It said: “Dear Hudson fans. Thanks for your support for all these years! We’ll be closing our account tomorrow.”

Konami’s acquisition of Hudson is due to complete tomorrow.

Hudson was founded in May 1973 by the Kudo brothers, Yuji and Hiroshi, having begun as a shop selling art photographs and telecommunications devices. It wouldn’t be until 1983, when it started developing games, before it would see the birth of its well-known series: Bomberman. Hudson also made the Adventure Island series.

Hudson also ported Super Mario titles and Donkey Kong 3 plus more to other platforms for Nintendo.

In 2005, Konami bought a majority share in Hudson before announcing in January this year it was to fully absorb it into the company. The main goal for the merger is for Hudson’s experience in mobile and social gaming after the debut of Viva! Mall.

Take a few moments to think fondly of all those Bomberman sessions over the years, and join us in wishing former Hudson-ites all the best.

Thanks, GoNintendo.

Wired received a stern statement from the publisher on the undecided fate of games like Bomberman 3D and Bonk.

“If (the announcement) didn’t come from us, it’s not true. We have not distributed any official list of Hudson products yet.”

Although it has been suggested that Famitsu cleared Hudson Soft’s projects following news of the studio’s re-purposing, a number of other canceled projects have been noted by Andriasang, including two ancient listings from Konami of which nothing has been heard in years.

Another pair long-forgotten titles from Now Production, which may have been Konami-published projects, also got the chop.

It’s looking like Famitsu’s editorial took a gamble on some uninformed tidying, or that Konami’s Japanese arm requested a clean up of the magazine’s release schedule. If the latter, it wouldn’t be the first time the Western branch of a Japanese publisher went uninformed.

Hudson Soft has cut 40 Japanese jobs in the Konami acquisition, and closed the entire Californian division.

Thanks, Destructoid.

Andriasang reports a number of Hudson’s 3DS titles have vanished from Famitsu’s release schedule without explanation.

The AWOL titles include Omega Five, Bonk, and Bomberman. No word on DECA Sports Extreme and Nikoli’s Pencil Puzzle.

Following the announcement of acquisition by Konami, Hudson’s Californian arm was slated to close.

Japanese development division Hudson Soft has been rejigged into a social network developer, with forty staff let go.

Andriasang reports 40 Japanese jobs will be cut as part of the restructuring, through a voluntary redundancy process.

Hudson Soft’s Californian arm will close shortly, shelving three in-progress projects.

Hudson Entertainment is in the process of folding into parent company Konami.

Thanks, Gamasutra.

According to Haro, the studio closure also means that previously planned projects at the location have been canceled.

“There apparently won’t be any need for the talents within the San Mateo offices of Hudson Entertainment,” wrote Haro. “It was revealed today that all of Hudson’s previously planned projects have been canceled and that our office will be closing it’s doors at the end of February.

“As the industry continues to march towards the drum of Western game development, Hudson became for me, a symbol of why Japan has fallen behind when it comes to bringing world-wide hits to gamers.

“The act of producing and developing a game in Japan, and then bringing that game over to the US to compete in an increasingly competitive market is more and more, and incredibly tough proposition. A challenge in itself to be sure, but to compound the issue, minimal communication and stifled collaboration seems to be hampering the chances of success. In previous generations, developers only had so many factors to worry about to produce a title that meets a general level of acceptance. But as we, as gamers, became more accustomed to games that demanded not only more from the player, and in turn, more from the developer, many companies seem to be having a hard time keeping up.

“All together, the key to better success for Hudson needed to be grounded in higher communication and collaboration on a game’s development from beginning to end. I could go more into detail about specific points for specific games, but speaking from a general level; bring the development out from isolation and use the creative resources we had here stateside to engage in a more collaborative development process. We have so many fun titles that could have benefited from our collective passion. So many franchises that we could have created and improved upon to make gamers sit up and pay attention. In fact, it was an initiative I had wanted to see through by going to the corporate office in Japan with the above mission in mind. But without taking measurable steps to bridge the culture, communication, and collaboration gap, we end up swimming in our own kiddie pool, watching the cool kids rush through the awesome waterslides on the other side of the fence.

