A sub-genre that by all indications should never die out of sheer awesomness - giant robots - seems to have fallen off the face of the Earth.

Long gone are the days of Mechwarrior, Mechcommander, Heavy Gear and such, and I've noticed I haven't seen ANYTHING of this venue in the past few years. Granted, I'm a PC gamer and maybe consoles have it better, but I'd expect to hear about a high-profile game of that type somewhere.

Am I just looking in the wrong places or has this form of electronic passtime gone the way of the dodo?

It seems like they come out with a new Armored Core title every few years. They are usually pretty good, but they are for consoles.

there arent as many as there used to be, but when you look close enough you' ll find one or another here and there-armored core4 for example.

Symp4thy:
It seems like they come out with a new Armored Core title every few years. They are usually pretty good, but they are for consoles.

I am actually playin' Armored Core for answer and I really like it, if you're feelin up to big robots that one is pretty good

also

I'm hoping for zone of enders 3

but then again if you are a pc gamer, it gets harder I think

Supreme Commander?

See Dynasty Warriors: Gundam. While I love giant robots and I love Gundam, this pretty much did it for me.

Syht:
I am actually playin' Armored Core for answer and I really like it, if you're feelin up to big robots that one is pretty good

The last one I have played is AC3, but I've been meaning to get around to playing a new one. I'll probably get AC4 first and then try For Answer.

I want a new Mechwarrior D: Number 3 doesn't work on my new PC, but it was sooo sweet. That said, the anime-styled 'Bootfighter Wingdom XP SP-2' is hella sweet, especially for a freeware game - google it and give it a shot.

To hell, where they belong

The only giant robot game that I miss is Front Mission, I only got to play the third game in the series but I enjoyed the shit out of that game.

Hmm, there was Chromehounds on the 360 a short while back, boring as hell, but an okay game. Also, are FASA still around even? Hasn't been a good Mechwarrior game in ages.

Mechwarrior games have hit a nadir point of sorts. Right now some of the original people who worked on Mech Assault and some of the Mechwarrior games have reacquired the rights and are planning to do something with the license. Of course, there's been no news since then and that was almost 15 months ago. There was a plan to make Mechwarrior 5 back in 2003 but it got cancelled, which is a shame because I felt, with the new "Dark Age" setting of the mythos, there could be some interesting mech battles made (Chainsaw-weilding Forestry Mechs, for example). There is apparently a Crytek Engine-based Fan Mod being made with Microsoft's approval, however

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MechWarrior_Living_Legends

After Armored Core 2 those games seemed to just fall down a steep cliff into mediocrity and horrendous difficulty scaling. After Armored Core 4 sucked so hard I couldn't stand it anymore.

And Square-Enix is very touchy-feely when it comes to releasing its Front Mission games in any place but Japan. They did however give us the DS re-release of Front Mission 1 which I enjoyed.

Lastly there's still not a lot of words about Mobile Ops: One Year War for the 360, but I hope that comes out since I can't think of any reason why Gundam + Battlefield can turn out bad.

I really miss Z.O.E. that game was amazing!

The only giant robot game I want is another Zone of the Enders one. Hey, I'll even take a sequel to Fist of Mars (which I thought was amazing).

Oh Mechwarrior 2 how I miss thee!

Recent giant robot games feel to dumbed down for me, sadly I have no hope we will ever see a good mech game again.

darrinwright:
See Dynasty Warriors: Gundam. While I love giant robots and I love Gundam, this pretty much did it for me.

Up until I played this game, I never really knew what it was like to pilot a machine that could make Zaku II's explode/asplode just by being in their general vicinity.

AceDiamond:
After Armored Core 2 those games seemed to just fall down a steep cliff into mediocrity and horrendous difficulty scaling. After Armored Core 4 sucked so hard I couldn't stand it anymore.

You mean with some of the missions in which you go up against multiple AC's, right? I can understand why some seemed to be too easy, like in AC Silent Line, the three ACs you encounter had to break into Layered Hub and probably encountered weapons and defense systems that were still active, thus why they had less AP (No excuse for their crappy skills though, honestly, chain gun man should've been tougher than that, y'know, the Controller worshipper from AC3?).

Or where you talking about the MTs? Personally, I like fighting MTs that prove to be challenging (...not MTs that exceed the capabilities of my AC, however. CHAOS 2.whatever? Fine, those little crap MTs from AC Another Age? "Okay, easy enou-oh my god! It's the bastard child of a Next and a Pulverizer!! Aaahhh-*hsssshk*).

The concept of giant robots is pretty silly, but they made for some fun times. I love customizing my fighting machine, and the Mechwarrior games had it. They also had big outdoor environments when such things were unknown outside of flight sims. These days, you'd think it would be a cakewalk.

I want more giant robot games!

For one, the lack of competition is probably one of the reasons why Armoured Core has declined noticably in quality recently.

For another, HEAVY GEAR ROCKED!

OneHP:
What was the one released for the original Xbox? It had its own massive and complicated controller, including 2 sticks, system start-up buttons, eject button protected under a cover, etc..

Steel battalion. If it were not 200 bucks I would play it, that thing was COOL. I do miss giant robot games, the latest one or newest one I have played in a while was Armored Core formula front for my PSP. I wish it was a traditional type AC than tournament style though, still good. I am hoping Gundam Vs Gundam is good and that we get another Zone of the enders. I kinda have the urge to play fist of mars again.

Onmi:

Samurai Goomba:
The only giant robot game I want is another Zone of the Enders one. Hey, I'll even take a sequel to Fist of Mars (which I thought was amazing).

Oh Samurai there announcing the new SRW today, here's hoping for Original Generation 3

I forgot about the SRT games. Also, Robot Alchemic Drive had a lot of potential. A sequel could really be something. With the next-gen systems, a lot of the presentation problems the original had could be fixed.

Here's hoping Original Generation 3 actually comes out on a system I own, which is very unlikely. But hey, the PS2 got Persona 4, so I guess anything's possible.

I'm waitng for SRW for PS3, since I can import and play it without getting a Japanese system or modding my own system.

I hope for some of the new units they add some sentai mechs or at the very least make Go-saurer's debut in the SRW series.

I f-ing love Go-saurer's finisher: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9oqOXe7bDs&

Uh, Exteel? It's free, crappy, and unbalanced...but dammit it has it's moments of fun.
http://www.exteel.com/us/

J-Man:
Supreme Commander?

That's what I was thinking. But it doesn't really have the "Epic" scale robots due to the perspective. Yes, they're meant to be huge but it wasn't like sitting in the cockpit of a MechWarrior.

Well, you can just play Custom Robo and pretend that the basic stages are actually New York City.

Hell, worked for me.

They went straight to hell, exactly where they belonged.

They stayed lost in Japan like they should.

Onmi:

the captain:
They went straight to hell, exactly where they belonged.

blackcherry:
They stayed lost in Japan like they should.

Oh you two did not just say that.

MECHA ARE A MANS ROMANCE! THE POWERFUL WEAPONS! THE ABUSE OF PHYSICS! THE SHEER AWESOME DESIGNS!

besides your both wrong, there are still plenty of Mecha games released in the west.

so in hindsight your both looking pretty stupid right now

It was more a hope than statement of fact I must admit. Still doesn't change the truth ;)

They were all melted down for scrap metal. And beer money.