NHL Eastside Hockey Manager 2005 Beta Demo now available

[FrogMan]

I've not seen this reported here already. You guys are slacking...


Sports Interactive and SEGA are pleased to reveal that the Beta Demo for NHL Eastside Hockey Manager 2005 is now available for download. The beta demo is a fully functional time limited version, allowing you six months worth of game-time in the NHL and UK elite leagues.

Marc Duffy, Product Manager of Sports Interactive, commented: 'It's a tremendous opportunity for the public to gain the first hands on play of the game as well as give much appreciated feedback to a team that have always produced games for the real fans of the sport'

Individuals will be given the rare opportunity to report their feedback to Sports Interactive via a web forum, thus becoming a part of the development process for NHL Eastside Hockey Manager 2005.

To download visit : http://www.sigames.com/downloads.php?type=view&id=243 (http://www.sigames.com/downloads.php?type=view&id=243)

REMEMBER - 'Face In The Game', SEGA and Sports Interactive are offering fans the opportunity to become one of the regenerated players. To become a Face in the Game, EHM fans need to submit a digital photograph of themselves that will be used as the face of one the 'regenerated' players. In addition to providing a digital representation of their face, fans should also supply their name, age, favourite club and as many details as possible so that Sports Interactive can add depth to their new digital persona. Full details are available online at www.sigames.com/faceinthegame/ (http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~fof/forums/www.sigames.com/faceinthegame/).

Sports Interactive team

www.sigames.com (http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~fof/forums/www.sigames.com)


FM

[sachmo71]

wow that was fast.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Nice catch, Froggy!

[FrogMan]

Nice catch, Froggy!
got no merits, I got it by email ;)

FM

[sabotai]

Well...there goes any chance of me getting any work done today... :D

[sachmo71]

got no merits, I got it by email ;)

FM


Are you on the beta team?

[FrogMan]

Are you on the beta team?
nope, simply came in the newlsetterish kind of emails that SI sends to people subscribed to their forums...

FM

[sovereignstar]

I wonder if the WHL playoff setup has been fixed.

[JeffR]

I wonder if the WHL playoff setup has been fixed.

It's completely fixed as of this afternoon, I believe, but there were one or two bugs I'm aware of that may be in the code used in the demo.

[ice4277]

But it will cut down on my FM time :(

[RPI-Fan]

What's different about this version compared to last year's?

[FrogMan]

But it will cut down on my FM time :(
Same here, I passed the info cause I knew people would get excited about it. There's just no way I'd stop playing FM at this point, still too much fun with it...

FM

[Anthony]

i'm having even more fun now with FM now that i started a new career with the MLS. i had wanted to role play in my first career by taking a shitty league two English club, having success there and then with my "rep" getting a job back in America, a sort of homecoming, but i grew too impatient. my team is awesome, i'm the MetroStars.

besides, i didn't start out with enough leagues in my last career, i thought the less leagues the quicker i'd sim, but there's a lot more talent in the league now that i have like 7 nations going and including players from an 8th.

[sachmo71]

What's different about this version compared to last year's?


there are a number of articles on the SI website about the major differences. I'll see if I can't find the link.
I know the interface got a major overhaul, which is nice.


EDIT: Here's da link: http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~fof/forums/showthread.php?t=36099

[Galaril]

One thing i like is the 2d match engine.

[MizzouRah]

Thanks for the info!!


Todd

[samifan24]

I got an error message both times I tried to install the beta. Is anyone else seeing this?

[riz]

For those of you who want to get some first impressions while not having the time to download and evaluate on your own yet, here are a few "first impressions" threads on the beta:

http://community.sigames.com/eve/ubb.x/a/tpc/f/6461934525/m/1882018121

http://www.sortitoutsi.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=13871

http://www.fhockey.com/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4091

As always, feedback is greatly appreciated as we are tweaking, tuning and polishing up the game in the run for the release.

[riz]

I got an error message both times I tried to install the beta. Is anyone else seeing this?

What error message is that ?

[Honolulu_Blue]

Well my mother and mother-in-law are in town this weekend, but after they leave...

[Honolulu_Blue]

What error message is that ?
I just got one too...

Error 1311.Source file not found:
C:\Docme~1\Oeter\Locals~1\Temp\Temporary Directory 1 for 383.zip\Data1.cab. Verify that the file exists and that you can access it.

