Earlier in the week, Game Watch had a nice bit of coverage over Lord of Elemental’s game system. Despite mentioning how the Prana setup worked, which acts as a boost to your HP and MG, the Guardian relationship was also laid out. Specifically, how the elemental side of this setup works – this is also where the game takes its name from in case you’re wondering. In short, the four elements of wind, fire, earth and water act as defensive and offensive multipliers. Thus far, the system of the game seems to be pretty cogent and whilst it has been updated from the original game it doesn’t appear to be detrimental (though we’ll know for sure once we have it in our hands). For those that buy the game on release they’ll also get a free OG Crusade card for their troubles too. The game is released on May 27th for 6090 yen and you can pre-order it here.

Hot on the heels of the recent 1/100 scale Metal Composite Gundam Unicorn (which we’ve reviewed), Bandai have announced that they’re releasing the Full Armor variant shown at the end of the novels. This new toy will be part of the Gundam Fix Next Generation line (or GFFN for short) and as such be at the smaller scale of 1/144, rather than the Metal Composite’s 1/100. There’s also no word on whether this toy will complete the transformation between Unicorn and Destroy modes but we’re guessing not on account of the smaller scale and lower price point.

To the more eagle eyed of you, the fact that the internal psycho frame is green rather than pink may have raised an eyebrow. This colour shift is to do with events that also occurred in Char’s Counterattack, where two psychoframe mobile suits (the Nu Gundam and Sazabi) were in close proximity with one another resulting in a form of Newtype resonance. In the Unicorn novels, this resonance is kicked off when the Banshee enters the fray – which is basically a more powerful clone of the Unicorn.

As for the “full armor” nature of this suit, that is somewhat questionable. As FA mobile suit variants are normally, as the title implies, covered in an extra layer of bespoke armor. Not to mention having custom weapons attached on hardpoints as well. To give a good example of this, take a look at the FA-78-1 and the original RX-78-2 Gundam. You can see, despite the colour changes, that the suit has been pretty heavily re-worked. In the case of the FA Unicorn, well all it’s using are standard weapons and parts and just strapping them onto the main body. In any case, this toy will be available in August for 8400 yen and you can practically guarantee that it will make an appearance in the upcoming Gundam Extreme Versus.

Over at Famitsu they’ve released a bunch of very shiny in-game screenshots for the upcoming Gundam Extreme Versus. This is the first game in the series to use the System 357 board, effectively a PlayStation 3 in a box – so the texture detail and geometrical complexity are obviously going to be a pretty big step up from the older games.

The coverage shows three mobile suits specifically, each of which are new to the series; the EMS-10 Zudah, the MBF-P02 Gundam Astray Red Frame and the XM-X1 (F97) Crossbone Gundam X-1 (pictured above). In terms of the latter, Crossbone Gundam is getting a fair bit of a resurgence as of late with the mecha also being featured in the upcoming PlayStayion 3 exclusive Another Century’s Episode R.

No word on an exact release date for Gundam Extreme Versus as yet but it’s still slated for an Autumn release. However, the Famitsu article does also state that the game will be using a new card system as well as boast HD 16:9 displays for each of the cabinets. Due to the host hardware, it’s fairly safe to assume that a PlayStation 3 port will swiftly follow.

Update: There will be a loc test for the game next weekend (May 7th to 9th) at the Nakano Broadway Plabo and Tokyo Gulliver Matsudo.

From Software have recently released their new mascot online; Aaliyah Kawate is an interesting masked character that has the head of the AALIYAH frame made by Ray Leonard in Armored Core 4 and For Answer. He generally gets rolled out for the various meets and seems to make a big deal of his skill at the games (despite being a bit crap actually). In any case, he was recently unleashed on Twitter and has been uploading versus videos of him playing Last Raven Portable too. So if you like your mecha gaming mascots a bit wacky then this might be right up your street!

The classic run and gun shooter, Wolf Fang, was recently released on the Japanese PSN. This was an arcade game from the early 90’s in the same vein as Assault Suits Leynos and Valken, it also received both a PlayStation and Sega Saturn port (though the version on PSN is obviously the former). Wolf Fang has also been getting a bit of a resurgence as of late, as we reported the release of the Video Game Robotics gashapon not that long ago and it featured one of the mecha from the game. In any case, we’re big fans of Wolf Fang and the ability to play it on our PSP is most welcome.

