Operation Sports is proud to bring you a brief interview with NHL Rivals 2004 representative Pieter Wycoff, Microsoft Corp.

*This interview was done at E3 2003.

Operation Sports: Could you tell us more about the “roles” and the “fuse” and any other new concepts you’ve implemented in NHL Rivals 2004?

Pieter Wycoff: In the game, you’ll have the concept of “roles”, where all they players are bucketed into categories of enforcers, agitators, snipers, or balanced players. With each “role” you’ll have unique features - role-specific moves; for example, a sniper might have a super-fancy deke move that he could use, an enforcer might have a big check or a big hit button, and the agitator may have something similar, while a balanced player might have a deke or other type of scoring move. You’ll also have role-specific animations and player models, so you’ll be able to distinguish, visually, the different “roles”. You’ll see an enforcer skate differently than the sniper.

Now, with the concept of the “fuse”; each player will have an individual “fuse” that will represent their overall emotional state during the game. If they’re happy, the “fuse” will be high, and they’ll be less likely to take a penalty or fight, and as they start getting scored upon, checked, or various other negative things, the fuse will start dropping, and you’ll be more likely to see stupid penalties, fights, et cetera.

Operation Sports: So the effect of the “fuse” on gameplay extends far beyond fighting?

Pieter Wycoff: Yes. It affects checks, penalties, all sorts of things.

Operation Sports: Is the “fuse” related to the team as a whole, or to each individual player’s performance during the game? For example, if one player gets checked more than another, will his “fuse” drop faster than his teammates’ “fuses”?

Pieter Wycoff: Yes. Things like checks will affect the individual’s “fuse”, whereas the overall situation, like the score of the game, will affect the whole team.

Operation Sports: What modes of play are available in NHL Rivals 2004?

Pieter Wycoff: There are three “arenas” we are focusing on. On the chair – single player versus the AI; on the couch – multiplayer gaming on the same XBox; playing against a friend; or online with XBox Live – playing against the world. The last one ties into to the new XSN Sports, with online leagues and tournaments! There will be a “Season” mode, but there’s no “Franchise” mode for now.

Operation Sports: How will NHL Rivals 2004 work with XBox Live and XSN Sports?

Pieter Wycoff: The idea is this: individuals can now go up to the web site, create their own league, add their friends to it, and set up schedules for tournaments as well. You can set up predetermined schedules for online play, for example “play your game tomorrow by midnight”. As you play your game, XSN will automatically report the results of the game and some of the statistics on its website. As the league administrator, we’re expecting that you’ll have the ability to decide whether games left unplayed by the deadline will either be simulated or forfeited – but that decision hasn’t been finalized yet.

Operation Sports: In an online league, can you make trades between human-owned teams? If I’m playing the Avalanche, and I trade Joe Sakic for Toronto’s Mats Sundin, does that trade propagate throughout the online league onto the other teams when they play on XSN?

Pieter Wycoff: Whoever’s hosting the game will send their roster to their opponent to “pick up”. So, if you’ve made the trade on your XBox, they’ll take it on theirs – as long as they accept the modified roster. That trade is not uploaded to anywhere central online for the league to use as its roster.

Operation Sports: There will be a warning or notification if someone is played with a modified roster, though?

Pieter Wycoff: Yes. Of course, if it’s something that comes down through a content download, like any updated rosters – then everyone can get that.

Operation Sports: Thank you very much for your time – we certainly appreciate it. Best of luck this year with NHL Rivals 2004!

Pieter Wycoff: No problem! Thanks for listening!