Thoughts?

[Honolulu_Blue]

I just got one too...

Error 1311.Source file not found:
C:\Docme~1\Oeter\Locals~1\Temp\Temporary Directory 1 for 383.zip\Data1.cab. Verify that the file exists and that you can access it.

Thoughts?
Dola.

I'm an idiot. I clicked the wrong icon. Instead of clicking "setup", I clicked "NHL Eastside Hockey..." icon. Once I clicked "setup" everything was gravy.

[Marc Vaughan]

I got an error message both times I tried to install the beta. Is anyone else seeing this?
If you post details of the error then either myself or Riz will probably be able to work out the cause of the problem (most likely a corrupt download?).

[samifan24]

Dola.

I'm an idiot. I clicked the wrong icon. Instead of clicking "setup", I clicked "NHL Eastside Hockey..." icon. Once I clicked "setup" everything was gravy.

Me too.

[Mota]

I see that the issue with tactics being assigned to the position and not the player has not been changed.

With injuries and everything, there is a lot of line rotation. If you forget to change the tactics, you get Tie Domi playing in Mats Sundin's spot, playing all nice. Riz, a lot of people wanted that fixed in the last version, will you be able to get around to this?

A player will play his own style in the majority of cases. For that reason the individual player tactics should be locked to the player, not the line. And if you wanted specific behavior from the player for any amount of time, go into the player tactics and change it. Would make a much more user-friendly way of controlling tactics.

[Joe Canadian]

I see that the issue with tactics being assigned to the position and not the player has not been changed.

With injuries and everything, there is a lot of line rotation. If you forget to change the tactics, you get Tie Domi playing in Mats Sundin's spot, playing all nice. Riz, a lot of people wanted that fixed in the last version, will you be able to get around to this?

A player will play his own style in the majority of cases. For that reason the individual player tactics should be locked to the player, not the line. And if you wanted specific behavior from the player for any amount of time, go into the player tactics and change it. Would make a much more user-friendly way of controlling tactics.

Agreed 100%. That was my biggest problem with the last version. I'd often spend half my time playing the game fixing line tactics because of injuries... and then having to re-fix them when each player came back.

[Karim]

It's disappointing to see it hasn't been addressed but I spent the time tediously adjusting the lines before simming each game because the rest of the game was worth it. I suspect I'll do the same here.

[riz]

Hmm...

Half of the player instructions are already tied to "players" instead of "positions" in the beta. But since that didn't seem to be enough (I read some of these comments before going away for a few days) and because on the other hand, we had people on the SI boards complaining just the opposite (wanting specifically to be able to set the player instructions more based on what line the player is on rather than just generally for the player in person) I decided to skip some sleep while visiting my folks back home in Finland and instead work on this....

So hopefully it'll now be flexible enough for you guys once the gold demo comes around. I personally cannot figure anymore variations (well I think I could come up with a few if pushed) to add to the system I've now coded for the player/position instructions. This will allow you to change the instructions on a player-by-player basis (personal, not positional), either for every situation the player plays for or separately for even strength, powerplay and penalty killl. To see how these will be changed for a player, just check the "View" menu in the tactics screen of the beta. It will already have the more personal ones listed (Shoot/Pass, Carry Puck, Fighting...) and selecting one of these views lists the instruction for each player dressed for the game so you can cycle it next to their name on the left side list. I've now added the other "style" ones (mentality, hitting...) to be changed this way as well for players on a personal level and it'll be copied with the player to any position the player is placed in the line slots...The new trick is, you can now "lock" the style instructions for specific "position slots" in the lines if you want to. So for example you can lock all the fourth line forward positions (in the pop-up you access with the right-click) to use mentality "defensive" and after that, it doesn't matter who you move to these spots, their instruction of mentality when playing on that line will be "defensive" regardless of what their "personal" setting has been set to. And if left unlocked, any player put on a lineslot will use the personal orders from the player instead as explained above.

Sound better ?

P.S. Is this one of those times when I can yell "fucking elitists" ? :D

[Honolulu_Blue]

Hmm...

Half of the player instructions are already tied to "players" instead of "positions" in the beta. But since that didn't seem to be enough (I read some of these comments before going away for a few days) and because on the other hand, we had people on the SI boards complaining just the opposite (wanting specifically to be able to set the player instructions more based on what line the player is on rather than just generally for the player in person) I decided to skip some sleep while visiting my folks back home in Finland and instead work on this....

