The giant-robot game will hit in September featuring online cooperative play, eight-player online battles, plenty of customization and one very convoluted storyline.

In the distant future, massive urban development and pollution have critically damaged the planet. There is widespread fear that the end of the world is approaching. The League corporations, a military superpower, control the planet's infrastructure and have forced most of the world's population to live in huge aerial communities, called Cradles, to avoid the contamination. The ORCA, a rebel resistance still residing on the surface of the polluted planet, have amassed a formidable arsenal and are mobilizing to attack The League's bases to put an end to their iron grip on the planet. As a mercenary armed with cutting-edge military robot technology, choose your side and defeat the other factions by harnessing the power of the deadliest and most gigantic weapons ever created by mankind.

Here's the full run down of game features ripped straight from Ubisoft's brand-spanking new fact sheet for the game:

• EPIC BOSS BATTLES – For the first time in the series, cut your way inside colossal mobile battle stations and destroy them from their very core. Identify and exploit the weaknesses of 10 uniquely designed GIANT mobile battle stations to defeat them.

• PLAY WITH A FRIEND IN SEAMLESS CO-OP MODE OR FACE SEVERAL FRIENDS IN MULTIPLAYER MODES - Cooperate online with a friend in more than 30 missions or face up to 7 other players online in more than 80 different battlefields.

• CUSTOMIZE YOUR MECH WITH HUNDREDS OF PARTS AND WEAPONS - Find the right combination of weapons and armor that will help you take down colossal enemies. With more than 130 new parts and 400 parts total, enhance your mech to take on increasingly deadlier mobile battle stations. Create the perfect mech design to defeat a powerful enemy and share it with your friends online.

• SWITCH FACTIONS AND MAKE DECISIONS THAT CHANGE BOTH THE STORYLINE AND YOUR COMBAT EXPERIENCE - Choose your side among different factions including The League, The ORCA and the independent city states, each one having their own sets of giant mobile battle stations, mechs and characteristics, allowing for unique battle experiences. The decisions you make during your adventures will result in one of 3 different possible endings to the war.

• FIGHT GIGANTIC MILITARY VEHICLES IN BEAUTIFUL, EXPANSIVE ENVIRONMENTS - Experience high-velocity daylight combat or low-visibility night battles as changing weather and time modify the atmosphere of more than 40 battlefields including snow field, desert, ocean, underground and city. Fully destructible environments will bring even more sensational realism to your epic battles.

• 2 DIFFERENT CONTROL SCHEMES FOR BEGINNERS AND VETERAN PLAYERS - New intuitive controls will allow beginners to skilfully operate your mech in no time. If you are a veteran player, enjoy the full range of controls available in previous Armored Core installments.

Armored Core: for Answer has been available to Japanese gamers since March, but we've heard little about its chances domestically since then. We've also heard little in the way of rabid interest.

Don't worry, Ubi fans. They'll still be releasing six titles under the Imagine brand and two under the Petz brand during the same time frame. This giant robot sim won't upset the balance of its line up by a noticeable degree.

Armored Core: For Answer Nabbed By Ubisoft, Ships This Fall [GameCyte via SiliconEra]

Tenchu 4 For Wii [2chan]

HALO
Alongside the two already-announced Kotobukiya statues was a mockup of the third, Cortana, due later this year. She'll feature a light-up base, making her the perfect night light for the insomniac, living-with-parents thirty-something. Also announced was a fourth Kotobukiya figure, due much later, that will depict two Spartans on a Mongoose. Presumably in a manly, combative pose, and is not just the one riding hanging on lovingly to the one driving.

GEARS OF WAR
Having already unveiled four Gears of Wars figures, NECA have promised to show off further variants and exclusive new figures at the show. They've teased one of those exclusives on their own web site, which you can see above. If that's not the splatter from a chainsawing diorama, then I'm a hat-eating monkey's uncle.

STREET FIGHTER
SOTA aren't actually attending the Fair, but have timed some announcements for it anyways. They are releasing three 1/6 scale resin statues based on Street Fighter characters, each going for USD$100. You'll be able to get Ibuki, Sagat and Blanka.

BLUE DRAGON
No pics yet, but Bandai announced they'll be releasing two action figure lines, one 4", one 7", with each line featuring the "stars of the show". No prizes for guessing, then, that these ones are aimed at kids, with the 7" figures coming with a free episode of the cartoon series.

ARMORED CORE
Kotobukiya aren't just showing off their bigger, Halo-related stuff. They're also displaying some of their Armore Core line, which let you swap and mix body parts so that you can customise your own mech, just like the game.

