NHL 15

[MizzouRah]

Not much to go off of as usual.. but this game is why I keep buying consoles.

New announcers:

Quote:
New voices for a new generation. NHL 15 welcomes the NBC Sports commentary team of Mike 'Doc' Emrick and Eddie Olczyk to the broadcast booth. TSN analyst Ray Ferraro will provide game insights at ice level. Combined with Real Life Broadcast Integration that will feature real-world pre-game video commentary with Doc and Eddie set against in-game visuals, NHL 15 takes a revolutionary step forward in sports videogames; where the lines between the real world of sport broadcast and the game are blurred.


NHL 15 | NHL Hockey Video Game Features | EA SPORTS

[DaddyTorgo]

Doc and Eddie?

NICE

[yacovfb]

Some more info in here:

http://www.gameinformer.com/games/nh...ut-nhl-15.aspx

Hopefully they can deliver - looks great on paper.

[DaddyTorgo]

I actually plugged my PS3 back in the other day to play a little NHL14. Looking forward to this.

This and FIFA are staples for me.

[DaddyTorgo]

I have high hopes for Vision AI (it works a lot better in FIFA for PS4 than PS3 already), and the new player and especially puck physics. This could be a really good game.

[The Jackal]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

Doc and Eddie?

NICE

Awesome. I like Bill Clement, but that should be fun.

[The Jackal]

I actually re-purchased NHL 14 for the PS3 after I had to trade in my 360 copy when upgrading to the XboxOne. That's how much I couldn't wait for the next game.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Ready for this one on the PS4. It's going to look fantastic.

[MizzouRah]

I still play NHL 13 on my x360 - never played a console sports game as much as this one.

I'm stoked about NHL 15 for next gen!

[MizzouRah]

More...

http://www.gameinformer.com/games/nh...ut-nhl-15.aspx

NHL 15

23 Things We Know About NHL 15

Preview

by Matt Bertz on May 05, 2014 at 09:00 AM
15,547 Views


20


Finally, we're about to experience next-generation hockey. After sitting patiently on the bench as Madden, FIFA, and NBA led the charge onto the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One last year, the NHL franchise is finally ready to jump over the boards.
"NHL 15 is really the start of a new generation of hockey for us, allowing us to really capture the sounds, the sights, and the feel of the game in a way we've never done before," says EA Canada producer Sean Ramjagsingh. "People always ask me what do you get with the new consoles, and really the answer is the new consoles just allow us to do more stuff: Run more code under the hood, have more calculations happening every second, have higher resolution textures, more animations, more physics on all the objects in the game. It just allows us to hit a whole new bar of realism. "
With an obvious emphasis on taking advantage of the increased hardware in the name of presentation and graphics, NHL 15 promises several long-requested features like authentic arenas, a new commentary team, and more player likenesses.We didn't get a chance to dig into online play or the game modes, but here's everything we learned about NHL 15 thus far.
PRESENTATION

• Bill Clement and Gary Thorne served admirably as the commentary duo over the course of the last generation, but it's time for new blood. The premiere NBC team of Mike "Doc" Emrick and Eddie Olcyzk now man the booth. Thankfully, EA chose to skip the master of useless commentary - Pierre McGuire - in favor of TSN analyst Ray "Chicken Parm" Ferraro.
• The trio has recorded more than 35,000 lines of commentary.
• Given the chance to start from scratch with new hardware, EA is taking a new approach to recording commentary. "No longer do we put a script in front of talent and say 'okay, read,'" Ramjagsingh says. "What you see with that is you try to turn the commentators into actors, and they don't sound like themselves. What we've done with all the content you're going to hear in the game this year, aside from some very specific things with player names, we just give them a situation. We did 30,000 lines of giving the situation: 'Daniel Sedin scores a goal top shelf in the last two minutes of the game. Give me 10 samples of that.' They pause for two seconds, think about what they would say, and they rattle it off. Doc and Eddie have worked together so long they just know how to play off each other, and the stories that they can tell that we've incorporated into the game is fantastic."
• Expect more varying degrees of intensity with the commentary as well. "We've been able to add more levels of intensity than we've ever had in the game," Ramjagsingh says. "In the past we've had two and a half, three different intensities for commentators. Now we have almost seven different levels of intensity that Doc and Eddie can go to."
• Along with the top NBC broadcasting team, EA is incorporating the full suite of NBC Sports presentation elements, including polished stat and score overlays, city flyovers, and shots of the arena.
• NHL 15 introduces something never seen before in a sports game - live video of commentators before each game. To avoid the unpleasantness that virtual avatars commentators create in terms of lip synching, EA decided to record Doc and Eddie on a green screen, then place them in the broadcast booths of the arenas.

