Not E3: Gundam AGE co-developed by Level 5!?

I am a Gundam fan from way back- well, 2000 or so, which in terms of a 32-year franchise isn't really "way back." But anyway, there've been a lot of Gundam series, some good, some astonishingly bad, some meh. But what there has never been before is a Gundam anime co-developed by a maker of video games.

But this is precisely what the new series, Gundam AGE, is going to be. It's being worked on "at all levels" by Level-5, creators of the Professor Layton series and programmers of the wonderful Dragon Quest VIII and IX. With VIII they were the ones who finally made DQ look as good as it deserved, and I've had a soft spot for them ever since. Gundam does from time to time have a little problem with stagnation, and I'm hoping that they'll bring something new to the series.

That something new may even be legitimately good licensed games, hopefully! Capcom's Vs. Series is probably the closest we've gotten so far- I'd count Dynasty Warriors Gundam, but if you don't like one of those two things already it's probably not going to convince you otherwise. Bandai, the legend goes, has a habit of hiring programmers fresh out of school to make Gundam games. The Japanese public buys them because they say Gundam on the box, the green programmers get a hit game on their resumes, everybody's happy! Except, y'know, the people who bought Gundam: Crossfire, universally panned as the very worst PS3 launch game. So, I'm hopeful that this will be something new and good for Gundam on all fronts!