2K Sports Unveils Features for NHL 2K10 (Press Release)

[kcxiv]

Quote: Originally Posted by RealmK

So you think its perfectly normal to skip out on E3, and barely market/hype the game up until a week or two before ship? well ok. If everyone just went by marketing bullet point lists when making choices about which games to buy they'd have noone to blame but themselves if the title doesn't end up being as good as some list makes it out to be. I'm sold on NHL10, why? Tons of media, dev blogs explaining the new features in detail, raw gameplay footage, communication on a regular basis with the fanbase etc etc. 2k10 will be a gamefly rent because while yes, the player models are improved theres zero way of seeing AI improvements from screenshots, or hearing from a reviewer/previewer that the glitches are indeed fixed unless they let sites like IGN or Gamespot show of the game early. etc etc. Thats why publishers get info out months in advance of a game shipping, to get the word out, to build confidence in their product. 2k doesn't seem to get that so while they'll automatically get the 2k hardcore guys the Eddies the Venoms etc they won't get an automatic sale from the fence sitters or guys like myself who are just a bit more pessimistic and quite honestly a little worried going into 2k10. In the long run less sales=less budget=fewer improvements next year which is bad for all parties involved. I'm not saying 2k10 is going to suck, honestly I hope its great this year as I wouldn't mind at all enjoying a 2k hockey game again, but to say marketing isn't important and showing the improvements and fixes off prior to ship isn't important, well thats a whole other ball of wax right there.

Yet 2K does the same thing with NBA and it outsells EA's game. It comes down to making a good game. You have to win back your fans by making the game better. Once that is better, then it will have a domino effect.

Bioshock was little known game, it got tones of word of mouth hype and turned into a great seller for 2K. Hell, even won a bunch of game of the year awards.

In the end its can you make a good game. We willl see, this is VC's 2nd year on it.

[BigH2k6]

Quote: Originally Posted by kcxiv

Yet 2K does the same thing with NBA and it outsells EA's game. It comes down to making a good game. You have to win back your fans by making the game better. Once that is better, then it will have a domino effect. Bioshock was little known game, it got tones of word of mouth hype and turned into a great seller for 2K. Hell, even won a bunch of game of the year awards. In the end its can you make a good game. We willl see, this is VC's 2nd year on it.

Right, and per a quote from a sports movie: "If you build, he will come..." or in this case "I you build it, they will buy it..."

They have already started to "Ease our pain." with some of the screenshots and info released. Let's hope they keep doing that

And then, maybe they make the 3rd quote come true and "Go the distance" and bring us a good product this year

For those of you that don't know these quotes, they come from the movie "Field of Dreams".

[Dalsanto0026]

Quote: Originally Posted by RealmK

So you think its perfectly normal to skip out on E3, and barely market/hype the game up until a week or two before ship? well ok. If everyone just went by marketing bullet point lists when making choices about which games to buy they'd have noone to blame but themselves if the title doesn't end up being as good as some list makes it out to be. I'm sold on NHL10, why? Tons of media, dev blogs explaining the new features in detail, raw gameplay footage, communication on a regular basis with the fanbase etc etc. 2k10 will be a gamefly rent because while yes, the player models are improved theres zero way of seeing AI improvements from screenshots, or hearing from a reviewer/previewer that the glitches are indeed fixed unless they let sites like IGN or Gamespot show of the game early. etc etc. Thats why publishers get info out months in advance of a game shipping, to get the word out, to build confidence in their product. 2k doesn't seem to get that so while they'll automatically get the 2k hardcore guys the Eddies the Venoms etc they won't get an automatic sale from the fence sitters or guys like myself who are just a bit more pessimistic and quite honestly a little worried going into 2k10. In the long run less sales=less budget=fewer improvements next year which is bad for all parties involved. I'm not saying 2k10 is going to suck, honestly I hope its great this year as I wouldn't mind at all enjoying a 2k hockey game again, but to say marketing isn't important and showing the improvements and fixes off prior to ship isn't important, well thats a whole other ball of wax right there.

