E3 NHL 10 Preview

[bigwill33]

Liking the drop passes and the gloving the puck out of the air. Two things that were widely missed.

Time will tell how hard it is to pass, simply because the directional passing is the same stick as the one you control your skating.

Still, it is disappointing there is not an improvement in presentation.

[sharks]

Who's Steve Avery?

[ChaseB]

Quote: Originally Posted by BigPoppa17211

Great preview! Loving the changes so far! Maybe you could do a part 2 on some of the things you can do with the puck and the physics? Can never have enough info, right?

Ha, I probably won't do part 2, but I'll certainly talk about the game more on here -- assuming you guys want to know more. Simply ask questions.

Quote: Originally Posted by bonannogiovanni

Chase, do you know by chance if the broadcast camera angle has been overhauled to look like real broadcast? (Reading your thoughts on presentation I bet not )

My best guess is no. I asked about new camera angles and was told there are no new ones, so I doubt they overhauled any existing ones either.

Quote: Originally Posted by Bumble14

Actually, SI belive Steve Avery, former pitcher for the Atlanta Braves was a solid hockey player back in the day.

Ha, yeah true story, I wrote most of this while watching the Braves the other today on MLB Extra Innings. So, that will teach me to write about hockey with baseball on -- I had to see Tommy Hanson though.

Quote: Originally Posted by joker75

I have still one question : Which button is for pokechecking now? Because Flyermania sad there is any change for this... You can do pokecheck move front of the player without tripping now I hope.... And... When you send us some answers from the questions thread ?

Right bumper is still the poke button, but once again I could have talked about stick lift and poke check a bit. I think you'll see less of those weird poke check and stick lift penalties when you are in front of an opposing player who is coming towards you. I also think you'll see many more penalties when someone goes for a stick lift from behind a player, or at least that's the goal and I did notice some change.

And I'll answer Qs (the ones I can) after this post.

Quote: Originally Posted by RealmK

Nice preview Chase. Loved what you said about the passing, can't wait to try hardcore out. couple quick questions, did you notice any more stat overlays at all while playing? Also from the little bit that you played do the goalies seem to be smarter? Will they come out and challenge more when appropiate?

You know it's been a bit since I played so it's a little tricky to remember, but I do know the stat overlays are a bit tweaked in terms of how they look. I feel like I would have written it down in my notebook if I noticed new stat overlays popping up during a game though.

Hard to say about the goalies after such a little amount of time with the game. I certainly liked just about every new animation I saw while playing. At this point my only complaint would be that some of the old animations are left over (namely desperation and cover-up saves) and those were the ones I think that could be abused by players at points.

Quote: Originally Posted by RealmK

I'm wondering if its more one of those "if we're going to majorly overhaul it, lets wait and do it right.

From what I gather, generally that is the NHL team's philosophy: either do it right or don't do it at all. I admire that and do think it's better to go that route, at least from a reception standpoint. I did talk to David Littman about the presentation a bit, and got the impression that when changes occurred on the presentation front, they would be big rather than small. In the mean time, I wouldn't want them wasting time adding one or two new cut scenes if it took away from focusing more attention on the gameplay.

[ohyeahbaby123]

Hey Chase could you expand on the puck physics more? And also, how is the hardcore style of play different than say the regular style of play?

Thanks!

[mdgoalie37]

My big concern is collision detection - just too often woudl players' sticks, skates or the puck would pass right though my stick, skate or leg. I think this really became apparent post patch when you had to play more positionally instead of hitting everything in sight. I hated when I got my guy in positions and my opponent went right through me, literally.

Any notice if this was addressed?

[Matt Diesel]

It would be nice if they showed cumulative stats for OTP during league games so you know how is dangerous and who you should keep an eye on. I hope hardcore passing is the default for OTP.

[Shockgeez04]

Thanx for the preview Chase, can't wait!

2 Questions:

1- How often did you get penalized for doing the new postplay scrum stuff? ... i.e. facewashing, and/or knocking someone down with a check

2- Did you try shooting on the goalie after the whistle? If so did anything happen, they mentioned a CPU player might come after you.

[buzzguy]

Drool! Can't wait for September to roll-around!

Too bad about the presentation, though. Especially the crowds...are there even female fans in the arena yet?