So hopefully it'll now be flexible enough for you guys once the gold demo comes around. I personally cannot figure anymore variations (well I think I could come up with a few if pushed) to add to the system I've now coded for the player/position instructions. This will allow you to change the instructions on a player-by-player basis (personal, not positional), either for every situation the player plays for or separately for even strength, powerplay and penalty killl. To see how these will be changed for a player, just check the "View" menu in the tactics screen of the beta. It will already have the more personal ones listed (Shoot/Pass, Carry Puck, Fighting...) and selecting one of these views lists the instruction for each player dressed for the game so you can cycle it next to their name on the left side list. I've now added the other "style" ones (mentality, hitting...) to be changed this way as well for players on a personal level and it'll be copied with the player to any position the player is placed in the line slots...The new trick is, you can now "lock" the style instructions for specific "position slots" in the lines if you want to. So for example you can lock all the fourth line forward positions (in the pop-up you access with the right-click) to use mentality "defensive" and after that, it doesn't matter who you move to these spots, their instruction of mentality when playing on that line will be "defensive" regardless of what their "personal" setting has been set to. And if left unlocked, any player put on a lineslot will use the personal orders from the player instead as explained above.

Sound better ?

P.S. Is this one of those times when I can yell "fucking elitists" ? :D
Sounds great, Riz! Very cool. I never really had too much of a problem with the old way, but this new system sounds even bettah...

I played through the first month in the beta. I loved the new additions. Training camp was a lot more fun. And the team reports and scouting look great. Can't wait for the final product.

[Karim]

I've realized that my machine is no longer up to recommended specs for FM. Does anyone have an idea what will be the recommend settings for EHM?

Curse SI... it's the only company that governs my hardware purchases...

[scooter]

I've realized that my machine is no longer up to recommended specs for FM. Does anyone have an idea what will be the recommend settings for EHM?

Curse SI... it's the only company that governs my hardware purchases...


SI usually says that if the demo works, the game probably will too. I'd download the demo, give it a try, and if it works, you're probably ok.

[Mota]

Riz ... amazing work. Really looking forward to the new version.

By the way I found the section you were referring to, it's already a huge improvement over the last version. Should be even better with the new changes you mentioned.

[sachmo71]

Hmm...

Half of the player instructions are already tied to "players" instead of "positions" in the beta. But since that didn't seem to be enough (I read some of these comments before going away for a few days) and because on the other hand, we had people on the SI boards complaining just the opposite (wanting specifically to be able to set the player instructions more based on what line the player is on rather than just generally for the player in person) I decided to skip some sleep while visiting my folks back home in Finland and instead work on this....

So hopefully it'll now be flexible enough for you guys once the gold demo comes around. I personally cannot figure anymore variations (well I think I could come up with a few if pushed) to add to the system I've now coded for the player/position instructions. This will allow you to change the instructions on a player-by-player basis (personal, not positional), either for every situation the player plays for or separately for even strength, powerplay and penalty killl. To see how these will be changed for a player, just check the "View" menu in the tactics screen of the beta. It will already have the more personal ones listed (Shoot/Pass, Carry Puck, Fighting...) and selecting one of these views lists the instruction for each player dressed for the game so you can cycle it next to their name on the left side list. I've now added the other "style" ones (mentality, hitting...) to be changed this way as well for players on a personal level and it'll be copied with the player to any position the player is placed in the line slots...The new trick is, you can now "lock" the style instructions for specific "position slots" in the lines if you want to. So for example you can lock all the fourth line forward positions (in the pop-up you access with the right-click) to use mentality "defensive" and after that, it doesn't matter who you move to these spots, their instruction of mentality when playing on that line will be "defensive" regardless of what their "personal" setting has been set to. And if left unlocked, any player put on a lineslot will use the personal orders from the player instead as explained above.

Sound better ?

P.S. Is this one of those times when I can yell "fucking elitists" ? :D



Ummm...wow?

