E3 NHL 10 Preview
 

After my initial session with NHL 10, it’s safe to say that the NHL 10 team didn’t do anything crazy to ruin an already amazing gameplay experience. Instead the developers are taking the necessary steps to refine and tweak what’s in place. That refining and tweaking applies to things like goalie and passing controls, additional animations for goalies, additional moves for skaters, modified artificial intelligence and the overall modification of the core engine to create a more realistic hockey simulation. But enough with this overall outlook nonsense, let’s get specific.

Read More - E3 NHL 10 Preview

I first got a NHL game this year and I loved it. Reading this article makes me want to continue buying from this series. Great post.

Re: E3 NHL 10 Preview
 

Great preview! Loving the changes so far!

Maybe you could do a part 2 on some of the things you can do with the puck and the physics?

Can never have enough info, right? ;)

sounds f'n awesome...thanks

Part 2!!! Part 2!!! Part 2!!! Part 2!!!

Re: E3 NHL 10 Preview
 

Kinda disappointing about the scrums, but overall was a great preview!

Chase, do you know by chance if the broadcast camera angle has been overhauled to look like real broadcast? (Reading your thoughts on presentation I bet not :()

I can't wait to play NHL10. My guys name on NHL09 was one of two names, Sean Avery (Not Steve Avery), and Happy Gilmore. I can't tell you how many times players on the other team just cheap shoted my guy, people really do hate Sean Avery for some reason. Can't wait to get the final laugh on NHL10 when that stuff actually matters. And can we please get a penalties drawn stat added to Team Play. I would get an A+ for TP every game if there were such a stat.

Actually, SI belive Steve Avery, former pitcher for the Atlanta Braves was a solid hockey player back in the day.

Bummer on the presentation side of things. EA really needs to step up their game when it comes to this- I miss the days of the Octopus being shown at the Joe, and the giant Shark head in San Jose.

Smh!! Steve Avery?!! That's a slap in the face to hockey fans

On a side note. This can't be all they added this year right? We still have July and august.

Re: E3 NHL 10 Preview
 

Steve or Sean ..... it is not important... S.Avery is his name :cool:

Great preview ,thx Chase.

I have still one question : Which button is for pokechecking now? Because Flyermania sad there is any change for this... You can do pokecheck move front of the player without tripping now I hope.... :wink:

And... When you send us some answers from the questions thread ?

The playoff logos on the ice is a nice touch to the presentation factor.

Re: E3 NHL 10 Preview
 

Nice preview Chase. Loved what you said about the passing, can't wait to try hardcore out. couple quick questions, did you notice any more stat overlays at all while playing? Also from the little bit that you played do the goalies seem to be smarter? Will they come out and challenge more when appropiate?

Re: E3 NHL 10 Preview
 

"Hardcore Passing"? Amazing. If it's as precise as the preview says, we could be having a fun time with this game, it seems like it could really ramp up the creativity factor and present some interesting plays.

I'm pretty disappointed, however, in the apparent lack of improvement in the presentation department...however, I'm not going to put my foot down until I see some video. The game is still in the early stages (I think) so many more features could be implemented down the road. It's one area 2K completely demolishes EA in, so I'm really perplexed why the presentation hasn't (apparently) been fixed to match the huge improvements 2K9 made in that area.

Overall, though, what Chase said is pretty encouraging. Can't wait to see what additional info comes out in the next few weeks.

Re: E3 NHL 10 Preview
 

I'm wondering if its more one of those "if we're going to majorly overhaul it, lets wait and do it right" I'm in the minority about 2k's presentation, I hardly think a 5 year old pbp script, corny as hell and badly delivered, even with a 3rd commentator doing in between period breaks is really that much of an upgrade.

I'd be content with a few more stat overlays in the meantime though.

Liking the drop passes and the gloving the puck out of the air. Two things that were widely missed.

Time will tell how hard it is to pass, simply because the directional passing is the same stick as the one you control your skating.

