Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Decade Duels First Look

Yu-Gi-Oh fans can now play their favorite trading card game online in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Decade Duels. Because of Xbox Live's online capabilities, you can now use voice or text chat and compete with one another via the leaderboards. Konami was showcasing Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Decade Duels at its press event, and here's what we found out.

Who's Making This Game: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Decade Duels is being published and developed by Konami.

What The Game Looks Like: Because this is the first time that Yu-Gi-Oh has made it to a next-gen console, it's bigger and it's brighter. The layout is still pretty basic, however. You have your playing space and your cards laid out, but you're no longer managing them on a tiny DS or PSP screen.

What There Is To Do: There are three modes of play: Quick Match, Ranked Match, and Custom Match. Quick Match lets you jump in and compete with anyone online, whereas in Custom Match you can tailor the game to your preferences and change the rules. Ranked Match pits you against other players who have similar abilities, and your progress will be tracked online.

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Decade Duels lets you play with anyone online, and you can also team up and play with up to four players. As you win tournaments, whether it's against the computer or other players, you'll earn more cards to add to your initial 42-card deck. There will also be the option to purchase more cards through the Xbox Live marketplace. Unlike in the DS games, the cards will be selected the entire series, and the developers are aiming to include at least 1,500 to 2,000 cards.

Being able to interact with your opponents is part of the appeal of these card games, which was what was missing in the DS version. Now that you're playing through Xbox Live, there's the added bonus of being able to chat with the people you play with.

How The Game Is Played: Instead of explaining the rules and strategy of Yu-Gi-Oh, just know that it's basically the card game but in video game form.

What They Say: "The Yu-Gi-Oh community is really growing and it has exploded in the last year and a half thanks to Cartoon Network airing the new series. We've seen a lot of crossovers with kids who play the traditional card game that are now entering the video game space."

What We Say: Although the price hasn't been finalized yet, it is currently aiming for 800 Microsoft points. This is an affordable alternative to this pastime that could easily become quite costly if you were to go out and purchase all of your cards. Konami isn't going to be hosting tournaments for this version of Yu-Gi-Oh yet, but it could be a possibility in the future.

Yu-Gi-Oh fans will want to keep an eye out for this game when it is released this summer.