DECA Sports Freedom E3 preview

Of the various themes at this year’s E3, motion controls were definitely the biggest push. With new motion controllers on the way from both Sony and Microsoft, nearly every publisher seems to be jumping on the bandwagon, either revealing new games or retooling their existing ones to take advantage of the new hardware. Hudson is one such company, as they are developing their DECA Sports series for the Microsoft Kinect, with a title called DECA Sports Freedom.

DECA Sports Freedom is poised to take the series’ tried and true mini-game sports formula and apply it to Microsoft’s hands-free motion sensing device. The game will offer up a new blend of sports that take advantage of what the new device offers in terms of gameplay elements.

At E3, there were only a few sports on offer from the game playable; Archery, Tennis, and Paintball. For Archery, the player simply had to line up their arms and “shoot” an arrow at a target, while Tennis was very much what you’d think it would be, waving your arms as though you were holding a tennis racket. Paintball, on the other hand, required a bit more, and had the player aiming their hand like a gun and shooting at opponents when they presented themselves.

DECA Sports Freedom will have online gameplay, as well as support two players on the same system. Additionally, the game will allow you to play with your Xbox LIVE avatars, which is a great feature.

DECA Sports Freedom isn’t terribly groundbreaking, but does a fine job of bringing the franchise to a bold, new format. Look for it this fall when Kinect launches.