Matt Underwood, producer of the Wii version of NHL 2K9, checks in at OS today with the first NHL 2K9 developer diary. Today Underwood talks about specific challenges and goals in developing the Wii version as well as some of the cool new features 2K Sports is trying to implement.  Be sure to check out our NHL 2K9 media page for some exclusive screenshots of the Wii version including the controls!

Developer Diary #1 – Written by Matt Underwood, Wii Producer

NHL 2K9 for the Nintendo Wii presented a unique challenge for the Visual Concepts team. It was our first in house Wii title and Nintendo was really depending on us to produce the first officially licensed NHL game for the system. We didn’t want to take the easy route other developers had of simply porting over the PS2 version of the game and slapping some waggles into the control scheme. We wanted to make the best looking sports game ever on Wii. It also was vital that we had a full featured game that was not a stripped down version of the other platforms. We have the best programmers in the industry working here. Their focus is always to push the hardware, so we took the… some might say insane… route of porting the current 360 version over while it was still in development.

The main difference in the Wii’s design was obviously the control scheme. Our first major decision was we wanted to take full advantage of the Wii Remote IR targeting. One of our biggest gripes for every hockey game ever made was the constant problem of passes not going to the player we expected it to. So here we finally could have the pinpoint passing that had never been seen in any other NHL game. We also knew we had to have the fun controls you’d expect with the Wii controller. So we added the big slap shot motions, sliding the controllers quickly to the side to stack your goalie’s pads, throwing punches when you’re mixing it up in a fight, and of course steering the Zamboni. 

Hockey Fights with the Wii control?  We may have a winner.

We made an early decision to have the Nunchuk be “the body” and the Wii Remote to be “the stick”.There was a lot going on with the Wii Remote and hockey is an incredibly fast-paced sport.So we made the choice to simplify the control scheme and move a number of commands to buttons (stick control, player selection, and some defensive moves) rather than the original design of unique shake/wave/slash movements with the Wii Remote.This left the big events (shots, hits, and saves) as movements and allowed for the aiming feature to work seamlessly in unison. We just felt that the benefits of having movement controls grouped with other movement controls, along with shooting/passing/poking controls grouped with other stick controls really enhanced the pick up and play element of the game.Once you play a game, the control scheme quickly feels very natural.

One of our features in the game is chained passing.On some levels, it’s our “advanced feature” that isn’t forced on the player, but we still feel it’s the most satisfying part of the game.This was simply something we could tell the Xbox 360 and PS3 guys, “You can’t do”.Chained passing allows you to set up lightning quick give-and-go plays, make passes in traffic that leave the defense dizzy, and at its most basic level, you can finally very easily skate in one direction and pass in the other.It also allows the player to make some of most creative passes and one-timers we feel have ever been seen in a hockey game.The funny thing about it was the idea grew from a shared love of Panzer Dragoon between the Marketing and Development teams.The gameplay element of locking on a target and then drawing the enemy in before unleashing your attack was so classic, we felt it needed to be introduced to sports games. At one point we actually were toying with the idea of “borrowing” the targeting and locking cursors from Panzer, but finally came to our senses and went with a more conventional sports look. 

NHL 2K9 for the Wii is Visual Concepts first attempt at a game on the console.

We’re all really proud of this game. The programmers and artists did a fantastic job. The ridiculous amount of hours they put in has paid off with the best hockey game we’ve ever played. You still hear people yelling and screaming around the office playing the game, as the team really has brought the fun back to hockey!