Operation Sports is proud to present our second interview with Randy Hauser, Project Manager of NHL 2K3.

FRANCHISE MODE

Operation Sports: Franchise details, specifically, will there be a money/point system?

Randy Hauser: In Franchise mode, each organization has a number of points that is roughly equivalent to its actual NHL budget. The team gets points based on attendance and post-season success. Each round of the playoffs nets the organization more points. The customizations available are:  
 

• Rosters=Current/Default
• All Star Roster=East-West/World-North America
• Overtime loss points=1/0
• CPU Trading=on/off
• Overtime Type=Auto/NHL/Playoff/Intl
• Injuries=on/off
• Franchise Difficulty=slider (affects how much is given for playoffs, etc.)

Operation Sports: Also, can we have more than one user-controlled team in franchise mode?

Randy Hauser: You can control all 30 teams in season mode but, alas, just one in Franchise.

Operation Sports: Does the CPU initiate trades in NHL 2K3?

Randy Hauser: Indeed it does. It is the users option.

Operation Sports: If so, how realistically does the CPU react to trades?

Randy Hauser: The CPU makes a judgment based on its own strengths and its perception of your strengths. The CPU makes this judgment based on ratings so if you play really well and score 20 goals with Bob Boughner, it doesn't raise his value in the mind of the CPU. You can also trade draft picks and make multi player trades.

Operation Sports: In your last Operation Sports interview, it was stated that each NHL team would have a "farm team." In what way does this feature work?

Randy Hauser: The minors are really just a roster extension. The minor league team doesn't really play and generate statistics. It is a place for rookies who aren't ready and veterans who can't make your club but would be nice to have to replace an injured player. It is a good idea to keep an eye on the points you are spending on your farm team to make sure you are getting full value out of it.

Operation Sports: Will you get reports on players' progression or is it simply a holding place for scratched players?

Randy Hauser: You don't get reports in this year’s version. You can view a player’s progress as they grow by looking at their player card.

Operation Sports: How in-depth will the stats be?

Randy Hauser: We track every official stat. Shot %, Time on Ice, Face off %, Passing %, hits, Game Winning goals, Breakaways and more.

Operation Sports: During the course of a season or a franchise, will goalies become fatigued, therefore making it imperative to switch in your backup goaltender?

Randy Hauser: This was tough, for some reason goalies were getting REALLY tired so we turned it down a lot and it never got perfect. I would say that the goalies get winded but never really exhausted. It is a good idea to play your backup against crappy teams but for gameplay purposes, our goalies do not tire as much as NHL goalies.

GAMEPLAY

Operation Sports: From the pictures released so far, it looks as though there is quite a bit of depth to the strategies. Will we be able to assign strategies to each line?

Randy Hauser: Absolutely, you can assign strategies on offense for break out, move out and offensive zone and defense for fore checking, neutral zone and own zone for all four lines as well as special teams. You can save 30 team files and load them for each team as you play them if you wish. This is one of my favorite things in the game.

Operation Sports: I've heard that players are rated in 50 different categories. What are some examples of the new categories and how will they affect the player?

Randy Hauser: Puck handling has a bigger effect this year. This will help a player like Mats Naslund who was slightly weaker in the game last year than he was in real life. Shot quickness is huge and separates some of the premier goal scorers from regular guys. We rate one timers now which makes a huge difference for point shots and makes the power play more realistic. Players are rated for each shot as well. Many of the ratings act in concert with some new features, like grit and aggressiveness affect how well a player does fighting in the corners and being pinned against the boards.

Operation Sports: Also, what about goalies? How many areas are they rated in since they are supposed to be even better this year?

Randy Hauser: The biggest changes to goalies isn't in ratings or even AI, it is in some technical improvements to the animation flow called "Reactive Goalie Positioning". The goalies can make multiple saves from other save positions rather than having to return to a ready stance each time. You will see goalies drop to a butterfly and make several saves. They can flop or stack and then make multiple saves from that position. Last year the goalie had to get back up to make another save. You will be amazed at our goalies.

Operation Sports: I've also heard that close to 90 percent of the AI was rewritten. What can we expect from the computer AI offensively and defensively?

