This is currently a rumour at present but it seems the next Gundam Versus game, that’s been hinted at on the official site, will be Gundam Unicorn focused. This would mark a return to the series specific approach that the games had prior to the Gundam vs Gundam shift a few years ago. This also means we’ll get to finally see both the Sinanju and Banshee in a game with any luck. In addition to this news, it also appears that the Unicorn Gundam will also make an appearance in Gundam Assault Survive and separately Gundam vs Gundam Next Plus will also receive some “Special Edition” DLC sometime in April. In any case, we’ll know for sure on these by the end of the week.

Update: It turns out that the next Gundam Versus game, Gundam Extreme Versus, isn’t series specific to Unicorn. However, there is still another Gundam arcade game in development that will tie into the series in some way.

The upcoming PSP game, Gundam Assault Survive, will receive a demo via the Japanese PSN store tomorrow. It will feature missions from the original Gundam, Seed and 00 campaigns (as well as limited AdHoc support). Interestingly, the demo will be limited to total of 10 million downloads – so be sure to move quickly once it’s available!

As promised, Anime News Network our now streaming the entirety of the original Mobile Suit Gundam TV series (along with Gundam Seed, but we’re not to fussed about that to be perfectly honest). Unfortunately, this is the English dubbed version but the sheer cultural importance of the series outweighs this slight loss of fidelity. It’s also worth noting that the official continuity in the Universal Century timeline actually follows the movies and not the TV series, that said the TV series pre-dates the movies and as such is still worth seeing as it forms the fundamental base to the entire Gundam mythos.

In terms of games, there are many that try to re-enact the original TV series narrative but probably the most competent is the Namco effort Kidou Senshi Gundam Ichinen Sensou on the PlayStation 2 (videos of it in action are shown below). As it seamlessly linked both ground and spaced based combat with a surprisingly tactile third-person camera control setup. The titular RX-78-2 Gundam is also featured in the excellent Gundam vs Gundam Next Plus.

I honestly cannot think of another big robot franchise that has been as maligned, from top to bottom, as the Transformers. Despite how enormously popular and influential the toys and the cartoons were, primarily in the America, it’s legacy is practically non-existent for a number for reason, though the constant reboots, which has gotten progressively worse as the years have gone by, is near the top of that list. To the point that many old school Transformers fans resemble old school Star Wars fans; most have been forced to walk away, due to the disappointments and frustrations. BTW, if anyone feels different, please speak up! Anyhow, it’s at least comforting to know that some folks out there still crave the original designs, with the latest example stemming from last weekend’s Wonfes. What you see above is a quite excellent looking Metroplex garage kit that made a very low-key appearance over at Tomopop.

It seems that we’re in classic anime streaming season, with Zeta Gundam already available Hulu are now streaming the original Macross series in its 36 episode entirety. Admittedly this is the English dubbed version but the dub in question is from the recent ADV release, so it’s at least moderately competent and hopefully won’t cause haemorrhaging in your inner ear. It also goes without saying that the original Macross TV series is a classic anime show and is massively influential in terms of gaming. Despite numerous Macross games being available, the usage of transforming mecha in gaming primarily stems from this series (much more so than Transformers believe it or not). The original Macross was also given it’s own campaign in both Macross Ace Frontier and Ultimate Frontier on the PSP recently. We’ve also included the Japanese opening video below as well as the climactic section in the 1984 movie Ai Oboete Imasuka (mostly because we love the film beyond the capacity for rational thought).

Okay, not really. But sounds exciting, doesn’t it? The above image was found on one of the many random Tumblrs that I subscribe to (be sure to click the image for the full size version). Now, there has to be an actual game with a similar set-up, right? Where you’re some lowly grunt in the middle of some massive war, alongside giant mecha, both your side’s and the enemy’s; the primary focus is whatever your mission might be, but also not getting accidentally crushed is equally important. If so, what are they so I can give them a shot?

