Winter Classic in PS4 / Xbox One?

[13SM13]

haven't heard or seen anything about this, not a dealbreaker for me, but has anything been confirmed about it being in / left out of next-gen versions?

[PensDynasty87]

Re: Winter Classic in PS4 / Xbox One?

It's been taken out of new gen.

[huntt26]

Re: Winter Classic in PS4 / Xbox One?

I forget where I read it, but it's not in the game

[Cardot]

Re: Winter Classic in PS4 / Xbox One?

EA has never really seemed to embrace the Winter Classic...which I don't get??? Outside of the hardcore crowd, the Winter Classic is the NHL's marquee event. And a perfect change of pace in a video game.

The game should have multiple outdoor venues (some fictional/generic if need be). And it should be a part of GM mode as well. In fact there are lots of possbilities with this mode.

[ChubbyBanana]

Re: Winter Classic in PS4 / Xbox One?

The game should have multiple outdoor venues (some fictional/generic if need be). And it should be a part of GM mode as well. In fact there are lots of possibilities with this mode.

I agree! Reminds me of the old frozen pond rink I believe the other series had before it's final hours. Was a fun way to change things up.

[Schmackity]

Re: Winter Classic in PS4 / Xbox One?

It will be in past-gen consoles but not current-gen ones.

[bigwill33]

Re: Winter Classic in PS4 / Xbox One?

They do kind of waste resources in the way they implement the outdoor venues now.

If they are to keep adding them to the game they need to make it so that they are offered in more game modes. Spend all that time creating them and we barely get to see them, if ever. I know some people that didn't even realize some of them were in the game.

[spidertour02]

Re: Winter Classic in PS4 / Xbox One?

I think the biggest hurdle is that including the Winter Classic is a big waste of resources. If you think about it, the hours and cash they would have to spend to model the stadiums (and remember, they would have to come up with their own rink design because the host stadium hasn't even been finalized yet), license the stadium names, reconfigure their lighting system (since it's designed for indoor locations), add a weather system (people would complain about a Winter Classic without the option of snow), adjust the physics to account for the weather system (pucks altering trajectory because of snow on the ice, etc.), and so forth would be pretty high for something that most people will never use.

The only way I could imagine it being financially workable is if they could somehow kluge together a Winter Classic from other sources. For example, the 2015 Winter Classic is being hosted by Washington. Suppose for argument's sake that it's held at FedExField. They could borrow the stadium build from the Madden team and adapt it by adding the hockey rink and various stuff around it, and they could get to work adapting the Madden team's lighting and weather systems (which are already designed for the stadium) to their engine's code. It's not a perfect solution (of the six Winter Classics so far, only two have been held in NFL stadiums), but it's a relatively easy one so long as the programming code is close enough to adapt from one game to the other.

[UofMfan13]

Re: Winter Classic in PS4 / Xbox One?

So the year they finally get to play in Michigan and have it at Michigan Stadium, I can't play it? man with so much potential this game knocks you back after every disappointment. No doubt, its going to look great, just I wish they would've done a bit more for the core players. Thats who NHL was always tailored to. For me,they were the group to always listen to the fans, unlike Madden and others, I always felt the consumers and the development team had such a great communication avenue.

[WSU151]

Re: Winter Classic in PS4 / Xbox One?

I think the biggest hurdle is that including the Winter Classic is a big waste of resources. If you think about it, the hours and cash they would have to spend to model the stadiums (and remember, they would have to come up with their own rink design because the host stadium hasn't even been finalized yet), license the stadium names, reconfigure their lighting system (since it's designed for indoor locations), add a weather system (people would complain about a Winter Classic without the option of snow), adjust the physics to account for the weather system (pucks altering trajectory because of snow on the ice, etc.), and so forth would be pretty high for something that most people will never use.

The only way I could imagine it being financially workable is if they could somehow kluge together a Winter Classic from other sources. For example, the 2015 Winter Classic is being hosted by Washington. Suppose for argument's sake that it's held at FedExField. They could borrow the stadium build from the Madden team and adapt it by adding the hockey rink and various stuff around it, and they could get to work adapting the Madden team's lighting and weather systems (which are already designed for the stadium) to their engine's code. It's not a perfect solution (of the six Winter Classics so far, only two have been held in NFL stadiums), but it's a relatively easy one so long as the programming code is close enough to adapt from one game to the other.

They could have taken Michigan Stadium from EA's NCAA guys to do last year's Winter Classic and adapt it, but they didn't do that either.

[bigwill33]

Re: Winter Classic in PS4 / Xbox One?

That isn't how video games work, unfortunately. You can't port stadiums from one game to another. Completely different code.

[Sheba2011]

Re: Winter Classic in PS4 / Xbox One?

I imagine one of the problems is currently they still haven't announced where the game is going to be played other than a venue near Washington D.C. If it is a baseball stadium (Nationals Park and Camden have both been suggested) does EA have the rights to use those parks?

[spidertour02]

Re: Winter Classic in PS4 / Xbox One?

That isn't how video games work, unfortunately. You can't port stadiums from one game to another. Completely different code.

Well, yes and no. Ordinarily it would be a pipe dream. The thing is, however, EA strongly touted the whole Ignite initiative as a way to make this exact thing possible (sharing resources between teams and games). If every team is using the same base engine, it would theoretically be possible to accomplish.

The best analog I can come up with is from engineering -- build geometry in one software and port it to others for different functions. I may build my geometry in SolidWorks, but I need to send it to Rhino to do the renderings, to MasterCAM to create the build paths for my router, and to the in-house software to 3D print the scale models, all using the same geometry from the same source, with little to no porting. That's why they're built to use and recognize the same filetypes.

Using Ignite is supposed to make this possible, right? If not, I think we've been told a few lies ...

[bigwill33]

Re: Winter Classic in PS4 / Xbox One?

No, ignite is the system for collision detection and what not. Wouldn't help in these instances. Ignite coding is shared, but helps with player movement and those sorts of things.

The arenas and stadiums in each game are independent. Even from ncaa to madden. I asked about this specifically a while back and got in depth answers as to why it is not possible, that is how I know.