Famitsu has the scoop on a big LAN party for the suitably wonderful Xbox game, Tekki Taisen (or Steel Battalion: Line of Contact) that was renowned for its online play setup. Specifically the “Project FireWorks” group has organised this awesome gathering as well as helped to show off the scratch built VT kits by a chap called “nanaC”. The event gathered over 100 fans of 5 by 5 teams, some even brought their own homemade cockpits. Many met one another for the first time too, despite having played together via an online battlefield. In any case, it’s nice to see that the fans still support games like these. Whilst there is a new Steel Battalion game on the way, we still think a properly complex controller is still what made the original games so very special. Thanks to Atsushi Kawashima for the heads up.

GameWatch has the details that the forthcoming Treasure shooter, Bangai-O HD Missile Fury, will finally be released on May 4th for 800 MSP. The GameWatch piece also has a good number of new screenshots, all of which show the insane number of missiles the game will have. Following on from this is a new(ish) trailer that was released recently, despite the somewhat ill-fitting soundtrack the game is looking as good as when we played it at TGS last year. Don’t forgot we also have a comprehensive feature on the Bangai-O series if you’re at all curious.

Despite the recent earthquake in Japan, the wondrous full scale statue of the RX-78-2 Gundam survived intact. However, the Gundam will be leaving Shizuoka shortly for an as yet unnamed new venue and it subsequently needs to be carefully disassembled.

We were lucky enough to visit the Gundam in September of last year. So to see it leave is saddening but wherever it appears next, hopefully with a beam rifle and shield this time, will keep our burning tamashii sustained.

A new gameplay trailer for the recently announced Hawken went live yesterday. This shows the game from a first person cockpit view. In short, it’s looking bloody impressive and the mecha appear to handle very nicely too. What’s interesting is that due to the size of the mecha (as in a couple of metres) they’ve managed to keep a solid FPS framework and still infer some weight, without doing the dumb thing of treating 20 metre tall mecha like a human being. In any case, the trailer is shown below.

G.rev’s next shooter is now finally upon us. The almost prog-rock-tastic Seisou Kouki Strania will be released globally tomorrow on XBLA for the very reasonable sum of 800 MSP. To commemorate this happy event, we’ve linked the US trailer and two other gameplay videos below. The last one is especially nerdy/wonderful, as it breaks down each of the weapons quite magnificently. Here’s hoping the game sells well for G.rev (and that they release a soundtrack!)

A new and rather lengthy promo for the forthcoming Super Robot Wars Z 2 was recently released. It shows a veritable panoply of mecha strutting their 2D stuff. The Gurren Lagann and Final Dancouga footage still moistens our loins. The game is still scheduled for its April 14th release, despite the recent quake and tsunami, and you can pre-order it here.

To promote the upcoming pachinko cabinet Fever Macross Frontier, Sankyo have released two adverts showing both CG versions of Ranka Lee and Sheryl Nome performing to real world crowds. To those that remembered the prior Fever Macross adverts and the in-game animation, then these are similarly cool. This pachinko cabinet also foreshadows the upcoming DVD / Blu-Ray release of the second Macross Frontier film, the Wings of Farewell, released later this year. Here’s hoping this cabinet gets the same re-animated treatment for the in-game footage as per the previous Fever Macross.

GameSetWatch has found a new trailer for the upcoming Bangai-O HD Missile Fury flaunting the brand new co-op setup. Whilst trying to keep track of one player is pretty challenging, having two missile spewing mecha will make the game even more of a veritable cluster fuck. That said, we’re still buying this on launch. Treasure are also touting the fact the game will have over 100 playable levels, a level editor and leader-boards. The game will be released sometime this Spring.

It turns out Double Fine’s next digital download title will feature suitably retro mecha (circa WWI). Entitled Trenched it looks to be a cool little action game to boot. What most struck us though, was how reminiscent the mecha design were to Konami’s PS2 classic Ring of Red. In addition, what with From Software’s take on a new retro styled Steel Battalion, it seems WWI mecha are all the rage this year. Whilst no word on a specific released date as yet,it does seem to be an XBLA exclusive (unlike the two prior Double Fine digital download games; Costume Quest and Stacking). The announcement trailer is below.

Over at GA Graphic there’s a pretty cool interview with Macross creator and mecha designer extraordinaire Shoji Kawamori, in which he blithely pimps the upcoming 1/60 scale DX Chogokin toy of the new YF-29 Durandal. This is the new variable fighter that was revealed in the just released Macross Frontier film The Wings of Farewell.

Whilst this has yet to be featured in a game, as it’s just been revealed, the fact that Artdink are clearly working on a full blown PS3 Macross game (off the back of Macross Trial Frontier) is reason to think that this will be a playable mecha in the near future. Most are betting that the game will be released around the time of this new movie’s DVD / Blu-Ray release later in the year, though that is obviously still conjecture. In the meantime, you can always play the excellent Macross Triangle Frontier (available here).

The planned release for the toy will be June 30th at the princely sum of 17,850 yen. You can pre-order it here.