If you're an Xbox owner, you really must purchase the original Steel Battalion. It's a conversation piece, a badass controller, and a hardcore gamer's dream all at once. Capcom recently cranked out a second run of SB, which I'm told has blue buttons on the controller instead of green ones -- anyone wanna trade? -- and which you can, as of this writing, order directly from Capcom's own website. Operators are standing by. If you don't have $200, go steal it from a friend or relative; the intensity of the SB experience will be worth whatever time you serve for your petty theft.

Now, then. Line of Contact lets you play the world's best giant-robot game via Xbox Live and System Link, with up to ten players in each mode, and oh my sweet Lord what I wouldn't give to experience, or even witness, a ten-player System Link setup in action. (Will any LAN-gaming centers out there pick up the gauntlet?)

I touched upon most of LoC's gameplay features in my recent preview, but I'll give you an abbreviated repeat in case you recently suffered a Men in Black-style memory wipe. The first play mode is "Free Mission," in which you play with VTs you've purchased and missions you've played in the second play mode, the campaign.

The first action of the campaign is to register a pilot. You select his or her age, gender, and nationality, choose one of several dozen goofy pilot mugshots, then choose to fight for the Hai Shi Dao (bad guys) or Pacific Rim Forces (good guys).

Each campaign is a "round" of a month or more, divided into "turns" of several days, and a clock at the campaign menu tells you how much time remains in the current round and turn. You can also observe the current "battle status" to see how much of the hexagonal map is possessed by each faction.

VTs are the only safe way to enter East Los Angeles.
Menu navigation is carried out with a standard controller plugged into the second port, through which you also use the Communicator headset. The message boards let you set up matches and item-trading/auction sessions; the rankings table lets you check out the leaders in eight categories, including weapon accuracy and Vertical Tank (giant robot) tippings; the supply and maintenance options let you purchase VTs and weaponry; the hangar option lets you design custom insignias (64 x 64 pixels and 16 colors, half of 'em shades of gray) and tweak your VT color schemes.