NHL 2K10 Developer Interview (Teamxbox)

[Money99]

Teamxbox has posted an interview with Visual Concepts dev-team member, Ben Bishop, as they tallk about NHL 2K10.

Quote:

Teamxbox: "Do you have improvements planned for NHL 2K10 that go beyond the visual?" Ben: "As you get into the game a little bit more, you’ll see that we spent a lot of time this year to get the game to play better hockey. We had a lot of work done on the AI and we also rewrote a lot of our strategy systems. For instance, the players will do better at looking for open space and they’ll move the puck around more. And, really, there’s the feeling this year that you’ll get rewarded more for playing better hockey. This is us returning to our sim roots a bit, really. We concentrated on pick-up-and-play fun last year, and this feeling is still in place for 2K10, but this year we focused on making it play better hockey."

[Eddie1967]

We have three different control schemes, for instance. We have the basic one using the face buttons; we have an advanced one that’s more focused on using the sticks and the triggers; and we have one that’s kind of in the middle, where you can use some of both. We also added a ton of sliders this year, because that’s an area where you can customize the game to your liking. You may want to see more Superstar moves or less of them, or maybe more stick lifts or not so many. We definitely tried to offer some options there, so when you go back in and start playing the game over-and-over, you’ll have the chance to set things up, so that it plays exactly as you want it to.

Very nice.

[Money99]

Quote: Originally Posted by Eddie1967

We have three different control schemes, for instance. We have the basic one using the face buttons; we have an advanced one that’s more focused on using the sticks and the triggers; and we have one that’s kind of in the middle, where you can use some of both. We also added a ton of sliders this year, because that’s an area where you can customize the game to your liking. You may want to see more Superstar moves or less of them, or maybe more stick lifts or not so many. We definitely tried to offer some options there, so when you go back in and start playing the game over-and-over, you’ll have the chance to set things up, so that it plays exactly as you want it to. Very nice.

I also like how in nearly every interview or preview they go out of their way to say that they're going back to their sim roots.
This Friday it sounds like there'll be more gameplay info (video?) so it'll be interesting to see if their efforts have been fruitful. I hope so.
This should be a great year for hockey fans.

[jyoung]

I think we are going to get two good hockey games this year. I am excited.

[Eddie1967]

Quote: Originally Posted by Money99

I also like how in nearly every interview or preview they go out of their way to say that they're going back to their sim roots. This Friday it sounds like there'll be more gameplay info (video?) so it'll be interesting to see if their efforts have been fruitful. I hope so. This should be a great year for hockey fans.

I agree, a great year for hockey fans indeed. VC seems to have the vision to take this series were it needs to go.