AUTHENTIC ARENAS

• Speaking of arenas, EA is working to include all 30 authentic arenas for NHL 15. They are still in the negotiating process, which can prove tricky. Included in the plans is the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, which will serve as the new home of the Islanders in 2015. "Over the last couple weeks we were working with the NHL on getting reference of the Barclays Center because there's not great reference of it right now for a hockey setup," Ramjagsingh says. "There's been some artist renditions that we've been able to find, but there's not a whole lot out there quite yet."
• The authentic arenas allow EA Canada to incorporate the living crowds technology provided by the Ignite Engine being used across the EA Sports portfolio. "We knew that coming into gen four and with the power of gen four we needed to focus on our visuals and presentation, really bringing the world to life," Ramjagsingh says. "The authentic arenas now have 18-21,000 people within the arena to really give it that full feel. We have 9,000 unique crowd models. We have that person in the front row not paying attention in the game and taking a selfie and reacting late to the goal being scored. We've got the super fans for the home team and the away team as well, that guy that we all know that's in the crowd doing his unique animations and taunting the crowd around him. It allows us to have things like secondary point of interest so we have 95 percent of the crowd watching the action and then 5 percent around that paying attention to the away team super fan. We've got the vendors walking up and down the aisles, we've got the security. If you're playing in a place like Madison Square Garden, which is a very unique arena with people walking around along the boards because the seating doesn't go all the way to the glass, we have those guys in there."
• The arenas also have different geometry, tunnels, and lighting to make each of them feel unique. The darkly lit arenas are going to be darkly lit. "It's almost to the point right now where you can actually look at the ticket you have and place yourself in the seat within the arena," Ramjagsingh says.
• EA is also experimenting with a new camera angle that's a bit lower to the action but doesn't sacrifice gameplay so you can see some of the crowd when in the offensive and defensive zones. The team is still fine-tuning it, so they're not sure where they are going to land, but they want so show off more of living world around the gameplay and capture the arena atmosphere.

PLAYER MODELING

• Borrowing the impressive technology powering the UFC game, EA is putting a renewed emphasis on player likeness. Ramjagsingh says the team currently has roughly 250-300 players with their unique heads, which leaves a lot of room for improvement given that the league has 690 players on active rosters at any given time. EA plans to continue to chip away at that deficit moving forward, and it's also overhauling the generic heads to make them less stone faced.
• NHL 15 also introduces new player models that have three distinct layers - the body, equipment, and jersey. EA says each layer interacts independently, and the dynamic cloth technology will react more naturally when a player changes speed or the puck hits a jersey.

GAMEPLAY

• EA has invested heavily in improving the physics over the past few years, and that dedication carries over to next-gen with a new 12-player collision physics that allows more players to be involved in scrums. "The player physics was limited to two player player-on-player contact in gen three," Ramjagsingh says. "Like we're seeing in playoff hockey right now, you have guys driving to the net and taking out two, three, four guys and the goalie and the net. We're able to replicate those situations now because we can handle all 12 players."
• This new technology may create some broken plays where users can take advantage of odd man rushes. For instance, if a player is knocked over and another player is skating full speed toward him and doesn't have time to stop, he will fall over the downed player. That dynamic pileup could spring a team into an attacking advantage. "Obviously we have to be careful about not making it too arcadey in that way, but making sure that it's realistic," Ramjagsingh says.
• The devs are also overhauling the puck physics from the ground up. To help, they hired a former scientist who worked on the Hadron Collider in Geneva, where they fire particles together at mach speed and create black holes. "He came over and joined us about 10 months ago and he's working on our puck physics, rebuilding it from the ground up," Ramjagsingh says. "What we're seeing now is bounces in the game that we've never seen before. It's all real-world physics running in our game. We're seeing shots squeaking through the goalie with our new dynamic cloth technology. We're seeing goals squeak through the goalie between the inside of his arm and his chest. We're seeing new saves that have been in the game but we've never seen before because the puck was never in the position for him to do a desperation reach back."
• The stick still is also being renovated for increased fidelity. "You could hold the stick out and deke at very specific points but you couldn't deke anywhere between that," Ramjagsingh says. "If you wanted to go left-right-lift with the stick you were going to the extremes, which in reality when you watch real hockey you don't see guys deke like that. We've added more fidelity to the control. The first part of it is now you can go into a glide and with your right stick hold it out to protect the puck. You skate down the right wing going full speed, go into a glide, hold out the right stick, and then start to cut in. If the guy takes that lane you can actually cut back and use the right stick while turning for the first time. We never had deking while turning in the game. We have deking while gliding in the game as well, so it allows you to see where the pressure is coming from. Having two guys come for you and maneuvering through situations or pressure like you've never been able to just because of the more fidelity in the controls."
• One touch dekes are returning, but EA is introducing new dekes you can perform while striding. Pulling the left and right sticks to the left and right will give you a quick stride so you can get around a guy
• When you go into a glide, you now have full control of both upper and lower body with the right stick, which means you can steer your guy while deking.
• NHL 15 has new toe drags as well.
• Users have been promised improved A.I. before, most notable with NHL 12's Anticipation A.I. and NHL 13's Hockey I.Q. EA is promising more improvements with Vision A.I. "With the power of the new consoles, it allows us to access more of what was going on," Ramjagsingh says. "In gen three it was more of a linear thought process and maybe thinking one step ahead. For us this year we have all 10 players on the ice trying to look one, two, three seconds ahead, understand how the play is developing, and then move realistic to the way the play is coming together." One example EA shared is when a puck is loose in the corner. "The A.I. player will take note when there's not much pressure coming in so he knows that he can go pick the puck up, keep his speed in stride, initiate the breakout himself, and then start looking for a pass. Whereas in gen-three, the guy would go get the puck, know that when he gets the puck he wants to make a pass, and then assess the pass he wants to make immediately."
• EA is also emphasizing puck support and making sure players get to the gaps.
• Player intelligence is also being communicated visually. For instance, smart players will look toward the puck carrier with their head and put their stick in a position to receive a pass.
• Board play isn't being overhauled, but EA still plans to tune it to dial back suction so players can't get pinned to the boards from behind when they have a step on the other player. EA also thinks the new A.I. behavior should result in better puck support around the scrums.