Nice job, Riz. :)

[FrogMan]

a little bump as per this email that was just sent :)


Hi Steve

A week after the first Beta Demo for NHL Eastside Hockey Manager 2005 was made available, we are pleased to announce an updated version is ready and waiting on our website. As ever it's fully functional but time limited, allowing you six months worth of game-time. As well as the NHL and UK elite leagues we can also reveal that the Swedish league faststart has been added to the package. Finally, lets not forget that this update has got all the latest code fixes and enhancements that you've all been suggesting in the forums over the past few days, meaning we think it's an essential download for you this weekend!.

I'd like to remind you that you only have days left to get your 'Face In The Game'. If you've not seen this yet, SEGA and Sports Interactive are offering fans the opportunity to become one of the regenerated players in EHM by submitting a digital photograph of yourself. Full details are available online at http://www.sigames.com/faceinthegame/ (http://www.sigames.com/faceinthegame/) but HURRY

To download visit : http://www.sigames.com/downloads.php?type=view&id=243 (http://www.sigames.com/downloads.php?type=view&id=243). We'd also love to see you in our EHM community http://community.sigames.com/eve/ubb.x/a/frm/f/6461934525 (http://community.sigames.com/eve/ubb.x/a/frm/f/6461934525)

Sports Interactive team

http://www.sigames.com (http://www.sigames.com/)

FM

[MizzouRah]

a little bump as per this email that was just sent :)

FM

Thanks, downloading now.


Todd

[jbmagic]

These Demos are great what there doing at SI. it gives people a chance to test game out and give feedback.

i hope OOTP 7 is like this too.

[MizzouRah]

Ok, so far I haven't stopped playing this demo, but I have some questions for you EHM vets.

(Love the simplier interface, btw)

How do I get back to the "continue" part of the game? I've been checking things out and I can't find out how to progress to the next day.

Is there a way to lock the Eastern Conference view when viewing the standings?

When I have the rights to a player and someone else offers to sign them, what does this mean?


Thanks,

Todd

[Karim]

In the first version, continue is in the upper left on the title bar. Just click it...

[FrogMan]

Ok, so far I haven't stopped playing this demo, but I have some questions for you EHM vets.

(Love the simplier interface, btw)

How do I get back to the "continue" part of the game? I've been checking things out and I can't find out how to progress to the next day.

Is there a way to lock the Eastern Conference view when viewing the standings?

When I have the rights to a player and someone else offers to sign them, what does this mean?


Thanks,

Todd
and if you hit the spacebar? That's the shortcut to hit continue in FM2005 (no matter in what screen you are), maybe it's the same in EHM...

FM

[MizzouRah]

and if you hit the spacebar? That's the shortcut to hit continue in FM2005 (no matter in what screen you are), maybe it's the same in EHM...

FM


I just kept hitting the back arrow and finally the contiunue button went from greyed out to white.

Todd

[Mota]

When I have the rights to a player and someone else offers to sign them, what does this mean?


You would have the exclusive NHL rights to negotiate with a player, but it doesn't mean he's forced to sign with you, he could sign to a Russian league and have a full career there. Just that no other NHL team could sign him.

[MizzouRah]

You would have the exclusive NHL rights to negotiate with a player, but it doesn't mean he's forced to sign with you, he could sign to a Russian league and have a full career there. Just that no other NHL team could sign him.


Thanks!


Todd

[Mota]

By the way I tried the new beta. Many more options for player control.

Riz, thanks for making these changes. They make it a lot more FUN to play the game. And we really appreciate it. Can't wait for the game to come out.

[Maple Leafs]

Hmm...

Half of the player instructions are already tied to "players" instead of "positions" in the beta. But since that didn't seem to be enough (I read some of these comments before going away for a few days) and because on the other hand, we had people on the SI boards complaining just the opposite (wanting specifically to be able to set the player instructions more based on what line the player is on rather than just generally for the player in person) I decided to skip some sleep while visiting my folks back home in Finland and instead work on this....I have to admit to being completely and utterly in the dark as to why anyone would want the tactics assigned to a line rather than the player. Just odd.

That said, since it sounds like it's been fixed (thanks) I'm looking forward to finding time to give the beta a shot.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I have to admit to being completely and utterly in the dark as to why anyone would want the tactics assigned to a line rather than the player. Just odd.

If that's actually what you meant to say (instead of the reverse), lemme take a stab at it, 'cause I think I understand what ppl mean about that.

