NHL 2K10: First Look (Gamespot)

[willrolls]

Gamespot has posted their first look at NHL 2K10.

"The demo of the game was brief but developers gave us a good sense of what the approach is this year. Since moving development away from the now-defunct Kush and bringing NHL duties to 2K's internal Visual Concepts studio, the focus has been two-fold. Last year, it was simply getting a playable hockey game out the door on a shortened development cycle. While that game was met with lukewarm critical reception, the focus for NHL 2K10's full year development has been to continue to lower the barrier of entry for more casual hockey fans.

With NHL 2K10, opening up the game to more players includes making the game more appealing for multiplayer. As producers put it, they're looking to put the "party" back in multiplayer hockey videogames, adding a sense of fun to the game while focusing on the essentials that will please the true puckheads. A big part of that focus has gone into the game's presentation--there's a new menu system that looks like an improvement from previous years (not that that would be hard--2K Sports in-game menus have been ugly for years). In addition, the game's character models have been tweaked, including more attention on accurate player faces this year."

[CarryTheWeight]

Re: NHL 2k10: Gamespot First Look

The developers are talking about continuing a trend of making the gameplay "fun" and "accessible" yet claim that there's enough depth there that true hockey fans can appreciate the game regardless. It looks to me that the game is trying to be the second coming of NHL Hitz Pro...which is great news for me, since I still play the game religiously, but may put off some more experienced 2K players. I suggested in the "Developers Are Listening" thread that the gameplay experience could possibly be catered to both groups of "hardcore" and "casual" gamers using different sets of options and controls...maybe this is what they're trying to do.

Additionally, it seems many things have been improved this year, including "features that gamers have called 2K out on", as described in the article. Without any major screens or information coming from 2K, we'll see what they mean when the time comes, I guess...

[slickdtc]

Re: NHL 2k10: Gamespot First Look

Glad that we finally got some information on the game besides some pictures of the mo-cap sessions. With that said, we really didn't get that much information. Especially for a year in which the NHL 2k series needs to really do it big or else it could be curtains.

I'm sure everyone will be (already is?) up in arms about them talking about casual fans and party multiplayer. For those of us who didn't just lock on to those words, I am very excited, still, to see the game in motion and get more thorough information.

Regardless, I still think that I'll be shelling out the money for both NHL games this year. I think they'll both bring some serious hockey action to the table, though it'll likely be completely different with the only similarity being that it is ice hockey licensed by the NHL.

[baa7]

Re: NHL 2k10: Gamespot First Look

"...the focus for NHL 2K10's full year development has been to continue to lower the barrier of entry for more casual hockey fans."

And we saw how well that worked with NHL 2K9 and MLB 2K9: the dumbing down of gameplay, and the removal of player ratings, sliders and game options -- all the gameplay depth that has set 2K games apart from the competition. And now they're systematically jettisoning all that and targeting the pick-up-and-play casual gamer, for financial reasons obviously.

The thing is, sim fans were willing to put up with the annual glitch cluster#&@$ that 2K released every year. Casual gamers won't be so accommodating. If their games are going neo-arcade now, then 2K had better have a plan to also improve their QA, or else neither group of gamers will be purchasing their games in the future.

[Flyermania]

Re: NHL 2k10: Gamespot First Look

This series is really turning its back on what made it popular to begin with --- the sim aspect.

[tabulaRasa]

Re: NHL 2k10: Gamespot First Look

It could be that this article is scewed towrds the Wii crowd to get them interested since they are solo on that platform with hockey. PR-write up.

And then that the game is more SIM on 360/ps3. Who knows, but if they do go arcade this year, they are pretty much Fkkd. Never let a PR department dictate the core of a game, they are clueless most of the times.

But , according to Shadow and WWTC the game is SIM at the core and is getting really good. Let´s see....

[RealmK]

Re: NHL 2k10: Gamespot First Look

I still think its going to come down to AI and if the sliders actually work this year. 2k9 would be actually decent if the AI wasn't so god awful at positioning and didn't like to hit first, play puck later and the goalies didn't flop for the sake of showing off the nice goalie animations.

[daflyboys]

Re: NHL 2k10: Gamespot First Look

I still think its going to come down to AI and if the sliders actually work this year. 2k9 would be actually decent if the AI wasn't so god awful at positioning and didn't like to hit first, play puck later and the goalies didn't flop for the sake of showing off the nice goalie animations.

Not to mention 2K8.