[Draft Dodger]

I don't get the love for Emerick. I can't fucking stand him.

(sorry Pumpy)

[The Jackal]

I've definitely come around on Doc's voice. So glad they didn't put Pierre in this game.

[SlyBelle1]

All I want is realistic number and types of penalties on both teams I would give up everything else for that.

[The Jackal]

Originally Posted by SlyBelle1

All I want is realistic number and types of penalties on both teams I would give up everything else for that.

I feel like with a bit of tweaking you can achieve that. Although it seems like if you raise the CPU penalties they just take a bunch of charges. Also depends on your length of game.

[Icy]

Really missing NHL14 since i sold my Ps3 to get a Ps4 on release day (big mistake btw, have been collecting dust until today with MLB the show when it finally shinned).

FIFA, NHL, NBA2k and MLB are the only reason I own a console.

[SlyBelle1]

Originally Posted by The Jackal

I feel like with a bit of tweaking you can achieve that. Although it seems like if you raise the CPU penalties they just take a bunch of charges. Also depends on your length of game.

Never really worked out well for me...tried many tweaks and sliders and could never realistically reproduce penalties....with special teams so import in hockey, just made it difficult for me to enjoy. Keeping fingers crossed we see some improvements in this area, regardless of the minutes played. The old 2K hockey series always seemed to do a great job with penalties, regardless of the play style.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by SlyBelle1

Never really worked out well for me...tried many tweaks and sliders and could never realistically reproduce penalties....with special teams so import in hockey, just made it difficult for me to enjoy. Keeping fingers crossed we see some improvements in this area, regardless of the minutes played. The old 2K hockey series always seemed to do a great job with penalties, regardless of the play style.

I've always though for most people like me who play 10 min periods, they average out at a normal pace. I don't want a whole period of power plays, so it's a tough balance I imagine.

[SlyBelle1]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

I've always though for most people like me who play 10 min periods, they average out at a normal pace. I don't want a whole period of power plays, so it's a tough balance I imagine.

Definitely don't want an unrealistic amount, but want it to be the average the NHL sees...and not just lopsided for one of the teams. I have been lucky to see 1-2 per game, although on occasion I would see more, but not consistently to match real life. And most of the time it was my team getting the penalties, not evenly with the CPU.

I hate to say it...but I realize people may want more or less and they should be able to play that way...this would be possible if the penalty sliders actually worked this way...turn it all the way up, see a lot of penalties...turn it down, see few penalties....but EAs sliders never work this way. If they did, everyone would be happy

[MizzouRah]

Oh I agree with you SB.. seems like penalties for EA games never work.

[MizzouRah]

Blah blah.. EA marking hype.. but it's a screenie! LOL!

[Mike Lowe]

Yep, and there still won't be penalties called or healthy scratches ever, or goalies getting injured in non-sim games.

I literally just went to that link, did a Ctrl+f and searched for "penalt" and nothing. Not a word.

No thanks!

