For those that buy the first release of the forthcoming Macross Do You Remember Love BluRay Hybrid Boxset, they’ll also get a nice PSN download code for the original PSone shooter. Originally released on the Saturn and then ported to the PSone, it was actually a pretty damn good shoot-em-up and we very much enjoyed blasting our way through it back in good old 1999. It even came with demos for Macross VF-X2 and Patlabor: Game Edition. What was very notable about the game however was its use of some lovely reanimated cutscenes (as produced by Gonzo).

There’s also a pretty cool exhibition going on in Shibuya, Tokyo regarding Macross. Starting today and running until May 13th, tickets cost 500 yen each (400 yen if you’re a student and free if you’re a kid at elementary school) and it covers pretty much the whole gamut of the saga. If you’re in the area, then check out the Parco Museum page about the event for more details.

In addition to this news is the fact a lovely 5 minute HD promo for the BluRay was released yesterday (shown below). Voiced by non-other than Mika Doi (of Misa Hayase fame), the promo also has footage of the game in action too (around the 3:25 mark). Don’t forget you can still pre-order the pretty damn awesome boxset here.

In a move that’s quite inspired, Capcom have seemingly hired veteran anime and live action film director Mamoru Oshii (pictured above) to helm a trailer for the forthcoming Steel Battalion Heavy Armor. In a teaser trailer (shown below) it shows some snippets of behind the scenes action. Considering that Oshii is a huge gun nut and has directed some pretty brutal films on occasion, we’re expecting some pretty epic hardware to be displayed. How they’ll handle the VT’s remains to be seen though.

What with the release of Steel Battalion Heavy Armor looming, some more trailers (shown below) have been released. Despite being adult rated, we’re beginning to get more of a Chrome Hounds vibe from this. There’s also another camouflage pack outlined too, that of the Carbon Assassin Pack. What’s more interesting though, in a nostalgic sense at least, is that the bundle pack for the game (which includes a Kinect set) will retail in Japan at 19,800 yen. That’s the exact same price tag that the original Xbox version had, though this time we won’t be having to bike over Japanese mountains in the pouring rain to pick our copy up.

It seems another Lost Planet game is on the way next year, as a CGI trailer for it has been leaked (shown below). If you’re wondering why the styling is a bit Gears of War-tastic and the mecha looks like something from BattleTech, that’s because it’s being developed by a Western studio this time. Specifically that of Spark Unlimited, who also developed Legendary and Turning Point: Fall of Liberty. If we’re honest, we’re not sure about the styling (as it’s a bit also-ran and there are plenty of similar themed shooters out there). This is not to say that we don’t think a Western developer can do it justice, as Red Faction: Guerrilla was hugely enjoyable and nailed the mecha aspect beautifully. It’s just that Lost Planet has always been a really interesting and different type of game and this comes across as something we’ve all seen before. After all, we loved the last game and we’re just hoping that this holds true to that in some way.

Updated: In-game screens are here, though some of these look more than a little touched up. Sadly, the mecha seems to be controlled in the first person.

Finally we have a decent promo for the soon to be released Gundam Seed Battle Destiny. Despite using music from Zeonic Front in the trailer, the footage confirms again that the game looks be very much like the older Gundam Battle series on the PSP. In addition to the promo, it’s been revealed that a free PS Vita skin and wallpaper will be released with the game. In any case, the full promo is shown below and you can pre-order the game here.

Released in 1989 to little fanfare, Herzog Zwei, an action/strategy hybrid, was one of the most influential titles in video game history despite remaining relatively unknown to this day. Its major innovation was strategic gameplay in real time, with bases creating units that would be carried by your commander mecha’s fighter form into battle. This real-time aspect, the management of resources, and construction of units would inspire what is generally considered the first Real Time Strategy game, Dune 2, which would inspire Command & Conquer, which would in turn inspire Warcraft. Despite helping launch an entire genre, Herzog Zwei has unfortunately never received the modern update it so rightly deserved, other than an indie spiritual successor in Cyber Wing and a stealth homage by way of the brutally underrated Brütal Legend.