Still, it is disappointing there is not an improvement in presentation.

Who's Steve Avery?

Re: E3 NHL 10 Preview
 

Ha, I probably won't do part 2, but I'll certainly talk about the game more on here -- assuming you guys want to know more. Simply ask questions.

My best guess is no. I asked about new camera angles and was told there are no new ones, so I doubt they overhauled any existing ones either.

Ha, yeah true story, I wrote most of this while watching the Braves the other today on MLB Extra Innings. So, that will teach me to write about hockey with baseball on -- I had to see Tommy Hanson though.

Right bumper is still the poke button, but once again I could have talked about stick lift and poke check a bit. I think you'll see less of those weird poke check and stick lift penalties when you are in front of an opposing player who is coming towards you. I also think you'll see many more penalties when someone goes for a stick lift from behind a player, or at least that's the goal and I did notice some change.

And I'll answer Qs (the ones I can) after this post.

You know it's been a bit since I played so it's a little tricky to remember, but I do know the stat overlays are a bit tweaked in terms of how they look. I feel like I would have written it down in my notebook if I noticed new stat overlays popping up during a game though.

Hard to say about the goalies after such a little amount of time with the game. I certainly liked just about every new animation I saw while playing. At this point my only complaint would be that some of the old animations are left over (namely desperation and cover-up saves) and those were the ones I think that could be abused by players at points.

From what I gather, generally that is the NHL team's philosophy: either do it right or don't do it at all. I admire that and do think it's better to go that route, at least from a reception standpoint. I did talk to David Littman about the presentation a bit, and got the impression that when changes occurred on the presentation front, they would be big rather than small. In the mean time, I wouldn't want them wasting time adding one or two new cut scenes if it took away from focusing more attention on the gameplay.

Re: E3 NHL 10 Preview
 

Hey Chase could you expand on the puck physics more? And also, how is the hardcore style of play different than say the regular style of play?

Thanks!

My big concern is collision detection - just too often woudl players' sticks, skates or the puck would pass right though my stick, skate or leg. I think this really became apparent post patch when you had to play more positionally instead of hitting everything in sight. I hated when I got my guy in positions and my opponent went right through me, literally.

Any notice if this was addressed?

It would be nice if they showed cumulative stats for OTP during league games so you know how is dangerous and who you should keep an eye on. I hope hardcore passing is the default for OTP.

Re: E3 NHL 10 Preview
 

Thanx for the preview Chase, can't wait!

2 Questions:

1- How often did you get penalized for doing the new postplay scrum stuff? ... i.e. facewashing, and/or knocking someone down with a check

2- Did you try shooting on the goalie after the whistle? If so did anything happen, they mentioned a CPU player might come after you.

Drool! Can't wait for September to roll-around!

Too bad about the presentation, though. Especially the crowds...are there even female fans in the arena yet?

Re: E3 NHL 10 Preview
 

Are you allowed to say if you know anything about Online Franchise or Playoff mode? Or if you can have multible users in offline franchise?

Re: E3 NHL 10 Preview
 

Since they have changed passing to be pressure sensitive. Is it still possible to do a one time pass?

If so is the speed of these one time passes automatic to reach the intended target or is it still possible to choose the strength of the pass?

Re: E3 NHL 10 Preview
 

I was playing a game yesterday and dove out from behind to swipe the puck away from a player on a breakaway. Rather than trip him or poke the puck away, my player's stick went right through his skates and the puck. Then, he shot it over my goalie's shoulder and scored. Ridiculous.

Re: E3 NHL 10 Preview
 

Double post, I hit refresh and it posted it again.

Re: E3 NHL 10 Preview
 

If you check out the E3 questions thread, you'll notice I also answered some questions in there.

You know BW, asking the same question in the span of 30 minutes doesn't help your cause.

Anyway, I was playing the game within a new mode of sorts, but I don't believe I am supposed to talk about it at this point. Otherwise, they weren't talking about new modes as of yet so I am not keeping anything else as a secret.