[MizzouRah]

Arenas... wow..

From OS: Quote:
As many people have pointed out via Twitter and in the comments section, we have more referees! 2 linesmen, 2 referees and look at the scratches on the glass at MSG!

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Mike Lowe

Yep, and there still won't be penalties called or healthy scratches ever, or goalies getting injured in non-sim games.

I literally just went to that link, did a Ctrl+f and searched for "penalt" and nothing. Not a word.

No thanks!

I have to check, but in NHL 14 I believe the CPU has healthy.. I could be wrong. Penalties hopefully will get fixed up, but I still say with 10 minute periods, I don't want a ton of them.. more yes.. but not a ton.

[SlyBelle1]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

I have to check, but in NHL 14 I believe the CPU has healthy.. I could be wrong. Penalties hopefully will get fixed up, but I still say with 10 minute periods, I don't want a ton of them.. more yes.. but not a ton.

For me it is not a matter of fixing penalties per se, it is more about making the actual penalty sliders work. That way everyone gets the version of the game they want based on what period times they use and their playing preference.

Simply make the penalty slider work and all these issues go away....move the slider all the way up to get a ton of penalties, move the slider all the way down to get minimal penalties and put in the middle to get NHL realistic penalties.

Problem solved!

But I suspect this version will be no different, which sadly might keep me away for the fist time in a long time...each year I think it will be fixed, I buy it and then disappointed and trade it in.

[The Jackal]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

I have to check, but in NHL 14 I believe the CPU has healthy.. I could be wrong. Penalties hopefully will get fixed up, but I still say with 10 minute periods, I don't want a ton of them.. more yes.. but not a ton.

There are definitely healthy scratches in NHL 14. You can have a couple of players not suited up who aren't hurt.

The penalties thing has never bothered me too much, but I've probably just gotten used to ignoring that part of the team stats as the year goes on. Hopefully there are improvements to it though!

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by SlyBelle1

For me it is not a matter of fixing penalties per se, it is more about making the actual penalty sliders work. That way everyone gets the version of the game they want based on what period times they use and their playing preference.

Simply make the penalty slider work and all these issues go away....move the slider all the way up to get a ton of penalties, move the slider all the way down to get minimal penalties and put in the middle to get NHL realistic penalties.

Problem solved!

But I suspect this version will be no different, which sadly might keep me away for the fist time in a long time...each year I think it will be fixed, I buy it and then disappointed and trade it in.

I guess my question is put the slider all the way up and then do CPU players just start hacking away to take more penalties?

I get a few per game usually and I personally think that's enough for a game that's played on 10 min periods... although I do get what you're saying.

[markprior22]

Originally Posted by SlyBelle1

For me it is not a matter of fixing penalties per se, it is more about making the actual penalty sliders work. That way everyone gets the version of the game they want based on what period times they use and their playing preference.

Simply make the penalty slider work and all these issues go away....move the slider all the way up to get a ton of penalties, move the slider all the way down to get minimal penalties and put in the middle to get NHL realistic penalties.

Problem solved!

But I suspect this version will be no different, which sadly might keep me away for the fist time in a long time...each year I think it will be fixed, I buy it and then disappointed and trade it in.

I've never understood this in any sports game. Madden is about the same. If you crank the holding slider all the way up, there should be holding on almost every play. All the way down...no holding. The middle should somewhat try to replicate real life stats but I know they can't be perfect. Why is that so difficult to do?

[The Jackal]

I mean, if you just skate circles around the other team how are they supposed to take penalties, right?

[SlyBelle1]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

I guess my question is put the slider all the way up and then do CPU players just start hacking away to take more penalties?

I get a few per game usually and I personally think that's enough for a game that's played on 10 min periods... although I do get what you're saying.

I am not looking for unrealistic amount of penalties/powerplays, just to mimic real life....I believe last year each team averaged around 4 pp's per game....if the game could minimally do that on a consistent basis I would be very happy. Again, the key is the slider where everyone wins

[MizzouRah]

I'm IN.. lol

[MizzouRah]

Enough said...

[Mike Lowe]

Originally Posted by The Jackal

There are definitely healthy scratches in NHL 14. You can have a couple of players not suited up who aren't hurt.

The penalties thing has never bothered me too much, but I've probably just gotten used to ignoring that part of the team stats as the year goes on. Hopefully there are improvements to it though!

Right, but do those healthy scratches get starts from time to time? I saw too many guys on the 25 man roster end up with 0 appearances in 82 games.

[SlyBelle1]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Enough said...

Does look pretty...I'll likely get sucked into buying again this year even if the penalties still aren't great, especially to see what it is like on an xbox one.

