EA Sports just hosted a live stream on Twitch, showing off some gameplay and answering a few questions about the NHL 16 EASHL Beta, which will be available Thursday, July 30 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One users.
The broadcast is now over and has been archived here.
If you don't want to spend an hour watching the whole thing, here is an overview of what was discussed:
Notes
- EA has advised fans to not stay up past midnight, since the Beta download link is likely to go live Thursday morning or afternoon, whenever Sony and Microsoft update their respective marketplaces.
- Each player class will have its own default height and weight that cannot be changed. This should help make the gameplay more realistic, and will prevent people from exploiting the height/weight system by gaining extra speed for a power forward or additional toughness for a sniper.
- Any player class can accept a fight, though the more physical classes (grinder, tough guy, defensive defenseman) will have more stamina and more powerful punches.
- The "playoff beards" feature will work during the EASHL's monthly playoffs. Created players' beards will become thicker as your team progresses from the opening game to the final game. The playoff tournament is four games long.
- The positional indicator colors are back to the old system of red for center, dark blue for right wing, green for left wing, light blue for left defense, yellow for right defense, and purple for goalie.
- NHL 16's menu music will once again be an original orchestral score. The licensed soundtrack will only play inside the arenas.
- EA has fixed a bug that prevented players from aiming five hole in previous NHL games.
- YouTube users are allowed to upload Beta footage.
- The Beta will only let EASHL teams choose from the official NHL jerseys of this year's Stanley Cup Playoffs semifinalists. The final version of NHL 16 will let EASHL clubs pick from any jersey that's available in the game. You cannot create custom jerseys.
- Fans will leave the arena early if the home team falls behind by a large margin.
- Celebration animations are still limited to two-person interactions in NHL 16. Five-man celebrations are being considered for future versions of NHL.
- Three-on-three overtime will not be immediately available in the EASHL, but EA is looking to add it sometime after NHL 16's release.
- Each EASHL team is currently given three pauses per game, but EA will be monitoring this situation in the Beta to see if it's worth changing for NHL 16's final release.
- EASHL teams cannot practice. The only way to play with your club is by starting a full, normal game.
- In the Beta, all EASHL player classes will have the same skating attributes. Keep in mind, however, that height and weight also affect skating ability. Fan feedback will be used to determine whether or not this system should remain in the final version of NHL 16.
- There will be a post-Beta survey where fans can give EA direct feedback. The developers will also be checking EA's official forums every day.
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