Randy Hauser: I would say 90% is an exaggeration. The AI in 2K2 was outstanding as far as the individual player was concerned. What needed to be improved was the way the AI acts in concert. The power play is improved, AI characters keep the puck in the zone, pass back to the point, and cycle down low. If you go up against a top teams Power Play unit, it can be exhausting. Penalty killing is very good as well. Most of the work has to do with teams accessing more of the strategies and changing them more often to take advantage of matchups.

Operation Sports: Also, in 2K2, I could easily enter the CPU's zone by skating in alongside the boards and go as far as behind the net without getting touched by their defensemen... has this been fixed in 2K3?

Randy Hauser: Teams will use more of the strategies that the user can in 2K3. A great puck handler can still carry the puck but some teams will have to dump to get it into the zone. going behind the net will have to do with what team you are facing. The board pinning also makes it a little better for bigger teams. If you are skating around the sideboards with a tiny guy against Phillies defensive behemoths, they will just hold you against the boards and freeze the puck. Its frustrating but in a good way.

Operation Sports: How are the CPU special teams this year? Do they set up effective plays on the power play?

Randy Hauser: Special teams are greatly improved. The good teams will murder you on the power play (if you play with long periods). We really wanted to make you think before hooking someone this year. The improved AI will also help the user on their own power play since the NPCs will be in better spots.

Operation Sports: Will they actually dump the puck this year?

Randy Hauser: Dumping is based on who is carrying the puck and who they are on the ice with. the CPU will also use the dump as a pass. Colorado, Detroit, Pittsburgh... teams like that do this if you trap them. It is tremendously cool.

Operation Sports: NHL 2K2's puck physics were astounding. How have they been improved upon?

Randy Hauser: Rebounds are better and the puck travels around the boards better on board clears. The user can also customize the physics. While we were doing motion capture we asked our goalies how far rebounds travel, what they do, they direct rebounds, what effect different equipment has on the puck. We also looked at hundreds of hours of tape to see what happens on the boards to the puck. This matters most on rebounds, deflections and board passes. The physics also affects the skating. The ice degrades so the players will be slightly more sluggish later in the period.

Operation Sports: Has the hitting been toned down? In NHL 2K2, most hits landed a player flat on his back. How much has the checking improved in this version?

Randy Hauser: There is a slider so checking is customizable in frequency as well as effectiveness. The checking is much more dependant on ratings this year. There is basically just a greater range than before. The problem last year was that guys who couldn't check were checking well and guys who checked great checked great. The range has been expanded so that Michael Nylander is not laying the body on people. This has brought up an interesting effect I call "Stevensing" (after Scott Stevens). When you have control of a guy who checks well enough and is a good enough skater to hit guys in the open ice, people have a tendency to just skate around looking to devastate people and they can get out of position. Actually, since this is something I do more than anyone, I should call it "Hausering". It is a good idea to have at least one good checker on each defensive pair and at least one good checking forward. With the board pinning, you are going to need someone gritty to get you the puck and with the way that we have adjusted the way the checking you will need someone to clear power forwards out of the crease.

Operation Sports: Can we expect to see many different penalties and even suspensions? Like 5 minute majors for boarding?

Randy Hauser: We have all the penalties (like majors for boarding) but no suspensions. We do not have an automatic penalty for drawing blood because we are not allowed to have blood in the game.

Operation Sports: Will we be able to shoot loose pucks?

Randy Hauser: This is one of the biggest changes in the game. It makes it easier to score on rebounds. The CPU can do it too so watch out for guys who are good around the net because they can shoot incredibly quickly and can just kill you.

Operation Sports: Can you give us a detailed explanation on how the new "pin against the boards" feature works? What kinds of things can you do as the player being pinned and vice versa?

Randy Hauser: When you check a guy against the boards, you can hold him there. You can then do a number of things, you can switch to someone else to come poke the puck free or help pin the player, you can hold the player and try to freeze the puck or you can kick the puck out. Try not to kick the puck free in your own zone. It is the equivalent of your goalie trying to get a breakout and passing it to the other team. When you are being pinned you can elbow your way out, kick at the puck, switch to someone else or allow the puck to be frozen. This feature adds a lot because it gives big teams another weapon against the smooth skating teams.

Operation Sports: Will this game use any sliders?

Randy Hauser: More sliders than an Angels/Giants game. We have over 30 different sliders to customize your game.

