NHL 13 Blog - GM Brain: The New AI System That Handles Computer Trades, Drafts & More

[Gagnon39]

"Every player in the league has a growth potential between half a star and 5 full stars. The higher the number, the higher a player’s potential overall rating. Green, yellow, and red are used to track the possibility of reaching their potential. White means they’ve stopped growing."

Maybe I'm reading too much into this but the use of the words "potential" and "possibility" are very promising to me in regards to boom and bust picks. Both of those words imply that the player might not reach his potential, which is good.

I'd really like to know more information however about what determines whether or not a player reaches their top potential.

Also, as someone else previously stated, I'm a bit concerned when I look at the 2021 simulation and don't see any non-current NHL players in that mix. You would think in nearly a decade that someone would emerge as one of the top 15-20 NHL stars in the league. Again, perhaps we're looking too much into that and it is just one screen shot from one simulation. But I'm going to guess there's not a lot of variation from one simulation to another.

In other words Alex Ovechkin is not going to be a 72 at age 35 in one person's virtual hockey world and a 96 in another at the same age.

Just a few thoughts, but any way we look at it, this is better than what we've had. I played NHL '95 the other day on the SNES, its quite amazing how far it has all come.

[strange4life9]

Quote: Originally Posted by Gagnon39

Also, as someone else previously stated, I'm a bit concerned when I look at the 2021 simulation and don't see any non-current NHL players in that mix. You would think in nearly a decade that someone would emerge as one of the top 15-20 NHL stars in the league. Again, perhaps we're looking too much into that and it is just one screen shot from one simulation. But I'm going to guess there's not a lot of variation from one simulation to another. In other words Alex Ovechkin is not going to be a 72 at age 35 in one person's virtual hockey world and a 96 in another at the same age.

You also have to consider that there are occasionally players that remain at the top of their game until the day they retire. Some attributes may decline with age as they get older but there are also attributes that continue to increase as they gain experience.

Just look at Nicklas Lidstrom. While he may have lost a step in regards to speed as he got older, he made the necessary changes to remain one of the best defenders in the league into his 40's.

[waspman3]

How about building your own stadium complete with concession stands as part of being part of an owner group. Sounds promising from what I'm hearing but the skies the limit for this game that's won so many awards. I don't hear of any other title doing this well in terms of awards. Go Ea!! P.S. Please change announcers as well.

[Unit303]

I finally think this series is turning the corner right when MN might also be. AWESOME stuff and whatever happens it looks like this game is going to be a TON**** better than any other hockey game ever made.

Congrats to the dev team for taking our complaints seriously. We'll see how it plays but this stuff is looking fabulous.

[ManiacMatt1782]

Quote: Originally Posted by waspman3

How about building your own stadium complete with concession stands as part of being part of an owner group. Sounds promising from what I'm hearing but the skies the limit for this game that's won so many awards. I don't hear of any other title doing this well in terms of awards. Go Ea!! P.S. Please change announcers as well.

Please do not waste money time and resources on bringing in a new announce team. Have the current ones record some new lines, and have a sound programmer do a better job at keeping it fresh. Continue to use time and resources to improve Gameplay, and AI.

[DJ]

This all sounds very promising.

[brandon27]

Wow, that sounds fantastic. Especially if it all works as planned.

Love that salary demands will be dictated by market conditions and number of similar type players available. Love that younger players will take deals based on their potential etc.

Sounds awfully realistic what they are trying to do, that of course is a great thing.

Really getting excited about this one. I've always bought it, but I've always been more of a football fan, so NCAA and Madden take up along of my sports gaming time, but it sure seems like that is going to change this year.