Alright Boyz!!! NHL 08 impressions!!!!!
 

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/794/794764p1.html

Damn I'm so excited! They are focusing on skating and this time the game will be 60 fps!!

The screenshots look excellent to boot!

My favorite sports console game gets even better. :)

but the game doesn't look like that. those aren't actual game shots from the video game. when you play it'll never look like that. those pics mean nothing. obviously they look cool, but for practical purposes they're worthless.

I'll respectfully disagree... I have NHL 07 and the game looks just like the pictures did in the preview last year. It's really a beautiful game.

Looks to me like they polished the game this time around.

Of course I do have a 24" LCD, Vga cables and the 360 set to 1920x1080.

i understand the graphics are top notch. just that those angles shown in the link are not from an actual game where you're controlling the players. if anything maybe it's a replay but the game never really looks like that. it'd be cool if it was possible though.

Maple Leafs' Theorem of Video Game Hockey Marketing states that any attempt to impress me with how "realistic" a game is will always contain at least one screenshot that demonstrates that the people doing the marketing have no idea about hockey. Like a shot of two guys fighting who never fight, or some guy scoring a wraparound goal with a slapshot, etc.

Hey, is that a shot of Marion Gaborik throwing a crushing hit on Brendan Witt? Nice!

Yeah, I know they do spice them up at times, but I do think most next gen screenies are close to the real thing. I don't play with that close of a camera, but I can watch a replay and see similar screen shots.

http://www.5w-g.com/?p=259

Mark my words, "sports game of the year".

Tell them to call me when there's a slider to adjust the goalie skill. Idiots.

I hate f'n sliders.

I also hate sliders.

"We couldn't figure out how to properly balance the game, so we decided to just let the customers have a go and tell them its an added feature."

Yup, pretty much the standard nowdays. Believe it or not, there are games that still play fine on defaults - see NHL 07 and APF 2k8. I've been playing NCAA 08 on defaults (AA) as well and so far, it's been fine.

I hate sliders, and I want a goaltending slider because I don't trust EA to get it right.

Are VGA Cables better than the cable that comes with the 360?

Todd, I know part of why you love NHL 2007 is the control scheme. 2ksports has announced that NHL 2k8 will also have controls mapped to the right stick including dekes, passing, and shooting. It should be interesting to see how the 2 games compare.

FYI.....Bill Abner is going to be meeting with 2K Sports for a NHL 2K8 Q&A session. He's taking question submissions for those that want to know something specific.....

http://sportsgamer.blogspot.com/2007...questions.html

Bingo. My goalie (and theirs) would just occasionally stand there while a non-deflected unscreened slapshot from the blueline went in. Granted, it happened once with Osgood and Cloutier, but every game?

It does sound decent. Is it safe to assume that Staal will be bumped off the cover now after his recent fiasco?

I don't believe the cables that come with the X360 are capable of 1080p, but I could be wrong. Doesn't matter all that much as I'm not sure there are any games that output that signal yet.

There is a comparison over at gamespot on the different cables if you do a search.

Yes, but I also love the "no speed" burst scheme in NHL 07, not sure if 2k sports is taking that out as well or not.

I am excited to see what 2k sports can do this year as I love how their sports games has so much immersion.

It's just hard to believe with EA having another year to really perfect their control scheme how 2k sports will attempt to close the gap.

I'm hoping that's the case as I got $36 worth of trade-in for Forza 2 if I put it all on a pre-order game. Took a chance on NHL '08.

http://blogs.ign.com/EANHL08/2007/08/23/64254/

Does he actually mean it when he says it is important to play out your AHL games to develop your players? So a season will take twice as long to get through?

I know I won't be playing but a game here and there, to check out the players and what not.

I think he means, the more games you do play with your AHL team, the better you will be at picking out the better talent. Although he also says when you bring players up to replace injured players, you'll obviously be able to judge them where it counts, the NHL.

That's how I did it last year with the reserve roster.

I know you loved NHL '07 Todd. I thought it was far worse than 2K's version, control scheme be damned.

