NHL 15 Video, Screenshots & Blog Featuring the Superstar Skill Stick

[pm83]

Re: NHL 15 Video, Screenshots & Blog Featuring the Superstar Skill Stick

I disagree with this. You're getting all 30 arenas this time out, not 1 generic with just a different center ice logo slapped on. You're getting NBC commentary and presentation, complete with outside arena shots, greenscreening of Doc and Edzo and Ferrero between the benches. 2 refs and 2 lines men finally in an EA NHL game. Refinements to an already solid skating engine from 14, better looking and behaving puck physics that have never graced this series. better crowds and crowd reactions to what's happening on ice among other presentation enhancements. If that isn't enough to make it feel fresh from last gen, then people really need to lower their expectations.

What did people honestly want them to do this gen still needing to put out a game on 360 and PS3 at least for another year? Toss out everything and start over? On a limited budget compared to Madden since that is their flagship and always will be.

I'm really starting to get the idea that people just do not look at current sports game development realistically at all. They have this pedestal or heights that their expectations are at going into this gen without really understanding that the hardware itself is already ho hum compared to a high end PC in the first place. Never mind the realities of how much these games costs to produce and market at this point.

Those are all very good additions to solid core and I'm really glad that for example presentation will be top class because it will add a lot for authentic feel. However they don't have that fresh impact to gameplay itself (expect likely puck physics if it's executed well) and that's all what matters the most.

The shadow of 07 glides on the ice no matter how many layers new player models have or how many officials there are. Skating, passing, receiving, shooting, saves for example still feel the same. And I'm not saying that they are executed badly but they definitely could be better. It would been great to see them bring totally new versions of those aspects on the table.

I also understand that resources are limited for the team and truly feel pleased that there will be a hockey game on next-gen also. However I can't help the feeling that team took an easy route, route that we've already seen just because this route won't disappoint their biggest crowd. So instead of pushing series towards more realistic approach they chosed to still balance between arcade and sim. And I totally understand why. But just because I understand it I still can say how I feel of the series and on what direction I would loved to see it going.

I'm also an offline guy. Trying to tweak the game as close to real deal as it can be done with what they've giving us. Been like that since 2k3. And I'm happy that people enjoy the game and can have sim-experience with it. But for me EA's route has been getting very old and to be honest more I play this series, more I see how far it is from an actual game.

[JimmyDeicide]

Re: NHL 15 Video, Screenshots & Blog Featuring the Superstar Skill Stick

I only hope on next gen they are able to fill in the animation blanks like they did with Fifa 14 on next gen and that will make skating look and feel better and give us that tighter control that playing defense needs .

That will go a long way to making the game feel different but looking at the E3 vid didnt look positive.

[onac22]

Re: NHL 15 Video, Screenshots & Blog Featuring the Superstar Skill Stick

I really hope that this skill stick is actually rating based. If Ea van has payed attention to FIFA like they say the. There should be some star rating that determines the skill level of stick moves a player can bust out. I really don't want to play another year in which dan "carbomb" Carcillo can dangle through the other team. From the sounds of it now carbomb can even chain skills together? That doesn't fly for me. Ea pitches it as if every player in the league can bust all of these skills out. But it looks good.


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[SpectralThundr]

Re: NHL 15 Video, Screenshots & Blog Featuring the Superstar Skill Stick

Those are all very good additions to solid core and I'm really glad that for example presentation will be top class because it will add a lot for authentic feel. However they don't have that fresh impact to gameplay itself (expect likely puck physics if it's executed well) and that's all what matters the most.

The shadow of 07 glides on the ice no matter how many layers new player models have or how many officials there are. Skating, passing, receiving, shooting, saves for example still feel the same. And I'm not saying that they are executed badly but they definitely could be better. It would been great to see them bring totally new versions of those aspects on the table.

I also understand that resources are limited for the team and truly feel pleased that there will be a hockey game on next-gen also. However I can't help the feeling that team took an easy route, route that we've already seen just because this route won't disappoint their biggest crowd. So instead of pushing series towards more realistic approach they chosed to still balance between arcade and sim. And I totally understand why. But just because I understand it I still can say how I feel of the series and on what direction I would loved to see it going.

I'm also an offline guy. Trying to tweak the game as close to real deal as it can be done with what they've giving us. Been like that since 2k3. And I'm happy that people enjoy the game and can have sim-experience with it. But for me EA's route has been getting very old and to be honest more I play this series, more I see how far it is from an actual game.

At the end of the day it's a hockey video game, should the passing and shooting feel different every year? How do they go about doing that when like you said yourself, "they have a solid core".

