NHL 2K11, Wii Exclusive

[RealmK]

Re: NHL2K11 being worked on - Motion Cap pics

All the gloom and doom around here. So far both EA and 2K have chosen to take a year off before this and both times it paid off. I think VC will come through personally. It's what people have wanted, so lets be optimistic and hope this pays off. I honestly don't think it will be that hard to catch up to EA if they build off 2K10 and improve it all around.

If by build off 2k10 you mean things that 2k10 actually did pretty well with, like incidental contact and the cpu offensive AI sure. If you mean keep the same spit shined last gen engine and crumbling foundation then no I disagree. Their entire sports line has been screaming out for a new "core" engine since this generation of consoles started.

This is their chance to do what EA did at the start of this gen and build from the ground up, get rid of all the broken code and truly make a next gen offering with hockey. They better not screw it up.

[Money99]

Re: NHL2K11 being worked on - Motion Cap pics

Not hard to catch EA? I totally disagree...2k's fanbase has been deteriorating for years. Inferior releases, reoccurring bugs, and non-existent marketing has dug the grave -- and 2k themselves had the shovel.

So hard to disagree with this point.
EA's fanbase is very strong. Go into the EA forum here and you'll see lots of people who've never watched a hockey game claim NHL10 to be game of the year in their household.

EA's been able to capture the fun that NHL94 generated.

2K has a very steep uphill battle if they return to next-gen with 2K12.
But like Flyermania, I have severe doubts we'll ever see another hockey game from Take-Two on either the PS3 or 360.

It's really a shame. 2K10 was a good game. It needed some polish but much like MLB2K9, it was a strong base to build off of. Just look at MLB2K10. That could have been NHL2K11.

It seems almost impossible to believe that at one time 2K was the King of the rink. Sales, reviews, fanbase, it had EA in a corner and was pummeling it.
Then next-gen came and 2K did nothing to capitalize on it. EA comes out with Skill Stick and it's all over.
How many different control schemes did 2K have between 2K7 and 2K10? I think it was different every year. That destroys a fan base. Especially when the competition has something so intuitive and fun.

Oh well. It is what it is. I'll rent 2K11 for my kids Wii but chances are, I'll probably never own another 2K hockey game on my PS3 or 360.

[RealmK]

Re: NHL2K11 being worked on - Motion Cap pics

So hard to disagree with this point.
EA's fanbase is very strong. Go into the EA forum here and you'll see lots of people who've never watched a hockey game claim NHL10 to be game of the year in their household.

EA's been able to capture the fun that NHL94 generated.

2K has a very steep uphill battle if they return to next-gen with 2K12.
But like Flyermania, I have severe doubts we'll ever see another hockey game from Take-Two on either the PS3 or 360.

It's really a shame. 2K10 was a good game. It needed some polish but much like MLB2K9, it was a strong base to build off of. Just look at MLB2K10. That could have been NHL2K11.

It seems almost impossible to believe that at one time 2K was the King of the rink. Sales, reviews, fanbase, it had EA in a corner and was pummeling it.
Then next-gen came and 2K did nothing to capitalize on it. EA comes out with Skill Stick and it's all over.
How many different control schemes did 2K have between 2K7 and 2K10? I think it was different every year. That destroys a fan base. Especially when the competition has something so intuitive and fun.

Oh well. It is what it is. I'll rent 2K11 for my kids Wii but chances are, I'll probably never own another 2K hockey game on my PS3 or 360.

Spot on Hank, I have my doubts as well. Though considering how bad MLB2k9 was 2k10 had to be an improvement, and even then the early reports still point out a ton of long standing issues like players being moved reverting to a bald guy and franchise contracts being so far out of whack it makes that mode worthless. Its kinda like a reoccuring theme when it comes to 2k sports titles at this point that key issues never get fixed.

Thats not to say I don't at least hope they actually pull off what I suggested in my initial post. But if the're going to do it, do it right for a change. They pissed away their fanbase aside from a few straglers that have a hate on for all things EA in the first place. It's due time to try and win some of that fanbase back while the're still a glimmer of hope among said fans, myself included.

