NHL 2K alive and kicking
 

So cool seeing so many people still having fun with the 2K series. I loved playing these on 360 back when the first iterations of the EA series on the then "next gen" was so underdeveloped. So what do we all think is the best version for playing today? Obviously we can't do any mods for the game, so where is the best roster community? I imagine there's no way around the 31 team issue?

Thanks guys!

Re: NHL 2K alive and kicking
 

2K10 and 2K8 are the only versions so far with rosters for THIS SEASON. Either way, I've realized that 31 teams is no big deal. You'll be too worried about your own division/conference in Franchise mode to even notice the one team in the other conference that's gone missing! Plus, more NHL-caliber free agents can only be a good thing.

The reason I only work with 2K8 is that it's easy to make edits and there are no limitations on created players, team size, edits, etc. because the save file can be edited directly in a pinch. That allows me to do things like select the best faces for each player, remove outdated player photos, etc. Even more could be done, like editing salaries to real-life values, fixing the commentary glitches, etc... the only thing holding me back is a lack of time.

Re: NHL 2K alive and kicking
 

You took the words right out of my mouth. I feel that -- not to be too philosophical -- you reach a point after playing sports games for so many years (over 20 years now), when perfection starts to matter less than the game being fun and realistic. Of course, playing with 31 teams would be perfect and wonderful but I'll take 30 teams in an awesome game that plays excellent in exchange for 31 teams in a boring game that isn't of good enough quality just because of hyper-real graphics and bonus features. Bonus features and schedules and uniforms start to matter less when a game feels as weak as recent NHL games feel. And for me, online components actually make the game worse. Online interaction and collecting XP have, in my opinion, ruined sports games.

The other thing that I can say is that I've played NHL seasons every year since about 1996 as one team controlling all the league and doing transactions. And I have to tell you honestly, that if I think about it, I couldn't tell you what any team outside of the playoffs ever did in any of those seasons. What I CAN tell you is the hours and hours and days (did I mention hours?) I have spent getting the leagues perfect. You start to wonder, how much that effort is worth it. My new rule last year became this: opening day rosters, doing the major trades in a season, and just GO. I've never had more fun playing seasons by doing this and now I actually finish every season and sometimes I even have time for another.

So, I will gladly cut out a team, replace them with Vegas and play a season like that. This game is too good to not play it. But I guess I will just have to buy NHL18 for my QMJHL team, the Quebec Capitales.

When you talk about editing these things, you're not talking about somehow editing on PC are you? That would blow my mind. And are you talking about the 360 version or Sony?

Re: NHL 2K alive and kicking
 

It really does stink that Flyin Finn never could get a 2k8 or 2k10 roster editing program like he had for 2k4 through 2k7 (i think). I used it to update rosters and were used by 2k as the official live updates. They just removed players that didnt play in any NHL games from the minors. The trade off was that they added me into the Pens minor league system. The good old days!

Re: NHL 2K alive and kicking
 

You guys make me want to jump ship...


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Re: NHL 2K alive and kicking
 

Yes, the 2K8 save file can be hex-edited directly on a computer. That was the principle behind Flying Finn's editors for the older games like NHL2K5. I wrote my own tool that allows me to import my rosters directly from a spreadsheet. That's what allows me to make "advanced" edits like setting the Enforcer attribute or Elite status, hand-picking players' heads, etc.

None of that can be done for 2K10 since no one has decoded its save file yet, and, unfortunately I just don't have the time either right now. It's a monumental task. Decoding 2K8's save file took me ages and 2K10 seems to use a much more cryptic format.

Re: NHL 2K alive and kicking
 

Shame... I don't have 2k8 anywhere. I thought I did.

Re: NHL 2K alive and kicking
 

You have it on eBay. :D

PS3 version is best for my rosters, but they work on the XBox with some fiddling around. (Shameless plug #1!)