I love sliders, so we disagree on that one too.

I thought EA's game had far better controls last year, I just hated the AI. I felt like I was watching a series of five year old defenseman skating around. I'm making no prejudgements this year. I'll read the reviews, take everyone's thoughts and make a decision.

The great thing about this is that with the NBA and NHL we actually have competition. I wish the NFL and MLB were the same.

I am excited for the online leagues this year, I will plunk down the money to get Live if we can get a FOFC league going (and I can be the Jackets).

I get nervous just about every time EA does a new feature like the "Poise" rating. It's a cool idea, like most of their new features, but at this point I just assume that they'll overdo it to the point that it's annoying, and then work it down to something usable over the next few releases.

I can just picture players shooting pucks into the stands and goalies giving up 15 goals in a playoff game because they don't have a good "poise" rating.

I want to get an nhl and nba game this year for sure but still undediced between 2k and EA versions for both games. Will probably wait a couple of weeks to see how important are the bugs on each one, as both promisse a lot, but for sure both will have some stupid franchise killing bugs.

NBA Live has been terrible for several years now. I think you should go with 2K's NBA game for sure. As far as NHL, it really comes down to personal preference. I have both of the NHL games from last year, and I have no idea which one I liked more. They were both decent to me, but I didn't really love either. Picking an NHL game would be a much tougher decision than picking an NBA game.

I bought NBA2k7 past year and loved it, but after reading previews of both games for 2008, i must admit that Live looks better on the paper, with way more deep in the franchise mode. That is why i want to wait, i know gameplay should be better in 2k, but if franchise is as good as it's said in live...

Live does look like they are finally giving a shit about the series.

Troy,

A wait and see is a great approach.. you'll definitly have impressions from me on NHL 08 the day it comes out. :)

I've read that watching the CPU cylcle the puck on the powerplay is a thing of beauty.. we'll soon see.

When it comes to the hockey games, I'll read comments from people I respect and make a decision based off of that.

When it comes to the NBA games, I'll buy 2K the day it comes out, no questions asked.

If Live ends up being much improved and 2K's equal, I'll go ahead and give it a shot.

Same here. NBA 2k7 and College Hoops were the 2 best console sports game of the last year in my opinion. The only reason I might skip them this year is because I'm so attached to my College Hoops career (even though it is has had a short hiatus thanks to Biosphere and to a lesser extent Madden/NCAA.) However, if I'm going to buy a basketball game, it will be NBA 2k8.

Just read on HFBoards that the 360 demo is up!!! Can't wait to get home and download it and play.

I believe it is 3rd period of 5v5 with Ottawa and Anaheim, if I remember right. Also, it is on Pro mode

This is what i hate from owning a Ps3. I wonder why the demos take 1 month to come to Psnetwork.

I personally think demos are a problem in the industry. I know that gamers love to play a snippit of the game to wet their appetite, but I've seen more than one developer comment on how much of a hinderance it is to getting everything done in a timely fashion.

A glaring example of that was Gears of War. Microsoft pushed the developers to create a demo. The developer's response was that Microsoft could have a demo by the end of the year or a fully complete game by the end of the year, but not both. Wisely, Microsoft chose the full game over a demo.

From a marketing standpoint, demos can be incredibly important. There is no doubt in my mind that games like Bioshock, Stranglehold and Overlord will see (or have seen) increased sales because of a strong demo.

I wouldn't have purchased Bioshock without having played the demo, even after hearing how great it was. I think I would have just read a description about it and thought, eh doesn't sound like my kind of game.

Thanks for this!

I love demos, I just think they release them early if they think they have a great game on their hands.. which makes sense.

Downloading now!!!!!!!!!!!!

Played it for an hour or so tonight, and I might as well go ahead and trade in NCAA and Madden for NHL, its that good. They fixed most of the problems that made last years game frustrating at times.