“But at the end of the day, I have respect for Hudson’s goals, and I’m proud to have been a part of it.”

Apparently, a press release will be issued soon, but in the meantime we’ll email Konami.

Thanks, Joystiq.

Along with 3DS upgrades to the franchise and single-player experience, new gameplay mechanics include the all-new Life System which allows players to extend the life of their characters on the battlefield.

There’s also Local battles which can be played with up to four players, while the Wi-Fi Connection enables up to eight players to battle it out.

The game’s single-player adventure takes place in a 3D city set in Bomberman’s world where you must free Central City from renegade robot corps. It contains special bombs not found in multiplayer modes which you can use to solve puzzles, “navigate treacherous pathways, and blast your enemies”. You can also play through in local co-op gameplay mode.

No date yet, but it’s out this year.

Hudson has announced it’s to release DECA Sports Extreme, Bomberman and Nikoli’s Pencil Puzzle on Nintendo 3DS.

Here’s a description of each game:

• DECA Sports Extreme will feature 10 3D sports: Soccer, Tennis, Basketball, Ice Hockey, Snowball Fight, Sumo Wrestling, Bowling, Snowmobile Racing, Sport Blowgun and Trampoline. Players can collect power-ups throughout each event to unleash powerful special moves such as a giant racket in tennis, a cannon dunk in basketball, or a rainbow shot in soccer. Compatible with up to four players through download or wireless play, DECA SPORTS EXTREME allows players to customize teams and choose from various venues. DECA SPORTS EXTREME will be available on the Nintendo 3DS Summer 2011 and is not yet rated.

• Bomberman (working title): The “Blue Bomber” is brought into eye-popping 3D with its world-famous multiplayer and an immersive single-player adventure. Players can navigate beautifully designed arenas and take in the sights of Central City. Bomberman takes full advantage of the revolutionary Nintendo 3DS to provide long-standing or existing and new Bomberman fans with a 3D gaming blast. Bomberman will be available Fall 2011. Rating pending.

• Nikoli’s Pencil Puzzle (working title): The first brain-training game for the Nintendo 3DS. Gamers can engage their minds with four challenging puzzle games including Sudoku, Hashiwokakero, Shikaku, and Akari to invigorate the mind! From world-famous puzzle maker Nikoli, Pencil Puzzle brings fan favorite puzzles to players’ finger tips. Nikoli’s Pencil Puzzle will be available Fall 2011. Rating pending.

Screens for Bomberman and DECA are below.

All three are to be released this year.

Konami confirmed earlier in the week it’s to fully absorb Hudson on April 1.

Konami’s confirmed that it’s to fully absorb Bomberman developer Hudson by the start of its next financial year.

According to Andriasang, Konami, who became Hudson’s parent company in 2005 when it bought a 58 percent stake, will fully own the company on April 1, the start of fiscal 2012.

The main aim for Konami to absorb Hudson is for its knowhow in mobile gaming and social gaming after the latter’s recent social debut, Viva! Mall.

Hudson CEO Michihiro Ishizuka will stand down on March 31, and will be replaced by Konami Digital Entertainment’s Kazuhiko Uehara.

Konami is also looking into other aspects of the move, such as name changes and merging the two companies business operations.

Hudson has finally released Bomberman Live: Battlefest on Xbox Live Arcade.

Announced last year, and expected to it around winter 2009, you can now get the game for 800 MSP.

The game is a sequel to the downloadable title Bomberman LIVE, which has sold more than 600,000 copies, and will feature the same “frantic action that the series is known for”.

It includes 8-person online multiplayer, as well as all-new features including: teams, new modes, new arenas, new power-ups, new costumes, and even the ability to use an avatar as a playable character.

DLC will also be available with the first batch hitting on December 29 and a Bomberman suit or t-shirt for your Avatars will arrive on December 15.

