Just got back to my desk at work to find my brand new copy of EHM 2005.

Not only that but my order of "Preacher" graphic novels (vols. 4-6) arrived from Amazon right at the same time. Today is a good day.

Great! I'm hoping by Friday it makes it way west...

Mine was shipped on Thursday, I think. It would be a minor miracle if I had it on Wednesday, but I'm still hoping. I have big plans for the Devils. Step one: Trade Colin White. Step two: Invite Adam Edinger to my training camp. I'm sure almost nobody knows Adam Edinger, but he was one of my favorite players with the New Orleans Brass when that team was around. After a year or two in the ECHL, he got called up to the AHL and played for the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks. I hear that he has since retired to enjoy married life, but he's in the EHM 2005 demo database, and I want to give virtual Adam the NHL glory that the real Adam never experienced.

I am such a goober. :(

HB: Thoughts?!?!

Prearcher rocks - I've pretty much read them all :D

Heh! Sorry, RPI. Between work and the Pistons' game I wasn't really able to crack into things. I basically installed it and the patch. I may sneak an hour or two in today at work (shhhh!). I'll keep y'all posted.

I just started reading a few weeks back and it indeed rocks. I've had them sitting on my shelf for a few months now and following got around to them. I have volumes 7-9 in waiting.

I have to control the comic book flow into the house or Lady HB will start going down the "More comic books? What the hell? You're 31 years old, why not try reading a real book once in a while?" route. Then again, to her credit, she has tried to read a few and really liked Alan Moore's "Top Ten". Preacher, however, I don't think she'll get into. She flipped open one volume and just so happened to be the issue where Jesse, Cassidy, and Tulip crash Jesus de Sade's party. 'Nuff said.

Try getting the "Watchmen" or if she's into humour try some of the old 2000AD stuff, DR & Quinch are very funny so long as you can take homicidal alien teenagers in the right vein ;)

The 'Crisis' series which span off from 2000AD was pretty good if you like political satire, but they're getting fairly rare on the ground these days.

There are some very good graphic novel adaptations of Terry Pratchett novels kicking around at the moment also, my daughter loves these ...

I have the "Watchmen." I think I have read it once a year or so starting in 1989/90. Still my favorite of all time. All time.

I will certainly look into the other books. I was big into comics during my teens and stopped following them back in the early 90's. Over the last three years I started buying graphic novels and the sort (no time to collect individual issues of books).

The ones I have come across and enjoyed over the last 2-3 years include:
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Top Ten
From Hell
V for Vendetta
(Pretty much anything Alan Moore does)
Raising Stars
Supreme Power
Walking Dead
Preacher
Hellblazer
Sin City
Transmetropolitan
Joss Whedon's X-Men series

Let me know if you have any other reccomendations. I am always on the lookout for new stuff.

I just finished reading the 3rd Rising Stars volume, finally completing the series that I started reading years ago. Although I felt it was good, I have to say I was very disappointed by volumes 2 and 3. The first volume (issues 1-8) was amazing, just blew me away. Then volume 2 came out and I was disappointed, I just didn't like the direction it took. Volume 3 was a bit better, but still a let down. His time away from the series seemed to be evident, especially with sections where he contradicted things that had happened earlier (like the claim near the end that the specials could not bear children, even though Jason had kids and they had made it clear that the powers simply weren't transferred). Other pieces seemed to be tacked on or wrapped up too quickly.

What were your thoughts on it?

I haven't picked up Vol. 3 yet. But I agree with your thoughts on 1 and 2. Volume one was great. The origin story, the murder mystery, the politics involved, all of it. It was good stuff. Some of the best superhero stories I had read in a long time. Volume 2 did start taking things in a direction that was a bit odd and nowhere near as cool and nuanced as the first volume. I'll be sure to pass on a full review once I pick up volume 3.

Alan Moore is a god.

Watchmen
V for Vendetta (coming soon to a movie theatre near you)

Not to mention the great From Hell book.. much much better than the movie-adaption, which doesn't do Moore's excellent story any justice.

I'm not a great fan of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen though, and the movie-version was absolutely dreadful.

So, how's EHM 2005? :D

Thanks for gettin' us back on topic, Sach!

Any chance you run a season on holiday mode and let us know how the off-season is working? :D

I'm ready for the download to be available now...thank you.

I hear ya....

Honolulu_Blue

when you get some time can you tell me how the manual that comes with the game is? does it explain everything very well that in the game like tactics, ratings, rules, etc.

or just gives a brief summary only?