Thankfully, Carbon Games is bringing Herzog Zwei to the 21st century with a freemium game called AirMech. While still in alpha, and currently only playable in the form of an add-on for the Google Chrome browser, the game already has all the charm of the original and then some. Many were put off by Herzog Zwei’s almost impenetrable game mechanics, but the short tutorial and simple controls of Airmech allow you to get right into the action. Thankfully, this doesn’t mean the game has been dumbed down; it remains the same hectic mecha shmup crossed with the grand tradition of screwing your friends with a lightning raid of tanks right outside their headquarters.

As expected, we now have the nice extended promo for the upcoming Super Robot Wars Z 2 Saisei-hen. This is the promo that normally goes the rounds on the high street games shops too, so the 13 minute duration is on account of that. In addition, there’s also a very short commercial too (stitched together from bits of the new promo). We’ve included both below. As for elements of note, well seeing the X-ATH-02-DT Rabidly Dog (pictured above) in action is a wonderful thing indeed though we’re not too impressed with the Dancouga and Dancouga Nova team-up (we’d rather Dancouga Nova wasn’t even in the game to be perfectly honest). Bar that, there’s a lot of cool stuff jammed in at the end too so prepare thy body accordingly. Finally, there was a rather nice event recently celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the series (though technically the first Super Robot Wars game was released in 1991). Naturally, Ichiro Mizuki was on hand to add a sense of tamashii to the proceedings. Don’t forget you can still preorder the game here.

There’s now a new and extended gameplay trailer for Hawken going the rounds (shown below). As always it’s looking good and pretty meaty but we’re still surprised at the amount of tearing still present. The team are also hiring pretty aggressively now too, so it seems that this game will be getting bigger by the looks of it. Either way this is still on track to being one of our most anticipated mecha games of this year. Here’s hoping these guys can pull it off!

As of yesterday, a second batch of DLC was released for the new Gundam Unicorn game. Featuring all manner of characters, missions and mobile suits (some free and others paid), we’re most happy to see the MSN-001X Gundam Delta Kai present and correct. Having downloaded and played with the mobile suit, it really is quite beastly. Featuring a very powerful and accurate long range beam rifle, it also packs prototype funnels that fire beam shotgun (!) projectiles. It can also transform and pack a variety of other weapon load-outs too. We’ve included a nice little video of it in action below. As for our review, that’s still forthcoming but we can say that we’re impressed with the game thus far and that it’s very reminiscent of the earlier Another Century’s Episode games.

Two new trailers have been released for MechWarrior Online in a move that will surely leave fans salivating every waking moment until the game opens up this summer. The first continues the hardcore soundtrack responsible for breaking thousands of necks as viewers headbanged in excitement during a Mech launch sequence, while the second features the developers talking about the game types that will be available at launch and how they’re designing the game so that the Mechs will fulfill certain roles on the battlefield. The two game types seem to be just the standard deathmatch and a variant with a limited number of spawns, which is admittedly somewhat disappointing.  Better news is that the developers are well aware that past games have overwhelmingly favored the heavier assault-class Mechs, leaving humble scouts such as the Jenner at a severe disadvantage. While no concrete information was given, the devs claim the smaller, faster Mechs will have an important place on the battlefield. Here’s to hoping that the game comes with the infamous Narc missile, which allowed the other players on your team to get faster and more accurate lock-ons on targets you marked.

There was also a trailer released for MechWarrior Tactics, which I forgot to mention last time around because I thought it was the same thing as MechWarrior: Tactical Command for iOS. Mea culpa. How did we go from having no MechWarrior games in development to having three different ones so quickly? Is this what the Mayans predicted for 2012? Anyways, MechWarrior Tactics is a hex-based, turn-based, browser-based strategy game hewing more closely to the original Battletech tabletop game than the action-oriented MechWarrior interpretations, and allows players to put in their commands asynchronously–you can log in quickly, move your Mechs, and then log out without needing to wait for the other player’s response. If you’re interested, make sure you reserve your handle at the game’s official site — it’s a different registration than the one for MechWarrior Online.