The magnificent bastards at the Romhacking Aerie told me to drum up support for a possible Christmas release of their Super Robot Wars J translation, and when the 25th of December came and went with nary a sighting of Santa carrying a sack full of binary patch code, the caterwauling of fans crying out in unison caused such a disturbance in The Force that Jedi in a galaxy far, far away could feel it, to say nothing of the psychic pressure our more local Newtypes had to put up with.

However, it was all a ploy to teach us the true meaning of Christmas: being surrounded by friends and family and not by Game Boys. Now that Christmas is over, we can finally get back to ignoring our family again because, yes, the fan translation is now out. Carefully follow the directions included in the readme, which detail the patching procedure and suggest utilities to use if command-line interfaces give you the heebie-jeebies.

The release of Super Robot Wars games into English through fan translations are always marked as grand occasions, because although most fan translations deal with games which are unreleased in English, most of them still have the theoretical possibilities of release through either an updated version or a classic game download service such as the Wii’s Virtual Console. The Super Robot Wars games, however, have no such chance at release because of the legal issues surrounding them. They’re much beloved for their combination of multitudes of fans’ favorite mecha anime series into the same game, but this combination produces a legal snarl of epic proportions as different companies all claim ownership of the rights to these properties in the West, making negotiations prohibitively expensive at best and utterly impossible at worst. As such, make sure to enjoy the fruits of their translation labors.

4Gamer has a selection of new screenshots for the next Artdink developed Macross game on the PSP, Macross Triangle Frontier. From the moe-tastic Academy mode to new shots of various variable fighters strutting their stuff. The Academy mode allows the player to basically attend Mihoshi Academy as a student and build up their character’s attributes there, these then carry over to the game itself. In addition a 1000 plus event triggers are tucked away in the Academy mode, meaning that much of the game will rely on the player having to wade through a dating sim in order to blow up robots. That aside, the game will also still support custom soundtracks as well as a new data install setup. The game is still slated for a February 3rd release next year and you can pre-order it here.

With the upcoming Earth Defense Force Insect Armageddon slated for release next year, D3 have announced three new games in the series. From the plucky PSP port of the excellent second game, shown above, to even a new mobile game (called Earth Defense Force Legend). However, the big surprise is the announcement of Earth Defense Force 4. It seems that Sandlot are still hard at work, as at the very least they’d be needed to port the upcoming PSP version. The news of proper continuation from Earth Defense Force 3 (aka 2017 in the West) is very much appreciated though.

For those somewhat confused as to what these games have to do with mecha, well the simple fact is that without Sandlot’s prior expertise (and subsequent technology base) in the genre the EDF games wouldn’t exist. If you’re at all curious about this lineage then we heartily recommend you read our feature on the subject. The new promo video is also shown below.

We all know that in a perfect world, Super Robot Wars J would have been officially released in English. Its sweet, sweet combination of no less than 13 different anime series joining together to face evil in a strategy RPG set souls aflame. When it became clear that we did not live in this perfect world, however, and would be denied seeing this game’s release, a dedicated team of wizards and mystics set out to right this wrong, using the darkest and most forbidden of arts to scrape away at reality, tunneling into this hypothetical perfect world to extract an English copy of Super Robot Wars J from it.

Luckily, their Great Work is nearly complete, and a cornucopia of mecha tonnage is nearly ready to sortie. What they need for this Miracle is your help–your burning spirit–to pull the Veil of our Universe away for that tiny moment, just long enough to copy data over their 56k modem.

Clap if you believe in mecha fairy dust. Clap if you believe in love. Clap if you believe in never giving up. Clap if you believe in Space Lance.

Super Robot Wars J is coming, but only if we are first found worthy. You have been warned: prepare yourselves.

UPDATE: The translation group have turned back their hoods and have decided to make themselves known: when the translation is allowed out of its cage you may find it here. Keep in mind every minute they spend reading “but when, man, WHEN will it be done?” is one minute less they spend on the game’s release, and if possible restrain yourself from melting down their server through furious pressings of the reload button on your browser.