[lockjaw333]

Re: NHL 2k10: Gamespot First Look

This series is really turning its back on what made it popular to begin with --- the sim aspect.

You have no basis for this comment. I assume you're basing it off the little PR tagline in the preview, but marketing is not always indicative of what a game will be like, especially with sports games, and especially with 2K Sports as their marketing teams have never seemed to get it.

You have no idea what the game will look like or play like. Its really early to be making comments like that. I can understand if you are basing it off of 2K9, but you also have to understand what 2K9 was. 2K9 was a product of a severely shortened development cycle. Kush was let go from the series after the development cycle had already started. Development moved back in-house to Visual Concepts, who then tried to salvage the code left behind by Kush. They eventually made the decision to scrap the code altogether and start over.

Realistically 2K9 was put out as-is, and was more an early development version of what 2K10 will be. Its not fair to base the series off of 2K9, especially considering 2K8 was the most sim, realistic hockey game ever created.

At least give them a chance to show the game before making up your mind about the direction of the series. You might be pleasantly surprised by what you will eventually see

[RealmK]

Re: NHL 2k10: Gamespot First Look

You have no basis for this comment. I assume you're basing it off the little PR tagline in the preview, but marketing is not always indicative of what a game will be like, especially with sports games, and especially with 2K Sports as their marketing teams have never seemed to get it.

You have no idea what the game will look like or play like. Its really early to be making comments like that. I can understand if you are basing it off of 2K9, but you also have to understand what 2K9 was. 2K9 was a product of a severely shortened development cycle. Kush was let go from the series after the development cycle had already started. Development moved back in-house to Visual Concepts, who then tried to salvage the code left behind by Kush. They eventually made the decision to scrap the code altogether and start over.

Realistically 2K9 was put out as-is, and was more an early development version of what 2K10 will be. Its not fair to base the series off of 2K9, especially considering 2K8 was the most sim, realistic hockey game ever created.

At least give them a chance to show the game before making up your mind about the direction of the series. You might be pleasantly surprised by what you will eventually see

You had me up to 2k8 was the most sim game ever. Then I just rolled my eyes and chuckled.

[onlybygrace]

Re: NHL 2k10: Gamespot First Look

You had me up to 2k8 was the most sim game ever. Then I just rolled my eyes and chuckled.

If 2k8 isn't THE most sim...its top 3. In my book, its like...well...probably number one. There have been a lot of great games though.

[dorismary]

Re: NHL 2k10: Gamespot First Look

This series is really turning its back on what made it popular to begin with --- the sim aspect.

First 2k9 had a short cycle to work with and second I would at least wait for a few reviews or a demo and then base your thoughts off of real info .
We all know companies can say or put anything on a box new improved real sim ect and sure somethings 2k says isnt promising but lets at least wait and see.
As Not everyone is on the EA Payroll j/k and REAL HOCKEY FANS would like 2 great games

[Money99]

Re: NHL 2K10: First Look (Gamespot)

I think people need to realize that 2K's marketing is geared towards getting the fence surfers and non-fans. It doesn't necessarily mean that the game is going to be arcady and over-the-top.

2K9 had it's flaws, but it had a lot of good things under the hood.

Like RealmK said, if the AI is improved so that the CPU isn't so one-dimensional, it could be a tremendous sim game.

[Money99]

Re: NHL 2K10: First Look (Gamespot)

From 2Khockey.net:

http://www.2khockey.net/forums/index...dpost&p=273986

It's going to be a sim game. All the media and hype is geared towards the casuals. Even EA's media is geared towards the casuals. The entire article is from the marketing department. It's not the developers speaking. Developers are making a sim game.

http://www.2khockey.net/forums/index...dpost&p=274008

Listen to the Pengman. He knows of what he speaks. You'll be getting more of the info that you'll really want to hear very soon.

[lockjaw333]

Re: NHL 2k10: Gamespot First Look

You had me up to 2k8 was the most sim game ever. Then I just rolled my eyes and chuckled.

In my opinion, it is the most simulation hockey game ever made. With the right slider settings in human vs. human play, its easily the most realistic hockey game created yet. The depth of control (whether you were able to get accustomed to them or not) sets it apart. Especially on the defensive end, its bounds above anything done previously or since. The stick work in 2K8 is what really defines the realism. Your stick positioning actually matters in that game, both defensively and offensively.

For you to roll your eyes at that comment means your probably never played 2K8 with good simulation sliders, or if you did you didn't play it against like-minded simulation style opponents.