The guys at MekTek have recently re-announced the free release of MechWarrior 4, saying that the issues with Microsoft’s legal team have been resolved. As the team’s update notes, it has been nearly a year since the original announcement of the free release, and rather than being upset by the long wait, I have to give serious kudos to the members of the MekTek team for continuing to work on this project despite all the obstacles they’ve faced. In an era where community projects unexpectedly rise and just as suddenly fall, the MechWarrior/Battletech community have really stuck together and with this upcoming free release, other amazing fan projects, and the official MechWarrior franchise reboot coming soon, MechWarrior/BattleTech’s destiny looks brighter than it ever has since the release of Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries, all the way back in 1996. Hopefully this gathering of excitement and creative energy can revitalize the flatlined state of Western mecha gaming development.

Places like Game Watch have been covering the recent multiplayer demo for Lost Planet 2 that was sent out to a select few. However, a friend over at Select Button by the name of ArOne, who was also on their recent mecha gaming podcast along with Tollmaster and I not that long ago in case you were wondering, has been playing the demo. He was very kind enough to write down his impressions of the Xbox 360 version. The full lowdown is after the jump.

Updated: Just to clarify, I received these impressions late last week but due to being a bit busy I wasn’t able to make the post. Sorry about that!

If you’re heading to Japan in the near future, and are still bummed that you missed out on the giant RX-78 that graced Tokyo last summer, plus won’t be around for its grand return (plus beam saber) later this year, have solace. Because during your visit to Akihabara, why not take a break between trips to the arcade for rounds of Gundam vs Gundam and while comparison shopping for the best prices on the PSP version or model kits with a stop by the just opened Gundam Cafe!

The 60 seat capacity establishment is conveniently accessible from the JR Station’s Denki-gai Exit, just below the Yamanote line. While there, one can kick back and relax by watching videos that detail the franchise’s rich history while enjoying obanyaki that are shaped like the RX-78 and which are served by waitresses that don the official uniform from the show (who will also pose for pictures with you).

For more pictures, simply hit Akihabara News.

Tail Concerto‘s new spiritual sequel for the Nintendo DS, Solarobo, has had three short gameplay demonstration movies released as well as some nice coverage over at Game Watch.

While their brevity (and the lack of sound) doesn’t tell us too much about the game, what we can see does inform us that the game is coming along nicely. The promotional art’s almost ‘watercolor’ style seems to have very much inspired the game’s current 3D graphics, and the character designer, Nobuteru Yuki, has not only done character designs for video games with similar ‘watercolor’ graphics styles (most notably a few games in the Mana series), but also has worked on mecha-oriented productions before, most notably Visions of Escaflowne and Five Star Stories.

From the gameplay previews here we can also see that the camera angle changes in response to different gameplay needs. A few sections look much like any other 3D game on the Nintendo DS with an overhead view, while other sections make the game look more like an old PlayStation sidescroller instead. Hopefully this willingness to experiment will create a unique flavor for the already somewhat crowded Nintendo DS platformer market.

We also see the character leave the confines of his mecha to do some exploring on his own, which is something that, when done well, has led to good things in the past by making the difference between mecha and man (well, animal man in this case) more obvious. The mecha itself has a unique design, looking as much like a bird as it does a mechanical man, with arms that remind me of the robots both from Laputa: Castle in the Sky and from Tokobot. Those same arms seem capable of stretching a great deal in the gameplay videos, even allowing continuous “combo” throws of enemy mecha.

The official Another Century’s Episode R site received its first update today. Whilst featuring most of the content seen already in Famitsu, there are some other interesting points shown. Notably the breakdown on the new environments in the game as well as the reveal that the image song, called Re:birth (which helps shed light on the “R” in the game’s title), is being penned by Acid Black Cherry. The latest blog entry from Terada-san also talks about units like the VF-25F having Super and Armor parts load-outs, which matches the same approach from ACE3 in terms of how the other variable fighters were handled.