So the idea that they should throw out everything that works and start from scratch on a new hardware revision doesn't really make all that much sense. You don't throw away years of work and refinement, just to start over. Ice is still going to be white, you're still going to have red lines and blue lines on the rink, players are still going to wear their proper uniforms as they have in years past.

The way to freshen it up is to bring in a new commentary team, they did, have them free form the commentary from scenarios rather than read from the same ol play by play script that they used through a generation or two of consoles, all signs are pointing to that they did this as well. Rework the presentation package, they did this, they're using NBC swipes, graphics, new shots of the crowds on goals and the like. Brand new authentic for the most part arenas down to the seat colors and numbers around the arena where appropriate, granted it's not perfect. (the bench issue is a niggling annoyance) I mean really what else can they realistically do to make it fresh when you're still playing video game hockey?

I'd assume there's new animations as well, you'd think there would have to be with how they reworked hitting, physics, and the layering system where pucks react to a players uniform and deflect and move in a more realistic manner than before.

[CelticHeart]

Re: NHL 15 Video, Screenshots & Blog Featuring the Superstar Skill Stick

At the end of the day it's a hockey video game, should the passing and shooting feel different every year? How do they go about doing that when like you said yourself, "they have a solid core".

So the idea that they should throw out everything that works and start from scratch on a new hardware revision doesn't really make all that much sense. You don't throw away years of work and refinement, just to start over. Ice is still going to be white, you're still going to have red lines and blue lines on the rink, players are still going to wear their proper uniforms as they have in years past.

The way to freshen it up is to bring in a new commentary team, they did, have them free form the commentary from scenarios rather than read from the same ol play by play script that they used through a generation or two of consoles, all signs are pointing to that they did this as well. Rework the presentation package, they did this, they're using NBC swipes, graphics, new shots of the crowds on goals and the like. Brand new authentic for the most part arenas down to the seat colors and numbers around the arena where appropriate, granted it's not perfect. (the bench issue is a niggling annoyance) I mean really what else can they realistically do to make it fresh when you're still playing video game hockey?

I'd assume there's new animations as well, you'd think there would have to be with how they reworked hitting, physics, and the layering system where pucks react to a players uniform and deflect and move in a more realistic manner than before.

good god 400 dollars for new arenas and new commentary and some phisic?

[SpectralThundr]

Re: NHL 15 Video, Screenshots & Blog Featuring the Superstar Skill Stick

good god 400 dollars for new arenas and new commentary and some phisic?

Well no the 400 dollars is for a console that plays other games besides NHL, has apps like Netflix and the like, and has better hardware than the 360/PS3. obvious troll post is obvious. The game is 60 dollars, like it is every year.

[ChitownFan526]

From a business standpoint, I don't know how much EA has to gain by showing gameplay videos at this point. I'm not sure that any videos could really turn new people onto the game, but the videos could open up a lot of areas to criticism by skeptical folks who have very high expectations for the game. I think the information that's released has only one purpose, and that's to create hype for the game. I wouldn't take much more than that from any of the gameplay series videos. At the end of the day, I would say rent before you buy if you're leery about what's being released on Sept 9th.

[drog1602]

Re: NHL 15 Video, Screenshots & Blog Featuring the Superstar Skill Stick

From a business standpoint, I don't know how much EA has to gain by showing gameplay videos at this point. I'm not sure that any videos could really turn new people onto the game, but the videos could open up a lot of areas to criticism by skeptical folks who have very high expectations for the game. I think the information that's released has only one purpose, and that's to create hype for the game. I wouldn't take much more than that from any of the gameplay series videos. At the end of the day, I would say rent before you buy if you're leery about what's being released on Sept 9th.

This sounds about right. I am just going to wait a week and buy it used.

[SpectralThundr]

Re: NHL 15 Video, Screenshots & Blog Featuring the Superstar Skill Stick

This sounds about right. I am just going to wait a week and buy it used.

So if they continue to push for authentic hockey, you're not going to reward that push and instead buy it used.

[drog1602]

Re: NHL 15 Video, Screenshots & Blog Featuring the Superstar Skill Stick

So if they continue to push for authentic hockey, you're not going to reward that push and instead buy it used.

This game has become way too arcade in the gameplay, so let me know when they start pushing authentic hockey.

[SpectralThundr]

Re: NHL 15 Video, Screenshots & Blog Featuring the Superstar Skill Stick

This game has become way too arcade in the gameplay, so let me know when they start pushing authentic hockey.

