Who's buying NHL11?

[The Russian Rocket]

I snapped a Bure shirt with the ol' Canucks logo. That with a Cassels Whalers'. Pretty nice stuff. Defintly recommend the Hall of fame.

[The Russian Rocket]

And theyr still gonna screw that up by giving slashing penalties for lifting the stick. It's ridiculous how these guys don't know the rules of hockey. It's like in 09 where the puck had to touch the white paint to score, while the rule is to completely cross the line.

[The Russian Rocket]

Just played the demo and tried out the ultimate hockey team mode.

I must say i'm Impressed and intrigued.

(Yeah for REALISTIC checking physics)

The game is slower than ever tough on the counterpart)

[Snyder]

Saw a preview for it in a game store.

Makes me wish I had a ps3 or xbox360 rather than ps2 and a wii.

Especially since my copy of nhl 2004 is starting to freeze.

[The Russian Rocket]

Oh and slapshots look like they actually go fast this time around.

It will be a more enjoyable game even tough it doesn't replicate the game's speed at all.

[smozoma]

Just queued up the NHL11 demo on my 360... it says this in the description:

"[...] Play the NHL 11 demo for a chance to win a fere card pack for the Hockey Ultimate Team."

Hockey Ultimate Team being the new game mode.. which is now revealed to be a big DLC (downloadable content) cash grab.. you can buy extra card packs to fill out your teams (or get a free pack after each season).. yay equal playing field in online Ultimate Team play

I don't pay extra for a game I already bought... especially when it costs around $70 to begin with (unless I can find a deal on ebay..)

EDIT: OK, did more reading and that's not the case..

To buy card packs in the EAUHL you earn EA Pucks, the official currency of the league. This will be done by playing games online and offline and depending on your performance you will be rewarded with EA pucks.

I was just ticked off that last year you could buy better equipment for your players so they'd play better.

[The Russian Rocket]

Smoz: These we're unlockables by playing the game.

Tough some are crazy and f**king impossible.

I bought the +5 Skating just because my guy was getting shifted all the time 0_0.

I Hope all the fuckers who make 5''6 guys trying to go faster get crushed along the boards.

(On the DLC thing) : That's why I love Rockstar games, you get at least 20 hours out of theyr games, and if they put in DLC it's the same ratio of money/fun and it's not necessary to have them to enjoy the full package on your game.

Edited August 18, 2010 by The Russian Rocket

[smozoma]

Smoz: These we're unlockables by playing the game.

Tough some are crazy and f**king impossible.

I bought the +5 Skating just because my guy was getting shifted all the time 0_0.

I Hope all the fuckers who make 5''6 guys trying to go faster get crushed along the boards.

(On the DLC thing) : That's why I love Rockstar games, you get at least 20 hours out of theyr games, and if they put in DLC it's the same ratio of money/fun and it's not necessary to have them to enjoy the full package on your game.

Yeah, I earned some powerup gloves, sticks, etc... I think it's silly, though. They do so much work making it a sim game, then they put in this incongruous powerup scheme. They're pro players, they can afford the best gear already... You were basically forced to buy faster skating to compete, that's not fair.

Anyway, being positive now... I'm psyched to see the new physics-based checking

[The Russian Rocket]

Smozoma: Try the demo out. It's really a sweet addition.

Unlimited Boarding when you're pissed =D.

Oh and they fixed the ''Break a breakaway by pressing Y thingy''

Edited August 18, 2010 by The Russian Rocket

[beavers33]

i bought 10 the morning it came out (as usual). I played 7 games online and got bored. I did play a few seasons in BAP, but I wasn't overly impressed with the game as a whole. I downloaded the demo for 11 this morning and I can actually see myself playing this one as much as I did 09. Saw Brodeur make a sweet hands-first dive across the crease after he was out of the play. It was an animation I've never seen before and I got excited. Looks good so far.

[Retrieving]

This game's controls are so damn unnecessarily convoluted and retardedly overbloated I'm surprised these designers haven't been fired 2 or 3 years ago.

Imho if 30 minutes into the game the players are still trying to figure out what-button-does-what instead of focusing onto the flow of the game, you're doin it wrong.

Even modern days FIFA don't have that many buttons combination despite the fact that its gameplay allows for more freedom of control than any NHL game will ever achieve...

