NHL 09 Fridays: Community Questions #2

[RaychelSnr]

The folks up at EA Canada are nearing their goal as NHL 09 skates towards its September release. They are undoubtedly working very hard since they have a hard act to follow considering how well NHL 08 was received by most gamers. Also, with such high expectations, it's no surprise that the OS community has tons of questions when it comes to NHL 09. Due to this fact, we here at Operation Sports felt it was important to get the NHL developers to answer some questions from the Operation Sports community. So every Friday, until NHL 09 releases, OS will be running five-question-Q&A sessions with NHL 09 developers. This is the second Q&A session we have had thus far. Enjoy!

[bad_philanthropy]

I was very satisfied with these answers. Nobody here was expecting franchise to get an overhaul or anything, but I'm pleased they did some tweaking, and mainly fixed that issue with all rookies looking the same.

[mudtiger]

Quote: Originally Posted by bad_philanthropy

I was very satisfied with these answers. Nobody here was expecting franchise to get an overhaul or anything, but I'm pleased they did some tweaking, and mainly fixed that issue with all rookies looking the same.

I was prepared for the worst, but the answers satisfied me too. If the game plays mostly like last year with more neutral zone play, better defense, and better player progression, I'll be happy with it.

[kt-od]

Quote: Originally Posted by aBiNeR

To whom this may concern, Can someone please ask in your next interview with EA: -When can long-time customers of NHL expect a revamped online client that supports balanced and fair ladder leaderboards? A client that closely resembles the 2002 Battle.net client for Warcraft III would be sufficient even being out-dated -When can long-time customers of NHL expect post-release patch support for the entire year that would address hockey realism tweaks, in-game exploit removal & online client exploit removal? Many thanks.

There's a questions thread for this. You can post it there

[SaintPatrick33]

First Thanks Chase and Andy for making these questions happen great info to make choices by.
On my questions I didnt think anything much would change from 08 but its seems like they are trying .
But its clear EA s main focus at least this year is for getting online going which I totally understand from a business standpoint .
And while they did add enough in dynasty to keep rosters from changing when you start a dynasty theres still no way to update it with real time transactions , rosters ect .
So unfortantly this solid game is a Cant buy for me as I dont play online.
Its amazing why they would ever take these simple functions out that were basic in last gen like control all rosters /All teams option to play all games in a season mode like they never exsisted ?
OPTIONS are GOOD and the more their are will allow all gamers to be happy !
Well 2k9 will still have all these options like play all games be all teams and total roster control in season mode so my choice is simple but I would have love to have 2 NHL games this year , well maybe next year ?

[Qb]

Good stuff. Like BP said, I wasn't expecting a franchise overhaul either. Hopefully they truly did fix the generated rookie problem as well as fleshed out the CBA-related stuff (RFAs, roster limitations, etc), toned down retirement with more regression before they hang it up and above all, made sure it's stable. Too many freezes in 08 after finishing a game and I had one dynasty corrupt as well.

I feel bad that my stats question made it through, as overall the sim stats weren't too bad. It was just a few areas that were wonky like uneven plus/minus distribution, specialty teams and to a much lesser degree, team GF/GA (overall simulated scoring was just a tad too low).

[ChaseB]

If you guys want a certain type of question for next week like how we did Dynasty this week, just vote in the questions thread and if it's resounding I'll go that route.

[Qb]

Quote: Originally Posted by aBiNeR

Unfortunately, even online will be bad if they intend to run the EASHL with the same online client and match-making system they have used since 2003. All indications are there have been no changes to it. The online NHL client is the core of the online community. Without a sold design, there will be cheating and poor matching which completely unbalances the leaderboards.

You may be right, but I really don't know much at all about that stuff. When I play online, it's mostly with friends in custom games and I had little to no issues with lag/disconnect/etc. I'm not much for the leaderboard/ranked stuff, but if that's your thing, I hope it is improved...

*****

Now, what type of questions can we come up with for next Friday?