The way I play it, certain lines are designed to play certain roles -- speed, snipers, bangers, grinders, whatever -- and when somebody leaves the rotation due to injury, I don't change up the purpose of each line, I tend to simply try to replace the injured player with the most reasonable facsimle of him I've got available. In other words, better to shift a couple of players & their tactics than adjsut the styles of every player to fit new overall designs of the lines. It's just more time efficient.

[rexallllsc]

I have to admit to being completely and utterly in the dark as to why anyone would want the tactics assigned to a line rather than the player. Just odd.

That said, since it sounds like it's been fixed (thanks) I'm looking forward to finding time to give the beta a shot.

Likewise.

[riz]

This is from someone on our forums who already tried the updated beta and the updated personal/positional instructions last night:


One thing I'm pretty excited about is something you guys have been hearing about since the first NHL EHM - Individual tactics. You guys nailed it this time, and the system works nicely from what I have seen.


Just becase most people on this board see no reason at all to tie an instruction to a position instead of a player personally, it's not always the universal truth. We have to try and cater to somewhat different tastes across the board since we are not exactly a mainstream game.

But hopefully we are again one step closer to pleasing everyone :D

[Coder]

Hmm.. one point I thought about.. during training camp, the World Cup is going on simultaneously.. when playing Vancouver, Sami Salo, Todd Bertuzzi (yeah), etc are on their national team's WC roster.

However, at the same time, I'm running my training camp, and whenever their WC-team doesn't have a fixture, they participate in my intra-team scrimmages.

Realistically, these guys aren't available to me during the time they're playing the WC.. it's not like.. one day Salo is over in Finland playing a game against Sweden, and one day later he's playing for Team Blue.

As much as I'd like it, Salo will be exclusive to Team Finland until the WC is over.

[samifan24]

How do you change player positions? I think it used to be in practice somewhere, but I'm the NYR and trying to move Steve "Worthless Lug" MacIntyre to RW instead of RD and I don't know how.

[riz]

The players who are on international duty, will not participate in the camp scrimmages naturally. I just verified this on my Rangers game where Poti and a couple of russians were still at the World Cup and thus did not feature in my camp games. They appear on the camp lists (as they will eventually return from int. duty) but they won't play if they are away. We'll prolly need to add the status indicators to the training camp roster list as well.

[Maple Leafs]

The way I play it, certain lines are designed to play certain roles -- speed, snipers, bangers, grinders, whatever -- and when somebody leaves the rotation due to injury, I don't change up the purpose of each line, I tend to simply try to replace the injured player with the most reasonable facsimle of him I've got available. In other words, better to shift a couple of players & their tactics than adjsut the styles of every player to fit new overall designs of the lines. It's just more time efficient.I suppose I can see that, but it would make more sense to me that if you had a checking line, you'd already be swapping checking players onto the line.

It's a small thing, but it rubbed me the wrong way in last year's edition. Part of that was because I don't personally like to tinker with settings before each and every game. It was especially odd for settings like "fight/don't fight". I had this image of a coach walking into the dressing room at intermission and yelling "We're getting pushed around out there, time to send a message, would whoever happens to be playing left wing on the third line get out there and do something!"

[ice4277]

I suppose I can see that, but it would make more sense to me that if you had a checking line, you'd already be swapping checking players onto the line.

It's a small thing, but it rubbed me the wrong way in last year's edition. Part of that was because I don't personally like to tinker with settings before each and every game. It was especially odd for settings like "fight/don't fight". I had this image of a coach walking into the dressing room at intermission and yelling "We're getting pushed around out there, time to send a message, would whoever happens to be playing left wing on the third line get out there and do something!"
I'm just guessing on this, but it seems like it is something that may have been leftover from the old Championship Manager code. You can set positions to do certain things on that.

[Maple Leafs]

I'm just guessing on this, but it seems like it is something that may have been leftover from the old Championship Manager code. You can set positions to do certain things on that.
Yeah, to be honest I got that sense from a lot of last year's version. It felt like a soccer sim with hockey slapped on top, and I just couldn't get into it.

Based on the positive reviews so far, I'm looking forward to giving this year's version a spin.

[riz]

I'm just guessing on this, but it seems like it is something that may have been leftover from the old Championship Manager code. You can set positions to do certain things on that.

True to a certain extent. I pondered it long last year if these should be personal instructions rather than positional, but there just wasn't enough time to make the system as flexible and complex as it is this year. That's why I had to go with positional rather than personal orders mostly last year.