FINAL FANTASY XII
And finally, where would we be without ludicrously overpriced Squeenix merch? Not at a damned Toy Fair, that's for sure. This is a 1:1 replica of Judge Master Gabranth's helmet from the game. 1:1 as in, yes, you can take it off the base and wear it. That fashionable headgear comes at a price, however: $1300. Yes. $1300.

USTF Coverage [Action-Figure]

Think Second Life meets PlayStation Home set in modern day Tokyo. Dubbed "meet-me," it's a MMO from Sankei newspaper, digital marketer Trans-Cosmos and From Software, the folks behind Armored Core. The PC title shows all 23 Tokyo wards in 3D and runs on Windows Vista and be out at the end of the year in Japan. The early meet-me screens show famous Tokyo landmarks like Shibuya 109 and lots and lots of Armored Core 4 adverts. Can't help but feeling that unless mechas are worked into this MMO, From Software's talents are being somewhat wasted. Brian Ashcraft

meet-me [Famitsu Thanks, Riyu!]

Blogger Danny Choo is on the ground taking pics at the Shizuoka Hobby Show. There are the usual suspects like Gundam and Evangelion. These Armored Core models are fabulous, though! Do check the rest of his coverage of nerd stuff to clutter up your bookshelves and desks. Brian Ashcraft

Armored Core [Danny Choo]

These include Gran Turismo HD Concept v1.2, now compatible with force feedback steering wheels, an Armored Core 4 demo and a handful of trailers (Stardust, Are We There Yet? and Perfect Stranger).

Good thing this hit, I was about to unleash a tirade directed at Sony for not having enough Ice Cube comedies on the Store. Relationship ruining crisis averted! Michael McWhertor

This is an excellent opportunity for those of you who have held off on buying the game to realize what a good idea that was. I've had the game since it came out, forcing myself to play a little each day to try and squeeze out some sort of enjoyment. The best thing I can say about it is painting your mech is an great way to avoid actually playing.

Today it gets traded in towards Guitar Hero II.

Note that the demo is only available in the North American market. Wouldn't want to spoil the surprise for the Europeans. Michael Fahey

It's East meets West, really. There are games that Western gamers pick up and take to easily. Same goes for Japanese gamers. Sometimes they are the same games. Sometimes, they ain't. Over at GameSetWatch, Ollie Barder uses Armored Core to examine the issue:

Armored Core as a series of games, outside of Japan at least, has always had a tough time of wooing the journalistic throng and punters alike. On the one hand you have the people who think the game is clumsy and difficult to control and then you have, well, ninjas who take to the games like mechanical ducks to water.

From a Western perspective, Armored Core is a third person action game that has restrictive environments, hideously complex customisation and counter-intuitive controls. Alternatively, in Japan at least, the games are thought to be very focused in terms of their level design, contain comprehensive customisation and very thorough controls.

It's all about how you look at it and whether or not you invest the time to view it properly. Brian Ashcraft

Talking AC4 And Virtual On [GameSetWatch]

On top of possible disappointment, I just wish I were half the writer whoever came up with the PSM quote was. "Looks bad...bad ass that is!" The sheer weight of the wit crushes my spirit. I could never come up with anything that brilliant...brilliant ass that is!

See? I suck at that. Michael Fahey

Tomorrow, cross-platformer Armored Core 4 hits American shelves. Earlier, we posted about the differences between the PS3 and the Xbox 360. An HD trailer has hit, which explores this differences in detail. Moving detail. From Software's Toshifumi Nabeshima sounds off on his company's game:

Regarding the policy in the title development, we make judgments properly depending on the situation, which means that we came to the conclusion that it would be best to release the title on multiple platforms.

...Hmm, this is a fairly needling question. (laugh)

As to the both versions' contents, there are basically no big differences. You can choose either one based on a console you own.

And there you have it! Brian Ashcraft

AC Interview [AC Ravens, Thanks Ollie!]

This isn't apples and oranges. It's apples and something-that's-not-quite oranges yet. Amored Core 4 has been available for the PS3 for sometime now, and the 360 demo has hit Xbox Live. There are differences, which people have latched on.

I pinged Insert Credit and GameSetWatch's Ollie about the differences. Dude knows his shit. The PS3 version has subtler heat haze effects, and while many believe the 360 demo has full screen anti-aliasing, Ollie believes otherwise. He says, rather, that the it's just the blur filter the Xbox 360 has — The XBOX had it, too.