Do you remember the early 200x versions of NHL? Those were arcadey, what we have now is NOTHING like that. I think people forget 100 mile an hour wrist shots, hero icons and commentary that was almost slapstickesk comedy in nature were the norm back then. That being said is the game a perfect representation of sim? Nope, and it never will be. But compared to the direction the game took during the Dave Warfield days at EA Canada it's plenty sim.

And like the devs on Madden said as they try to take that game in a more sim direction, if the sales aren't there the suits won't think twice about telling them to arcade it up in hopes of generating more sales.

[drog1602]

Re: NHL 15 Video, Screenshots & Blog Featuring the Superstar Skill Stick

Do you remember the early 200x versions of NHL? Those were arcadey, what we have now is NOTHING like that. I think people forget 100 mile an hour wrist shots, hero icons and commentary that was almost slapstickesk comedy in nature were the norm back then. That being said is the game a perfect representation of sim? Nope, and it never will be. But compared to the direction the game took during the Dave Warfield days at EA Canada it's plenty sim.

And like the devs on Madden said as they try to take that game in a more sim direction, if the sales aren't there the suits won't think twice about telling them to arcade it up in hopes of generating more sales.

Funny that you mention Madden, I am buying it this year because of the direction they took. The last one I had was Madden12.

I thought NHL13 offline with proper sliders was a good game, but NHL14 was a step backwards IMO. Hopefully NHL16 they get it on track again.

[SpectralThundr]

Re: NHL 15 Video, Screenshots & Blog Featuring the Superstar Skill Stick

Funny that you mention Madden, I am buying it this year because of the direction they took. The last one I had was Madden12.

I thought NHL13 offline with proper sliders was a good game, but NHL14 was a step backwards IMO. Hopefully NHL16 they get it on track again.

It's the only reason I'm buying Madden as well this year, the new leads on that team seem like they're serious on wanting to please the fans that drop the 60 dollars every year and won't get there right away, but are making a serious effort to fix the wrongs and improve the game as they can year by year.

I think Rammer and Redshirt, Dean and the rest of the NHL team have been trying to do the same, on a much smaller budget with the same yearly grind of having to produce a title every year. That they were able to skip year one last September was likely a good thing for the series going forward on PS4/Xbone, it allowed them the time to lay the foundation on not only a major overhaul to the arenas themselves, but also physics, vast presentation improvements, better crowd interaction, more fluid realistic looking dekes, a brand new 3 man commentary team and presentation package and partnership with NBC, among other things.

So yeah while it does get frustrating to not get all our complaints met as fast as some would like, I think that effort and to me it IS effort, visibly at that, should be rewarded by not buying it used.

If sales go up, maybe Moore allows them to continue to move in a sim direction, gives them the resources to get the AI and GM trade/brain systems where they need to be and we get a better playing game in the long run. Personally I think that would be a far better outcome than just repeating the same ol year in year out complaints and nitpicks on OS and be constantly negative like a few people are, not so much saying you specifically drog, but those folks know who they are, and they do it every year.

[ChitownFan526]

It's an interesting debate in how far they can go sim vs. arcade style in gameplay. The challenge is that there's a large group of consumers that are casual gamers, and it's their dollars that are needed to continue to support the NHL series at the level it currently occupies. We all know it's a smaller audience that Madden or FIFA or even NBA. The one thing they could do to support a lot of their hardcore sim style players is to put in sliders that really function well, and I think that's been missing for a while now. This one little thing would do a lot of good for those sim gamers to be able to create the sim game they want. Another thing they could do is borrow a move from 2K and let players play their Be a GM/Dynasty games against friends, especially if there continues to be glaring flaws in the AI's hockey IQ. The online part of the game will always be a battleground between casual and hardcore gamers because that's where EA has to walk a fine line. If it's too goofy they turn off the hardcore fan base, if it's too sim then it's not accessible to casual gamers and they lose interest. It's a fine game, and for me it's about the only game I play, just don't have the time I used to for video games. It's well worth the price, I'll get more than enough time out of the game over the course of a year to justify the purchase.

[meep316]

Re: NHL 15 Video, Screenshots & Blog Featuring the Superstar Skill Stick

People talking about EA having to live up to "unrealistic expectations", is it unrealistic to expect that your AI teammate knows how to execute a simple 2 on 1 that any pee wee could? Or for your AI teammates to play their position and skate to open ice, instead of clogging up lanes like 5 year olds who have just started instructional, when trying to break out?

Is it unrealistic to ask that we be able to save our online lines, so that we don't have to take 200 years to edit them before every single game because whoever does the rosters is horrific at making the lines reflect their irl counterparts?