AUDIO/ATMOSPHERE

Operation Sports: What has been done to enhance the atmosphere? In NHL 2K2, the crowd sounded "flat" throughout the entire game. Will the crowd react to activity around the net, big hits, good penalty killing, etc? Also, will they have chants such as, "Let's go, Blues!" and boo the opposing team when they score?

Randy Hauser: The announcers are new, the crowd is better. A lot of this has to do with extra space in the hardware. The Dreamcast had tremendous sound capabilities but the CPU was busy with graphics so the pipeline was full of polygons and didn't have enough room for cool sounds. The sound isn't where we want it but it is an ongoing effort to make an immersing experience. I crank the crowd sound when I play and it makes a difference. The crowd reacts to individual plays and goes crazy when the home team scores and gets eerily silent when the visitors score. It is much better than last year.

Operation Sports: Has the music changed from last year? In 2K2, I thought the music was repetitive, boring, and didn't really get you pumped up. Also, will there be different music for goals?

Randy Hauser: You probably think that about all music :). The music is better but most of the audio time budget was spent on making the commentary about 1000 times better.

Operation Sports: I've noticed that there are new commentators this year. How have they been improved over last year’s version? Do they provide the gamer with an in-depth analysis of what's happening on the ice?

Randy Hauser: The announcers are better (its the design and script that are better). The analyst will break down plays in instant replay and there are times when it will be absolutely uncanny.

Operation Sports: Will all the arenas have their real goal horns?

Randy Hauser: Some arenas will have real horns and some won't. I honestly don't remember off hand which ones are real, I know San Jose is real.

Operation Sports: In NHL 2K2, after the home team had scored a goal, the PA announcer would say something to the effect of "Blues goal scored by Scott Mellanby!!!!" and the home crowd wouldn’t react at all. Will they at least cheer when the announcer yells the goal scorer's name in this version?

Randy Hauser: When the home team scores the crowd will go crazy.

Operation Sports: What kind of "on-ice" sounds can we expect? Will we hear player chatter?

Randy Hauser: No player chatter but the puck hitting the pipe is really cool (unless you are tied in the last minute of the third).

Operation Sports: How has the pre-game player introductions changed? Is it the same as in NHL 2K2 or can we expect the same intro?

Randy Hauser: The initial skate around is the same but the announcers will highlight matchups before the game and talk about players to watch out for.

Operation Sports: Can we expect to see some historical teams in the game? What about vintage jerseys?

Randy Hauser: We ran out of time on that. I love the legends stuff so it was a sad decision but we had a lot to do in a small amount of time. We still have international teams and arena though.

GRAPHICS

Operation Sports: In what way have the graphics been improved?

Randy Hauser: The hardware itself gives a lot of free stuff like lighting. We are pushing a higher poly model, of course and the faces are greatly improved. There are far more facial animations (like you can tell if a guy is getting angry about getting roughed up).

Operation Sports: How many new animations can we expect to see in the game?

Randy Hauser: There are hundreds of new animations. More skating styles, much more goalie stuff, board pinning. I think it is about 700-800 more animations.

Operation Sports: What has been done to improve player models? What about player faces? Will each player have a transparent visor like in NHL 2K2 or has that issue been addressed?

Randy Hauser: There are two types of visors and the option of no visor. We have tried to accurately represent who wear which visor.

ONLINE/MISC.

Operation Sports: What features are you most proud of?

Randy Hauser: I like the strategies, the fact that we have real breakouts and that the strategies matter depending on which line you have and whom you are facing. Board pinning adds an entirely new element to the game. the fact that you can swap your defensemen separately from the forwards is important. The goalies are so good, though, that is sort of dwarfs everything else.

Operation Sports: Can we expect to see daily or weekly highlights as in NFL 2K3 and NBA 2K3?

Randy Hauser: Not in this version. sorry. Because of development time, we could not add this.

Operation Sports: What features are in store for us online gamers? Will it simply be exhibition games or will users be able to set up an entire league or tournament? How many players can participate in an online game? (for example, can three different people in three different locations play in the same game?)

Randy Hauser: We couldn't do the league thing, it will be exhibition only. You can do four on four online without a drop in frame rate. Online is from one XBox to another. Three won't work.

Thanks,
Enjoy the game.