Wtf they gonna do next, bundle NHL12 with a piano-controller from Rockband?

/em goes back to NHL "94 and SWOS "96/"97, f**k this s**t.

Edited August 18, 2010 by Retrieving

[The Russian Rocket]

The controls are simple really 0_0. Use the tutorial.

[Sebe_The_Legend]

too many glitch goals ,i hate it when guys play fair for whole gm but when down by 1 they glitch goal last minute and ruin the whole gm for me .plus THERES TOO DAMN MANY BUTTONS LOLOL....NHL94 STILL RULES..HEHE

Agree totally!

[clockwise]

Moar buttons!



Still need: smelling salts, Scott Fartsmell breakaway move (throw glove), sloppy seconds, bite, Pronger button (steal puck after game), dive, plug Stanley Cup ring in ears.

[nationals1]

Just played the demo and this game is unreal

I love how if you pinch your defence up and miss even the CPU can take advantage of it

This new game mode will be unreal, however I hope your team doesn't start off with as good of players and potential as mine did

The new physics system... is great

I love how faceoffs can be lost even if your centerman does a good job on the draw

The sticks being lost and broken is cool, they could tone it down a bit though

Overall this game will just be flatout awsome

[The Russian Rocket]

Nationals: If you watch the videos on the mode, you'l notice you pretty much start with unkown guys, exept maybe 1 good guy (The special cards)

[Freydey]

This game's controls are so damn unnecessarily convoluted and retardedly overbloated I'm surprised these designers haven't been fired 2 or 3 years ago.

/em goes back to NHL "94 and SWOS "96/"97, f**k this s**t.

they dont make these games for blondes

[The Russian Rocket]

It's not that complicated.

Offense:

Left Stick : Skates

Right Stick: Stick

Right trigger: Pass

X: Change D

B: Change O

That's about it

Defense:

Left Stick: Skates

Right Stick: Checking

Right bumper: Poke check

A: Stick Lift

Damn.

[Retrieving]

they dont make these games for blondes

Tell ya what, it actually looks like a bunch of blondes are making these games.

Also, I'm probably one of the most hardcore videogame-guys you've ever met (was top 25 in the World and top 3 in my country at SWOS at some point, etc.), I used to write for several elecronic entertainment-related websites/magazines back in my early 20's and I still think that sometimes...less is more.

Complexity does not always equal efficiency. There's plenty of ways to warrant gameplay depth, achieving it through convoluted controls is surely the cheapest one.

As mentioned above forcing the players to think about execution instead of letting them focus on the flow of the game is bad game design and actually detracts from the experience as a whole. Assigning a button/combo to every single action is just the developers being lazy. As a general rule of thumb, control systems should be easy to pick up yet hard to master, not the other way around.

Also, isn't the passing system semi-assisted? Where's the skill in that?

[The Russian Rocket]

Retrieving: It's semin assisted in like 95% of the games.

NHL 2011 is built like FIFA 10. (For passing)

As for the super hardcore gamer: Hey, Freydey's probably the top Canadian player, and 2nd in the World after Carse. Let's not get into that.

[nationals1]

Nationals: If you watch the videos on the mode, you'l notice you pretty much start with unkown guys, exept maybe 1 good guy (The special cards)

Phew, thats good

starting out with good players would ruin the challenge

[xdeathsbloodx]

FIFA's controls are FAR more complicated then NHL's. NHL uses the analog sticks and thats basically it. But the NHL 11 demo is awesome and I saw a few things about the Be A GM mode while looking threw the help that have me chomping at the bit for the full game to come out. 1) there will be Restricted and Unrestricted Free Agents, f**k yeah. And 2) you can trade future draft picks, up to 6 years away, also f**k yeah. The UHL thing is interesting but I'm unsure about it, doubt I'll play it much if at all with the improvements made to Be A GM

[nationals1]

FIFA's controls are FAR more complicated then NHL's. NHL uses the analog sticks and thats basically it. But the NHL 11 demo is awesome and I saw a few things about the Be A GM mode while looking threw the help that have me chomping at the bit for the full game to come out. 1) there will be Restricted and Unrestricted Free Agents, f**k yeah. And 2) you can trade future draft picks, up to 6 years away, also f**k yeah. The UHL thing is interesting but I'm unsure about it, doubt I'll play it much if at all with the improvements made to Be A GM

Will there be 2 player be a GM mode now? me and a few buddies love playing mulitple user dynasty modes in madden but it would be better if they put it in NHL 11 because were more hockey fans

[shaftman]

We're all EA whores.

