MobileSuitGundam
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Gundam Statue rebuilt to guard eponymous museum
Let's be honest, the saga of the giant RX-78-2 couldn't have ended with the 59-foot replica mecha lying scattered in pieces. On April 19th, Bandai's opening a theme park dedicated to the world's greatest giant-robot cartoon, Neon Genesis Evangelion Mobile Suit Gundam. Adults will pay 1,000 yen ($13), Kids 800 yen ($10) to visit the 2,050 square-meter "Gundam Front," park, in a shopping mall in Tokyo's Odaiba district. There's even a themed café and store, to buy all of your giant-robots and giant-robot-based accessories -- but no word yet if we'll be able to build our own version of the giant Gundam that'll guard the entrance. In other news, we've still not heard anything about that Space Battleship Yamato-themed cruise liner that was in the offing a few years ago.
Gundam 0079 screens rise from the ashes
Finally, some Mobile Suit Gundam MS Front 0079 screens that are as big and beautiful as the stars themselves. It's been a while since we saw anything on the title -- and even then, we were limited to tiny screens and grainy scans -- but it looks like the wait was worth it, even if the bloom is a little crazy at times.The game released this week in Japan, so what you see here is how it'll look if (when?) the title makes it to our shores.%Gallery-5185%
New Gundam Musou: Lightning Strike video
For those diehard Gundam fans that enjoyed the first go-round on the PS3, Namco-Bandai recently released another title in the series in Japan. Judging from the video here, it looks a lot more promising. Mobile Suit Gundam: Lightning Strike is currently enjoying great success overseas in Japan. There is no word on a North American release yet, probably because Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire reviews were pretty dismal. At any rate, judge for yourself. Take a look at the video and determine if North American gamers should deserve another crack at the Gundam franchise.
Rock 'em sword 'em robots
It's a Gundam!! Namco Bandai has launched the official site for its recently-announced Mobile Suit Gundam MS Front 0079 title. Set to hit Japanese stores this July 28th, the 20-plus-year-old franchise shows no signs of slowing down with its second game for the Wii console in just a few months. We spotted footage of the FPS in action at the teaser page, and have embedded them for your mecha-loving enjoyment after the post break. The barren setting looks unimpressive, but the videos give you a good idea of how the Wii remote will be used for melee combat and aiming with ranged weapons. Judging by what we've seen so far, Mobile Suit Gundam MS Front 0079 might be our first chance to finally wield something resembling a lightsaber on the Wii!
Gundam Seed Rengou vs Z.A.F.T.
The Magic Box has reported that Namco Bandai's Mobile Suit Gundam Seed: Rengou vs Z.A.F.T. Portable (that's a mouthful of a game title) will be hitting Japan on April 5th of this year for 5040 yen. The series was originally on the PS2, but its PSP version will have 2 on 2 team battle that can be played by a single player or 2-4 players via Ad-Hoc. The mech action game is based around the world from Mobile Suit Gundam Seed, one of the most loved versions in all of the Gundam series. Feel free to import the game when it's released if you're a Gundam fan since the PSP has no region lock.
Japan: PS3 near sell-out, Ridge Racer, Gundam popular
Reuters documents the Japanese PS3 frenzy, saying that the console sold nearly all of its stock -- 88,400 units -- in its first two days. Just over 60 percent moved were the 60GB version, but we expect gamers were just buying whatever was available.But what games do the Japanese players want? Mobile Suit Gundam: Target in Sight and Ridge Racer 7 are the hottest titles, selling about 30,000 each. While other launch titles are picking up the slack, it sounds like Japanese gamers are spending most of their money on the console and not on games.The PS3 already supports video downloads in Japan, so that audience may see it as a rounded entertainment system -- or a Blu-ray player. We're interested in how the number of games sold per-console averages out in different parts of the world.
PS3 gets big robots and drama known as Gundam
If you like big robots, explosions, exploding robots, or big explosions, you may have played a mech game. One such game, which also has a Japanese animation series (multiple, actually), is known as Gundam. Mobile Suit Gundam has been slated for a US release sometime within the next year, which could actually mean (and is rumored to mean) by the end of 2006. This game, hailing from Namco Bandai, has been several years in production and boasts, among other things, "ultra realistic destruction physics." Well there you have it. They're ultra. Nothing beats ultra.This game takes place after the XBox360 Gundam title, One Year War. So if you're a huge anime buff and need to get the whole story, timeline, whatever, then you may need to check that one out too. The basic premise is you take control of your big robot and destroy other big robots (strategically, of course) or other objects, complete objectives, unlock more robots, and wreak havoc in a robot war. Which can be surprisingly fun. In the article at IGN, there's a link at the end which goes into more detail for those interested. Some of the stuff about the PS3 hardware itself in the interview is interesting as well. It has to be said... it's Gun-dam great!