[MizzouRah]

EA Sports will release their NHL 15 demo on August 26th for Xbox One and PlayStation 4. See the details below.

• New York Rangers vs. Los Angeles Kings
• Full game with three two-minute periods
• Play in Madison Square Garden or Staples Center
• Gameplay Camera Angles: Dynamic Low, Dynamic Medium, and Dynamic High
• Practice Mode: Master the Superstar Skill Stick with a free skate against a goalie
• Difficulty Settings: Rookie, Pro, All-Star

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Couple of things off the top.

1. The announcers in the booth are pretty neat, but that's obviously going to be one of those things that you're going to skip all the time once you start hearing repeats because they likely have a very limited number of those intros available.

2. The gameplay trailer wasn't even a gameplay trailer. Show me what I'll see when I play the game with the controller in front of me. What they showed there was NOT a gameplay trailer. In-game engine trailer would have been a better description.

Can't believe that we've still seen no gameplay and this demo comes out in 10 days. That's frightening to me. Definitely not a first day purchase as it has been in past years for me.

[DaddyTorgo]

That seems really early for a demo - isn't it coming out AFTER fifa, which doesn't have a demo out yet either??

[CraigSca]

FIFA comes out two weeks after NHL.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by CraigSca

FIFA comes out two weeks after NHL.

Aaah. Got that mixed up in my head - thought NHL came out later.

[CraigSca]

Not sure if any of you play it, but I am seeing some consternation regarding the lack of EASNHL (or whatever the heck the online league is called) support on XBONE or PS4. No confirmation that I have seen, but no mention of it by EA (while it is still being mentioned for PS3 and 360).

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Couple of things off the top.

1. The announcers in the booth are pretty neat, but that's obviously going to be one of those things that you're going to skip all the time once you start hearing repeats because they likely have a very limited number of those intros available.

2. The gameplay trailer wasn't even a gameplay trailer. Show me what I'll see when I play the game with the controller in front of me. What they showed there was NOT a gameplay trailer. In-game engine trailer would have been a better description.

Can't believe that we've still seen no gameplay and this demo comes out in 10 days. That's frightening to me. Definitely not a first day purchase as it has been in past years for me.

1. You are probably right.. hopefully there is enough there to sustain at least one full season.. announcers are improving, but as with all games, at some point it will become repetitive.

2. They never are.. at least there is a demo (looking at you Madden).

EA seems like they always do this...

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by CraigSca

Not sure if any of you play it, but I am seeing some consternation regarding the lack of EASNHL (or whatever the heck the online league is called) support on XBONE or PS4. No confirmation that I have seen, but no mention of it by EA (while it is still being mentioned for PS3 and 360).

I've played it a little bit.. wouldn't make or break the game for me, but it's hard to believe they would take out something like this, but who knows.

[MizzouRah]

This game is giving me a boner.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

I've played it a little bit.. wouldn't make or break the game for me, but it's hard to believe they would take out something like this, but who knows.

Had to laugh at this. Are we talking about the same company here??????

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Had to laugh at this. Are we talking about the same company here??????

Yeah I know.. just seems odd they would push aside something that appears to be a big mode to the game.

If you look at the back of the box art at costco.com it says 1-2 players online, so I think it's OUT for next gen. I would guess they just couldn't get the code in there this year.

[djsatu]

Typical EA. Post amazing looking screenshots, and then when it comes to ''real time'' videos, the game to me looks like crap. The puck again seems to be on a ''rope'' and the skating looks awful. Don't mean to harp, but we need 2k to make hockey and football games again as year to year the games by EA are not improving towards the sim players, and just cater to arcadish players!

[bhlloy]

Yeah, that video reminds me why I'm disappointed in this series and FIFA every year. Fun game for a while, but absolutely nothing like the real sport.

[MizzouRah]

I've played more games of NHL 13 and 14 than other sports game, to each his own I guess.

[Mota]

Looks okay to me but not a console generation jump over NHL 14. It's more like a slightly sharper version of it.

[SlyBelle1]

The one thing I liked in the second video is that there was a delayed penalty called My biggest gripe with the series as I have said before is the unrealistic and inconsistent number of penalties called on each team per game. If they simply get that right and the penalty sliders ACTUALLY WORK, regardless the number of minutes you play, then I certainly will be picking the game up. I am really hoping so since I love the game besides that.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

So disappointing to see those videos. It just confirmed what I had suspected. No generational jump there. Add on that they've once again decided to remove features that are available in the PS3 version, and it's a definite no-go for me. I'm sure they'll 'listen to the fans and we've heard what you wanted' so they can bring back those features next year as 'new'. They've done it in previous generations, why stop now????