No word yet on when this will land on PSN or WiiWare, but both systems are also expected to get the game.

There’s a video for the game through the link up top, and preview over on Bright Hubs.

There’s also eight pages of screenshots posted over on Gamespot.

Germany’s videogame ratings board, the USK, has outed some sweet TurboGrafx-16 titles, which according to the listing, are heading to Europe for PSN.

Here’s what you can eventually expect, as there’s no date at this point, obviously:

• Bonk’s Adventure
• New Adventure Island
• World Sports Competition
• Victory Run
• Soldier Blade
• Dungeon Explorer
• Super Star Soldier
• Alien Crush
• Neutopia
• Bomberman ’94

PSN users in Japan have been already playing TurboGrfx-16 titles  since July last year.

We’ll mail Sony and see if we can get an official date, since Hudson has been promising this for quite some time now.

Thanks, Siliconera.

Hudson has announced its interspecies shooter Shootanto: Evolutionary Mayhem is leaving Japan and heading to WiiWare for Europe and North America.

From the press release:

“In Shootanto: Evolutionary Mayhem, players start as primates and battle lizardmen across the epochs, from primeval to medieval times and beyond. Players who survive each battle will evolve from a lowly monkey to an apeman, then caveman, a human knight, and finally a soldier. The combat continues to change as the lizardmen also evolve throughout the game. Co-op mode allows players to survive the onslaught together.”

Expect it sometime this month.

During the course of the week, loads of indie games, less mainstream titles and those point-and-click adventures you are always hearing about, sometimes get lost in the shuffle -what with news on Uncharted 2 and Modern Warfare 2 happening every three minutes or so.

That’s why, much like the MMO news round-up, we’ve decided to remedy this by giving you a heads up on news, demos, patches, announcements, trailers, screens and other doodads pertaining to these games that you missed out on during the week.

Yes, it’s all here for you in one post! See how much we love you guys? Another wall of text for the win!

While not comprehensive, since there are loads of this sort out there, we will do our best to be as thorough as possible.

Read on past the break for the first of, hopefully, many “Indie and other games of interest” post.

• Hello Games, a new indie start-up formed by ex-Criterion, Kuju, EA, Sumo and Climax developers, announced its first title, Joe Danger for a spring 2010 release on XBLA. “Joe Danger aims to recreate the childish joy of the first time you took a toy motorbike, doused it in lighter fluid, lit it, and launched it at high speed over your carefully constructed ramp out a second story window” said Sean Murray, the team’s lead developer. “You are Joe Danger, the world’s most determined motorbike stuntman. You live to thrill the crowd and break World Records. A call back to retro classics like Excitebike, this 3D side-scrolling stunt-em-up is a burst of sugar-rush fun for today’s jaded gamers.” Thanks, TeamXbox.

• Asgard Heroes, an upcoming browser-based space strategy game from Evolution Vault, was announced this week. While there is no release date as of yet, here is a taste of what it contains: “Far away in the galaxy, an alien species prepares intensively for a full-scale galactic war with unknown enemies. As a future Fleet Commander, your skills and limits are put to the test, by being willingly stranded on an abandoned colony. You have to rebuild the existing structures, research new technologies and challenge your other brothers, who apparently have the same task as you do- to prove themselves worthy.” Blue has more on this.

• Looks like XBL indie title, Clover, now has a publisher and is headed to PC. Blitz plans to release a thicker version of the game called Clover: A Curious Tale complete with new puzzles, multiple endings, sub-quests, and epilogue with more polished animation, graphics, user interface and effects. The music and controls received a complete overhaul, and regional languages for Europe has also been added. Good to hear. Via Eurogamer.

