If you missed out on the crazy short run for the last 1/60 scale DX Chogokin YF-29 Durandal then you’ve now got a second chance. Coming in May, the toy will be reissued. Still no word on whether the super pack set will resurface, as that was an online only purchase originally. Considering that the original toy now goes for almost three times the original asking price, this reissue is a good thing. Admittedly, this will still cost 17,850 yen but it’s a very nice toy indeed. The mecha itself was featured towards the latter part of the Macross Frontier movie The Wings of Farewell and was playable in Macross Last Frontier too. We managed to nab one of the original toys, with super pack, at release so we may get around to doing a toy review of it as some point (if people are interested). You’ll be able to pre-order the reissue YF-29 from here.

Day One Studios, creators of the two MechAssault games on the original Xbox, have announced a spiritual successor going by the name Reign of Thunder. While the game is missing the BattleTech license, it appears that the MechAssault “feel” of fast third-person action is still present, with the promised addition of tons of customization options.

Day One Studios says “mech fans have been asking us for years to return to the genre and we’ve been listening”, which is perhaps an overstatement. The games reviewed exceptionally well, but the BattleTech fans who thought they would be getting a nuanced game in the vein of MechWarrior were sorely disappointed. With a MechWarrior reboot and Hawken still on the horizon, as well as a certain “core” mecha series adding an unprecedented amount of online content, there may not be room for another freemium mecha game based on a series with simple, action-oriented game mechanics.

If there’s a silver lining, it’s this: the press release claims the game will also incorporate the “customization and RPG elements of the early MechWarrior PC and board games” in addition to the instant action feel of MechAssault. If that wasn’t just hapless PR speak, this project could turn out to be something interesting, though Day One Studios still has everything to prove.

Whilst there’s no game footage to see here, Ichiro Mizuki has been wheeled out to promote Super Robot Wars Z 2 Saisei-hen. It’s a nice little advert, as it has him prepare for a concert by using the series’ well-known seishin. The ones he uses, in order, are Concentration, Hot Blood and Soul. Normally Hot Blood (2 x damage) and Soul (2.5 x damage) can’t be stacked (as that was the case in Super Robot Wars J) but this is Mizuki we’re talking about, so he’s allowed license to do whatever he pleases really. That said, we like the fact they used the in-game sound effects and so overall this gets a very nerdy thumbs up from us.

Along with a bunch of other series related blurb over at Famitsu, the upcoming Eureka Seven AO anime will also have a game too (as published by Namco Bandai). Whilst there is no word on what platform(s) it will be on nor its expected release date as yet, we’re still somewhat cautious about another “official” tie-in game. For those unaware, there were a few PS2 games developed by none other than the (now defunct) Team White Dingo. These were sidestories to the original series, which the new AO is a sequel to obviously. Unfortunately, they were functionally pretty dire. This wasn’t the developer’s fault really, as all the funky surfing LFO combat in the anime was totally meant as eye candy and trying to replicate that properly wasn’t really feasible (something that was proven in Another Century’s Episode 3, as the functionality was hugely simplified to make it work). Basically, an in-house studio wouldn’t have been given the same kind of leeway From Software would have and the official PS2 games suffered as a consequence of that. Still, they could go down the more RPG route seen in the PSP game and that wasn’t half bad. In any case, we’ve included the latest promo for the anime below.

A short 30 second TV advert for the forthcoming Gundam Unicorn game on PS3 has been released online. It shows much of what was in the gameplay trailer, bar the Delta Gundam now being a total boss. The combat is looking very interesting and dynamic though, so we’re really keen to get our hands on it come its March release. Especially as it sounds like there will be free DLC too, which is a pretty novel move on the part of Bandai Namco. In any case, the video is shown below.

As promised, the first promo video for Super Robot Wars Z 2 Saisei-hen went up over the weekend. It’s a glorious 5 minute showreel with lots of very shiny battle animations. Interestingly, Bandai Namco are hosting the trailer on their official YouTube channel as well (so the encoding is actually decent). Overall, this game looks as lush as the first one (which we adored) so we can’t wait to play this too. Don’t forget that this is also out at the beginning of April and you can nab your copy here.

4Gamer has a really nice report on the Premium Dogfight event that happened for Gundam Extreme Versus last year. Not only did players duke it out in a tournament on the current game, the development team were also present to talk about Full Boost. The latter sounds even more intense now, as the gameplay mechanics appear to be even more immediate and visceral. Considering how fast paced the current game is, it will be interesting to see how far the team at Byking will push it further. On top of that Full Boost will receive a new opening song called Fight It Out Feat.K (Pay Money To My Pain) by Akihiro Namba and Takeshi Ueda (audio clip below). If we’re honest, we’re a bit disappointed that Linkin Park didn’t do it especially as they’re such big Gundam fans (especially of the UC timeline). Finally, the Extreme Gundam (aka: that annoying boss in the current game) has received its own serialised manga in Gundam ACE called Gundam EXA. If you’re still on the fence about getting the PS3 port of the current game, then have a read of our review and remember you can still buy the game here.

The new browser based Web Power Dolls will be getting a new mecha, as designed by ToMo. Above is a sketch of a lighter weight mecha with more hard points. Its primary functions are for quick surprise attacks and reconnaissance. For those unfamiliar with the Power Dolls saga, it’s been a pretty successful series of PC based mecha turn based strategy games that were birthed in the mid-90’s (with a tie-in anime OVA to boot). Whilst this new game is browser based, it’s still being handled by the same Kogado Studio. This new mecha will be in-game around the 8th February apparently. We’ve included the current game’s promo video below too.

Following on from our Revoltech Jehuty (Anubis Version) review, our good friends at HobbyLink Japan have sent us the Revoltech Anubis (from the game of the same name). Now, whilst we aren’t huge fans of the Zone of the Enders series, we’ve always loved the designs that Yoji Shinkawa penned for the games. We’ve also included some game footage at the end of the review.

It’s sad to to report that since the release of Armored Core V’s demo, it has been plagued with problems. The most egregious of which is the inability to play the game online for the most part, something the demo was meant to offer (for a small time admittedly). To make matters more unfortunate, the game has trouble even running at 30 fps (with the PS3 version erring closer to 20 fps). Even with these faults it’s better than the likes of Front Mission Evolved, which is a pretty recent and relevant comparison (especially on the scale of the mecha). From what we’ve played though ACV is a lot of fun, with it handling a lot like a more deliberate Metal Wolf Chaos. The removal of the traditional weapon setup in favour of storing the weapons on the shoulders is an interesting development too, as you have to plan weapon switches ahead as the animation is quite long. In any case, a comparison video of the two demos (showing their respective framerates) is embedded below.