Effects in the PS3 version seem to be hardware rendered, while in the Xbox 360 version, they are software rendered. What's more, Ollie points out that the frame-rates in both versions seem comparable (though, some people think otherwise). He adds that there are frame-rate drops in the PS3 version, but its only in two missions.

In a nutshell: We can't compare the two versions until the actual 360 version is released. And even then, aren't we leaving slight of what's important? Like, you know, the game. Brian Ashcraft

Comparing AC4 [Kansai Blog Jyuuza]

It's a tradition. A new Armored Core game brings a new Armored Core tournament. AC4 is no exception, and it is. This go-round will be online via the PS3. The top thirty ranked players will face off in a Tokyo, and the winner will get ¥200,000 (US $1,665) in prize money. Tourney starts March 1st and last 21 days. Entry is free.

Know: This comes from a good source. Ollie over at Insert Credit wrote the IC post we're sourcing for this article. Dude adores AC and even won an Armored Core tournament. In Japan, no less! Brian Ashcraft

Armored Core Tournament [Insert Credit]

Ollie at Insert Credit sends word that mecha title Armored Core 4 will get its Xbox 360 outing on March 22nd next year. The game is currently out on the PS3, and the 360 version should help boast the console's library (and street cred) among Japanese gamers.

No word how different the 360 version will be (save for the rumble controller and Xbox Live). But Japanese gamers will get extras like an artbook, a DVD and stickers. Stickers? I love stickers! Brian Ashcraft

AC4 Dated [Insert Credit]

My fantasy mech game would have a flying Robot Maria hovering over a 1920's expressionist Germany, blowing things up with lasers from her large metal breasts. (Extra points if you know what that's a reference to.) Flynn De Marco

Oh noooooooooes! The eagerly anticipated robo title Armored Core 4 has been pushed back seven (count 'em) days. The title will now be released in Japan on the PS3 on December 21st. So, what gives? No reasons have been called for delay, but doubt its anything major. The Xbox 360 still has that delightfully vague "early 2007" release title. Brian Ashcraft

AC4 Pushed Back A Bit [Insert Credit]

It's nice to see companies address the really important things. Things like, if I buy Armored Core 4 for the PS3, can I play online with 360 owners? The short answer: No, doofus, you can't. But AC 4 creator From Software has put up a FAQ that takes on concerns like where are the floating leg types and heat damage. Ollie at Insert Credit adds:

They also went out of their way to explain that there won't be online compatability between the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game (ah, bless).

Thankfully, they didn't feel it necessary to point out that the 360 disc won't work in the PS3 and vice versa. Brian Ashcraft

Good To Know [Insert Credit]

These are huge next-gen size screenshots, so up that resolution now! Michael McWhertor

Armored Core 4 Screenshot Gallery

The cross platformer ARMORED CORE 4 will be hitting the PS3 on December 14th and will retail for 8,190 yen. It's Xbox 360 drop date and price has yet to be announced. While I'm not personally dying to pick up ARMORED CORE 4, the third person shooter does give a better window as to pricing for the PLAYSTATION 3 in Japan. Previously, we mentioned that Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog would retail for 7,140 (around US $60), but looks like ARMORED CORE 4 will command around US $70. Okay, I've hit PS3 software price quote post quota, but somewhere in the back of my mind I dread seeing the hundred dollar PS3 game. Sony, don't let that happen. For your sake. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Dengeki Online]

I got some hands on time with Sega and From Software's Armored Core 4 which made two things very clear: playtesting games without having any idea what the controls are makes for a frustrating experience and that the game likes to lock up the PlayStation 3 a lot.

While waiting for booth girl to wipe off the otaku palm grease from my controller, I saw the demo units go down over a dozen times. You can see one of the dudes from From Software rebooting the thing. That's right—the PS3 units at the top of the case are for display only. They're running the game off of Tool kits right now. Yes, that's totally normal, but I found it amusing. (I'm sure I'm the only one)

The game actually looks amazing. The few moments that Sony showcased during their press event were a very good representation of the demo level. Featuring a very gloomy, hazy and heat-rippled desert city, the mech run and gun action was solid Armored Core stuff. The lighting was very unique, the only light sources being a setting sun clouded by smoke and dust or the bright light of your mech's afterburners and energy shield. And that gritty filmgrain look? Very cool.

I'm hoping the rest of the game looks this good, as it's fighting for my PlayStation 3 launch window dollars. Michael McWhertor