[Coder]

The players who are on international duty, will not participate in the camp scrimmages naturally. I just verified this on my Rangers game where Poti and a couple of russians were still at the World Cup and thus did not feature in my camp games. They appear on the camp lists (as they will eventually return from int. duty) but they won't play if they are away. We'll prolly need to add the status indicators to the training camp roster list as well.

Must have fixed this for the patch the other day then, because this happened to me on the first release of the demo. An indicator for "away on international duty" would be very good though.

[riz]

Must have fixed this for the patch the other day then, because this happened to me on the first release of the demo. An indicator for "away on international duty" would be very good though.

Hmm..the international duty check has been in place since before the first beta, maybe those players' teams got knocked out early in WC. I'll look into adding the status indicators to the training camp roster list.

Any comments on the revamped scouting systems people ? I'd be very interested in hearing opinions on this as it has been one of my personal favourites so far.

[samifan24]

Riz,

I really like the new scouting system. I like how different scouts sometimes say different things about a guy. I think it's really helpful that you can assign scouts to a particular league, country or region and have them stay there for a specific amount of time. The more control over scouting the user has, the more we feel that we're in control of an organization, and I think this is a little thing that can help the immersion aspect.

I have two questions, though. 1) How do you change a player's position? 2) How can you approach another team about acquiring a player via loan? Is trading rights to players the only real way you can do this?

[MizzouRah]

Personally, I think the game is much more immersive this time around and as of now, a definite purchase for me. I still don't understand a few things, but the game is really getting easier to navigate - and learn.

Nice job Riz and SI.


Todd

[fantastic flying froggies]

Iwanted to try it out this week-end but when installing the beta, at the end of the process, i get the following error.

http://gaillardpatrick.free.fr/Misc/ehm%20beta%20install%20error.jpg


Any ideas ?

[riz]

Iwanted to try it out this week-end but when installing the beta, at the end of the process, i get the following error.

http://gaillardpatrick.free.fr/Misc/ehm%20beta%20install%20error.jpg


Any ideas ?

I think this means you'll need to have admin rights on your Windows in order to install software.

[riz]

Riz,

I really like the new scouting system. I like how different scouts sometimes say different things about a guy. I think it's really helpful that you can assign scouts to a particular league, country or region and have them stay there for a specific amount of time. The more control over scouting the user has, the more we feel that we're in control of an organization, and I think this is a little thing that can help the immersion aspect.

I have two questions, though. 1) How do you change a player's position? 2) How can you approach another team about acquiring a player via loan? Is trading rights to players the only real way you can do this?

1) You'll need to go to your "Practice" screen and setup a new schedule that focuses on practising a new position. Then assign the player you want to this schedule and just start playing him on that position in games as well. This should help him gain a new position to his profile.

2) At the moment, you can only approach to loan players in European leagues. I'll have to look into this in the future to see if we can enable NA minor league teams to approach to loan players from leagues above.

[fantastic flying froggies]

I think this means you'll need to have admin rights on your Windows in order to install software.
I do have admin rights. Must be something else.

I'm running on Windows Me, could this be the problem?

[MizzouRah]

Windows ME?

Step away from the pc FFF.


Todd

[ScottVib]

Works for me on my Win ME backup box.

[Marc Vaughan]

I do have admin rights. Must be something else.

I'm running on Windows Me, could this be the problem?

The game should work fine upon Me (although I have to admit its not my favourite OS) ... can you possibly grab a registry checker to ensure that your registry isn't fubar (used to be fairly common upon 98/Me, not that common on later OS's).

[riz]

Seems like people are liking the new scouting aspects and really using them. This was posted on the HFBoards:


I posted some comparaisons earlier because I liked this new feature, but they are even better in the updated beta demo :

