The Operation Sports community recently had a chance to ask Ben Bishop, Producer at Visual Concepts, some questions about NHL 2K10. This is part two of two.

PRESENTATION

Operation Sports: Can we expect to see more "little things" from arena to arena like we did last year?

Ben Bishop: A lot of work went into arenas again this year, and they really turned out amazing. For example, one of the things we added was unique entrances, so players will now come out of the same spot in each rink that they do in real life. Additionally, the direction of the center ice logo relative to the player bench was double-checked and updated in a some cases. We also have special introduction sequences for each team that really give you a good view of the detail that went into each arena.

Operation Sports: Do Refs get out of the way this year or at least turn off ref collision making a return? (360)

Ben Bishop: We definitely spent some time this year making sure the refs wouldn’t become an obstacle to gameplay. They flatten up against up the boards much better now, jump up on to them in the bench areas to keep more out of the way, and in general do a much more acceptable job of avoiding the puck handler and other skaters.

Operation Sports: Are the goal celebrations more fluid this year? Last they were too herky jerky.

Ben Bishop: We added some new celebrations into the mix this year, and also worked on the logic to make them a bit smoother overall.

ONLINE / MULTIPLAYER

Operation Sports: Will online lobbies return?

Ben Bishop: Yes, but not in the way you knew them for so many years in the 2K titles. We have a new feature this year called Who’s Online. You can bring this up anywhere in the game to view your friends list and challenge them to a game. From here you can also view a ‘lobby’ of available players to scout and challenge. You can make yourself available to be challenged here as well so others will be able to scout and challenge you. And finally, you can invite players to compete against you in any game mode, as well as customize settings and sliders.

Operation Sports: Can you talk more about the Team Up games? Last year the AI went offside way too much. What has been improved in this area?

Ben Bishop: The AI has seen a significant overhaul for NHL 2K10, and that extends to online Team Up play. You’ll find your CPU teammates setting up plays and looking for open space much more realistically, and if you play smart hockey, you’ll definitely be rewarded. Offsides is going to happen on occasion, but now it should be occurring in more expected situations. We’ve also done quite a bit to help bring more human players together, so you’ll probably find yourself with less CPU teammates than you saw at times last year.

FRANCHISE

Operation Sports: How are negotiations going to be handled this year? In NHL 2k9 there really was no such thing as negotiation, it was just a matter of finding the smallest possible dollar amount the player would sign for.

Ben Bishop: The negotiation process is pretty similar to last year’s game. This is an area we are definitely looking at revamping for NHL 2K11.

Operation Sports: Will some players be more loyal and willing to take less than market value to help the team (IE Alex Burrows, Sidney Crosby)?

Ben Bishop: Yes, certain players in the game will value loyalty more than others, and this will be taken into account when attempting to sign free agents.

Operation Sports: How has roster management been improved?

Ben Bishop: We have a new GM Roster screen this year that gives you a complete view of your NHL roster, minors roster, budget, and remaining cap space. This is a much more user-friendly way to manage your team and see exactly where the team stands at any given time. You can also make 2 for 1 trades this year and trade for minor leaguers, so overall there is a lot more flexibility in terms of what you can do with your players and how you can build your roster.

Operation Sports: Will we be able to create more than 20 players, edit player's primary position, edit as many player names as we wish, edit the POTENTIAL attribute?

Ben Bishop: The maximum amount of new players you can create is 20, but you can edit free agents and other players, including names, as much as you want. A player’s primary position cannot be edited, but a player’s potential can.

Operation Sports: Is there scouting at all this year? Can we trade DURING the draft this year? I know back in NHL 2k6 on the XBox this was possible.

Ben Bishop: We have not made any big additions in regards to scouting or the draft this year. This is another area we’re hoping to make some significant changes in for NHL 2K11.

GAMEPLAY

Operation Sports: The AI Has Been Reworked. Does This Mean Players Will Play Better Positionally On Defense, Instead Of 2 Players Always Chasing The Puck Carrier? On Offense Will The Cpu Do Less Spin o Ramas And Pass The Puck Around More? Is it harder to get through the neutral zone?

Ben Bishop: The spin-o-rama was something that definitely popped up a little too frequently in NHL 2K9. It was one of the first things we made sure the CPU players would no longer attempt in open ice very much. It is still possible, but quite rare.

On higher difficulties, it can be extremely hard to gain the center ice red line or the blue line, so you will need to dump and chase appropriately. The CPU is a lot better positionally now too, so working the puck around is very important to a successful attack.

And finally, CPU AI players will definitely pass the puck around a lot more in all zones. Note that there are some new sliders you can adjust (CPU Pass Frequency and CPU Shot Frequency) that will help you control exactly how much the CPU passes and shoots.

Operation Sports: Has checking been toned down in its frequency and effect?

Ben Bishop: Checking has been toned down by default. Not only that, but there are new sliders for checking effectiveness now, which change depending on difficulty, and if you really want to make checks extremely hard or easy, you can use custom sliders to do so.

Operation Sports: Last year the defensive controls took a hit. Skating backwards and moving the stick side to side was taken away. Can you expand on enhanced defensive controls?

Ben Bishop: This year we increased the freedom to move your stick around with the R-stick while on defense. You can extend it in any direction, and if you press directly behind your player he will put the stick in front of his legs. Another new component this year is that if you are blocking a lane with your stick out, and an opponent tries to pass through that lane, your player will perform a contextual animation to try and deflect or intercept the pass. How successful that attempt is will depend on a player’s attributes, so it will be a lot harder to get a puck by a skilled defensive player like Lidstrom than an offensive-minded scrub.

Operation Sports: Can you elaborate on the small animation system feature?

Ben Bishop: One of the things we wanted to do for 2K10 to improve the controls was add several new smaller skating animations. With these smaller motions, you can be a lot more precise with your positioning, and it is much easier to get to a particular spot on the ice. This was especially important with all of the AI changes that were made, as positioning and open space are utilized better than ever before, both on offense and defense.

Operation Sports: It was mentioned that strategies were given an overhaul. Can you explain how they were changed and how strategies are implemented in the game?

Ben Bishop: This answer would be quite long to answer properly, so the best thing to do is check out one of our previous Developer Insights at 2KSports.com that went into a ton of detail on this subject: http://community.2ksports.com/commun...id=947391&l=10

MISCELLANEOUS

Operation Sports: Can we turn off ovey dekes? (360)

Ben Bishop: There is not an on/off option, but you can actually turn the frequency up or down by modifying the Creativity slider. Moving this slider towards the left will reduce the number of animations that each player can do, so if you really want to scale them back (or see them more often), you can easily do this.

Operation Sports: Will We Be Able To Edit A Players Looks? In The Past We Could Edit Everything But Their Facial Features, Can We Finally Do This?

Ben Bishop: No, you cannot edit a player’s appearance, other than Playoff Beard Type.