Over at Game Watch they’ve got another update about the upcoming Gundam Assault Survive. The interesting parts are down to how you can give commands to your wingmen and even capture enemy mobile suits now. In addition, the EMS-10 Zudah from MS IGLOO is also being featured in the game. This is an early Zeonic design that was penned by Yutaka Izubuchi. The game is still slated for a March 18th release and you can pre-order it here.

Play Asia currently have a fair few interesting mecha games going at a discount at the moment. First up is Treasure’s classic Bangai-O on the Dreamcast, this is also the Japanese version in case you’re wondering. Like many, we hold the Bangai-O games in very high regard and we’ve written a pretty lengthy feature on the series too (as many of the functional influences stem from from renowned anime shows). Interestingly, the Dreamcast version of the game (as there was also an N64 release before it) was one of the few games that didn’t support VGA output. The recent DS game, Bangai-O Spirits, is also still at a discount if you want to nab that too.

Next up is the classic Dreamcast port of Virtual On Oratorio Tangram. Now, what with the XBLA port of MSBS 5.66 already available why would you buy this? Despite the lovely Hajime Katoki artwork on the cover, it’s also going very cheaply and it features a very different balancing setup as the port also affords access to MSBS 5.45 and 5.2 (the latter being the first release of the game, when it was being run on Model 3 hardware). The XBLA port only has the option to play via the 5.66 setup. In addition, getting hold of Dreamcast TwinSticks is still relatively easy and inexpensive, compared to the HORI 360 effort, and more importantly the game works fine with them. The HORI sticks have a deadzone at the base of each stick, which considering the rather steep price tag is a bit unfortunate. Again, we have a rather thorough feature on the Virtual On games in case you’re at all curious about the series.

Then there’s Macross Plus Game Edition and
Real Robots Final Attack, both on the PlayStation. The Macross Plus game is an interesting attempt at dealing with the disparate modes of the various variable fighters, as it literally separates the game out via fighter and battroid focused levels. Whereas Real Robots Final Attack is a full on and quite competent Virtual On clone using a variety of classic real robot shows as a base (it’s basically the spiritual precursor to the Another Century’s Episode games in a way).

Finally, we have the Rise from the Ashes collection release on the Dreamcast; which packages both the premium disc and the original game together along with a new third person camera mode. We like this game a lot and the development team responsible for this now go by the Team White Dingo moniker that was coined by the player’s platoon in the game. In any case, there’s plenty to choose from at the moment and that’s no bad thing at all!

Well, it’s about that time of year again and the AOU show is almost upon us. Unsurprisingly a new Gundam Versus game has been announced. No specifics on the game are available as yet but it will be interesting to see if Capcom still opt for PlayStation 2 era arcade hardware. With any luck we may even see Capcom opt for the new Ring Edge board used in Border Break, as it would allow cross country networking amongst other things (something that a multiplayer focused series such as this would obviously benefit from). Anyway, conjecture aside, we’ll know more in a few days.

The upcoming Front Mission Evolved is powering up for a PR overdrive, as its release is imminent. To the extent that Double Helix’s studio head, Patrick Gilmore, has been interviewed over at Gamasutra. Gilmore is the head of the studio and not at the coal face so to speak but the corollary that he asserts regarding the supposed organic development of cinematic approaches in games is a tad spurious. As one of the main elements of his view is that the development tools themselves facilitate a natural cinematic evolution in terms of a game’s creation.

Spurious in the sense that it makes a lot of assumptions as to how games are made and that this progression is somehow insidiously natural, when really it’s an enormous amount of hard work on account of the people that have to make the game. After all, an improved toolset and pipeline often only help make the already existing set of tasks easier. They don’t necessarily make them miraculously cinematic.

Thankfully, the development team have produced a foil to this rather detached viewpoint in the form of a very interesting set of development diaries. Especially fascinating in their citing of the studio, Imaginary Friends, in relation to the game’s mecha design. Admittedly, we’re still somewhat cautious about Front Mission Evolved (as the gameplay videos were pretty underwhelming not to mention our hands on report being rather scathing) but there may be hope yet. As for a release date, Square Enix are still being cagey about that one but it’s supposedly scheduled for “Q2” this year, so we’ll know more soon with any luck.