Role-playing pioneer Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa might be dead come February 28th, but the team behind the title continue to show their dedication to the game's dwindling fanbase by patching in the promised player-controlled mech robots at the last moment, perhaps delivering a taste of what might have been had the game not tanked so horribly.

Five new mechs have been added to the Edmund Range Training Grounds zone in the game, which has been newly enlarged in order to accommodate some heavy metal combat. While four of the mechs are class-themed, any class can take them for a spin, provided they have the Logos symbols necessary to activate the suits' special abilities.

With the addition of the new mech suits, now would be the perfect time to login to the now free-to-play Tabula Rasa and give them a go. Well, I suppose now would be the only time to do so.

Deployment 16.4 - Patch Notes and Known Issues [Tabula Rasa via Eurogamer]

I never bought Steel Battalion, despite my intense love for giant robots (I think you all know what I'm talking about...uh huh...you over there in the Evangelion t-shirt) and everything that accompanies them. Mechwarrior 2 was probably the first game soundtrack that I really flipped out over (composed by Bill Brown) and I've been lugging mp3s of it around for nigh on ten years.

That said, plunking down over 200 clams for a specialized, mech-only controller was just insane. The battlepods over at Wizards of the Coast were still in business, and there was just no point.

But I know some of you couldn't help yourself, and you may cease hiding your shame as of now. Siliconera explains:

That mammoth sized Steel Battalion controller was a costly Xbox accessory at the price of $200 plus dollars. It's a one of a kind device designed for mecha games. Wouldn't it be cool to use the same controller for MechWarrior games on the PC? If you have an Xbox USB controller converter and the freeware program PPJoy to map the buttons to the controller. There are already custom button layouts made for MechWarrior 3 and MechWarrior 4.

Buttons maps are also available for Freespace 2, and for a generic 16-button, 4Axis, 1 POV joystick. Have at it! Eliza Gauger

Explicit instructions and downloads for the VT controller [c_McBride, via Siliconera]

Richard over at Aeropause has succeeded in wresting the Chromehounds demo from Xbox Live's xenophobic Australian servers by dint of some pretty sneaky ninja maneuvers: he made a new account and pretended he was Australian.

Alas, the game sounds more ponderous than the yearly episode of spyware removal, defragging and general "tech support" required during Christmas visits to your parents' house:

Alright, after getting my brand new demo, I sat down and played it several times trying to get a feel for the game, and after about the third time through I said to myself stop playing this game, it's boring! The pace and feel of Chromehounds is one of an overgrown chess set with no end in site. The mechs move incredibly slow and they turn even slower. I timed how long it took to do a 360, it took 15 seconds, which means if you are getting plastered from behind just kiss your ass goodbye.

Horrible. Give me blasty mech madness, dammit! Eliza Gauger

EDITED TO ADD: I just had a friend try this and he wasn't able to get the demo. Has anyone reproduced Aeropause's mechy results?

Chromehounds Demo Review [Aeropause]

If you like headshotting mech-suit wielding cyborgs in the head with a bazooka and having your triumph punctuated by a big fat Windows crash message, keep your eyes open in August. Battlefield 2142 is going to have an open beta around that time. DICE is also hinting at a demo a couple weeks before the game hits.

This scant post brought to you from the Department of Being Jet-Lagged Department. Florian Eckhardt

Battlefield 2142: Let There Be Open Beta [Flicker Gaming]

Stompy mechs! Exquisitely rendered rocket tails! Sunny blue skies! Shooty little hoverbots! Splosions!

Yanked right out of Computer and Video Games' grippy little fingers and smeared, still steaming, all over Kotaku's head and neck. Come readers, let us stare into the future of fun... together. Eliza Gauger