Another Century’s Episode R has finally been released in Japan today. There have been multiple game videos shown already (with one linked below), as it seems that some shops broke the street date. From the rather cool custom soundtracks option, that allows you to use music at specific points in gameplay, to the more worrying use of motion controls it seems that the game has managed to keep a few surprises in store. The most unfortunate of these though has to be the complete removal/changing of the boost system that was used in the last three games. Naturally, we’ll be reviewing the game soon but in the meantime you can import it here.

The upcoming and curious Blu-Ray hybrid game addition Macross Trial Frontier has been given a decent amount of screen time in the lead up to its release at the beginning of October. Around the 2:18 mark, the gameplay footage kicks in and to anyone that’s played the recent PSP games it will all look pretty familiar (though far shinier admittedly). This isn’t exactly a surprise, as this development was telegraphed somewhat when the hybrid pack was announced. Still, it’s nice to see that Artdink have made their mark on contemporary gaming at least in terms of this game’s functional heritage. Whether they were part of the development for this port remains to be seen but considering the striking similarity I can only surmise that someone at Artdink was involved at some point.

Andriasang put up a gallery of new pictures for the Game Formerly Known as Solarobo, but Now Known as Solatorobo, including a few pieces of absolutely beautiful mechanical art. It has that “alternate history/steampunk” look to it that was very common in anime as I was growing up, but eventually seemed to get replaced with cleaner and more modern designs, and I’m glad to see this sort of imaginative work back.

Game Watch Impress has an article with much of the same screenshots and mechanical works featured, plus a few extra details if you can read Japanese or are willing to wade through a machine translated version of it. Most of the details in the article are about gameplay elements we’ve seen in action before, but it’s good to know that “dog-man in a bird-robot fishing for battleships” is still a planned feature.

Speaking of things we’ve already seen, the small gameplay videos that were released were edited into a much prettier single movie, complete with gorgeous backgrounds and music. The wide variety of game modes, and the sheer charm of the graphics they’ve been able to squeeze out of the lowly Nintendo DS, have gradually changed my outlook on this game from being a mere curiosity to being a “must have!” title, simply because there isn’t and won’t be anything quite like it. The industry as a whole seems afraid to innovate in 3D action games and platformers, preferring to use proven-successful genre formulas or licensed characters to carry these games, but these fellows are doing something amazing with Solatorobo. Here’s to hoping that the game does indeed get released outside of Japan.

A preview video has also been released, mostly showing off the game’s cast of characters, who are still animal people and not robots like we would prefer:

Over at Game Set Watch they’ve uncovered a new doujin game by Astro Port called Gigantic Army. Specifically, this is a free two level demo of the game (download link here).

For the more observant of you this may seem awfully similar to Dracue’s Gunhound, which we do still intend to review. Like Gunhound though, Gigantic Army’s functional influences stem from the Assault Suits series, specifically Valken and Leynos II (not to mention VOTOMS, as many of the roller sound effects are lifted straight from the series!). With any luck this may even get an English translation but for the time being the game is more than playable in Japanese.

The wonderful 1/1 scale RX-78-2 Gundam has finally had its opening ceremony at its new home in Shizuoka outside the JR Higashi-Shizuoka Station. The lifesize Gundam now sports a full sized beam saber too. This installation of the Gundam will be held until January 2011, so if you missed it the first time around when it was Odaiba now’s your chance to see it again!

The animated version of Gundam Unicorn is receiving its much anticipated second episode this November. Before then though, Bandai are showing off the new footage in a lovely long promo. Apart from looking wonderful in terms of the animation, it’s nice to hear ShÅ«ichi Ikeda’s dulcit tones again in Gundam. The promo even shows the glorious Sinanju in action finally, as well as the Unicorn too obviously. Considering that Gundam Extreme Versus is out in arcades at the end of the year, in Japan, the timing of the second episode’s release is fortuitous. For those that want their Unicorn Gundam fix before November, then the unit is fully playable in the brilliant Gundam vs Gundam Next Plus on the PSP. Alternatively, you could pick up the regal Metal Composite toy if you’re after something more tactile. Either way, enjoy the promo linked below.

Over at Tokyo Hunter they’re preparing for this summer’s Wonder Festival. From a lovely Arcee kit, including dat ass, to an amazing rendition of Samus. However, our favourite is the SD version of Dancouga from God Bless Dancouga, pictured above, that was used in Super Robot Wars Alpha 3. Whilst Gigabrain released the God Bless variant a while ago, along with a much more limited Final, this is the first SD version as inspired by the game. Anyway, if you want to pick any of these up place your orders now. Bear in mind though that these are meant for experienced garage kit builders only. In any case, enjoy the montage of Dancouga attacks from Alpha 3 shown below, as well as its somewhat epic final attack as seen in God Bless.

Courtesy of donkey show again, we’ve been sent another link to a Gundam themed Little Big Planet level. This one features a playable RX-78-2 Gundam and an antagonistic Zeong. It even has Bright Noa spawn in the level to add his punching expertise (though he’s also a skilled slapper too). Apparently this level will be available “soon” but in the meantime have a gander at the video of it in action below.

After much anticipation, the new and updated promo video for Another Century’s Episode R was shown in Akihabara today. This is the longer promo that stores use to promote game and as such is over twelve minutes long and features predominantly gameplay footage – something that hadn’t been seen until now. There are a fair few interesting developments but the first major one is the open inclusion of the Original Generation of Super Robot Wars mecha, such as the Cybuster, Alteisen Riese and ART-1. Admittedly these aren’t the first OG mecha to be featured, as the Gespenst Mark II appeared in the original ACE back in 2005, but these new OG mecha are featuring full characterisation for their pilots and haven’t appeared in an ACE game before.

Moving on from that, there are a fair few important functional clarifications to be made. Notably that the “chase mode” is actually an on-rails shooter section and that the boost gauge is ominously absent throughout much of the footage – to the extent that much of the encounters seem to be heavily scripted from a camera and lock-on perspective. This is something that does concern us, as the original ACE games afforded a large amount of freedom in terms of movement and removing that would be a functional regression really. This could be easily explained due to the selection of the footage in the video however, as it mostly shows the more flamboyant aspects of the mecha rather than full-on moment to moment gameplay. It also seems that each series also has its corresponding base ship too now, from the Argama to even the Macross Quarter. In any case, the new promo shows the game to be incredibly impressive and we’ll be eagerly picking this game up on its August 19th release. Don’t forget that you can also pre-order the game here.

We’ve been keeping an eye on the upcoming anime TV series Mokei Senshi Gunpla Builders Beginning G for a while now. Meant to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Gunpla, it features a model kit building protagonist flanked by his tubby hamburger eating friend (which is quite realistic) and his female love interest (obviously not very realistic). What’s interesting is that despite the vast amount of product placement at work here, the characters seem to play out their Gunpla differences via matches in Senjou no Kizuna. With the main villain piloting a custom coloured Hi-Nu Gundam it will be interesting to see how this series is received by the Japanese public. At the very least the series will highlight the broader pop-cultural context Gundam has created over the years and that gaming is still the means by which people can actually pilot a mobile suit.