Would you guys mind programing Datsyuk and Zetterberg to be a little more, well, reasonable with their contract demands? For me? Please?

They most likely will be a bit more reasonable in the game :)

Wehey !! Over 1,000 replies in the EHM thread :D

Yeah and only 996 posted by me and you ;)

Come on now, Marc. There were at least 300 or so that were questions by jbmagic. I responded to a lot of those questions, so that's like 250 for me...

Stop selling your boy so short!

sweet, i can't wait for the NA patch! I've been waiting on it to start a new career, so yeah. Sept 27th it is!

lol :)

not all of them questions. Some was helping and replying to others people post in here too. :)

To get back on track. I ran across this excellent walkthrough type guide for new players to help get them started by archibalduk at EHM fan site " The Blue Line". It explains alot of hockey strategy stuff a non-hardcore hockey fan like myself can find little difficult.

link

yep

i posted this awhile back. I guess no one notice before :(

you can download it and view it on adobe reader.

It's Leafs.....and Owen Nolan is not a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs anymore.....The Leafs claimed he suffered a non-hockey injury, voiding his player option for this season.......The case is being contested by Nolan's camp....If it's determined that Nolan is allowed to enable his option, the Leafs filed the nessesary buyout papers with the NHL, and have been told his salary will not count against a cap this season

I noticed JB. I downloaded it. Thought it was pretty helpful. :)

Yeah, thanks JB. HB needs all the help he can get. He is a Wings fan afterall ;)

Some updates on the North American happenings around NHL EHM 2005:

The advert campaign is up and running. You can spot ads in the following places online currently:

http://www.nhl.com/fancentral/fungames/index.html (ad up constantly)
http://www.nhl.com/fantasy/index.html (ads in rotation here)
Gamespot - browse around some hockey games and eventually you should come across the EHM banners (ads in rotation)
IGN/Gamespy - same here (ads in rotation)

It's nice to see a text-sim get some proper ad coverage in the North American side, eh ?

We are also coming over with Duffy for a PR trip next week, to talk to local media (regular press in Canada mostly and PC mags and websites on the US side) so things are hotting up :D

riz sounds great.

i will be real happy if i find it in the US store easily.

I hope this will be downloadedable otherwise I won't hold my breath on seeing it in a
store soon.

Well, I can honestly tell you that while it may be slightly easier to find it in stores this year, it won't be shipped out to retail in great numbers. The simple fact is that North American (especially US) retailers are just not interested in stocking marginal games with no proven track record of big sales.

The game will be available on digital download, Sega are pushing for the Try&Buy version to be included on some coverdisks prolly as well. I would think that the best chances of finding it in stores would be in Canada (EB Canada) and the hockey hotbeds on the US side.

But as I've said before, the best thing you can do at the moment if you want to secure a boxed NA copy, is to preorder from Gamestop:
http://www.gamestop.com/product.asp?product%5Fid=646381

It'll help you to secure a copy and it'll help us because if enough people pre-order, that will push the numbers up and might make it possible for additional copies to be shipped to retail.

We are getting close to the update!!

what's the projected release date again?

and johnny...I know it's Leafs...im just busting your chops. :)

Projected release date is Sept 27, but don't expect it in stores right away. For those of us that have the European release, they are saying the update download will be available "around that date". I wouldn't expect it on the 27th, but maybe by the end of the month (just my guess).

I hope mt Las Vegas Wranglers are in the game.

LOL...i just gotta protect our boys....they have been attacked recently....us leaf fans, we're a sensative bunch :p

Why wouldn't they be ? Last I looked they belonged to the ECHL which is a playable league in the game :D

Awesome! I can finally bring them back from relegation into the Premier League. :D

Well, it's the 27th over in Europe, and it'll be the 27th here on the east coast US in just about two hours. I'm looking forward to the release of the North American update soon. :D :D

I would love to see this released at midnight

I would love to see this released at midnight

It's past midnight in the UK, though, and that's where SI is based. :D

I really want a hardcopy of the game but am skeptical if my local Fry's or Wal Mart will carry the game. Refer to FM 2005 release.

Fry's is supposed to be getting copies, but it may be later in the week before they show up. Dunno if Walmart will, but a lot of Walmarts seemed to get a bunch of last year's version a few weeks after the release.

Patch'll hopefully be out sometime this morning, whenever Marc Duffy has time to do it - he and Riz are on the press tour right now, and today's an ugly day, morning in Toronto, afternoon in Calgary, evening in San Francisco.

I don't know what to do... I've been rebuilding the Rangers in my latest game, it's now around Feb-2008 and we are having a fantastic season, with the following line-up:

Kariya-Crosby-Heatley
Bobby Ryan - N. Horton - Marian Hossa
Daniel Carcillo - J. Immonen - P. Bergeron
G. Murray - Super Mario - Roenick

Pronger- J. Johnson
Zhitnick-Tyutin
Boughner-Hnidy

Injured- Joe Sakic

I'm at $45 Million, and I have a self induced $50 Million cap... so I was looking forward to trying for the Cup next season, unloading alot of talent for picks\prospects in the off-season and seeing how good I'd be in 2008-09.

... But now SI has to go screw that up by releasing the patch!!! Arghhh!!! :)

Update is up!!!

Update is out!!

http://www.sigames.com/downloads.php?type=view&id=355

Well, I'll be playing this nonstop when I get home from work tonight. Part of me is interested in waiting for the data update which has more current rosters, but hell, the first thing I'm going to do is trade Colin White away anyway (I can't stand the guy), so my rosters won't match the real ones anyway. :)

Thanks for everything, riz and SI!

Will the update work with the Try and Buy demo?

There is an update for that in tha page i posted, the only thing not ready yet is the new Try and Buy demo with the patch included.

Downloaded 406.exe patch for Try and Buy. Installed the patch and I get the please register screen. I put in the serial number and email and I got purchase can not be found error. Contacted customer support. Anyone else getting this?

Found this thread on SI's forums:

hxxp://community.sigames.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/6461934525/m/9662061261

Moving sucks... I'll have to get some time in with this game in about 2 weeks. :(

Can't wait to read some impressions with the new rules and cap though. :)

An update from SI:

An update on this, and I'm afraid it will be the last update for today since it's past 6pm here now.

Grant (SI) is going to contact someone at TryMedia to find out what causes this problem. Everything was done the same way as before, and we've had successful TryMedia (Try and Buy) patches before. So currently we still don't know what is wrong.

For now, Neil (SI) has removed the patch 2.1.1 (Try and Buy) file from the sigames.com download page. I apologise for any inconvenience caused, and we'll update you all as and when we have news.
Grant Appleyard
Sports Interactive

Hi All,

Many apologies about this - I've contacted Trymedia now for assistance in sorting this issue out. As soon as I can I will report back here and we will release a fix/give instructions on how to get your valid licenses keys working.
Thanks for your patience,
Grant

so the patch is free for those with the try and buy version? i thought we had to pay.

Free but not working right now.

right. i just thought i remember reading that it would cost $10 or something.

dola...if you downloaded the game, it's try and buy\European, right?

Yep

SI nixed that idea a long time ago. They love the people.

So how's the patch?

patch working yet?

Thanks, HB. My love of SI continues to grow.

Now if the would just do an American Football game.... :D

Is the simulation engine fast compared to FM or is it about the same speed? Just wondering since I want to simulate the first 4-5 years.

grrrr. is the patch working for try/buy version yet? curious cuz i don't want to mess mine up...

No, it's not working. Installing it won't mess anything up, you just won't be able to get past the order verification screen.

It's after business hours in the UK now, so they're saying not to expect anything until morning.