JB,

The manual is actual a meaty 58 pages. I think it does a good job explaining tactics and ratings. The ratings sections gives a description of each rating and what that rating is "essental for." I.e., "Anticipation is essential for top sex offencemen/top four d-men. If these key players anticipat situations quickly they can make plays happen."

As far as rules go, the manual really doesn't provide a breakdown of NHL rules (ie, icing is X, slashing is Y, etc.) I think the games assumes a basic understanding of the sport. It does provide some background on transactional rules for the NHL (waivers for example).

I hope this helps.

I would expect this is true:



:)

Ok. Enough about comic books... Sorry for that frolick and detour.

More about the game...

Well, if you've played the demo I assume you know about most of the new features such as training camp, assistant GMs, etc. It's all there and it's all good.

I love the new scouting features. Gives you much more control over what your scouts are doing and gives you much more in-depth analysis of players you're looking at. I have always wanted to be able to scout for a specific position (more so in FM than EHM), but I love the option.

The game still runs very fast. I love this. Much faster in all respects than the previous version.

I started a career with the Capitols. I decided that since I am living here, I might as well get more familiar with the team and playing the Wings (with their massive budget) was a bit too easy. Also, the prospect of playing with Ovechkin was too hard to pass up.

I have simmed through about a month or so of gameplay. Actually it's early November, I have played 13 games. All seems well.

There has been a lot of trade activitiy going on. There have been a whopping 19 trades since the season began in October. From what I can see, even though it's early in the season, it looks like teams with little prospect of competing are already begining to dump proven vets with larger salaries for prospects/younger players. For example,

New Jersey traded 23 yr. old Paul Martin to San Jose for Ozolinsh

Pitt traded Dicky Transtrom to Dallas for a 19 yr. old prospect

Detroit traded 20 yr. old Jiri Hulder to Atlanta for D-man Daniel Tarnquivst

Chicago traded Bryan Berard to Boston for 19 yr. old Patrice Bergeron

Not sure what I think about each of the trades above (except for the Boston deal, this is crappy trade for Boston), but I like what I am seeing. I assume as the tradeline gets closer we will be seeing A LOT more of these types of deals. I think this is good for the most part. It definitely was the trend in the NHL for the last few years.

Pretty much all of the decent free agents that start the game (and there are quite a few), have been snatched up. The sim engine is great. Goal scoring seems a bit down from last year's version, though it could just be that my team really sucks.

At RPI's request, I will start another career this morning/afternoon, go on vacation, and test the off-season and run through the draft.

For those of you that have been patiently (like me) waiting for GoGamer.com to get this game, today is your lucky day. Just posted today for $49.90. And with two-day shipping... :D

hmm... Marc or riz...any chance the download will be available before Monday? If not, I think I'll go the gogamer route.

Thanks scooter.

The SI folks posted an update on their forums this morning stating that they have found a partner for the digital download, but that they are still working out the particulars and that it probably won't be ready for a couple weeks.

http://community.sigames.com/eve/ubb...5/m/3752074431

Its in the hands of the biz bods ... hopefully they'll sort it sooner rather than later - I'm guessing one to two weeks for an eta hopefully ... would prefer it sooner, but its out of my control I'm afraid.

All right. I started a tester career with the Wings. I played through the pre-season, right up through the waiver draft (I am control freak. I cannot release total control). I sgined some free agents (namely: Kovalev, Lindros, Palffy, Zhitnik.), and MacInnis (just because I could and it makes the St. Louis trio complete: Shanahan, Joseph, and MacInnis, and it would drive virtual primelord insane :D)).

We'll see what happens. More to come...

With Washington, expect atleast a few years of pure sucking. Not much to start with and you cannot build a winning team overnight. I've learned my lessons with the Rangers...just signing some heavy offensive UFA's just won't cut it....hey, isn't that what they tried in real life as well :D

Good to hear you're liking the new stuff.

And if you've not picked this up yet:

NHL EHM 2005 scoops Gamersinfo E3 award

NHL EHM 2005 has been awarded as one of the Gamersinfo E3 Editor's Choice games. Amongst the 28 games selected from the games on show at E3 this year, NHL EHM 2005 was the only sports game to win the award.

Gamersinfo E3 awards:

http://www.gamersinfo.net/content/news.php?id=168

Gamersinfo NHL EHM 2005 E3 preview:

http://www.gamersinfo.net/index.php?art/id:542

Congrats on the award, Rizo! Good news. Very good and well deserved.

