Hudson News, Hudson Features

There's hope yet

Late yesterday we reported the sad news that Konami is dissolving Hudson Soft, one of the industry's most experienced development companies. Although it's clear that Hudson will no longer exist as an independent entity, there's now hope that it may still retain its own brand and identity. Hudson released a statement on its website, translated by Andriasang, which seems to suggest..

Form a line

Remember your first time playing Tetris on Game Boy? You know what would make that experience even better? 3D. Nintendo has just announced that Tetris: Axis will see release in North America on 2nd October, bringing with it 8-player Download Play, Augmented Reality and SpotPass features too. In fact, there are over 20 gameplay modes,...

No parting shots

Takahashi Meijin, known to many as Master Higgins or as the master of rapid fire button-tapping, has announced he is leaving Hudson after nearly 30 years at the company. Joining the company in 1982, Takahashi rose to prominence for his ability to fire 16 shots per second in Hudson's Star Soldier, a skill that led to the creation of a specific practice tool, the 16 Shot! Shooting..

Any more Hudson titles on the way?

Following the news of the North American arm of Hudson disbanding last month leaving the future of its titles uncertain, Konami ― the publisher into which Hudson will be absorbed ― later clarified what the official situation was regarding Hudson's projects. Speaking to Wired, a Konami spokesperso

Omega Five gone, too

At a time when we all want to hear about more 3DS games in the pipeline, it seems Hudson has struck a few games from its release schedule, cancelling Bomberman, Omega Five and Bonk. Andriasang reports the games are confirmed as cancelled in this month's Famitsu magazine, but also warns that there may be other games facing the chop as well. Whether or not this is connected to..

Hudson's going all out

A few days ago we spotted a rating for Super Adventure Island on the OFLC, but now yet another game in the series has been rated for the Virtual Console, although this time it's by the ESRB instead of the OFLC. It might be easy to miss on the ESRB site, as it's not a "new" rating, but if you search for Super Adventure Island II, you will find that the game's old..

Another Adventure Island game added to the queue

Only last month, we reported that the OFLC had rated the second NES outing of everybody's favourite overweight islander based on a real person, Master Higgins, thus very likely meaning it was on its way to Virtual Console. Well, the OFLC has struck again, and has rated yet another Adventure Island game. This time, it's Super Adventure Island, the..

Good old ESRB

Remember that old Nintendo 64 romp Bomberman Hero? If you never got to play it, you soon might, as the ESRB has rated the game for Virtual Console. Bomberman Hero is most notable for being a completely single-player Bomberman adventure, forgoing the series' famous multiplayer options in favour of a solo quest based largely on the plot of Star Wars. Naturally the ESRB rating doesn't..

OFLC reveals that Hudson's still got some retro plans

When it was announced that the North American branch of Hudson Soft would be shutting down just last week in order to focus on more "casual" games for Konami, many people took it as a sign that the company would also drop its remaining Virtual Console support. Thankfully, this is not the case, as the latest OFLC ratings update has..

US office shuts up shop

Hudson Entertainment, the North American localisation arm of Japanese firm Hudson Soft, is to close its doors for the last time. A blog post by product manager Morgan Haro has revealed the Western distributor of Hudson games has been disbanded, with all Hudson's previously planned projects hitting the skids as well, meaning we'll likely never see Bonk: Brink of Extinction..

Studio to be absorbed like one of Bomberman's explosions

Hudson, well known for its Bomberman and Deca Sports series, is to be fully absorbed by Konami on April 1 of this year. Konami, the studio behind Castlevania, Dance Dance Revolution, Silent Hill and many other titles has been Hudson's parent company since April 2005, holding a 54% stake. The new arrangement will switch this to a 100% stake,..

Ball-playing, bomb blasting and brain training on the menu

Hudson has just announced the first three titles that they plan to bring to the 3DS this year. We already knew about the next entry in their Deca Sports series, now titled Deca Sports Extreme, and they've also added Bomberman and Nikoli's Pencil Puzzle, both working titles, to the mix. The former will obviously continue the popular..

A couple of surprises

Last December left us scratching our heads over what the complete list of sports were in Hudson's upcoming 3DS title, Deca Sports 3D, known as Sports Island in Europe. Aside from the initial four that were revealed, the remaining six were largely recognisable but a couple left us guessing. In the lead-up to the 3DS's Japanese...

Back in time for Christmas

If you're up for some Super Bonk action – and you live in Europe – you're in luck, as the game headbashes its way to Virtual Console this Friday. The Super NES classic isn't the only Virtual Console title heading to Europe before Christmas: Mario Party 2 is Nintendo's festive gift to you, launching on Christmas Eve. Will you be grabbing Bonk this Friday?

4 out of 10 sports officially revealed

Hudson is keeping itself busy with its line-up of 3DS titles and the company's Japanese website has been updated with some screenshots of the upcoming instalment in the Deca Sports franchise (otherwise known as Sports Island in Europe). Deca Sports 3D (not final title) will feature ten different sports, and from the icons on the website's game page, they..

Bonk, Omega Five, and Tetris due in 2011

Hudson's been keeping pretty quiet on the 3DS front since it pledged its support for the machine back in June at the E3 expo. Initial announcements of the Bomberman, Deca Sports, and Kororinpa franchises are now beefed up thanks to an additional three titles that have been added to the company's Japanese website. First up is the side-scrolling shooter Omega..

All in Japanese, though

The ESRB outed My Planetarium a month or so ago, and now the Japanese website has been updated with the first screenshots and trailer of Hudson's upcoming gaze 'em up. With three different modes allowing you to view the night sky freely, learn about the history of constellations and search for particular clusters, nebulae and more, the game's development has been overseen by..

We take Hudson's new platformer for a spin

It doesn't take a genius to see that Hudson's upcoming Lost in Shadow release isn't your typical run-of-the-mill platformer. Not only does the game feature a protagonist that's not even a real person, rather his shadow, it also features some absolutely mesmerizing audio and visuals to further make it stand out from the crowd. Hudson was kind enough to send..

Our well of shadow puns is running dry

It may have been pushed back until 2011 in North America, but Lost in Shadow is still looking like one of the Wii's brightest upcoming releases. This behind-the-scenes documentary is in keeping with the game's unique graphical style, projecting the game's development team as shadows rather than the usual talking heads in a fashion usually reserved for..