No EASHL, GM Connected, OTP, or Live The Life in NHL 15 on XB1/PS4 (Interview)

[ricky24]

Quote: Originally Posted by SVCbearcat10

This is kind of funny. If they did not revamp arenas, presentation, or rebuild gameplay, the hate towards the game would be exactly the same. Instead of missing modes, everyone would be crying it's a port and not worth the $60. Just go look at the forums for FIFA, Madden, The Show, etc. Also, I find it funny that when given an answer as to why something was or was not included, many don't believe the answer. There are some just looking for another reason to hate EA (some of it deserved, some of it not). I think we forget how small budget and how small of a team works on this game. Plus instead of focusing on one game, they have to put full effort into two. All indications from people who have actually played the game says it feels much different (even though everyone who only watches the videos posted says its the same). Also, you have to remember that this is NHL and created by the same studio. There are elements of the gameplay that makes it unique to them and successful (NHL2K went away because consumers decided this game was better, they didn't buy the license like NFL and MLB). There's a core foundation that will never change, so it's unrealistic to someone expect a completely different game. Would it have been nice to have EASHL at launch? Absolutely. However, OTP will be in this year via a patch. They are forming a committee (with fans of the series to be included) to better EASHL when it comes back next year. For those who say they don't care about the audience, I'm not sure why they would include us if they didn't care. Maybe I'm more reasonable because I mostly play offline, but I do enjoy playing some EASHL to mix it up. The mode will surely be missed, but it looks like they have a great plan in place to take the game to the next level. Like everything else today, we want it all and want it immediately, regardless if it's possible or not.

It should all be there. It's inexcusable. You can't release half a game.

[ricky24]

Otp is not eashl. So them patching that in does nothing for me.

[Penaltybox4ever]

Read OP for quite some time, not until now I registred.

Saw that EAsport wont include create-a-team in Fifa15 new gen because of issues with Ignite Engine, so what are the odds the NHL dev team managed to include it?
Im an offliner myself so that's troubling news for me if its true since I like creating own teams for BeaGM.
Anyhow, it might be a main reason why they couldnt get EASHL in because of the Ignite Engine.
Rammer said that they where trying to patch OTP in later but only with default NHL teams if I understood it right?
Will they be able to get EASHL in without ability to create a custom team?

Pardon my english, Im swede! :-)

[ricky24]

Also eashl was fine as is except for the ai. So the "we have a special team working on the mode for next release" thing is such a cop out.

[swimfunk]

sure reads like a ton of excuses. They had a longer time period than any game to move to next gen since they skipped the next gen version last year.

As a GM connected guy it sucks having that mode removed from the game. I will be skipping NHL this year and it's quite sad because this was the one game I wanted to see on the next gen. If this was NHL14 I would understand but to have a half game a year later is damaging to say the least. I love how they made it seem like they made the decision today. I highly highly doubt that.

[DoubleDizzle]

GM Connected in NHL 14 was a complete miss, so i have no problems with them omitting that for next gen. They need to completely rebuild it. But no OTP at launch and no EASHL at all? That's a huge kick in the nuts.

I just don't understand why they continued to focus on the current (360/PS3) gen instead of putting all hands on deck for the next gen (X1/PS4) version. Feels like they wasted precious resource time by working on two games instead of one. Also boggles my mind how FIFA, Madden and even NBA Live had releases ready for PS4/X1 at launch, but NHL STILL can't have a full game available a year later. Where was the foresight in planning for next gen? To me, it feels like PS4/X1 released last year and Rammer and the team said, 'whoa, next gen is out? Maybe we should start working on that next week?' instead of having 6-12 months lead time in 'building the core' ahead of actually working on the game.

So disappointing.

[Fiddy]

just finishing up moving into our new house. i was following along with this news on twitter in general.

just zero excuse as to why the EASHL/OTP were not included, zero!

GM Connected was a train wreck as stated before, and it being left out is no big deal IMO. but man, no EASHL. cant believe it, but i guess should have expected it. sigh

[EmpireWF]

Never played EASHL so this won't impact my GM mode play.