Hudson's Deca Sports series has seen two entries on the Wii that both featured 10 sports, some of which were off the beaten path (Petanque, anyone?). The series is now branching out to DS in March with 10 more sports, single-card multiplayer options, and a mixture of touch screen and button controls.

Deca Sports DS brings about 10 more sports, including Golf, Ping Pong, Wall Climbing, Bobsled, Rugby, Arm Wrestling, Clay Shooting, Cheerleading, Sky Diving, and Sepak Takraw. I got to check out Wall Climbing and Bobsled's multiplayer with a PR representative and NWR's Lauren Lewandoski recently. Both games were simple, fun, and full of competitive depth.

Wall Climbing made use of the touch screen exclusively. Your character appears on the top screen, and you have to guide him from handhold to handhold as he races against friends or computer characters to the top. You control him by tapping on the left or right side of the touch screen to go to a handhold to his left or right. Occasionally, you'll have to pull yourself up to a higher handhold by rubbing the touch screen back and forth in a manner that seems to be the system's version of the Nintendo 64 analog stick rotation.

The game is easy to play, difficult to master, and borders on a rhythm game, as you have to carefully time your taps so your character doesn't go so fast that he or she stumbles on the way up. We played single-card multiplayer, which was highly competitive between Lauren, the PR representative, and myself.

The second game, Bobsled, used the buttons. You began your bobsled run by pressing the A button and up on the D-pad as fast as you could to build up speed. Then, once you hopped in your bobsled, you used the shoulder buttons to lean left and right as you careened down the course. Bobsled has a slower pace than Wall Climbing, but it still carries the same amount of intuitiveness and low barrier of entry.

The one big detraction from Bobsled is that the competitive aspect isn't front and center. In Wall Climbing, you can catch glimpses of your rivals on the left or right of you, while in Bobsled, you can't.

Along with those two games, you can play six-player single-card multiplayer in Golf, Clay Shooting, Cheerleading, and Sky Diving. You can only play two-player in the other four sports. Deca Sports DS retains the team creation and tournaments of past titles, though I wasn't able to check it out and see if there were any major changes.

Deca Sports DS is due out on March 2.