• Venetica, a dungeon-crawler expected for Xbox 360 sometime in the near future from Deck 13, is your classic-style RPG, which creative director Jan Klose feels are making a comeback of sorts in the market. “I’m sure that consoles are going to see a lots of RPGs like Venetica in the near future because demand is there. In fact, Venetica is perfect entertainment for consoles, being easily accessible with stunning visuals and a very intuitive controller layout. We were very happy about the opportunity to design a game for both PC and Xbox 360. GUI and controls were developed very individually, and I am sure that they are going to satisfy both parties!” Currently only available in Germany on PC, dtp entertainment plans to see how well it does on 360 and PC outside of the country before deciding on a PS3 port. More through D’toid.

• Finwick is an action platformer created by SmallGreenHill, where you play as a boy tasked with delivering a package to Prattle Barker, an ecologist who lives in Fargrown Forest. During your errand, you will come across traps, contraptions, pitfalls, obstacles, and monsters trying to impede your progress. There is a small bit of puzzle to it as well, with a friend joining you on your journey as it progresses – this is where it gets a bit harder as you have to now get two character through obstacles instead of just one. Should you decide to give it a try, it will run you $6, but you can play the first twenty-five levels for free. Via IndieGames.

• The iPhone remake of The Oregon Trail is coming to DSiWare. In it, “bears may attack, snakes can bite, robbers will loot, and diseases do come (“You have died of . . .”), but the hardened traveler is expected to overcome these unfavorable events to reach the promised Pacific Northwest,” explains the ESRB which outed the news. “If disease or injury is left untreated, family members will fall to the ground and die, leaving headstone icons in their wake.” It honestly sounds a bit fun. Thanks, D’toid.

• Until October 5, Direct2Drive is having a massive indie game sale, and has the following games up for cheap: Mount and Blade, World of Goo, Defense Grid: The Awakening, Sword of the Stars, Cogs, Light of Altair, The Path, Bridge Construction Set, Gish, and Zatikon. Head on over here now before the sale is finite.

• New details surfaced this week for Bonk: Brink of Extinction. Apparently, in Bonk’s newest adventure for WiiWare, XBL and PSN, you will have 30 stages across three worlds to take the little monkey guy through, and DLC is planned allowing for a second adventure mode and two multiplayer modes. The multiplayer will feature “drop-in, drop-out” for cooperative in both local play and online play. There’s a bit more on this over on Kombo. It’s out in the spring.

• Audiosurf, the music-adapting puzzle racer that uses your own music, is on sale via Steam for 50 percent off. The version posted includes the Orange Box soundtrack, and can be yours for $4.99 instead of the usual $9.99. Get it while it’s hot.

• Tale Worlds has re-opened its Beta application process for Warband, the upcoming multiplayer extension to its popular indie title Mount and Blade. Should you want to try and get an invite, head on over here and fill out the application. Yahoo email addresses are not being accepted for some reason, so hopefully if you want in, you have an alternate address.

Hudson has put out a teaser for Bomberman Live: Battlefest, which is a Bomberman party game, and the music reminds you a bit of a funky Isaac Hayes groove for a Shaft-centric 70′s TV show.

Also, the video is explosive, and why would you expect anything else from a Bomberman game.

When released this winter, it will land on PSN, WiiWare and XBLA.

Video is below the break.

According to this week’s Famitsu release list (via AndriaSang), Bomberman’s bringing his adorable brand of arson to the DSi’s download service in October.

Or at least, that’s the date for Japan, anyway. Hudson hasn’t actually announced the game yet, though, so the what’s, when’s, and why’s of the West are still up in the air.

We’ve contacted Hudson for more info. Here’s hoping the publisher gets back to us soon, maybe with some news on the long-awaited Bomberman: Act Zero sequel.

Hudson has announced that Bonk and a new Bomberman are heading to PSN, WiiWare and Xbox Live in 2010.

Bomberman Live: Battlefest has Capture the Flag, VIP and Teams modes as well as new power-ups and Xbox Avatar support.

Bonk is a new adventure with co-op and online play.

CVG has screen for both through here.

Full details on each are below the break, courtesy of NeoGAF.