Yeah, the Caps will be a project. That's part of the joy. In fact, the aspect I liked most about the first EHM was drafting and player development. I played around 10 or so seasons with the Islanders and had many of my draft picks develope into big time contributors. The best thing about it was that there were players drafted from all rounds (even a 9th rounder, Mark Tobin, who developed into a 40 goal scoring power forward) who developed. It was fun.

One quick database error I noticed. It appears that the Wings have two duplicate scouts. There are two Bob Harlarsons (sp?) and two some other scout.

Oh well...just when I got it posted about the Caps, I got a saved game from someone who had played with Caps and was in the second season....he had finished with 95 points in the first season, so it _is_ possible to achieve some success if you play well :D

what more important players ratings or tactics? if you had to give a % how would you break it down?

Tough call...if by ratings you mean talent.

I'd probably go with something along the lines of 60/40 in favor of talent. You can get by with lousy tactics if you have enough talent, but less talented teams can still take you down if they employ the right tactics. But as I said, its a tough call and there are many other factors to success than pure talent and tactics.

In that case, I guess I'll be making an order from gogamer.com soon.

People in Vancouver and Edmonton have received the game and I'm still waiting....

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't care that there's a storm outside... get that thing to my mailbox!

As noted above, I simmed through a season. Unfortunately I actually had to do some work today at work (unbelievable, I know), so I wasn't able to really get into the off-season.

Anyway, here's a quick recap of what went on in this season:

1. Vancouver beat Pittsburgh, yes, Pittsburgh, in the Stanley Cup finals 4-2. I guess a healthy Lemieux makes a difference. The Pens also had Mark Recchi and I noticed he had something like 24 goals in the play-offs.

2. There wasn't a ton of activity at the trade deadline. Some, but not a lot. The biggest name moved was Craig Conroy. I guess the bigger deals went down earlier. For example, the Ducks traded Fedorov to the Sharks.

3. Jim Nill, my assistant GM, who was running the Wings while I sunned myself on some tropical shores made some dumbfoundingly ridiculous moves. First, as soon as I left he felt the need to sign almost any free agent worth a damn. I guess the extra cash in the payroll was burning a hole in his pocket. He went out and signed, almost immediately, Travis Green, Matthieu Schneider, Yanick Perrault, Drake Berehowsky, Todd Simpson, and Brian Holzinger. I didn't really think we needed these guys. And, in fact, we ended up losing Draper on waivers because of this.

That was just the begining of oddness. Nill then traded Jiri Hulder (one of our top 10 prospects) and the rights to two prospects for Ladislav Nagy. That's fine. I don't like giving up young guys, but Nagy is decent. However, SIX days later they send Nagy to the AHL and he gets picked up on waivers. Nice.

A similar thing happens a few days later. Nill trades Nik Kornwall (another top 5 prospect) for Sven Butchenson. He then puts Butchenson on waivers and he is picked up.

So, the Wings have traded away two of the best young prospects and two other prospects for absolutely nothing. That's pretty bad roster management. I left all the controls on "reasonable" while away. No idea what happened.

The trades I saw looked fine for the most part. Nothing outrageous there.

That's all I have at the moment...

I haven't gotten mine yet, although I guess I shouldn't expect it that soon since it only shipped a week ago. Should I have done the "priority" shipping from Gameplay that would've required me to sign for it? I didn't use that, and I'm now thinking that it might hold up my delivery for an extra few days. I need something to do until that damn game gets here. :(

The trades you mentioned earlier, and these moves are just plain awful.......No way any of those moves would be made......and Pittsburgh in the cup finals......wow....patch time!!!

I ordered it from gogamer.com today and got this email from them.

Dear Customer,

I regret to inform you that our shipment of NHL Eastside Hockey Manager 2005 did not make it today.

We are hoping to have it by tomorrow.

If you wish to make any changes to your order please let us know.

Regards,
Robert
GoGamer.com

Guess, I won't be able to play it this weekend. :(

Yeah, it's disappointing but that's holiday mode. I'd be much more worried if the other AI GMs were doing this during regular, day-to-day play.

I've never used holiday mode in my games so it's not a deal breaker for me.

a couple weeks for the download version? that's unfortunate. hey marc just out of curiousity, what % of SI's sales are digital download (roughly...off the top of your head I mean) ? I mean is this delay taking a big chunk out of your pockets, or are the early sales figures from EHM still looking strong?

He was probably sick of doing all your work for you and was actively trying to get you fired.

Heh!