I agree on both fronts. I mentioned having cumulative stats for OTP while talking with David Littman, but I don't believe it will make it in this time around. I also hope hardcore, or at least normal, is the default when playing online because it will be messed up if one team is playing with hardcore controls while the other team uses the casual controls. It would completely tip the scales and probably force many players to use the casual passing controls to keep up.

1. All the time. I took some running charges at some players, while other times I simply kept slashing players on the other team. After a bit of the novelty factor wore off, I started to just face wash guys and try to draw instigator penalties rather than hurt my own team -- I didn't get called for penalties during those instances.

2. Yeah, I shot at the goalie a few times, which got the other team angry. I also shot the puck at opposing players (Alfredsson style circa the Stanley Cup finals against the Ducks), which also got the other team chapped.

Yeah, female fans are in the game now.

Oh yeah, absolutely. What's cool is you can play the puck to an area and have the other guy skate to the puck and rip it in one motion. The same goes for something like a drop pass. Just drop the puck and let someone come up behind you and drill the puck.

And no, the speed of the one-timer is no longer automatic on hardcore because now you control where the puck is going, and at what speed, at all times. It's all about how much pressure you put on the passing trigger.

Fascinating!

Re: E3 NHL 10 Preview
 

Hopefully there is a degree of difficulty to hitting the puck out of midair because this video looks too easy for this rebound....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ccdkq1QpZpQ

And disalowed goal for High-sticking .... Is there video-referee in nhl10 ?

Re: E3 NHL 10 Preview
 

My question is has collision detection been improved?

Re: E3 NHL 10 Preview
 

Thanks for the answer Chase but it wasn't the answer i was looking for. I also think it's sweet that we can now one time loose pucks.

My question is about passing alone. In NHL 09 you can one-time passes with a player if you press and hold the passing button before it reaches the teammate.

Is this still possible in NHL 10 with the new passing system to one-time a pass to another teammate?

The funny thing is, going back and playing a lot of Genesis hockey in the last week or so, those games had features that were just as good if not better than NHL '09.

Swatting loose pucks out of the air? Got it.

Passing that's not just tape-to-tape lasers? Check.

Goalie AI/animations that aren't going to make you pull your hair out in frustration? Got that too.

That said, I'm pumped for NHL 10.

If they just fixed the glitch goals and goalie problems and touched nothing else, it would be awesome, but all the other stuff they're adding will only make the game experience even more authentic.

And speaking of disallowed goals, I hope they finally call goaltender interference this year.

You could get away with it like crazy in NHL 09.

Re: E3 NHL 10 Preview
 

Thank you! I'm also tired of immediately falling over the goalie if i get within a foot of him.

Re: E3 NHL 10 Preview
 

Great post Chase!

Did you notice if the CPU's passes were all 100% tape-to-tape?
Or were they as wild as yours?

And you mentioned new puck physics. I know you probably can't say anything about that right now, but I'm praying the puck doesn't feel like it's on a track and reacts more realistically than getting the same bounce or projection every time a shot is taken.

Re: E3 NHL 10 Preview
 

just a few questions:

1. is there more variety in the penalties and not just the same two or three? i'd love to see game misconducts and double minors and what about suspensions...

2. did ea finally do away with the crappy 3 fight a game rule?

Re: E3 NHL 10 Preview
 

tell me about it! the reason there was no goalie interference in '09 is because you couldn't interfere with the goalie! he just knocks you down every single time.

Re: E3 NHL 10 Preview
 

Thanks a lot for answering our questions Chase.

The one thing that really broke NHL 09 for me, was the lack of player movement by my AI teammates once I set up in the offensive zone. I would get the puck behind the net and the other two wingers would just stand in place instead of looking for openings which is basically an AI issue.

In the short time you had with the game, did it look like the teammate AI has been improved???

Thanks in advance for all the info...you lucky bastard. :05::wink:

I guess I should ask this, is there goaltender interference yet or do you just trip over him constantly still.