Bonk

Bonk. Is. Back! Hudson’s loveable caveman makes his long-awaited return and has brought his enormously giant head with him! Get ready for an all new adventure exclusively on Xbox LIVE®Arcade, Playstation®Network, and WiiWare™ in Spring 2010!

A doomsday comet, surrounded by smaller chunks of debris, is on a collision course with Earth. A strange magnetic field around the comet seems to be driving most of the planet’s weak-willed creatures crazy, and smaller bits of debris are smashing into the jungle near Bonk’s home. Bonk must undertake a perilous journey that will take him to the very center of the planet to save the world.
The Return Of The Most Widely Requested Classic Platformer

• Story Mode with Co-Op play. Play alone or have a friend join you at any time!
• An entire new adventure with Bonk as he swims, bites, climbs, jumps, runs, and head-butts his way through jungles, deserts and volcanic caverns
• Search for help along the way: power ups, check points, and extra health are the staple for every adventuring caveman.
• Transformations are back and weirder than ever! Now Bonk can transform himself into eight different forms by eating meat or encountering Primordial Jelly. No enemy is safe from the boy with the super noggin!

New Features
• Online play for the first time in the series!
• New enemies with incredible variations in personalities and abilities. Beware the Raptor Unicycle Tank!
• Classic 2D platforming in a 3D world.
• Tons of collectibles will have you searching the entire prehistoric world.

Join us as we welcome Bonk back into our hearts! For those who haven’t played the originals, you’re in for a prehistoric side-scrolling adventure, the likes of which you’ve never seen! Coming soon for XBLA, PSN, and WiiWare.

—————————————————————
Bomberman

Ready for more? The sequel to the immensely popular downloadable game brings more action, more multiplayer fun, more powerups, more modes, more maps, more costumes, more….everything! The classic Bomberman gameplay upgrades with new features (including the fan-requested Teams gameplay!) that will have you hooked on blasting friends online or locally. And with up to 8 players online, every match is guaranteed to be epic fun! With an array of gameplay options at your disposal, Bomberman Live: Battlefest is set to rock the house on Xbox LIVE® Arcade this Winter, and detonate on the Playstation®Network and WiiWare™ in 2010!

Teams!

Assemble the crew. It’s time to bring the bombs with your buddies and prove who’s got the chops to hold the Team crown! Play locally or bring the pain online; it’s more fun with friends!

New Modes!

All new ways to claim your Bomberman crown! Learn more about these team-only gameplay modes and how they’ll change the way you play.

VIP
Protect the VIP! Two teams of four each have one VIP on their squad. Unfortunately, the VIP is so important, they can’t set any bombs! You’ll have to work together to defend with your other team mates who must escort the VIP to a designated point at the other end of the arena.

Capture the Flag
The classic multiplayer game is here in full form! Both teams have a flag so both teams will need to both attack and defend their flags as well. Coordinate effectively as a team to come out on top! It’s CTF, Bomberman style!

Capture the Crown
First appearing in Bomberman Blast, Capture the Crown makes a triumphant return! Players start on the edges of the arena with one crown in the middle. The player who is able to hold onto the crown the longest wins!

Bankroll
It’s points for power-ups! Players earn points for bombing other players, destroying blocks, and so on. The twist? Destroying blocks rarely yields a power-up. At the end of each match, you’ll trade in your points gained for power-ups in the menu in between matches. Bomb wisely!

New Powerups!

5 all-new powerups make their debut! Will the power of the Cluster Bomb be your new go-to? Or will the destructive Laser Bomb be a game-changer? Veterans need not worry as all the classic powerups return in full force! Customization options allow you to pick and choose which power-ups appear in any given arena.

New Characters!

You thought you had choices before? Bomberman 2 packs 18 new costumes in addition to the original selection from Bomberman Live! Mix and match 3 costume pieces from Napoleon Bombaparte, Chef Bombardee, Sir Bombalot, and more! Make your Bomberman your own!

New Arenas!

The Bomberman battlegrounds have changed once again, this time with more tricks, gimmicks, and fun! From Adventure Island themed landscapes to the shape-shifting MultiMaze, no battle will ever be the same!