[TDKing]

Re: NHL 2K11, Wii Exclusive

RIP 2k hockey, thanks for everything EXCEPT 2k9!

[savoie2006]

Re: NHL2K11 being worked on - Motion Cap pics

Flyers, 2K skipped a year right before 2K3, remember. Also the reason I say it wouldn't be hard for them to catch EA is because who in their right mind after NHL2K5 thought EA would EVER be King of the Rink? Nobody and well a short three years later EA pulled a rabbit from their hat and had taken hockey gamers by suprise. Look at where 2KHockey is now and it looks very similar to the gloom that surrounded EA Hockey. Who's to say they can't pull the same rabbit out?

ALSO:If the CEO isn't writing off the series off for next gen, why is everyone else?

[Sting]

Re: NHL 2K11, Wii Exclusive

Well this sucks for me, I'm a 2K guy PS3. I'll pick it up next year for the Wii. Hopefully they'll be back to PS3 after a year.

This really sucks, they may not come back at all.

[Money99]

Re: NHL2K11 being worked on - Motion Cap pics

Flyers, 2K skipped a year right before 2K3, remember. Also the reason I say it wouldn't be hard for them to catch EA is because who in their right mind after NHL2K5 thought EA would EVER be King of the Rink? Nobody and well a short three years later EA pulled a rabbit from their hat and had taken hockey gamers by suprise. Look at where 2KHockey is now and it looks very similar to the gloom that surrounded EA Hockey. Who's to say they can't pull the same rabbit out?

ALSO:If the CEO isn't writing off the series off for next gen, why is everyone else?

Good points savoie.
But the one Ace that EA has is money and resources. They have spades in both that allowed EA to employ two completely different teams so one could focus on last-gen while the other could use a full 24 months for a next-gen version.
I doubt Take-Two gives Shadow and the boys that kind of help.

Another thing to consider is that a lot more people were upset with EA's offerings prior to 2K taking a lead.
Right now, I would say that majority of hockey gamers really enjoy NHL10.
When 2K3 dropped, NHL2003 was a disaster. It was a sitting duck. NHL11 won't be so easy to dethrone.

[RealmK]

Re: NHL2K11 being worked on - Motion Cap pics

Flyers, 2K skipped a year right before 2K3, remember. Also the reason I say it wouldn't be hard for them to catch EA is because who in their right mind after NHL2K5 thought EA would EVER be King of the Rink? Nobody and well a short three years later EA pulled a rabbit from their hat and had taken hockey gamers by suprise. Look at where 2KHockey is now and it looks very similar to the gloom that surrounded EA Hockey. Who's to say they can't pull the same rabbit out?

ALSO:If the CEO isn't writing off the series off for next gen, why is everyone else?

Actually the canned 2k2 halfway through development, not really the same situation as deciding to take a year off to rebuild from the ground up early on. You're right though, last gen no one thought EA would turn it around yet they took an opertunity with a new generation of consoles to do the right thing, rebuild, innovate, go in a more sim direction and it worked quite well for them. Which I think the majority have asked 2k to do since 2k6 and are still waiting for that to happen. Hopefully it does, because even though NHL2k10 has its flaws, its not a completely horrible game, it just lacks polish.

[Flyermania]

Re: NHL2K11 being worked on - Motion Cap pics

Flyers, 2K skipped a year right before 2K3, remember. Also the reason I say it wouldn't be hard for them to catch EA is because who in their right mind after NHL2K5 thought EA would EVER be King of the Rink? Nobody and well a short three years later EA pulled a rabbit from their hat and had taken hockey gamers by suprise. Look at where 2KHockey is now and it looks very similar to the gloom that surrounded EA Hockey. Who's to say they can't pull the same rabbit out?

It's already been said, but their overall budget and marketing tools are vastly inferior to their competition. I don't think they have the resources to pull it off.

ALSO:If the CEO isn't writing off the series off for next gen, why is everyone else?

Do you really believe what he is saying? What is a year off really going to do for this series? It's still the same budget and development team that has run this series into the ground.