Well said. I totally agree with you.

[Dalsanto0026]

Quote: Originally Posted by savoie2006

Dude, it's the game that matters, I don't care who makes it. If it's a quality game or just a hockey game in general, I will most likely buy it. I love the sport!

Hockey is my favourite sport. I just might be the biggest hockey fan in Australia, lol. It's not very popular down here, I have to pay extra for the ESPN channel to get any coverage. We do have a league though, I think there's only 8 teams!

Video game hockey is my favourite type of video game.

[slickdtc]

Good to hear the AI is rewritten. This could be a disaster, or this could be what many have waited for (too long the AI has been too linear). Screenshots, feature lists, and previews articles (usually from people who hardly understand the game of hockey) won't do much. The next best thing to actually playing the game would be gameplay videos. We'll be able to see how the AI plays a bit in those. I'm excited for that.

[baa7]

Quote: Originally Posted by RealmK

to say marketing isn't important and showing the improvements and fixes off prior to ship isn't important, well thats a whole other ball of wax right there.

I'd even go so far as to say it's critical 2K gets that info out early. They've lost so many gamers due to the games they've released the past 3-4 years, that their future survival has to be at risk at this point. I noticed some numbers in the NBA forum: EA's NHL game outsells 2K's by a 3-4 to 1 margin. People are giving up on 2K and are moving away in droves to the competition.

[TIm]

Quote: Originally Posted by Dalsanto0026

Well said. I totally agree with you.

I agree with this as well.. It's not that I think 2k10 will be a bad game... I am a hockey fanatic and would like to have both hockey games. But I just can't.. Some will tell me to rent both and see what one I like. Well if I did that with everygame I would be broke. EA as a company seems to be turning around in the aspect that they are more hands on with the community...If you told me that years ago I would've laughed in your face. I personally love the footage that we have seen for nhl10... I do think both games will be pretty good with both having it's share of issues. The screens for 2k10 do look very good.. The 2k of old had Topshelf Tuesday months in advance and Football Fridays for NFl2k5...They would focus on a certain topic everyweek until the games release. It wasn't much info but that sure as heck got me pumped!! That's what I am looking for...I am not looking to have a blowout of 25 vids and 100 screens with 10 blogs thrown inbetween.

[Eddie1967]

Quote: Originally Posted by kcxiv

Yet 2K does the same thing with NBA and it outsells EA's game. It comes down to making a good game. You have to win back your fans by making the game better. Once that is better, then it will have a domino effect. Bioshock was little known game, it got tones of word of mouth hype and turned into a great seller for 2K. Hell, even won a bunch of game of the year awards. In the end its can you make a good game. We willl see, this is VC's 2nd year on it.

Exactly. The better game will win out in the end. EA has always been the king of marketing and IMHO they are also the king of making mediocre sports games. They market the hell out of their NHL, Football and NBA products but you know why I haven't purchased any of them for the last 3 or 4 years? Because I don't think they are very good. No early footage or community interaction is going to sell me. The better game will. Think of all the yearly hype we hear about madden, especially for the last 3 years and look at the scores given to that game, very high and very undeserved. If you tell me it's a good game, I will tell you your crazy (in a joking way of course). IMO 2k doesn't need to do anything more than to continue to make their games better and VC has already shown that with their NBA, MLB and NHL products IMO. And let's not act like we won't have any videos prior to the games release. I mean it's still July. Plenty of time to give the fence sitters what they need to make a decision. I'm curious as to what the fence sitters will say when footage is out in the next few weeks. The reason I go with 2k in all of their sports games has nothing to do with the features list, or the videos shown or commercials. It all comes down to who makes the better games and for my money it's 2K/VC. EA needs to SHOW ME something else besides community day this and that, videos, commercials and screen shots. They need to make a better game, then I will purchase their product.