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.

Star Soldier R Tournament and Sweepstakes Announced
Sign Up Today on Hudson's Website

“SHOOT NOW, WIN PRIZES LATER”
TOURNAMENT & SWEEPSTAKES FOR STAR SOLDIER R ANNOUNCED

Players Can Sign Up on Hudson’s Website Beginning May 27

REDWOOD CITY, CA – May 27, 2008 - Hudson Entertainment, the North American publishing arm of Hudson Soft, today announced that registration for both a tournament and a sweepstakes for the recently launched galactic shooter, Star Soldier R for WiiWare™ on Wii™ begins May 27, 2008 and will go through June 24, 2008, concurrent with the contests.

For players who want to see if they can achieve the highest score in Star Soldier R in the nation, Hudson Entertainment is hosting the 'Star Soldier R "Shoot Now, Win Prizes Later" Tournament & Sweepstakes', beginning at 12 a.m. May 27, 2008 and runs through 7 p.m. on June 24, 2008. Gamers will have one month to vie for the high score in Star Soldier R’s “5-Minute Mode” where the top players on the ranking leaderboards have the chance to win prizes. Two rounds of tournament prizes will be awarded based on players' scores. To sign up, players must register on the tournament registration page, located at (http://hudsonentertainment.com/tournament_register.php?tournament_id=2).

The first place winners will receive Hudson's Top 5 Wii Games along with 16,000 Wii Points™, 10th place winners will receive 10,000 Wii Points, and the players in 16th place will win 4,000 Wii Points. For the sweepstakes, 10 users will be picked in one random drawing to win prizes. For more information about the contests please visit the registration page.

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.

STAR SOLDIER R FOR WiiWARE BLASTS ONTO THE Wii

Hudson's Classic Shooter Returns to Put Your Skills to the Test

REDWOOD CITY, CA - April 16, 2008 - Hudson Entertainment, the North American publishing arm of Hudson Soft, today announced that it is bringing Star Soldier R to WiiWare™ on the Wii™. (ESRB Rating: E for Everybody, Fantasy Violence).

This tournament-style outer space shooter challenges players to achieve a high score in either a 2-Minute or 5-Minute Mode. In 2-Minute Mode, players have just enough time to battle through one action-packed stage and one giant boss. In 5-Minute Mode, they also have enough time to fight their way through a second level with its own boss. Additionally, players can play Quick Shot Mode to see if they have the fastest trigger fingers around! Once gamers have their scores, they can go to the online leaderboards to see how they compare with other players in their region and can keep playing to improve their ranking. There's also significant depth and replay value to this challenging game, as players can keep practicing to learn all of the different strategies to achieve bonus points in both 2-Minute and 5-Minute Modes. If they discover them all, players might have a shot at having the top score in the world!

Like traditional vertically-scrolling shooters, the game features a top-down perspective and players fly from the bottom of the screen towards the top, shooting at any ship or structure that obstructs their path. As players progress, they can collect power-ups to increase their weapon or shield strength, and an all-new Force System enables gamers to collect up to five orbiting satellites that can be held close to the ship for defensive cover, or can be sent out for additional firepower. Players can also decide how they want to play, choosing from three control schemes - Nunchuk™ and Wii Remote™, Wii Remote only (held sideways) or the Classic Controller™.

"There is a lot of excitement surrounding WiiWare and we are proud that Star Soldier R will be one of the titles available on the platform," said John Greiner, President and CEO of Hudson Entertainment. "For Hudson, the potential of WiiWare is endless, and gamers can be certain that we will be bringing additional content to WiiWare in the coming months."
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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]