Of course he will say that they will be back in a year...it's not politically correct for him to say "Well, we sure sure blew it. Sorry about that --- see ya on the Wii!"

[buzzguy]

Re: NHL2K11 being worked on - Motion Cap pics

Being a Wii and 360 owner, I have no problems with this. I'm finally going to try 2K10 on Wii next week, even after playing NHL 10 since Sept.. It looks like fun to me, and I love playing games on Wii.
BTW, there WAS an NHL 2k2, but it was only on Dreamcast. NHL 2K came out first, Sega/VC took a year off, and came back with NHL 2K2 for the Dreamcast; the very last NA Dreamcast game, actually. I miss the Dreamcast days :-(

[daflyboys]

Re: NHL2K11 being worked on - Motion Cap pics

BTW, there WAS an NHL 2k2, but it was only on Dreamcast. NHL 2K came out first, Sega/VC took a year off, and came back with NHL 2K2 for the Dreamcast; the very last NA Dreamcast game, actually. I miss the Dreamcast days :-(

You wanna buy mine??

I'm going back to sure shot and nok-hockey!

[jyoung]

This is a real shame for those who still love 2K hockey, but if it results in an awesome NHL 2K12, maybe the payoff will be worth the wait.

In the meantime, I'm anxious to hear whether or not Icebreaker will be coming out this year to challenge NHL 11.

BTW, there WAS an NHL 2k2, but it was only on Dreamcast. NHL 2K came out first, Sega/VC took a year off, and came back with NHL 2K2 for the Dreamcast; the very last NA Dreamcast game, actually. I miss the Dreamcast days :-(

Yeah those Dreamcast hockey games were very underrated.

I believe Black Box was the developer on both 2K and 2K2, and they've gone on to do great things after the NHL series.

[RealmK]

Re: NHL 2K11, Wii Exclusive

This is a real shame for those who still love 2K hockey, but if it results in an awesome NHL 2K12, maybe the payoff will be worth the wait.

In the meantime, I'm anxious to hear whether or not Icebreaker will be coming out this year to challenge NHL 11.



Yeah those Dreamcast hockey games were very underrated.

I believe Black Box was the developer on both 2K and 2K2, and they've gone on to do great things after the NHL series.

Indeed they were underrated, and I stand corrected that it was 2k1 that got canned and not 2k2, that fuzzy memory of mine I s'pose. You're right Weeman, it was Blackbox before they were aquired by EA, then Treyarch on loan from Activision handled 2k3, Kush from 2k4-2k8 and VC the last two. Basically the series has changed dev teams so many times at this point its amazing to me that any of the old code base would still be used at all.

Still crossing my fingers that the suits at 2k and the guys at VC do the right thing, take a year off from 360/PS3 and actually really rebuild from the ground up for 2k12 rather than tow the line and not produce the game we know the're capable of delivering, given the proper funds and dev time. If 2k12 does see the 360/PS3 and its esentially 2k10 again and isn't on the same level, graphics wise, smoothness in animations/skating and intuitive and responsive control wise as EA's current offering, I hope no one buys it, as they've had enough chances on NG/CG to get it right imo.

[slickdtc]

Re: NHL 2K11, Wii Exclusive

This is great news, in my opinion. I don't need or even want a "new" game every year. If they really are taking 2K11 off with full intentions to come back with 2K12, hats off to them. Two years to work on a game are much better than one. The problem is, can we trust their word? Will they really use the extra year to revamp (I'm assuming they're going to completely overhaul the series) the game? Is it even possible to forfeit 2011 to EA NHL and still come back ?

We'll see.

[Money99]

Re: NHL 2K11, Wii Exclusive

"We have decided to reevaluate our NHL strategy and will only be releasing NHL 2K11 for the Wii in fiscal year 2010. We want to become a stronger competitor in this category and taking a year off on PS3 and Xbox 360, while focusing on making the best possible game for Wii, should allow us to accomplish that goal."

This quote is very ambiguous.
I hate saying it, but the more I read it, the more I think it's all done.

Do we really think 2K is going to pour more money into it's next-gen development?