As promised by the good people at Nintendo, the weekly updates will from now on be jammed packed full of gaming goodness, both retro and modern. That’s right. Each week we’ll not only be hearing about new Virtual Console releases but we’ll be getting some brand new WiiWare news as well. Does this mean less VC releases on a weekly basis? Only time will tell, but if this week is any indication the answer is yes because we’re getting two WiiWare games, Critter Round-Up (Konami, 1-4 players, Rated E for Everyone - Comic Mischief, 1,000 Wii Points) and Star Soldier R (Hudson Entertainment, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone - Fantasy Violence, 800 Wii Points) and only one VC release in the form of SKYKID (NES, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone - Mild Cartoon Violence, 500 Wii Points).

Hudson is hopping into the WiiWare field with an update on their classic shooter series Star Soldier. Star Soldier R appears to be your basic shooter with a heavy emphasis on racking up the most points you can in a limited amount of time. It’s going to have to be good because with all the classic shooters out on the VC, shooter fans aren’t lacking games to play. I’m glad to see that the first shooter out for WiiWare looks like some good classic gaming fun.

Critter Round-Up on the other hand looks like some new-gen family friendly fun. It’s an action puzzle game in which you have to keep different animals controlled by mending fences with your Wii remote. From the looks of it this is one of those games where you think you’re getting something stupid and it turns out to be some damn compelling puzzle gaming. Then again, it could just be stupid. With over 50 levels it’ll at least occupy your time either way.

I was never that into SKYKID because I couldn’t figure out why birds needed airplanes to fly. Why didn’t the birds just fly themselves and destroy the bases in scrolling shooter action that way? They’re birds, they have wings and yet…oh, well. On top of this personally irritating feature, the fact is you can do better than this if you’re looking for early NES fun. Namco has a classic here but I suspect that it doesn’t stand up to well to the ol’ test of time.

Birds in planes, I mean really, it doesn’t make sense. Releasing all these games at 9 a.m. Pacific time? Now that makes sense.