albums as they refer to them) that pay homage to a specific game. For the most part, the choice of subject matter has been on a bit of a safe side: Sonic, Castlevania, Final Fantasy, and the like. Hence why their most recent release, which is centered around Armored Core, is particularly noteworthy.