Not long after the game’s announcement, Gundam Battle Operation has received its very first promo video (shown below). It comprises entirely of in-game footage, from mobile suits doing combat rolls (no, really) to teeny people taking down said mobile suits with a variety of weaponry. Some of the animation looks pretty fluid in places but this game really reminds us of the very ill-fated Gundam Operation Troy on 360. Admittedly, the development was outsourced on that but the attempt to effectively turn Gundam into a Battlefield game didn’t really work out. Likewise, this looks to be a similar setup in places but we hope it will work out a bit better this time. That aside, the engine and tech do look more and more from Gundam Senki 0081 though and this is definitely a good thing, as that already had a pretty solid multiplayer infrastructure. There are also some nice screemshots of the game over at Famitsu too.

The forthcoming Gundam Seed Battle Destiny has received its first commercial and it’s all in-game footage too. Despite not being huge fans of the Seed branch of the Gundam saga, this game looks to be similarly decent as per the original Gundam Battle games that were released on the PSP. There are even some new screenshots going the rounds too, though w’re not overly fond of the game’s boxart (especially after the awesome work of Naochika Morishita on the older games). Don’t forget that you still can pre-order the game here.

Despite a few announcement hiccups, it seems that Gundam Seed Battle Destiny will finally be released on June 7th. Sony have subsequently been doing a slew of videos to assure new PS Vita customers that games are indeed on the way, with Battle Destiny being notable (shown below). Even Terada has been summoned to talk about the forthcoming PSP game Super Robot Wars Z 2 Saisei-hen, which whilst technically not a PS Vita game per se it can be run on the system (just like Hakai-hen already is). That aside, the game footage of Battle Destiny looks good and seems very much in line with the prior PSP games in the series. If you haven’t done so already, you can also pre-order the game here.

Updated: Despite elsewhere stating that an SRW is being made for the Vita, the video with Terada that we linked doesn’t actually state this. He merely says that they’re investigating how the system works at present. Whilst it’s likely an SRW game will come to the Vita, it’s a bit early to make any such assertions. Saisei-hen will definitely work on the Vita though.

Now with the Western release of Armored Core V only a few week’s away, the PR machine has kicked it up a notch. A nice new walkthrough video (shown below) takes you on a whistlestop tour of the game, showing all manner of cool stuff from the customisation to the huge bosses too. Interestingly, the Overed Weapons have been renamed to “Ultimate Weapons” now. Whilst it sorta makes sense, we did like the original term. In any case, both versions of the game will be available on March 20th in the US and March 23rd in the rest of Europe.

For those that held back on either the Armor Plus or Tamashii Spec toys of the awesome Tekkaman Blade, then you’ll now have a far more affordable (though still very shiny) Figma toy on the way. Part of Max Factory’s Figma line, this new Tekkaman Blade is admittedly a touch smaller than Bandai’s Armor Plus variant (which we admittedly adored) but it does have an excellent sculpt and will likely have utterly epic articulation too. Considering all this will only cost you 3,300 yen, makes for a pretty damn sweet bargain as far as we are concerned. As a company Max Factory have a very long and prestigious heritage when it comes to mecha toys. From producing some of the lushest Guyver figures to some lovely VOTOMS toys as well, these guys really know how to make decent mecha action figures. Admittedly there’s also the MAX Gohkin line of toys too, competing with Bandai’s similarly pricey die-cast offerings, but the Figma toys have always been excellent value for money by comparison. This new Tekkaman Blade figure will be out this June and you can pre-order yours here.

In addition to having Steel Battalion Heavy Armor’s release date listed (as June 19th for the US, June 21st for Japan and June 22nd for Europe) we’ve also been graced with some new videos. Whilst one deserves some pretty hefty defenses against excessive use of fromage, the other is some actual gameplay footage. The latter is more interesting but seems to have a lot of dumb actions thrown in for no good reason. Maybe this is the bright new future Kinect will afford us but it comes across as being pretty hokey and jarringly out of place in the video. Until we get to play the game we’re not going to know for sure but what we’re seeing doesn’t exactly excite us very much. Both videos are shown below.

Not only is MechWarrior Online still in development, the latest teaser trailer contains a weapons-grade payload of multiple fangasms. I won’t spoil it, but if you’ve been a fan of the MechWarrior series for a while now, you’ll be instantly having flashbacks of hitting Group Fire and preemptively mashing down the Reactor Shutdown Manual Override button. It’s been a long time, but it feels like we never even left the cockpit.

The newly mecha-curious among you will be pleased to know that it’s not all Old Guard fanservice. If the actual game looks half as good as this cinematic, this is quite possibly going to be the most beautiful free-to-play game out there. And it’s not just pixel counts on textures, either–the attention to detail on the DropShip’s prepping of the ‘Mech while it undergoes its startup sequence shows that someone truly cared. That Atlas isn’t unceremoniously dumped from a polygonal hanger bay, it’s got a proper launch sequence  that can set a man’s soul aflame. The Atlas itself is redefined with the sillier elements cut out, striking an imposing figure as the Inner Sphere’s personification of death. Someone has done their homework; this could very well be a product that can compete directly with the mecha output of Japan.

The game is still slated for this summer, and if you’ve been following along at home with the amazing curiosity that is the official MechWarrior Twitter account, you might have a good idea why. Due to MechWarrior’s origins as the tabletop RPG BattleTech, the universe has an amazing amount of definition that makes even the venerable Mobile Suit Gundam saga jealous, and the Twitter account has been reporting on events in that universe in real time. This August will be the BattleTech universe’s August of 3049, a pivotal moment in BattleTech history where the shit hits the proverbial heatsink. If you’re new to the series, don’t look it up; i’s much better to experience the terror firsthand. But if you find yourself in the Free Rasalhague Republic when the game opens, run.

No doubt gearing up for this year’s GDC, a new gameplay trailer has been released for Hawken. It’s still looking nice but there’s an awful lot of tearing going on. We also love the new HUD a lot and it seems very reminiscent of Armored Core V’s approach too (this being obviously a good thing). We’re still keen to get our hands on with this as it looks to be very gritty and visceral. Roll on the game’s December release we say!

To help promote the release of the new Fight It Out song for Gundam Extreme Versus Full Boost, Bandai Namco have released the arcade game’s new opening movie. Whilst this is, admittedly a very shiny, CG movie it does bely some interesting tidbits on potential future mobile suit unit additions to the game. From the obvious CB-0000G/C Reborns Gundam and RX-0 Unicorn Gundam “Banshee”, what we’re most excited about is the fact that the MS-08TX (EXAM) Efreet Custom (pictured above) could be on the cards too. Considering that we’re massive fans of the original Saturn Blue Destiny games, the fact we may have another mobile suit to play with from it makes us so very happy. If that wasn’t enough, Bandai will also be doing a limited edition HG kit of the new Extreme Gundam Leos type, which is basically a re-coloured version of the previous HG kit. Anyway, we’re not sure at all about this new song for Full Boost, but we’re still pretty pumped for the game nonetheless, especially if we get some more Blue Destiny mobile suits.

The upcoming Gundam Unicorn PS3 game had some new footage uploaded to its official site recently. Showing the game’s cover system, with the MSN-06S Sinanju positively fraping its opponents followed by the MSN-001 Delta Gundam being pretty superfly. Overall, the combat is looking really quite fascinating still and we really can’t wait to play it for ourselves. Both videos are shown below.