XBLA Avatar Support

Bring your avatar on to the battlefield with the XBLA version! Your avatar is no longer stuck on the menus, and can now run, throw, and bomb with all combatants on the map!

Konami has officially announced Hudson Soft’s Calling for Wii which is slated to land in early 2010.

The player begins the game trapped in a strange room, with the Wii Remote doubling as the on-screen mobile phone. Using a torch to see dark areas, players will receive calls to their handset, which are answered by raising the Wii Remote to their ear.

Exploration and puzzle-solving is called into play, with claustrophobic locations hiding secrets and danger.

Creepy.

More information is through the press release below, and GoNintendo has some screens of it posted.

Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH has unveiled a terrifying new take on the horror genre, in the form of Hudson Soft’s CALLING for Wii. Using unique interaction elements, the Wii game features an innovative adventure concept and is driven by its terrifying story and many traps and mysteries. It will be distributed by Konami in early 2010.

CALLING brings new heights to the horror genre, with a breath-taking control system that immerses the player into its nightmare scenario. The player begins the game trapped in a strange room, with the Wii Remote doubling as the on-screen protagonist’s mobile phone. Using a torch to scour the dimly-lit area, players will also receive mysterious calls to their handset, which are answered by raising the Wii Remote to their ear. From this simple basis, CALLING then ramps up the fear, as a ghostly voice speaks directly to the user…

The story revolved around the urban legend of the ‘Page of Black’ website. Rumour has it that anyone accessing the site will die from a coma brought on by an unknown cause. The site is a simple black page with a numeric counter in the centre, but is linked to a low-key chat room. Not everyone can enter the chat room, but on doing so, the player’s psyche starts to receive calls from ‘Abyss’,. They then enter a state of limbo in a place known as ‘Border’ which is seemingly located between life and death.

There are several areas in the ‘Border’, and they are inhabited by Spirits which start contacting its various feelings via the user’s mobile phone. Occasionally, these spirits will also attack the player. As such, while avoiding their attacks, the user must attempt to solve the mysteries of ‘Border’ and has to seek an escape route.

CALLING is a horror title like no other. The fear generated by the received phone calls and the eerie location serve to create a tense, nightmarish situation. A clever mix of exploration and puzzle-solving is called into play, while the claustrophobic locations hide secrets and danger within their many shadows. From the moment the first, crackling call is received, CALLING will scare the player and make them wary of picking up the phone…

Hudson Soft’s Wii horror game, The Calling has been confirmed and scans from Famitsu prove it.

The game will make use of an in-game cell phone to send and receive texts, take video, and record audio. It’s 70 percent complete, and five characters have been shown so far.

Two of the leaked videos that Hudson pulled a while back are posted over on Cubed3.

The Famitsu scans can be found here and here.

No word on a release yet.

Microsoft’s offering free Live multiplay on a bunch of XBLA games over December, including A Kingdom for Keflings, Aegis Wing, Bomberman Live, Hardwood Hearts, Hardwood Spades, UNO, Small Arms and Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. Which is nice.

So if you’re a Silver member looking to try out “proper” Live, here’s your chance.

There’s more detail on GamerScoreBlog.

• Dr. Mario & Germ Buster (Nintendo) – 1000 Wii Points
• Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King (Square Enix) – 1500 Wii Points
• LostWinds (Frontier) – 1000 Wii Points
• Star Soldier R (Hudson) – 800 Wii Points
• TV Show King (Gameloft) – 1000 Wii Points
• Pop (Nnooo) – 700 Wii Points
• Pirates: The Key of Dreams (Oxygen)
• Toki Tori (Two Tribes)

“The game-software industry is one of the sectors that will lead corporate earnings this fiscal year,” said Yoshihiro Okumura, of Chiba-gin Asset Management Co. in Tokyo. “In particular, companies related to Nintendo have a lot of room for profit growth.”

Hudson will release eight Wii games this year, according to that piece. More numbers through the link.