[xdeathsbloodx]

We're all EA whores.

lol, yeah we totally all are. As for multi-person Be A GM idk, didnt see any mention of it in the help screen but that doesnt mean it may not exist. I'd say check the EA forums.

[hokkeefan]

when is the official release date?

[beavers33]

September 7

[Retrieving]

[OFFTOPIC mode: ON]

Retrieving: It's semin assisted in like 95% of the games.

NHL 2011 is built like FIFA 10. (For passing)

As for the super hardcore gamer: Hey, Freydey's probably the top Canadian player, and 2nd in the World after Carse. Let's not get into that.

FIFA is played on full-manual (as in manual aiming and power calibration for both shooting and passing) by anybody who isn't a casual or a 12 years old (which is probably 1% of the playerbase but let's not go there). In fact, the upcoming FIFA 11 mainly focuses on freedom of control and "playing into space" instead of "playing from player 2 player" with features such as "Pro Passing plus" and the likes.

Also, I never once questioned Freyday's "hardcorness", he, on the other hand, implied that I wasn't enough of a hardcore gamer to play NHL 11 so I let him know what's up.

Dunno about the rest of your comment though, in all honesty and with all the due respect there's got to be a difference between 40~ people tops (mainly from the US, Canada and Finland...do you even have that many tho...) playing 3~4 tournaments a year and hundreds of players from all over Europe playing several dozens of matches on daily basis, national leagues and international cups every month and more friendlies than we have numbers every single day since around 2004~ (and I'm not even taking into account the offline tournaments and the "regional" websites...).

The competition in the SWOS scene is downright FIERCE; if you check the world ranking you'll see that some top-dogs have already gone through 6000~8000 official matches (not even kidding)...

[OFFTOPIC mode: OFF]

Edited August 21, 2010 by Retrieving

[The Russian Rocket]

In NHL 09 i was in the top 100.

I believe there's more damn players than SWOS.

Now let's move on.

Fifa can be played with Semi auto and still win a lot. I rented the game and had like 25 W and 6 L.

I'l be able to get it on September 6th. (Maybe) There's a tourny for the game at the local video store. Whoever wins it will have the copy before anyone.

[Retrieving]

In NHL 09 i was in the top 100.

I believe there's more damn players than SWOS.

Now let's move on.

Fifa can be played with Semi auto and still win a lot. I rented the game and had like 25 W and 6 L.

That's the point, mate: 99% of the people you'll come across on EA sports-games online leaderboards abuse "Assisted" and "Semi-Assisted" controls because they make the game a whole lot easier and actually give an edge over Full-Manual players.

It's lame but big corps sorta need to cater to kids and casuals if they wanna get those sales rolling, so even if the content for the skillful gamers is still being developed, the online will always get ruined by the aforementioned features.

That's why Manual players generally gather on websites such as tamfa.com and the likes and organize their own leagues and tournaments (just like you guys do for "94).

Also, NHL 09 was only played for a year or so whereas SWOS, much like NHL 94, has been played for over 15 years. Besides, these allegedly "next-gen" games are so full of glitches (due to the fact that given their overall complexity, being on a yearly schedule forces the development team to literally rush them out the door) that your typical online matches are more about exploiting them than about actual skill.

SWOS (and prolly NHL 94 as well even though I haven't played it long enough to be able to give a definitive judgment) on the other hand is meritocratic gameplay at its best.

EDIT: oh and before you play the "ok but then if NHL 11 is eez why are you complaining" card, let me remind you that gameplay accessibility != gameplay depth. To me it just looks like they had a game that's fairly straight-forward and bi-dimensional in its core mechanics and thought of making it look "advanced" and "simulative" by implementing messed up, unintuitive and obscenely complicated controls.

Case in point being the fact that if you play the demo on "NHL 94 controls" it feels quite a lot duller than the original "94.

Edited August 22, 2010 by Retrieving