Upon news of the PlayStation Portable’s release, a slew of launch titles were announced. Among these was another entry into the successful Armored Core canon, this time going by the name of Armored Core Formula Front. However, due to the control limitations of the PSP, a direct port of an Armored Core game was not feasible. Despite this setback the team at From Software managed to find a solution to this problem.

The solution lay in the series’ former installments, most notably that of Armored Core Master of Arena and Armored Core 3 Silent Line; both games had a customisable AI function. To solve the control issues in Formula Front the controls were, very simply, removed. The player’s role now is purely to customise their AC and its AI. Matches are setup against other AI AC’s, run without player intervention and rely purely on the player’s prior competence at AC and AI customisation.

As part of the already solid customisable AI setup in Silent Line, From Software are extending this functionality on the PSP port to allow players to exchange AI data online. As part of their AI Battle Arena, players will be able to upload their AI data to the web to share. This is a very similar service to the one that was also offered for Armored Core Formula Front, in the guise of their Formula World site. The upside of this is that lots of remote AI tournaments were held with Formula Front, so expect something similar to happen with Silent Line Portable.

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.

Over at the official Gundam vs Gundam Next Plus site, some new videos have surfaced. One being a TV commercial and the other an extended promo video. The latter is similar to the original video we linked not that long ago except that it shows a lot more gameplay footage and it covers pretty much every Gundam series featured in the game. What’s especially interesting to see is how the Trans-Am abilities for the Gundam 00 mecha are handled, notably that of the 00 Raiser. The game is still scheduled for Japanese release at the beginning of December.

On top of the addition of the Victoria AC, more unique Ranker opponents are on the way for Silent Line Portable. This means that new parts will also follow suit, specifically the MHD-72-50 head, which is an original design that was featured in the pages of Hobby Japan. The AC that adorns this new head is called “Focus” and is separate from the Brave New World narrative arc. In addition the Japanese PlayStation Store has a few Silent Line Portable wallpaper images available (for free) to help promote the upcoming release.

As we predicted the Victoria AC from the Brave New World sidestory is appearing in the upcoming Silent Line Portable. In addition, From Software are holding an event on November 7th at their offices in Shibuya for gamers to have a go on the new port. Considering that Armored Core 3 Portable received a recent release abroad there’s a good chance Silent Line will follow suit.

Armored Core 3 Portable is now available on the US PlayStation Store for $14.99. The download is around 324 MB. The upside of this release, bar the reduced price, is that it will use less battery power as the UMD version had the constant issue of it reading the disc (thus sapping the battery dry in super quick time). However, it’s worth clarifying that over the PS2 original, the new PSP port has input framerate issues. In that, despite the general visual consistency in terms of framerate the player input is quite erratic. You have been warned.

I meant to post this earlier but a few places have gone into detail on the upcoming Gundam vs Gundam Next Plus’ new Plus Mode. Now for those that have played any of these console ports before, you’ll already now about the extensive mission modes these games can offer. Where you have a large number of missions coupled with unit upgrading all linked in a causal manner. This being in contrast to the almost cursory arcade “singleplayer”, which comprises of a scant few areas and opponents. The new Plus Mode is effectively the mission mode from the older ports, which is no bad thing but not exactly a massive progression either. Separately, the official site has been updating its mobile suits roster in case you’re curious.

Macross is by no means an anime series to be taken functionally for granted. Dealing with the three disparate modes of each variable fighter has meant that the developer has to somehow craft three separate games that can all interact instantly with one another. Purely from a logistical standpoint, implementing a functionally coherent Macross game is an immense task.

This is often why many of these games aren’t very good. Either down to real world budgetary constraints or lack of time, trying to tackle the raft of very genuine issues has meant that the final game has suffered. Yet some get lucky and are allowed to tackle parts of the problem and simplify other aspects to make the overall package gel more convincingly. SEGA AM2 and From Software managed to do just that in their attempts and now Artdink have joined their ranks.

A new promo video was released over at the official site for Armored Core 3 Silent Line Portable today. It highlights the original AI functionality from the PS2 version as well as clarifying the compatibility of game saves with Armored Core 3 Portable. What’s nice about the video is how it uses one of the in-game tracks, specifically that of “Rise In Arms”. As Silent Line’s score, penned by Kota Hoshino, was remarkably well wrought (so much so that on its release it was encased within a hardback artbook).