I LOVE the AI this year on both ends of the ice. On offence, the defenders actually help out in the play, and when a winger carries the puck back to the blueline, one dman will go down low and help out. Guys stand in front of the net to create traffic. Shots from the point are very realistic and the rebounds as well. Its very satisfying to cycle (yes, you can actually cycle the puck) around and then find an opening in the slot and score.

On defense, the D-men are in perfect position, and the wingers help out up top. Its very hard to get a shot through unless you work the puck around to an open spot.

Special teams is even better! I was on the PK, and they started nice and wide in an umbrella, then worked their way tigher and closer, passing the puck nicely around and finally taking a one timer from the point and scoring on a rebound.

Also, another goal scored against me was a shot from the point that deflected off a skate and completely fooled the goalie.

It took me a while to not play it like I did last years game, because this game's AI is MUCH smarter and I agree that the Pro AI is 10x better than the Superstar AI from 07. I can't imagine when I actually get the game and turn up the settings that I like (shots are still a little too hard, and the puck control is still too much). Its going to be great!

Just what I wanted to hear. :)

I'm about 50% done on the d/l. Seems like the few gripes I had are gone or have been fixed. Can't wait to see it in action.

Not much to add to Turner's thoughts.

I want this game yesterday. If there is any sport game you can tell the difference between 30 fps and 60 fps, hockey is it. Gameplay is as smooth as silk. I've played 07 so much, PRO difficulty isn't much of a challenge for me, but it's quite nerve racking when the other team is on a PP this year.

If there are no major bug-a-boos, I might not take this game out of the 360 all season long.

I got to try the demo for a few periods last night and I was pretty impressed. The tweaked the skating controls just enough that you no longer feel out of control in your own zone, and the defencemen finally know how to stay at the point and not put themselves offside whenever you pass to them. Those two changes add up to offensive zone play that feels more strategic than any previous game.

If anything, it may go too far -- some of the 5-on-5 play ends up feeling like a power play because the offense is passing it around the perimeter so easily and the defense just sets up and waits. Maybe that was just a result of being on Pro level.

This thing is going to be huge fun against other players.

How in the world can EA manage to leave the glaring AI bugs that were pointed out in LAST year's build in this year's build. Even when consumers publicly point out problems in their AI, they still don't fix it. Amazing.

From the SportsGamer blog:


Here's the video from last year's game......

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

EA, it's called Testing 101. If it was a problem in last year's build, test the same scenario on this year's build to make sure it doesn't get through.

I should've known what I'd find when I saw that Mizzou B-ball fan was the last person to post in this thread.

I heard this only occurs because the PS3 is so difficult to program.

He's kind of like a newer version of jbmagic, except he uses coherent sentences and puncuation?

In all fairness to B-ball, that is simply horrible. Watching the guy simply stand there for minutes on end with the defense watching him in a 5 on 5 situation is a bit moronic. The defense is what I took issue with last year as well. I thought the AI was horrific.

I played around with the demo and found the game to be a lot of fun. This is a bug that can be worked around (by not standing in one spot for twenty minutes but I'm sure there is a slider for defensive aggressiveness that could improve that as well). Still, it's an asinine bug to be in the game.

I don't see this as a big deal. Simply don't do it. I can't see the score of the game but I wonder about that as well as what defensive aggressiveness slider (if there is one) is set on. Who knows. To me though it's not a glaring problem unless you simply abuse that one. Unlike some of the other games' problems.

Can anyone get this to occur on their copy? I don't have NHL07, but reading some of the comments on youtube (which are well-thought out and carefully written like most comment sections on the Internet) make it sound like it's hard to replicate.

I don't think that standing there doing nothing is an 'abuse' of the game. 'Abuse' would be be a situation to exploit a flaw to score 20 goals in a game. This is just a situation where they simply showed a hole in the defensive AI that never should occur. The reason this annoys me more than anything is because my job by day is to thoroughly test code. Letting something like this through is inexcusable, especially when it was flawed and noted in a build nearly one year ago.

Also, if this got through, it should open up major concerns as to how much (or how little) testing was done on this project. The frightening thing is that they actually pay contractors good money to test these games.