PSP's Gundam Battle Universe is only a week away (for importers, at least). Namco Bandai is cramming a load of Gundam history into this upcoming action game, and this trailer does its job of reiterating that point. This lengthy video goes over the nearly endless stream of characters and suits that are playable in the upcoming game. With production values like these, it's easy to see Battle Universe tearing up the Japanese sales charts for yet another easy PSP victory. Watch out for it.

More mechs from Gundam Battle Universe have been revealed in scans from Weekly Famitsu. Check out the full scans over at PSPHyper. There is even a short TV commericial of the game here from the Japanese Playstation Movie Channel. Definitely some sensory overload here -- we counted 22 screenshots in a single frame! Gundam fans should look for this game July 17th in Japan or your favorite import retailer.

For those who are anticipating the July 11th Japanese release of Gundam Battle Universe, we have a couple of scans to help alleviate the pain of waiting for this import to reach your hands. It features of the mecha from the many incarnations of Gundam, new mission features, and their female (at least I think they are... one can never tell with anime) pilots. Why is there another Gundam game you ask? Like the endless number of Dragon Ball Z games, they never fail to sell extremely well over in Japan.

This Gundam Battle Universe trailer has everything a Gundam otaku needs. There's a good set of mobile suits to see. Even more exciting is watching those same mobile suits blow each other up all to the sonance of those wacky sound effects and overly-excited voice-overs. What's there not to love? And hey, there's four minutes of it. The game seems to be set for release on July 17 in Japan. Anyone planning to import?

[Via PSPHyper]

If you can't read Japanese, this is going to be a tough pill to swallow, but you can trust us ... right? It seems another Gundam game is making its way to the PSP -- this one's based on the Gundam ZZ license and has some familiar faces from the show, if you can remember back that far. This is a classic one, back when giant robots were still relatively fresh. Or not. Anyway, there are plenty of screenshots to check out, so do check them out. It looks rather nice!

The Japanese can never have too much Gundam. PSP has been home to a number of Gundam titles, and each one has sold a fair share of copies. The upcoming Gundam Batlte Universe is an unsurprising addition to the PSP library, all things considered.

It's yet another compilation game, which combines many decades of Gundam lore into a single title. Tipster Torin V. says that it plays like Virtual On -- we'll take his word on that.

Check out the entire scan at GAForum.

The next limited edition PSP system is designed for the new Gundam game. Sporting a red face and a black back, the system is tattooed with the "Principality of Zeon" and a logo. This limited edition system comes bundled with the upcoming game and will be priced 25,890 Yen (around $212). The bundle hits the Japanese populace on February 7th.

[Via PSPHyper]

Have you ever casually approached a friend and asked, "Want to play a game of Kidou Senshi Gundam: Giren no Yabou, Axis no Kyoui?" We doubt it, but come February 2008, you might. Well, you'll refer to it by its English title, Mobile Suit Gundam: Giren's Ambition, Threat of the Axis, which is still a mouthful. This is the first Giren offshoot title in five years, and it's coming straight to your PSP.

The game is a hexagonal strategy game, distributing your forces and moving them about in a strategy phase, then battling enemies in turn-based combat -- sort of like Fire Emblem titles. But with gigantic robots. In this game, you'll find scenarios from plenty of other Gundam franchises to play through, so no matter which Gundam floats your boat, you'll find something to enjoy. That is, if promises of a 20-30 hour game with 400 robots hitting PSPs at the end of February isn't exciting enough.

Who would've thought that a licensed anime game could ever look so enticing? Ruliweb got some hands-on time with the newly released Japanese import, and it looks absolutely fantastic. The battles look like a blast (pun intended), with some miraculous mech action on display. The game has all the production values from the original anime, from TM Revolution's intro to Souichiro Hoshi's grating adolescent voice. Gundam fans will have a tear come to their eye when they see Victory flash on the screen, with See-Saw's ending playing in the background. Is this not some truly spectacular fan service?

Check after the cut to see more screens of the game. For more details, check out our previous coverage.

