The upcoming Another Century’s Episode Portable has finally had its first trailer released. Despite the somewhat typical grand tour of the game’s menu system, the rest of the trailer shows actual in-game footage. The latter is potentially quite reassuring as it at least appears that the new PSP game is returning to how the awesome PS2 games operated. Especially when it came to boosting and how that interlinked with the combat. After the disappointing ACE:R, we’re now actually hopeful that the PSP game will be pretty decent. The game is released January 13th next year for 6,279 yen and you can pre-order it here.

Over at Anime News Network they have a fascinating video tour around Satelight Inc., this being the Japanese animation studio where Kawamori Shouji is the executive director. Unsurprisingly, the studio’s credits are pretty long but what’s especially interesting is when the video linked above hits the 15 minute mark. This is when we get to see the functional side of mechanical design and that for the latest VF-25 variable fighters in Macross Frontier, Kawamori opted to literally block out the mecha in Lego and then work with a 3D artist/animator to fine tune it. This being especially important as the design would later go on to be used in both toy and kit form, so planning out the transformation in real world detail would obviously be a big deal. The reason why we thought this was pertinent on a mecha gaming site, despite the obvious linkages to Kawamori’s work in games, is that designing mecha (especially of the real robot variety) is a very functional endeavour. Whilst mecha need to look captivating, their primary purpose is actually based around discreet and specific functions. Basically, mecha design is at its core about what that mecha will do and not so much about what it will look like. Such an approach is one that has fundamental linkages to how games are designed; as planning out the basic rule sets of what the player has to work within, as in what they can do, is crucially important and still takes (initial) precedence over how pretty the game is. This is why (good) real robot mecha designers often add a functional grounding to (good) mecha games, something that Kawamori has proven multiple times already during his career.

A new trailer was released for upcoming persistent world online shooter Firefall, and while a lot of the footage being shown is of locations and concepts we’ve already seen in the larger ten minute gameplay trailer, our excitement for the game has been by no means diminished since the game’s announcement, as there is clearly a lot of potential.

One thing the new trailer does hint at which we haven’t seen before is some sort of system that allows players to “glide”–while the huge mecha jetpacks enable characters to gain vertical height and sometimes forward speed (similar to the thrusters in Tribes, of which Firefall seems to be a spiritual successor) this seems to be an entirely new mechanic, used for crossing large amounts of distance in the air. This gliding feature projects two laser wings which reminds us just a bit of the V2 Gundam’s Wings of Light, which along with the very possible Gurren Lagann and Gundam 00 influences in the powered armors’ designs leads evidence to someone at Firefall being a closet mecha fanatic.

In addition to the 10 minute trailer that’s been passed around widely, it’s also worth noting that there’s a less well-traveled version of that very same trailer with developer commentary that explains a bit more about the specific game mechanics.

Proving that cool robots fly away from explosions, G.rev have announced a new XBLA shooter by the name of Seisou Kouki Strania. Interestingly, the protagonist craft is that of a sprightly bi-pedal mecha. From the somewhat radiant sword-esque beam sabre it wields to the multi lock-on attacks, a few comparisons with Treasure’s much loved Radiant Silvergun have already been made. Considering that G.rev and Treasure have quite a close relationship, in terms of sharing their staff, this is hardly surprising. Though considering that Radiant Silvergun is already getting an XBLA port, G.rev’s timing is a little unfortunate maybe. Along with 2 player offline play, the game also boasts the same setup online too – which is pretty impressive for a game of this scope and with such a small team behind it (as G.rev isn’t exactly brimming with staff to begin with). In addition, to weapon switching between three main weapons the game will also have an “Over Dose” (or O/D) setup, that gives the player limited invulnerability for a short time as well as act as a score multiplier. Strania is set for a release late next year and no word on whether it will be a global release as yet, but considering the nature of XBLA this is pretty likely. We’ve linked the promo video below and 4Gamer has some nice screenshots of the game too.

F.E.A.R. 3, the next game in a line of first person shooters about high technology and the supernatural combining to create a general mess of things, has had its power armors, imaginatively named the Power Armor and the Enhanced Power Armor, revealed. The two battlesuits previously appeared in F.E.A.R and F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin, and the EPA was in fact pilotable in F.E.A.R. 2, but the trailer they’ve sent out implies a lot more mobility on their part this time around, making their existence part of what I see as a kind of renewal in Starship Troopers type power armor, where the “power” component to their power armor wasn’t just a heavier load of armor and munitions, but also thrusters which allowed a single infantryman to move quickly across miles of territory. The typical “space marines” of today, for all their glitzy tech, still find themselves cowering behind crates just like any other human but it seems the industry may be moving in a more interesting direction.

