I have to say that the return of a proper Ace Combat is nice. The arcade action combat from Bandai Namco Entertainment might not be the biggest news of the conference, but I appreciated seeing its in action. Shockingly more than three years in the eight generation this is the first Ace Combat console game. Everything shown for for is just typically Ace Combat with little innovation, but I'm okay with that. Nice visuals supporting an anime styles story that isn't the heavy handed melodrama they had for the last few games, is what I wanted and what they seem to be delivering.

Just as there is car fetishism with Gran Tourismo and Forza, there is aircraft fetishism in Ace Combat games. The well rendered aircraft both historic and modern, the cockpits, and even the seamless inclusion of fantastical anime-design jets gets me excited.

The above is not the shorter e3 sizzle reel, but I like that it shows off that classics mission structure, briefing, and weapon selection.

I'll admit right now the VR mode does interest me. The 3D cockpit view and looking around could be very cool even as just a novelty.

How can you say this is "just" an Ace Combat mode when it will have VR support? That's going to be crazy awesome. Flight games are one of the best uses of VR.

I'm actually pretty jazzed about this game for that reason. I think it's going to be a real fun time!

Damn, that music is the best. Game looks absolutely awesome! Never played one of these before, might have to look into the older games now as well.

So this is another exclusive platform VR? It wont have VR support on PC? Seems to me if these companies really want to VR to succeed they need to be a little more open with what games are what platforms.

I mean, the PS2 era Ace Combat games still look good, but this looks so good. I hope the PC release will be simultaneous to the console versions, and not delayed by two years like Assault Horizon was.

This game is hitting all the right notes to make me interested in it than I would be normally. Plus it has been a really long time since I've put any time into a brand new arcade fighter jet game.

I see gigantic mile-wide super-fortresses are still a thing in AC7. That's all I needed to know to know that I'm going to play this.

Gamescom trailer:

I love the Ace Combat PS2 games. AC4,5 and zero are all great with fun gameplay and great story. AC6 was ok but I never likes it as much and after that I've not cared about the series since it has been so different but I hope we will get good old AC again.

This game has the F-104 Starfighter which is one of my favorite planes. Shown very briefly in the video. It is a beautiful plane with classic looks from the early space age. I hope it will be playable as well. Even if it is ancient compared to modern planes.

So, uh, where is this game? We got an announcement in 2015 and the last we heard of it was at Gamescom last year when we just got a trailer and info that the game would be out in 2018. But now Bandai Namco is not showing the game at E3, which does leave me worried. This may sound silly, but I think that Ace Combat 7 was my most anticipated game for this year.

Hopefully we'll hear something come this year's Gamescom in August.

Woo!

@damodar: Good, my faith is renewed. Maybe we'll even get a release date?

Also, it's cool that we're still getting announcements on the last days of E3, instead of everything just being farted out in the press conferences (or leaked beforehand).

@damodar@isomeri Trailer's out, still no release date. I'm getting a bit worried...

@briarpack: Yeah that's a lot of the same stuff they showed in the last trailer...

I wonder if some of the long delay is them trying to get PSVR right. If that's the case, I hope they take as long as they need to get that spot-on. I really want a great flying game to sink my teeth into on PSVR.

PAK FA, nice. Is that a new reveal? Now how about a fantasy world where the YF-23 get to fly again?

I am just ready for another Ace Combat. It's been a LONG time since I enjoy ones of these and this one seems to be going back to the AC4 format. It looks good, and I have to admit that Namco just knows how to inject enough "Japanese Mecha" feel to the late-stage bosses. That something that western develops of arcades jet games just never did well - the fanatical feel of what an aircraft 'could' look like.

New trailer, release date is January 18th for consoles and February 1st for PC.

So they're slipping into next year, at least the delay is short.

@briarpack: thanks for linking this.

I AM HYPE.

(Razgriz squadron represent)

Funny, I was just looking up info regarding this game last night. Some of the visual definitely looks unfinish, but the high points are pretty nice. This will likely be my first proper dive into their crazy fictional world. Only mess around a little with AC3 ages ago and gave Assault Horizon a go since it was on the PC...really don't know what to expect.

I am unjustly excited for this. I hope it lives up to the hype.

Man...I would kill for a remaster/remake of the PS2 Ace Combats.

@toastburner_b: Agreed a remaster of 4, 5 and 0 would be fantastic.

That trailer looks like exactly what I want out of Ace Combat, at least in terms of tone.

Anime as fuck. Maybe Dan and Jeff would be way into this now.

It's looking how I need it to look and I don't mind waiting a bit longer. Or, well, it does suck that the Steam version will come a bit later.

Ace Combat 7 Will Include Ace Combat 5 as Pre-Order Bonus for PS4, Ace Combat 6 for Xbox One

PC gets shafted :(
If they're making these ports for consoles then surely they'll have them available as standalones, right? RIGHT? I'm going to play AC7 on PC and don't really want to pre-order on PS4 just for AC5.

Ace Combat 5 was really great, but that's not enough of a reason for me to pick the PS4 version over the PC.

@briarpack: Remember that AC6 was on 360, i'm sure these are just back-compat versions of these games, no remaster work has been done on them therefore no PC ports.

Hopefully this will lead to a rerelease of the 3 PS2 games, I personally would have preferred 0 over 5 for a preorder bonus.

For some reason I've never even seriously looked at an Ace Combat game but...

Is this secretly just MGS with planes? Suddenly I'm all in.

It seems like there was an article about a month ago where the devs said that there won't be a standalone version for the pre-order games. I don't believe that because it's nonsensical, it would make much more sense to have standalones available some time after release.
That being said, I guess these motherfuckers are making me buy two copies, 'cause I do really want AC5 after all.

• A group of prisoners is recruited to fly jets because DAMN IT, there is nobody else...they are repeatedly called PENAL units are bad boy & bad girls [sick guitar riff]
• There's a Princess who appears naive; but is actually the strongest one....and she actually a General - bitches!!!
• The most dark & moody 'bad-girl' with tats from prison is the counterpoint to the Blond princess...but I they become friends for some sort of wedding I image happens at the end!
• All voice overs for the visuals of jet flying, convicts on a cots, or just ripping out throats MacGruber-style have 'opera singer' background music because...HARDCORE CLASS!

This game will be cool, or at least very memorable.

Wow, I had missed that Gamescom trailer. Very much what I wanted this game to be. Bummer about them not including any goodies for the PC version, but still, good to see it won't be more than a couple of weeks later than the console releases.

Some new promo stuffs before release.

That opening cinematic revitalized my hype, it has some atmosphere.

I'm incredibly excited for this game.

I really love this series but I play it mainly in first person cockpit mode so it just become a FPS with flight physics shooting at distant objects. Battles devolve into constant turning and rippling off missiles. The trailers look awesome but in actual gameplay you are never going to get that close to appreciate the detail of the aircraft.

The pre-order bonus nonsense has me annoyed as well. Certain aircraft like the F-104 and F-4EJ Kai are exclusives and the inclusion of HD remasters is tempting me but I know this game will be 20 dollars in a few months like most Banco games. The PSVR mode is what interests me most.

If there's a PS4 Pro mode for 1440p at 60 fps, I'd think about pre-ordering there -- it's not exactly a beautiful or modern looking game IMO -- but it is cheaper on PC on some sites, 32.99 vs 44.99. I'm torn, but there are other ways to play older AC games. Think I'll go PC, 'cos I can really lose myself with the Xbox One controller's triggers in shooting games.