A chap by the name of “Aaron C.” has made a custom pair of TwinSticks for the Saturn port of Virtual On out of some cookingware and old joysticks. It’s a good piece of modding but the question remains; why the Saturn version? After all, Sega over produced the original TwinSticks and they are consequently readily available. Still, hats off for his initiative and he also states that he might come up with a Saturn/360 controller adapter, so he can use it on the recent XBLA port of Oratan. If you’re at all curious about the Virtual On games, we a have a very thorough feature about the series here on the site. Thanks to Persona for the heads up.

The latest entry into the successful Armored Core series has been announced, which confirms the hint that Famitsu dropped quite recently about a new mecha action game on the way. Entitled Armored Core 5, it seems that series veteran Toshifumi Nabeshima has also been helming its development. The game, as per its debut trailer (seen below), also appears to be a return to the slower paced and more ground pounder focused games from the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 era. No word on what platforms AC5 will be released on though but we’re assuming it to be PS3 and 360, like the last two games. Release date is also still unconfirmed but the release window has been promised for early 2010, which makes sense in terms of the marketing/PR run-up. In any case, we’re currently punching the air with glee that a new Armored Core game is on the way!

For those unfamiliar with the Armored Core games, we’ve compiled a feature covering the older games as well as reviewed both Armored Core 4 and For Answer.

Update: It turns out that over a set time period, the number “5” on the official site becomes clickable and triggers individual Google queries. In total there are six words the site searches for.

Which translate roughly to: Violent, Weapons, Scale, Fire, Rain, Battlefield

Thanks to lordnikon for pointing this out.

Over at Play Asia they have a US copy of Bangai-O Spirits going for a very good price indeed. Admittedly, they also stock the Japanese version too, but that’s a bit pricier and obviously not localised into English. If you’re at all curious about the Bangai-O series of games, then we have a very comprehensive feature that not only covers the gaming origins but also the wider mecha pantheon influences too (the latter is often disappointingly overlooked by most gaming sites, despite the fact they have a tangible presence in the games). Thanks to Tiny Cartridge for the heads up on the Play Asia deal.

A group of intrepid fans have translated the entirety of Front Mission 5: Scars of the War on the PS2 into English (you’ll have to scroll down a bit to see the news post about the translation, posted 29 December 2009; for some reason there’s no way to link to individual posts). The amount of work that went into this project is simply colossal, and is a testament to the power of dedicated fans. The Front Mission games are a series of incredible tactical RPGs, along with a few, more action-oriented side games, with both incredibly realistic mecha and storylines. The mecha in the game (“wanzers”) work by a part system not completely dissimilar from that of Armored Core’s, so the tactical RPG portions are also unique in terms of game mechanics, as more control is given to the player to develop specializations and strategies with their given team. The translation team gave a long but very interesting interview that goes into more detail about the project and just what makes the Front Mission series so special that it engenders such dedicated fans.

Those of you looking for something a bit less epic will likely be happy with an also recent translation of Metal Storm for the NES. While an English version already existed, it had the opening intro and boss text cut out, along with some other changes. Not only is that mecha’s sprite impressively detailed for an NES game, but the gravity-reversing mechanic is used not as a gimmick but as an essential gameplay feature, requiring the player to fundamentally change the way they looks at the game’s stages and enemies’ attacks.

The recent blunder on Amazon.co.jp has been confirmed in the latest issue of Famitsu. It also seems that this is, as the Japanese fanbase predicted, another entry (of sorts) into Artdink’s very successful Gundam Battle series. Interestingly Assault Survive appears to be taking Capcom’s lead and featuring mobile suits from outside the Universal Century timeline (much like in Gundam vs Gundam). As previous Gundam Battle games worked their way through the traditional UC narrative. The two new series that will be featured are Gundam Seed and Gundam 00, though the mecha from V Gundam will also make a guest appearance (as they were unfortunately absent in Gundam Battle Universe).

Separately to this news, Famitsu also hinted at that a popular mecha action game will be announced in the next issue. Our bet is that it is a new Armored Core game, as another game is about due.

Update: The official site is now up and Famitsu online has a breakdown of the game.

Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love, the steampunk mecha SRPG from Nippon Ichi America, has a pre-order for the game available at their store, Rosenqueen. Most notable is the fact that Sakura Wars preorders from Rosenqueen include a hardcover art book, which is a different item from the PS2 Premium Package’s artbook, so if you pre-order the PS2’s Premium edition from Rosenqueen you walk away with no less than two different artbooks, as well as a poster and an extra disc containing the Japanese voices (the standard edition is English dub only). Considering that the price point for all this is currently only $50, this feels like one of the old Working Designs packages, just without that old Working Designs premium price. Definitely a good last hurrah for the ageing PS2 platform.

The Wii version is also still a go, but other than the hardcover artbook you get from pre-ordering at their store, you don’t get any of the extras the PS2 version gets. To make up for this, it’s available for $40, pretty nice for a next-gen release and a lot better than the other shovelware that gets released for the system at the same price. There’s also a fan art contest (more info here) for you artistic types.

A new PSP game by the name of “Gundam Assault Survive” has been leaked on Amazon.co.jp. With a release date of March 18th, it seems that Amazon have probably jumped the gun on the impending PR campaign. In any case, the name alone suggests that this could be another entry to the Gundam Battle Assault series. Though Japanese fans have been hearing rumours that Artdink may be developing a new game in the same vein as their successful Gundam Battle series (something the two recent Macross PSP games are based off in terms of technology). We’ll know for sure in the next few weeks most probably, when the marketing push kicks off in earnest.

Update: The above product link is now dead, so someone at Amazon is probably getting scalped as we write this.

Several things happened over the Christmas period that we didn’t cover, so here is a brief update on all lovely things Oratan. First, was a new column on Christmas Day over on the official Oratan site. Bar many platitudes towards the fans there was also a brief glimpse of a signed card by Hajime Katoki, the series’ principal mecha designer, thanking the team for the recent 360 port, which is obviously rather nice of him. The other element that was also quite interesting was that the online questionnaire results have been received by the team and they’re digesting the data as best they can. Apparently the number of entries was a lot more than they were expecting as well, which isn’t surprising considering that Oratan is Japan’s number one selling XBLA game. In any case, the hints of a Force port not that long ago may develop into something else as many fans want an all new game.

Second, the HORI TwinSticks are now out in the wild and many Japanese owners have been blogging about their recent purchase. In short, they’re not great (though this feeling is probably exacerbated by the rather larger price tag). It seems that there is a deadzone on the switches at the base of each stick, something the original Dreamcast and Saturn sticks lacked. Considering that a lot of Oratan relies on very quick and precise movements, this deadzone could understandably rub many fans up the wrong way. Interestingly, those that modded their Dreamcast/Saturn sticks say that the new port works better with them rather than the new HORI sticks. Admittedly, it’s still early days and this could all just be fan based grumbling (as we have yet to verify any of these findings first-hand) but it’s not exactly great for those who forked out a small fortune.

Finally, the Kotobukiya Fei-Yen Knight kit has been released. This kit is also of the DNA side colours and costs around 4000 yen. You can also buy it here.

Over on Square Enix’s Downloadable Games page on Facebook it’s finally been confirmed that a PS3 version of Thexder Neo is in the works. As Akira Kokushoh says “THEXDERNEO for PS3 is coming up in 2010! With PS3 graphic THEXDER NEO becomes more THEXDER. Can’t wait to show you. Checking would be almost done! Happy holidays, and please look forward for Square Enix’s Downloadable Games coming up in 2010!”

For those that may remember, we reviewed the excellent PSP version last year so the confirmation of a PS3 version is good news indeed!

(via Gamerbytes and Game Set Watch)

Bandai have recently released a new Nintendo DS stylus set and DSi pouch via their Plex subsidiary. Entitled the “Touch Pen G” set, the package contains two styluses, both from the RX-78-2 Gundam’s weapon loadout; that of its beam sabre and beam rifle. Following on from that there are two DSi pouches called the “Smart Pouch G” set, in either Federation or Zeon colours. Admittedly, the Gundam’s beam sabre and rifle may look a tad odd within a Zeon styled pouch but it’s a small sacrifice when you think that each time you touch your DS screen you can shout in your best Tohru Furuya impression; “soko da!”.