Sidney Crosby -> A more talented version of Joe Sakic
Alex Bourret -> A more talented version of Tyler Arnason
Gilbert Brulé -> A more talented version of Pavol Demitra
Kenndal McArdle -> A more talented version of Keith Tkachuk
Bobby Ryan -> Alexei Kovalev with a slower stride
Andrew Cogliano -> Vincent Damphousse
Guillaume Latendresse -> A more talented version of Gary Roberts
Devin Setoguchi -> Jarome Iginla
Michael Blunden -> A more talented version of Richard Zednik with a bigger frame
Chris Durand -> A more talented version of Alexei Zhamnov
Benoit Pouliot -> A more talented version of Fredrik Modin
Ryan O'Marra -> A more talented version of Joe Nieuwendyk with a bigger frame
Steve Downie -> Daymond Langkow with a slower stride
Ryan Stoa -> Gary Roberts
Jack Skille -> A more talented version of Pierre Dagenais with a smaller frame
Daniel Ryder -> Daymond Langkow
Anze Kopitar -> A more talented version of Alexei Zhamnov with a slower stride
Patrick Davis -> Anson Carter
James Neal -> A more talented version of Erik Cole
Marek Zagrapan -> Vincent Damphousse
Brock Bradford -> Ladislav Nagy
Radek Smonelak -> Peter Bondra with a slower stride
Tomas Pospisil -> A more talented version of Vaclav Prospal with a smaller frame
Anton Krysanov -> A more talented version of Chris Gratton
Nicklas Bergfors -> Jarome Iginla
Ilya Zubov -> Alyn McCauley
Denis Isotmin -> Brendan Shanahan
Slava Thrukno -> A more talented version of Colin Forbes
Vladimir Sobotka -> A more talented version of Marc Savard
Tom Wandell -> A more talented version of Yanic Perreault
Sergei Shirokov -> Nils Ekman

Jack Johnson -> A more talented version of Pavel Kubina with a smaller frame
Brendan Mikkelson -> Kenny Jönsson
Dustin Kohn -> A more talented version of Kimmo Timonen with a bigger frame
Matt Lashoff -> Kim Johnsson
Ryan Parent -> Danill Markov
Luc Bourdon -> A more talented version of Jason Doig
Scott Jackson -> A slower Paul Mara
Marc Staal -> A more talented version of Jaroslav Modry
Brian Lee -> Darryl Sydor
Michael Sauer -> Scott Hannan
Adam McQuaid -> Scott Stevens
Jakub Kindl -> A more talented version of Frantisek Kaberle with a bigger frame
Jakub Vojta -> Janne Niinimaa
Andrei Zubarev -> Ed Jovanovski
Tomas Kudelka -> Scott Niedermayer
Vyacheslav Buravchikov -> A more talented version of Patrice Brisebois
Vitaly Anikeenko -> Adam Foote
Risto Korhonen -> Colin White
Raymond Macias -> Brian Leetch
Teemu Laakso -> A more talented offensive minded version of Jason Marshall
Nicklas Hjalmarsson -> A slower Dan Boyle with a bigger frame

Carey Price -> A bigger Martin Brodeur
Tuukka Rask -> Kevin Weekes
Jeff Frazee -> A more talented version of Mike Dunham
Ondrej Pavelec -> Roman Turek
Alexandre Vincent -> A bigger Brent Johnson
Jean-Philippe Levasseur -> Marty Turco

I think this feature is unbelievable! Some of these comparaisons are off, but some others are so accurate it's great!


:D

[ScottVib]

I'm really enjoying the demo despite the fact I'm using ut on my Win ME 96MB RAM backup box :p

Although picking a league with a style of player acquisitions I'm not familiar with probably wasn't the smartest thing. :D

[sachmo71]

has anyone tried out the I_DONT_KNOW setting with the demo?

[MizzouRah]

Hey Riz.. lets get a psp version of this puppy! :P

I'm getting this version!


Todd

[Karim]

has anyone tried out the I_DONT_KNOW setting with the demo?
It may not work since you can only quick start. But I really hope, something like this is quietly available with the final release...

[rexallllsc]

So do players have instructions, or lines?

Also what's the release date on this?

[riz]

So do players have instructions, or lines?

Also what's the release date on this?

Intructions can be set on several levels. Some instruction types affect lower levels, unless you lock the lower levels:
1) Team instructions
2) Unit instructions
3) Personal instructions
4) Positional instructions

So yes, the instructions you are prolly referring to are now personal and not tied to the slots on the units. That is unless you really want to. We've made it possible in both ways.

And no release date yet, we are still waiting for final license approvals to finalize it all.

[fantastic flying froggies]

The game should work fine upon Me (although I have to admit its not my favourite OS) ... can you possibly grab a registry checker to ensure that your registry isn't fubar (used to be fairly common upon 98/Me, not that common on later OS's).
Thanks for the advice Marc.

