The upcoming Heavy Guard Type II kit from Border Break has been previewed over at GA Graphic. As with all Kotobukiya kits, the sculpt appears to be very accurate and the Heavy Guard Type II will make a nice addition to the other, almost released, Border Break kit; the Cougar Type I. We’ll also be reviewing Border Break in the next few days, so keep an eye out for that. This kit will be released in March 2010 for a very reasonable 3675 yen, you can also pre-order this kit here.

Courtesy of our good friends at HobbyLink Japan, we’ve been sent a kit from the original Virtual On to review. Specifically, Kotobukiya’s 1/100 scale Viper II. This was a lightly armored and mostly airborne focused virtuaroid, that also sported a very powerful secret attack – in the form of its “SLC” (or “She’s Lost Control”) dive. Like the other VR’s in the Virtual On series, Viper II was designed by mecha design magnate Hajime Katoki.

Our review covers the kit in its out of the box and unpainted form but we have also included painted photos towards the end. In addition, to give the kit some context, we’ve also captured some gameplay footage of the design in action from the recent SEGA AGES PlayStation 2 port.

The wonderful and massively popular Gundam networked arcade game Senjou no Kizuna, with its panoramic cockpit, is getting a version update (Rev 2.10 to be exact) on the 9th December. Apart from general balancing the game is receiving new maps and mobile suits, with the former featuring Odessa as well as the Libot colony from Gundam 0080 War in the Pocket. Considering how wonderfully nerdy the whole setup is, the thought of playing that map in a Yutaka Izubuchi designed GM Command gives me goosebumps of glee.

Despite the insane arcade hardware, there is a port of Senjo no Kizuna available (on the PSP to be exact). Whilst it’s pretty solid, as the arcade game only uses a pretty basic board, it does play a tad differently as the panoramic cockpit forces you to look around in the arcade whereas on the PSP the game occurs straight in front of you. In any case, you can buy the port here.

Over at the Rookie Borders blog on Famitsu’s site, there are a fair few interesting videos of Border Break’s network games in action. For those curious as to how the game plays and who already read the hands-on impressions we posted not that long ago, then these videos are well worth a look. In addition, a Ver. 1.0.5 update was released a few days ago. This patch improves some of the matchmaking and addresses a few minor balancing issues.

The Super HCM Pro line of toys has had a new addition, in the form of the Hajime Katoki designed RX-0 Unicorn Gundam. The Super prefix denotes that the toy is of a larger scale than the normal line, as they’re normally 1/200 scale rather than 1/144 in the case of the Supers. The detailing and articulation is also considerably more advanced than the smaller HCM Pro toys but that comes at a considerable price increase. In the case of the Unicorn, both Unicorn and Destroy modes are catered for (with some parts removal) but the technical nature of the transformation has meant the price is even higher due to the increased engineering costs. Considering that the Gundam Unicorn anime is around the corner and Gundam vs Gundam Next Plus is released at the beginning of December, you may want to wait for the larger GFFN toy. As the new Gundam Fix toys use more diecast in the joints for stability. In any case, you can buy Super HCM Pro Unicorn Gundam here.

GA Graphic has a really nice bit of coverage on the upcoming Cougar kit from Border Break. Like with all other Kotobukiya kits, the sculpt is really impressive and the articulation looks suitably comprehensive too. The kit is scheduled for a Japanese release in January next year for 3,675 yen. You can pre-order it here if you’re curious.

An update to the recently released Senko no Ronde DUO in the form of a Ver 2.00 pack hits Japanese arcades today. Despite minor balancing issues, there are some new characters available. Considering that the original Senko no Ronde received an Xbox 360 port, it’s likely that DUO will follow the same route soon enough. Despite looking more like a traditional shooter, Senko no Ronde actually has more functional linkages to games like Virtual On.

The newly released arcade mecha game, Border Break seems to be on the right track. The same Mecha Damashii reader that gave us a lowdown on the upcoming Front Mission Evolved also ventured down to the arcades to check out SEGA’s new mecha gaming effort for himself. From the extensive amount of videos that have been posted online, via SEGA no less, Border Break looks to be superb in almost every way. Thankfully, the following impressions back that up and then some.

There’s a nice preview of the upcoming RVR-14 Fei-Yen The Knight kit over at GA Graphic. Much like Kotobukiya’s other Virtual On releases, the detailing is suitably superb. The release date is still sometime in December and the kit will cost around 4,000 yen, which is pretty cheap considering the sculpt. Separately, on the Virtual On kit blog there are hints that the next design to get the kit treatment could be the mass produced Temjin, MBV-04-10 10/80SP.

The newly released arcade game Border Break is receiving some t-shirts at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, all tucked away within Cospa’s stall in case you’re wondering. There are a total of two t-shirts priced at 3,045 yen each (pages are here and here). In addition to these there are some wonderful Sega Saturn t-shirts available as well.