In two new videos and an interview, all manner of new things have been revealed regarding the upcoming Battle Robot Damashii. The first point of note is that Artdink are handling the game’s development, this is a good thing and does sort of mark them as the go to mecha tie-in studio to go to after From Software dropped the ball with Another Century’s Episode R. The second point is that the game will feature Ideon as a playable unit. This is quite simply fucking mental. It’s also interesting to point out that whilst the name of the game cites the Robot Damashii toyline, the game will in fact feature other toylines too (as Ideon only has a Soul of Chogokin to speak of in modern toy terms). Finally, you’ll also see a familiar sight from Armored Core V in the videos below. This very much warmed our heart. There’s also a lot of Dunbine and L-Gaim love going on here as well, that’s something we’re obviously happy to see.

There are two new promos for the soon to be released Gunhound EX over at 4Gamer. This being the PSP update to the PC sidescrolling shooter co-developed by G.Rev and Dracue. Whilst the game was meant to be released late last year, it was delayed to fix a critical bug. The new promos show more gameplay as well that of the soundtrack, the latter being noteworthy as it was penned by the lovely (and very talented) Kinuyo Yamashita. You can pre-order the standard (boxed) game here, though this will also be made available on Japanese PSN when it’s released too.

In the mad rush towards the end of last year, we neglected to mention that the excellent Carnage Heart EXA had been picked up by Natsume for a digital release in the West via PSN. No details on when this will happen (except “early 2013”) or how much it will cost but this is still resoundingly good news. Especially as EXA was received very well in Japan when it was released back in 2010 and it’s just nice to see Artdink’s classic mecha series still trundling on.

Whilst it’s been a tad quiet on the Battle Robot Damashii front, we now have a new trailer (shown below). Almost entirely gameplay footage it looks like a cross between From Software’s Another Century’s Episode Portable and a slew of Artdink’s Macross and Gundam games. As we suspected, the mecha haven’t retained their anime scales but have instead been treated in the same way the Robot Damashii toys have. In addition, the footage primarily shows a lot of quite rigid melee combat. To be fair this is more likely down to the editing, as the Gundam Extreme Versus trailers offer suffer the same fate (maybe Bamco should get another trailer guy?). Finally, the trailer hints that a lot more shows will be included along with the ones that have already been announced. Let the guessing games begin!

Following on from our review of the 1/60 VF-19 Custom Fire Valkyrie, our good friends at HobbyLink Japan have also sent us the 1/60 Sound Booster for VF-19 Custom Fire Valkyrie from Macross 7. It’s important to clarify that the Sound Booster doesn’t come with the Fire Valkyrie, that has to be purchased separately. In addition, we’ve also included some game and animation footage at the end of the review.

It seems that, due to a pretty serious bug found late on in development, Gunhound EX will have its release date moved to January 31st next year. Whilst delays can be somewhat irritating, this is only a month longer and the more bugs they fix the better. Personally, we don’t mind waiting as we loved the original PC game and we don’t want either Dracue or G.Rev rushing a release. Don’t forget you can still preorder both the standard version and limited edition, the latter comes with a soundtrack and small artbook.

Over at AmiAmi they have a lovely photo report of the Tamashii Nations Akiba Showroom. From the cool diorama above with the Hanged Man Super Robot Chogokin from Armored Core V, to awesome shots of the alternate coloured Billbine there’s lots of interesting stuff to see here. Talking of the former, there’s also a nice little piece about the designers feeding back on the new Hanged Man toy. Following on in the same vein, HobbyLink Japan are running a Bandai sale at present and there are some very good bargains to be had.

Our good friends at HobbyLink Japan have sent us the 1/60 VF-19 Custom Fire Valkyrie from the wonderful Macross 7. This is also the first of a two part review, as the next installment will also feature the Sound Booster add-on. In addition, we’ve also included some game and animation footage at the end of the review.

Over at Famitsu it’s been announced that Bandai Namco are going to release a new Artdink developed PSP mecha action game called Battle Robot Damashii. What’s interesting about this is that it features mecha exclusively from the Robot Damashii toyline and it totally encroaches on From Software’s Another Century Episode games. The fact it’s on PSP is also a pretty good thing, as Artdink’s tech and processes are pretty matured for the handheld. So in that regard we’re expecting something functionally pretty tight and polished. The game will be released in February of next year.

Bandai have finally shown the fruits of their recent alliance with Gainax in the form of two new Super Robot Chogokin toys; that of the mighty Gurren Lagann and the majestic Gunbuster. Both figures will be released next year, with the former in January and the latter in February. In addition, their pricing at around 6,000 yen a piece is also pretty reasonable. What we’re most confused about though is why these designs in particular. There are already a lot of Gurren Lagann figures on the market and Bandai already did an amazing Soul of Chogokin Gunbuster, not to mention the Composite Ver Ka release too. Anyway, there will be a separate option parts set and both figures will have interchangeable parts.