My registry was indeed fubar, and I corrected it. Of course, it started a chain reactions of fuckups on the PC, but now, 3 days later, I am back in control and have just installed the EHM beta. It seems to be working just fine.

OK, I'll go and try it now.

[riz]

Thanks for the advice Marc.

My registry was indeed fubar, and I corrected it. Of course, it started a chain reactions of fuckups on the PC, but now, 3 days later, I am back in control and have just installed the EHM beta. It seems to be working just fine.

OK, I'll go and try it now.

Good to hear you got it sorted out.

[riz]

FYI, NHL EHM 2005 Packshot revealed:
http://www.sigames.com/news.php?type=view&article_id=1117

[Honolulu_Blue]

FYI, NHL EHM 2005 Packshot revealed:
http://www.sigames.com/news.php?type=view&article_id=1117
Riz,

One question. Has there been any attempt to give the players more "personality" in this version. I was reflecting on EHM:FE last night and came to the conclusion that, while an amazing game, the players for the most part seemed to lack much in the way of personality as compared to Champ Man/Football Manager. Every once in a while a player had a small beef here or there, but I certainly didn't get much of a feel personality-wise for most of the players. I think I over-looked this initially because, unlike soccer, I was already familiar with the majority of the players and didn't need the game to sort indicate how they are.

Thanks.

[Karim]

FYI, NHL EHM 2005 Packshot revealed:
http://www.sigames.com/news.php?type=view&article_id=1117
Almost identical to last year's version... I expected a change but no big deal.

[riz]

The packshot is very similar yes. Expect it to stay that way, since we are trying to form an image for all the SI games which will span across the different sports with certain themes. Like the style of the logo, a "faceless" manager (the user) as the "cover athlete" etc.

As for player personalities, we tried to increase the amount of media/player interaction that filters through this year and hopefully that will better highlight the player personalities. I've played a full season this week with *team name removed because of unfinished licensing issues* and in the short season I already noticed some personalities in my team, better than with the previous version of the game. Plus Phil just told me today of a prospect of his who he drafted in the 8th round who has had some serious run-ins with his coaches/local media after this draft year and it has also affected his production in the juniors.

There's a few tidbits of info as well I'll pass to you guys here:

A thread where you can get some inside info from JeffR on a review of a draft (midway in the thread) of his he did to see how the busts etc are looking:
http://community.sigames.com/eve/ubb.x/a/tpc/f/6461934525/m/8112052621

And a nice new skin that really shows how much you can change the looks with little effort (oddly enough, also done by JeffR):
http://www.sortitoutsi.net/pafiledb/uploads/HNICScreenshot.jpg
http://www.sortitoutsi.net/index.php?page=downloads&area=file&fileid=3700

Hope these help :D

[MizzouRah]

Thanks riz,

The draft post from JeffR really has my interest peaked. :)


Todd

[Honolulu_Blue]

The packshot is very similar yes. Expect it to stay that way, since we are trying to form an image for all the SI games which will span across the different sports with certain themes. Like the style of the logo, a "faceless" manager (the user) as the "cover athlete" etc.

As for player personalities, we tried to increase the amount of media/player interaction that filters through this year and hopefully that will better highlight the player personalities. I've played a full season this week with *team name removed because of unfinished licensing issues* and in the short season I already noticed some personalities in my team, better than with the previous version of the game. Plus Phil just told me today of a prospect of his who he drafted in the 8th round who has had some serious run-ins with his coaches/local media after this draft year and it has also affected his production in the juniors.

There's a few tidbits of info as well I'll pass to you guys here:

A thread where you can get some inside info from JeffR on a review of a draft (midway in the thread) of his he did to see how the busts etc are looking:
http://community.sigames.com/eve/ubb.x/a/tpc/f/6461934525/m/8112052621

And a nice new skin that really shows how much you can change the looks with little effort (oddly enough, also done by JeffR):
http://www.sortitoutsi.net/pafiledb/uploads/HNICScreenshot.jpg
http://www.sortitoutsi.net/index.php?page=downloads&area=file&fileid=3700

Hope these help :D
Thanks for the updates, Riz!

[riz]

There is a preview of the new NHL EHM 2005 (based on a hands-on journalist beta) up now on Gamersinfo.net

http://www.gamersinfo.net/index.php?art/id:448