4Gamer once again delivers the goods, this time with an announcement of some interesting DLC for Gundam Musou 3, including a mission consisting solely of Acguys. The lowly mass-produced aquatic unit from the original Mobile Suit Gundam has developed a cult following of sorts over the years, mostly due to its bizarrely incongruous cuteness. Most people – the lucky ones -gloss over the unit on first impression, but eventually you start to see the big ol’ teddy bear underneath that gigantic undersea Zeonic death machine, and nothing ever looks the same again. Welcome to the cult of Acguy.

Bandai, never one to ignore their fanbase, have a very special version of the Acguy in the new Gunpla Builders line, although I dare say that they are playing with fire. You can’t try to modify a cosmic horror/cuteness like the Acguy without putting your very soul into peril. Whatever vein of madness Kunio Okawara struck upon should remain forever undisturbed.

And on the opposite side of the cute/awesome spectrum: there’s also a stage featuring the Einerad support unit from Victory Gundam, because nothing says ‘manly’ like taking your giant bug-eyed robot and putting it inside a giant racing tire, complete with giant guns on the top. It’s a damn shame that Victory Gundam was produced as a cartoon series and not as a heavy metal concept album, because a picture of this as the cover art would have made it go triple platinum. People say that Victory Gundam can be the most depressing Gundam series, but if you think about it, it’s really just the most metal.

The next episode of Gundam Unicorn is around the corner, with its PlayStation Network airing occurring in early March (again in advance of the DVD and Blu Ray release in April). The episode is called “Laplace no Boumei” (or the “Ghost of Laplace”) and features a new song by Chemistry called “merry-go-round”. The promo video is shown below and for those that have been fans of the NZ-666 Kshatriya then you may want to avert your eyes.

The upcoming DLC pack for Gundam Musou 3 featuring the GNX-Y901TW Susanowo (as piloted by the anachronistically titled MISTAH BUSHIDO) and a new mission called “For the Future” will hit this Thursday. 4Gamer has some nice screenshots of the new mobile suit too. The pack will cost 600 yen (PS3) and 480 MSP (360) respectively.

Over at Anime News Network they’ve got a cool little story of an unknown cosplayer donning a full blown GN-0000 00 Gundam from Gundam 00 at Melbourne’s Manifest. This being the base unit from the second season before it later combined with the GNR-010 0 Raiser. You don’t normally get the 00 Gundam on its own very often in game, instead most games opt for the beefier 00 Raiser. However, the Yuke’s developed Gundam Meisters on the PS2 did feature the 00 Gundam as an unlockable unit. Still, it’s pretty impressive work on the part of the cosplayer and we tip our steel rimmed hat to them.

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.

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.

One of the largest Perfect Grade kits has finally been released, that of the ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom Gundam from Gundam SEED Destiny. Coming in at a whopping 26,250 yen, like the other Perfect Grades it’s hardly very affordable. However, this price tag isn’t without reason; as the sheer engineering involved in the manufacturing of these plamodel beasts is suitably epic. Unsurprisingly, this mobile suit has been in numerous games over the years and the upcoming Gundam Musou 3 will also feature the mecha. As with almost all Bandai Gundam kits, Hajime Katoki has a hand in the sculpt and engineering. This can sometimes cause issues with the sculpt on certain designs (original design here), as he has a habit of somewhat standardising them. The Strike Freedom seems to be mostly okay on this front though. In any case, you can buy this impressive kit over at HLJ and they’re even holding a Perfect Grade sale too.

With Gundam Musou 3 near release in Japan, 4Gamer has some cool new screenshots of the game’s Partner Strike system as well mobile suit customisation. Though we’re mostly nerding out on the shots for the RX-78GP01-Fb Gundam Full Vernian “Zephyranthes” from Gundam 0083 (pictured above). Despite being one of our favourite Shoji Kawamori designs it’s also been somewhat in the news as of late, mostly due to Linkin Park’s fascination with the mobile suit. Unsurprisingly, the game’s site has also reciprocated this current interest with showing a new special video of the mobile suit. Naturally, as this is Gundam 0083 we’ve included the series’ two very lovely opening animations (in HD no less) below. That said, we still think that Back to Paradise would have been a better intro song.

With the launch of Gundam Musou 3 literally days away now, the official site has been stepping up with semi-regular video vignettes. Entitled Specials these show around 30 seconds of gameplay footage of a certain mobile suit pretty much owning small armies of enemy mecha. We’ve collated a few of them below, including the latest one – that of the Syd Mead designed CONCEPT-X 6-1-2 Turn X from Turn A Gundam. Enjoy!

Courtesy of our good friends at HobbyLink Japan, we’ve been sent a toy from Gundam Unicorn to review. Specifically, the Robot Damashii Sinanju. In addition, to give the toy some context, we’ve also linked some gameplay footage of it in action from Gundam Musou 3 and Gundam Extreme Versus at the end of the review.