Hudson only released their WiiWare title Star Soldier R last week in North American, and already they're holding a tournament and sweepstakes that could see you crowned the top Star Soldier R player in the nation, nab you some nifty prizes, and maybe - just maybe - get you recruited by the Star League to defend the frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan armada.

The Star Soldier R "Shoot Now, Win Prizes Later" kicks off today and runs through June 24th, when players with certain scores in five-minute mode being awarded prizes. The reason I say certain scores, is that Hudson, attempting to be crafty, is awarding prizes to 1st, 10th, and 16th place, with ten users chosen at random out of the remaining players who register to win random prizes.

Up for grabs? The grand prize is 16,000 Wii points and "Hudson's Top 5 Wii Games", which pretty much equates to 16,000 Wii points, give or take a few bucks. Head over to Hudson's web page to sign up for the festivities, and don't be afraid to use the death blossom maneuver if you find yourself in a pinch.

Well I suppose we can't call it the Virtual Console update anymore, seeing as WiiWare is now added to the mix. We'll just go with weekly Wii update for now until we think of something snappier. This week sees two new additions to WiiWare from big-name publishers and one tiny game for the virtual console.

On the WiiWare side of the fence we have Konami's Critter Round-Up (1,000 points), and action puzzle game that has you mending fences til the cows come home, or the penguins, dingos...the game has several exotic locations included. 50 different levels plus mini-games like Snowball Soccer and Predator Rampage.

Joining Critter Round-Up is Hudson's Star Soldier R (800 points), offering you classic shooting action in 2 and 5 minute chunks.

Finally we have more scrolling-shooter action with Sky Kid for the NES (500 points), the original bird-flying-a-biplane game.

I know, it's a lot to take in, and with my Wii memory dwindling perilously I'm not sure if I can get any of these games this week. I suppose it's nice to know they are there.

Hudson's classic Star Soldier series has already appeared in four different iterations on the Wii Virtual Console (Super Star Soldier, Soldier Blade, Blazing Lazers and Star Soldier), so now it's time for the next step. Introducing Star Soldier R for WiiWare, the tournament-style rebirth of the classic series. What's tournament style? Well players can compete in three modes - 2-Minute, 5-Minute, and Quick Shot. Gamers are challenged to get the best (or fastest) score in any mode, with online leaderboards keeping track of things. You still collect power-ups and take on waves of enemies...just not as long as you normally would. It's an interesting idea...promoting bite-sized snippits of gameplay over a full, multi-level experience, but it could work. If anything it'd be perfect for that quick morning gaming fix, and Hudson could very well offer more downloadable challenges in the future. We'll see once the game comes out whether the concept works out or it proves to be a little short for a Star Soldier.

Star Soldier R Revealed For Wii

Hudson may be bringing another shmup in the Star Soldier series to the Nintendo Wii, with Star Soldier R making a tantalizingly brief appearance at the company's caravan tour in Japan. While free of Wii-remote gimmicks, it's unclear what new gameplay elements the vertical shooter will bring to the series. Anyone unfamiliar with Hudson's Star Soldier may want to invest in the Virtual Console release of the Turbografx-16 version as the above video isn't exactly clear viewing.

Star Soldier R on Wii - video and report from Hudson Tour [Gaming In Japan]