Most of my friends would say that my confession of "I am not really a sports guy" is a very big understatement. In college my roommates would invite friends over and collectively marvel at my lack of knowledge on the subject like I was some kind of sideshow curiosity. Well when it took real effort to tear myself away from my first Wii Sports play session, that was when I became convinced that there was some intelligence behind Nintendo's big gamble on casual gamers and the mass market. Somehow they had managed to push past my lack of interest in the subject matter with the title's great gameplay, the group dynamic, and the physicality of the whole experience.

With the soon to be released Deca Sports, Hudson is trying to capitalize on the appeal of those same elements while adding in a few of their own to give the game some strategic depth for those out there that know the difference between a halfback and halftime. Being a novice when it comes to sports, it actually took me until halfway through my play session with the guys from Hudson to realize why I was getting my butt handed to me so often. Besides the sports lineup, which I will get to in a second, the major difference between Wii Sports and Deca Sports is team choice. At first I was fooled by the similar look of the characters with their expressionless faces and vacant stares, but each team has a different make up that can greatly effect the outcome of any match.

For instance, the Speed Strikers team is comprised largely of smaller, faster players, while the Hard Hitters team might have more brute strength. But it breaks down even further than that. Sure, the Hard Hitters are strong overall, but an individual player within the team might still be on the short and fast side. This makes player choice within the team important too, especially when you consider that some of the game's modes ask you to take your team through all of the events. Since the players get tired, you're forced into some serious strategic planning as you decide who to send out and who to hold onto for use in a later sport.