Arena Pet Peeve

[spidertour02]

I love the little changes to the atmosphere and style of every arena, right down to the stuff appearing on the screens. In general, I find it all pretty well-done and it helps set the tone for the game.

Outside of NHL teams, almost every other team uses the same generic arena. That's fine, and it's understandable -- they're not going to model 100+ more arenas that players will rarely use. I have one problem with this, though: some teams outside of the NHL play in NHL arenas in real life.

For example, my Be A Pro player plays for the Calgary Hitmen of the WHL. The Hitmen play in the Scotiabank Saddledome, home of the Calgary Flames. In-game, however, they play in the generic arena despite the fact that the Saddledome is fully licensed and modeled in the game. Oddly, this generic arena is still identified as the Saddledome, and the game uses the arena's ice design. Ditto for the WHL's Edmonton Oil Kings, who play at Rexall Place. I mean, it's one thing to use a generic arena as a stand-in for one that isn't modeled in the game, but why use a generic in place of an arena that is available?

Oddly, this does NOT apply to the two AHL teams that play in NHL arenas, the Manitoba Moose and the San Jose Barracuda. Those two are correctly depicted playing at MTS Centre and SAP Center at San Jose, respectively.

I'm curious if this an oversight or if it was a conscious decision.

[FBeaule04]

Quote: Originally Posted by spidertour02

I love the little changes to the atmosphere and style of every arena, right down to the stuff appearing on the screens. In general, I find it all pretty well-done and it helps set the tone for the game. Outside of NHL teams, almost every other team uses the same generic arena. That's fine, and it's understandable -- they're not going to model 100+ more arenas that players will rarely use. I have one problem with this, though: some teams outside of the NHL play in NHL arenas in real life. For example, my Be A Pro player plays for the Calgary Hitmen of the WHL. The Hitmen play in the Scotiabank Saddledome, home of the Calgary Flames. In-game, however, they play in the generic arena despite the fact that the Saddledome is fully licensed and modeled in the game. Oddly, this generic arena is still identified as the Saddledome, and the game uses the arena's ice design. Ditto for the WHL's Edmonton Oil Kings, who play at Rexall Place. I mean, it's one thing to use a generic arena as a stand-in for one that isn't modeled in the game, but why use a generic in place of an arena that is available? Oddly, this does NOT apply to the two AHL teams that play in NHL arenas, the Manitoba Moose and the San Jose Barracuda. Those two are correctly depicted playing at MTS Centre and SAP Center at San Jose, respectively. I'm curious if this an oversight or if it was a conscious decision.

I think the CHL, and I agree with the comments you made on the importance of it for EA, I overlooked because it's not used that much. Since most people will speed up the junior seasons, well, I agree that it would be a little irrelevant for EA to spend ton of hours making the juniors arena real-life looking.

I'm playing with the Remparts and I would be amaze to play in the Centre Videotron like the real Remparts (since it's beautiful and the same size from most NHL arenas). On the other side, I understand that CHL is a side order, and that it's not a priority.

I didn't knew for San Jose and Manitoba. If that's the case, then I don't know why teams like Calgary and Edmonton don't play in arena that already exists. I don't think it would be that much of a problem linking those 2 with the real arenas.