NHL 10 News Post

NHL Series from EA is a Model for Post-Release Support

02:05 PM - March 16, 2010 by RaychelSnr

Four years and one console cycle ago, EA’s NHL series was a total mess. As a product, it was getting outsold by its chief competitor, NHL 2K. As a brand, it had grown so stale and predictable that even the series’ die-hards were beginning to question their loyalty to what had become an inferior, outdated hockey franchise.

After taking off the '06 hockey season (at least on this generation of consoles) to re-evaluate its approach to the genre, innovations like the "skill stick" (NHL 07) and the EA Sports Hockey League (NHL 09) quickly transformed the NHL series from a tired has-been into one of sports gaming’s most-respected franchises.

But aside from the above-mentioned innovations, a key reason for NHL's rapid turnaround has been the outstanding post-release support from its developers.

Read More - EA's NHL Series is a Model for Post-Release Support

Game: NHL 10Reader Score: 7.5/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / Xbox 360Votes for game: 28 - View All

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Member Comments

# 1 Myloman @ 03/16/10 02:55 PM

I know I had issues with puck cover when playing goalie and Redshirt responded to my concern quickly and they had a fix for the problem in the next tuner set. Though with that said I feel like sometimes fans need to really dig for information that should be readily available like what all the attributes do for your online BaP, but overall the NHL support is very well done.

# 2 DJ @ 03/16/10 04:26 PM

Good article. EA takes a lot of flak for its sports titles, but the folks that work on the NHL series have really done a remarkable job turning a mediocre product into one of the strongest sports titles on the market today.

I am hooked on this game and appreciate all of the efforts of the game developers to keep us updated on changes and producing the tuner sets, patches and roster updates in a timely fashion.

# 3 savoie2006 @ 03/16/10 07:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wsu_gb23


	The EA hockey series and it's team are highly underrated. In my opinion they are the best development team around. They have perfected the gameplay and it is easily the closest interpretation of a sport in a videogame. NHL 10 should be the sports-game of the year.

Have you not played MLB The Show? That's the one game that stands in the way of NHL being the outright Sports Game Of The Year. That said, I agree with everything said in the article. It is amazing to me how much this series has taken a turn for the better, compared to what it was last gen. It didn't happen overnight, even once they released NHL07. There was still ALOT of work to be done, but each year since then the game has progressively gotten better and you can't ask for much more than that.

# 4 Vikes1 @ 03/16/10 08:06 PM

I agree the EA Canada developers have done...and continue to do a solid job with their NHL series.

Another thing I appreciated was the way they went about the interaction with us...the customer. No grandiose statements were made [to my knowledge] of what to expect from the latest release. Pretty much just straight forward info on what was done to improve the games playing experience. To where I felt as though I was being informed...rather than simply being sold.

Still playing and enjoying NHL'10' nearly daily. And really looking forward to reading whats planned for '11'. Very refreshing to say...great job EA. [Canada]

# 5 MrNFL_FanIQ @ 03/16/10 09:12 PM

This is why I'm torn on EA, they do an EXCELLENT job with this series. Maybe it's just Tibouron (sp?) I should direct my disdain for.

# 6 nyj721 @ 03/17/10 12:12 AM

maybe the guys behind this series should be given the keys to ea

# 7 LuGer33 @ 03/17/10 12:20 AM

Great read, and very true.

# 8 H to the Oza @ 03/17/10 01:49 AM

I never noticed how all the cover athletes wear red jerseys

# 9 johnnydangerously @ 03/17/10 11:29 AM

@ H to the Oza

And their teams all start with "C". Odd!

# 10 bowlerguy92 @ 03/17/10 07:17 PM

Accept for the fact that: Chat still hardly works online (three years in a row), you lockup if you idle anywhere in the online section of the game, you don't get credit in ranked games if the team quits even 1 second before the game ends, the "pro shop" sometimes takes minutes to open, and player cards don't unlock correctly online resulting in pointless play working towards nothing. Thanks EA, you guys do provide great support.

# 11 acarrero @ 03/20/10 02:42 PM

EA's Fight Night 4 also had great post-release support. I have not played the NHL series, but Fight Night had numerous patches where they clearly listened to the OS community making changes to gameplay, they had numerous add-ons (like new boxers, though you had to pay for most), and included features like boxershare which added to the experience. EA is doing a good job of post-release support with some of its titles and it's a great new thing for gaming.

# 12 jyoung @ 03/20/10 07:47 PM

I believe Fight Night was an EA Canada project, too.

The Canada teams seem to do the best out of all the EA dev. groups.

# 13 Headstyle77 @ 03/23/10 01:48 PM

Let's not be such fanboys...

They are doing OK at best...They need to do a better job for Multiplayer/OTP. Finding a game is horrible, picking your position is horrible. Playing with glitchers is horrible. Taking an F for stats because your goalie is helpin the other team boost is completely unacceptable. Yeah, they've made improvements, but it's not like it's without many VERY BAD flaws. You people need to stop stroking their ego, say thank you, and ask for more. Next year, they should focus exclusively on Online. The ability for quitters, glitchers, goalie boosters needs to stop, or at least ban them from OTP if they are doing it. The game has MAJOR flaws...they only way to truly enjoy it, is to ensure you play with guys who stand for the same things I just pointed out, on both sides of the puck too. A cheating club/player completely ruins the aspect of ranked games. Attributes are pointless, as it seems somebody always figures out a way to 'Juice' their Online Attributes, making them nearly invincible to stop, no matter how good/skilled you are. Fix your game EA.

# 14 khaldrogo76 @ 04/08/10 03:05 PM

@ headstyle...agree! the wrist shot glitch is ruining Community and Club play; I saw the same shot work for 8 goals in one period the other night, c'mon!!!!!!!

# 15 Araxen @ 04/30/10 09:54 PM

NHL 10 is the best sports game on the market by far and I remember the days when the NHL series was horrible for those few years. I'm very glad the series has turned it around. I can't wait for NHL 11!

# 16 dickey1331 @ 05/02/10 08:58 PM

I agree I played the earlier NHLs and thought they werent very good but now this game really is one of the top sports games out there. I have really enjoyed NHL 10 and is a good improvment from NHL 09.

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NHL Series from EA is a Model for Post-Release Support