Agreed. He was jealous of my vacationing, high-paid ass.

This was my thought as well. I didn't have the time to track what GM AI's were doing, but I don't ever recall moves like this happening. I think the holiday AI is odd. I think it's more of the exception than the rule.

That's just wrong. Trade Fedorov? Definitely can see that. Trade him to the freakin' Sharks? No way in heck! :)

That would be like the Wings trading Yzerman to the Blues, or Canucks trading Naslund to the Avs.

Ok. I just ran through my first draft.

Over all, the draft felt very much like the first EHM, which I loved, with a few new bells and whistles. The biggest additions are 1) the assistant GM, head coach, and head scout reccomendation buttons. There is a button for each and you click it and they tell you who they think you should draft. I think this is based on both who they feel is the best player and what the organization needs. For example, two of the three reccomended I take a d-man with the first pick. One reccomended the highest ranked player on the board and the other two a d-man who was about 10th best or so. I selected the latter and was pleased with the rec. Later on in the draft all three kept reccomending I take a goaltender. They did this for about three rounds, reccomending goalies who weren't even ranked. I assume they felt that we lacked goaltending prospects, which is probably true. Over all the reccomended players were pretty decent and I went with a few. 2) The other new feature (I think) is the filter button. The options are just like they are in the free agent screen. It's nice to be able to only look at goalies if that's all you want at the moment.

I did not get any trade proposals during the draft. I am not sure that can happen. (Riz, can it?) There were five trades during the draft between the AI, with teams exchanging draft picks and players for picks. It was nice to see.

As expected, Crosby was the first player taken overall.

Oh yeah. After the draft I checked my "team report" to see where the players I drafted were rated in the top prospects. Six of the players I drafted were ranked as follows: 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 12. Not too shabby.


Now on to free agency...

Keep 'em coming HB!


Todd

Good news

Marc Duffy at SI said in the ootp forum

"If you do decide to get the game now, you'll pay no extra for the new season rules and data in September - it will come to you free *

looks like they change there mind for charging us a small fee for the sept release if we download it now.


http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/boar...&postcount=100

I always had a problem with goalies in trades. No matter how many goalies I had in the minors I kept getting trade offers with mid-range goalie prospects. It got so annoying that I took everyone off the trading block. This sounds like a continuation of that problem.

So I ran through the first month or so of free agency. Everything seems to be working fine. As usual there were a number of decent UFA's available. The biggest names include: Gonchar, Aucoin, Rafalski, Stevens, Straka, Modano, Khabibuhlin, Ozolinsh, Zubov, Peca, Mogilny, Niedermayer, and Belfour. All older guys who carried hefty salaries.

I made a run at Aucoin, but he got signed by the Devils.

I also signed Mike Dunham and then tried to ship Joseph off to a team in need of a #1 goalie. First I tried Tampa. They offered me back Jarrold Skalde. I rejected it and then they signed Khabibuhlin. I then went after Toronto and the Rangers. Toronto had no interest and the Rangers (shockingly) offered two mediocare prospects. I took the deal becuase I wanted to dump CuJo's $8.5 million salary.

One of the biggest gripes I had about the first EHM free agency was that the effect of losing a player's salary was not quickly enough reflected in your team finances. For example, in my prior game playing the Islanders we had zero money within our budget to sign UFA's, but we needed some. So I played around with trying to dump Yashin's US $10 million. I finally managed to, getting under the allotted budget, but according to my finance screen, I was still over budget and the team was still limiting how much I could spend as if I was over budget. Not good.

This time around, however, I dumped CuJo and it was immediately reflected on my team budget screen. A definite improvement for cash strapped teams trying to juggle their line-ups during the off-season.

Team were pretty aggressive going after free agents. As you could probably tell from the list above, New Jersey lost 3 starting d-men, so they targeted defense and were successful. There were some trades and other signings. No big names were taking jobs at smaller European clubs. A few retirements, but only for guys north of 40 (e.g., MacInnis)

All in all the off-season seemes to be working well.

All right, I think I am going to go back to my Caps career and starting building a champion.

I know exactly what you're talking about. I experienced the same thing in the first version as well. Though, after I finally drafted a goalie, in the 5th or 6th rounds, all my people stopped reccomending goalies entirely. I think they felt like we just needed one, which I think we did.

Honolulu_Blue

this game sounds great so far. i cant wait for you to do a dynasty. i hope you can go in detail when you do your tactics and tendencies. thanks

is the view the game screen slow now when you put it on very slow? is it easy to follow?

thanks