[Via PSP-Vault]

Every week we pray to the import gods and ask them to give us more import games to enjoy. This week we have an anime based game, a sports game and a ton of budget re-releases. Keep reading to see what's coming from Japan this week.

Continued after the jump ...

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.

For the non-believers, this is a demo reel (note: no sound) showcasing some of the hot new titles coming to the PSP soon. You'll see the Ape Escape Racer, Jeanne d'Arc, the new Talkman, PaRappa the Rapper, Ratchet and Clank, Ace Combat X, Gundam Battle Royale, Tales of the World, Boxer's Road 2, Monster Hunter Portable 2, and more.

It's clear that the games library is maturing quite a bit on the handheld. I'm really impressed by how far the handheld has gone graphically, and that's with the CPU clock still limited 33%. A lot of these games look like winners, too. I'm really psyched for Jeanne d'Arc and Tales of the World. Ratchet and Clank looks absolutely beautiful too.

With E3 seemingly now a shadow of its former self, the gaming industry's focus may shift to the Tokyo Game Show, which just so happens to be only a mere seven days away. TGS 2006 goes from Sept. 22 through 24 at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan. And to whet your appetite, Sony has released a preliminary list of the PSP lineup that should be in playable form at the event.

• Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception (Namco Bandai Games)
• Bounty Hounds (Namco Bandai Games)
• Boxers Road 2: The Real (Ertain)
• Gundam Battle Royale (Namco Bandai Games)
• Homestar Portable* (Sega)
• Jan-Sangokumusou (Koei)
• Jeanne D'Arc (Sony Computer Entertainment)
• Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel (Konami)
• Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops* (Konami)
• Minna no Golf-jou* (Sony Computer Entertainment)
• Monster Hunter Portable 2nd (Capcom)
• Navigation Software* (working title) (Edia)
• Ratchet and Clank Portable (working title) (Sony Computer Entertainment)
• Sarugettchu Piposaru Racer (Sony Computer Entertainment)
• Tales of the World Radiant Mythology (Namco Bandai Games)
• Tenchi no Mon 2: Busouden (Sony Computer Entertainment)

(* – supports GPS)

In addition the already mentioned games, Sony will show new video of 35 more titles. I believe the big story here is how effectively the GPS games use the add-on. If Sony can get software that show the peripheral is more than a gimmick, the PSP may be able to gain some ground on the DS.

(Via Gamespot)

You may remember that SD Gundam was the best selling PSP game ever in Japan, selling more than 150,000 units in its first week alone. It looks like Bandai and Sony are ready to kick some ass again. Battle Royale allows four players to jump into their favorite Gundam and fight against or with their friends in a pretty cool-sounding cooperative mode. It looks like the entire franchise is represented in this outing, so Gundam geeks are going to go wild when this game hits Japan in October.

See also:
SD Gundam G Generation wins in Japan

I'm sure by now Mario is haunting Kaz Hirai's dreams. It seems like the plummer just won't give up that top spot, but more importantly, the Nintendo DS once again had seven games in the top 10. And that's not even counting another of which is a Gameboy Advance title.

1. New Super Mario Bros. (DS) - 103,774 / 2,835,708
2. Tamagotchi no Puchi Puchi Omisetchi Gohiikini (DS) - 65,554 / 400,429
3. Shaberu! DS Oryouri Nabi (Cooking Navi) (DS) - 55,759 / 346,719
4. Brain Age 2 - Nintendo (DS) - 45,978 / 3,031,411
5. Animal Crossing: Wild World (DS) - 41,813 / 3,119,108
6. Daito Giken Pachislot Hihouden (PS2)- Daito Giken - 39,070 /*NEW*
7. Rythm Tengoku (GBA) - 29,911 / 88,089
8. Tetris DS - Nintendo (DS) - 26,791 / 781,110
9. SD Gundam G Generation Portable (PSP) - 25,716 / 217,943
10. Brain Training for Adults (DS) - 25,139 / 2,713,284

I guess the one good thing for us PSP fanboys is at least Gundam is holding down that ninth spot, right? But in its third week of release, it barely beat out Brain Training, which has been out for 67 weeks.

(Via Games Are Fun)