The designs of the PA and the EPA remind me a bit of the Tau’s Stealth Suits and Crisis Battlesuits from Warhammer 40,000, which could make it a rare example of a game adding more mecha-like elements by being inspired by a Western design, rather than a Japanese one.

Worth pointing out is that the mechs here seem designed to incorporate the general FPS feel of the rest of the game rather than to merely add a “vehicle mode”; the game still visible looks, and seems to play, like an FPS while unmistakably incorporating the functions granted by the mecha. Obstacles and cover that would hinder a regular human fall easily before your robot’s might, expanding your tactical options, but the player’s point of view stays the same, stopping the player from dissociating from the “closeness” of the action. This was a problem with the EPA in F.E.A.R. 2, where the mech sections, while fun, seemed to be at odds with the game’s main trick of being a horror FPS.

Hopefully the developers, Day 1 Studios, will be able to produce something that will make us forgive them for MechAssault.

4Gamer has a pretty epic breakdown of the upcoming Border Break Airburst update set for release at the end of November. Whilst Airburst is basically “Ver 2.0” of the original Border Break, the game has a considerable amount of improvements over its precursor. Notably the new dropships that can carry multiple blast runners across a map to invade heavily fortified sections. The dropship even packs some quite notable firepower too, though at the expense of a suitably “shoot the core” weakspot in its rear. We’ve also linked a video of the new dropship setup below, though it kicks in about halfway through in case you’re wondering.

The moderately fourth wall breaking Mokei Senshi Gunpla Builders Beginning G OVA has finally had its first few episodes released. Despite being a bit “we put a Gundam show in a Gundam show so you can watch your Gundam show while you watch a Gundam show” the slightly awesome sight of seeing a pimped out Senjou no Kizuna cabinet used as a full blown linear seat is rather impressive. In terms of the show’s narrative setup, the arcade cabinets are the means by which Gunpla builders spar with one another. Using a Haro styled 3D imager, the tech then attributes abilities based off the kit. It’s a bit like Barcode Battlers in a way but with Gundam kits and insane arcade gaming production values. To be fair we’re not far off making an arcade game that works like this, but if the 3D imager could also detect colour I reckon we’d see a lot more red painted Gunpla – for the obvious stat boost. The first episode is shown below (unsubbed) and you can buy the kit of the Beginning Gundam, featured in the show, here. It’s also worth pointing out that the area where most of the combat scenes are set is actually around Shizuoka, where the full scale Gundam is based.

What with the release of Super Robot Wars L very near now, the longer and more interesting promo videos start getting distributed to Japanese stores. Thankfully, these also get uploaded online. This latest promo for the game goes through many of the notable signature attacks from the various series the game features. From the pretty bloody amazing Great Mazinger and Mazinkaiser cutscenes, to the less great Gundam Wing Endless Waltz re-hashes, the game covers the gamut in terms of animation quality (or lack thereof). Of all the units we’re most interested in though, it would have to be those from Iczer-1 and Iczer 3; as they warm the cockles of our 80’s heart. The full promo is shown below and you can pre-order the game here.

There’s now a full size FF-X7 Core Fighter from the first Mobile Suit Gundam anime series and movies, as the 9 metre model is part of the Hobby Museum at the Shizuoka Hobby Fair (which runs until March 27th in case you’re wondering). Unsurprisingly, this core fighter is meant as a companion piece of sorts to the full scale RX-78-2 Gundam nearby (the one we visited not that long ago in case you’re wondering). This version of the core fighter is the one from the end of the series and movies, which is why it’s so battered. The video of it at the Hobby Fair is shown below.

We finally have a trailer for the upcoming fan made PC game Armored Core Limit Release, that’s using UDK in case you’re wondering. The trailer is more of a machinima affair rather than actual gameplay footage, but the final version will be apparently close to the Last Raven era of Armored Core games (despite the somewhat anachronistic presence of a vanguard over boost in the video). There’s a nice post by the game’s creators on how they’re planning to handle the controls as well as an Armored Core 2 era styled HUD mock-up. In any case, this is a pretty ambitious project for a small team like this and we wish them luck. The trailer is below.