In the latest column it appears that not only will Virtual On Force be localised into English on the Japanese and Asian versions (presumably triggered by your console’s system language settings) but also that it will be entirely region free as well. Whilst there is still no word on an official Western release, this does allow for importers to buy the game without fear of it not working on their 360 (meaning you can buy it here if you want to). This was done intentionally as well it seems, as a sort of thank you to the Western fanbase. In addition to this good news, the column also lays out all 32 of the game’s achievements too.

To mark the release of Break Blade’s fifth “movie” on the 22nd January, Border Break Airburst will allow players to use costumes from the anime via their BB.net service (as shown above). Break Blade is an interesting anime, formerly based upon a manga, as it sets the narrative in what appears to be a pseudo-medieval past where people are able to control quartz with their minds. The main protagonist, that of Rygart Arrow, is the only one that doesn’t have this ability and is thus able to control an ancient and mysterious mecha. The anime also has involvement with one Takayuki Yanase, who has a long and illustrious mecha design career in gaming. From Murakumo to Metal Gear Solid 4, not to mention SRW W and ACE 3, he does get around.

As with all Border Break related news though, we’re still much like a cat pawing at a fluffy ball of wool behind a glass screen. After tasting the mechanical nectar not that long ago, we need our fix again basically. Considering how much of a money spinner the arcade game is for Sega though, we’re becoming less hopeful for a console port. To make up for this sad state of affairs, we’ve linked the Break Blade opening (in HD) below. The opening song is called “Fate”, as written and sung by the hugely talented KOKIA.

As we mentioned previously, the just released Gundam Musou 3 will receive its first batch of DLC on December 22nd (oddly co-inciding with the release of Virtual On Force no less). The DLC will be split into three mission packs, costing a 100 yen each (on PS3) or 80 Microsoft Points (on 360). There will also be multiple new mobile suits attached to each pack. Whilst we already knew about the GNX-Y901TW Susanowo and NZ-666 Kshatriya, according to 4Gamer there will also be the GN-006 Cherudim Gundam, GN-007 Arios Gundam and GN-008 Seravee Gundam included too. It’s apparent in any case that DLC will be quite vigorously supported for the game, whether that any of it will make it out of Japan come Gundam Musou 3’s inevitable Western release remains to be seen though. Still, we’re just happy to see the Musha Gundam and Musha Gundam Mk. II from the first Gundam Musou game again.

4Gamer has the scoop on a new playable addition to Gundam Extreme Versus. That of the blade wielding GN-001 Gundam Exia from the first season of Gundam 00. In addition, the Exia can be encountered on one of the EX stages as an enemy in the game (specifically 3-A EX). As well as the inclusion of the Exia, there’s also a new boss mobile suit design in the game now. Specifically, a mode of the Extreme Gundam called the Tachyon Phase, designed again by Kunio Okawara. We think it looks pretty sweet. As always, still no word on the obvious PS3 release but the game is looking pretty damn amazing, hopefully we’ll know more in the New Year.

As shown in the latest column over at the Virtual On Force site, there’s now a 1:1 scale Temjin 747 emblazoned across the side of the Gigo arcade in Akihabara, all 16.3 metres of it. For those somewhat confused, VR’s aren’t as big as most mobile suits so the poster is actually pretty accurate. Separately, 4Gamer has some new gameplay videos of the port in action. The game is released next Wednesday, 22nd, in Japan and you still pre-order your copy here.

Game Watch has some nice coverage of a recent update (Rev 2.50) that occurred on December 16th to the glorious Senjou no Kizuna arcade game. Specifically on the inclusion of Torrington Base from Gundam 0083 (video shown below). What’s especially nice is that the map has the Albion as the Feddie base, with a Zanzibar II on the other side obviously (for the Zekes). As always, it’s pretty cool that the game is still getting supported with content (even after 4 years).