POLL: Do you want the NCAA Hockey teams included in NHL 12?

[john1842msu1977]

Simple question... do you guys want EA Sports and the NCAA to come to an agreement that will include NCAA Hockey in NHL 12? This is under the assumption that no other game modes or features will be negatively affected.

- Yes, that would be awesome!
- No, I hate College Hockey. Adding it would be stupid.
- I don't care/have no opinion

(please place your vote above. The poll is located above the thread)

[Vikes1]

I voted no.

Although it would be kinda cool imo, if the Ncaa teams were added....but I really would prefer EA Canada to focus all of their attention on making the NHL aspect of the game as good and deep as they possibly can.

For me now, personally...even all the WHL, OHL, etc... teams that are in the game now, I don't make any use of. And to be honest, really don't mean much to me. If I could play multiple franchise seasons with these teams, maybe they'd mean more to me.

So in the end...again, I'd really prefer the dev team to just focus on improving what they currently have.

[actionhank]

I would like it.
But i want it to be with roster sharing so we can have names and not just roster numbers.

[humaca80]

Id rather have EA use a different DEV. team for College hockey just like NCAA Football. Have the beanpot tournament and Frozen Four tourney. Unfortunately this will never happen though-haha

[savoie2006]

I voted no, but not because I hate College Hockey or anything. First reason, being NCAA they most likely won't have the use of player names or likeness, so unless they include roster share as feature as well, no thanks. Second reason, as difficult as it has been for EA to keep the rosters updated this year, the last thing we need is even more for them to have update. Last reason, I would rather see improved gameplay,physics, and presentation before more players.

[john1842msu1977]

Quote: Originally Posted by savoie2006

I voted no, but not because I hate College Hockey or anything. First reason, being NCAA they most likely won't have the use of player names or likeness, so unless they include roster share as feature as well, no thanks. Second reason, as difficult as it has been for EA to keep the rosters updated this year, the last thing we need is even more for them to have update. Last reason, I would rather see improved gameplay,physics, and presentation before more players.

Thanks everyone for voting and for your sharing your reasons why. Remember the question is under the presumption that no other game modes are removed and that no features or gameplay issues are adversely affected. In other words, don't vote no just because you perceive gameplay problems in NHL 11 that you want to be fixed for NHL 12.

I realize that everyone has found something about NHL 11 (and every sports video game ever created) that they'd like to see fixed or improved upon for the next version. Obviously the EA Sports developers are going to work primarily on adding modes and features each year and will always be tweaking little things here and there to make the game more realistic.

In my opinion, it really wouldn't take that much more programming effort or skill to add another league/more teams. It's more just busy work and finding someone who can somewhat accurately rate the NCAA players skill sets. Once you have their attributes assigned, then it's really just programming them, the team jerseys, etc into your predesigned template. Just an expansion of what you're already doing.

The vast majority of money/time/effort spent by producers of video games goes into the character design, physics, and AI behavior. In my opinion, NHL 11 is rock solid in these regards. I am really picky when it comes to video games, but NHL 11 is the best one I've seen since MVP Baseball '05 (also an EA Sports title).

If/when College Hockey makes it into the NHL series, the only thing I see that really needs to be addressed as well is to add a couple more arena designs and alternate fan noises/sounds for smaller sized arenas. And also the arena music itself. I don't necessarily expect EA to get all of the college fight songs in there, but maybe a few generic pep band tunes would liven the presentation up.

But this goes for the minor leagues as well. I actually haven't played any AHL or CHL games... are the arenas and fans the same in those leagues as they are for the NHL games? Maybe someone could answer this for me. Either way, there's obviously a huge difference in arena capacity and attendance between NHL teams and AHL, CHL and NCAA Hockey. I'd really like to see this get addressed.

[savoie2006]

That's what I'm saying though, I don't play a game strictly based on features. Honestly, I would take a bare bones game with great Physics, AI, and Presentation over a feature filled piece of crap. Until these areas of the game are where they need to be, there is no sense in adding more leagues and such. Just my opinion.

[john1842msu1977]

I'm pretty happy to see that, so far, about 2 out of 3 people would enjoy having EA add the NCAA for next year. I hope this message gets through loud and clear to both EA and the people in the NCAA.

Not that EA would need to delete other leagues/teams to get the NCAA in the game, but I would wager to bet that if given an either/or option, most gamers would rather have the NCAA than the CHL or the Euro leagues.

I've never even played a CHL or Euro game before in the NHL series. Although I do like to use the Create-a-Team feature and implement players from those leagues to fill out the rosters.

Someone should start a separate poll asking this question:

Besides the NHL, what league would you be most likely to start a season/franchise mode with in NHL 12, if given the following choices:

- AHL
- ECHL (not currently in NHL 11)
- CHL (either the WHL, OHL, or QMJHL)
- NCAA (not currently in NHL 11)
- any of the European Elite Leagues