NHL 13 News Post

NHL 13 Video - Sean Ramjagsingh Talks About Presentation, Gameplay, Strategies & More

12:49 PM - August 22, 2012 by Steve_OS

If you can't view the embedded video, click here.

The Producer of NHL 13, Sean Ramjagsingh talks about presentation, gameplay, strategies and more.

Game: NHL 13Reader Score: 8/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / Xbox 360Votes for game: 23 - View All

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# 21 Qb @ 08/23/12 01:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RealmK


	How so? Holding 2 shoulder buttons to do a slap shot, while trying to aim with an analog while the AI is buzzing all over the zone like a hive of angry bees was oh so intuitive.

I think Fiddy's point was more that Rammer was probably speaking of avoiding complicated controls in general, not specifically the 2K series. I'd say it's a standard concern/focus for the industry... how often do we hear about a game's "intuitive controls" or the lack thereof in reviews?

At any rate, there's no need to talk about the 2K Hockey control scheme here.

# 22 Vikes1 @ 08/23/12 08:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tsp120


	Though they could put some work into the presentation, as it has become kind of stale, I'd rather they continue to put the same level of effort into the AI every year as they did this year. I'm perfectly happy with the game modes and the presentation. If they continued with this same level of AI improvements for the next 3 years we could have very smart hockey game on our hands in the future. And I would take that game with today's graphics and presentation any day.

Pretty difficult to argue with this.

I'm very pleased with how they went about things for NHL '13'. I think clearly their main focus was the overall gameplay this year. And imo, just enough presentation upgrades [mostly the RTP] that is quite good. So I think they struck a good balance this year.

I guess the main thing I'd like to see presentation wise, would be a new announcing team. I still like Gary and Bill, and for the most part I think it's very well done. But imo...a new team alone would go a long way towards shaking this up.

# 23 jyoung @ 08/23/12 10:22 PM

For those having trouble winning faceoffs, the old OS guide still applies to this year's game since nothing has changed in the draw system itself:

http://www.operationsports.com/strat...faceoff-guide/

Plenty of good tips in there, as well as a picture showing the full controller layout.

# 24 acelang123 @ 08/23/12 10:56 PM

I think were getting to that point in the series where the developers are either reluctant to overhaul presentation extensively and go away from the NHL 09 build, because the ever looming Playstation 4/XBOX 720 console jump. Remember, we are in year 5 of this console cycle, and consoles generally have a 5-7 year period as the latest and greatest, with the following 2-3 years of market decline.

It's like this. Is the first game on the newest console ever going to be as good as the last game on the previous console. Was NHL 07 on PS2 better than NHL 07 on PS3. Yes, NHL 07 was better for gameplay, but not visually. It took two years for the NHL series on PS3 to hit that NHL 94 moment. I don't remember any groundbreaking NHL games on PS2. So what is to say that next generation of games is going to be groundbreaking. It looks like to me, that the NHL developers have found that "special engine" and are probably not going to break it for the next console. If you remember, the nhl games on PS1, sure did feel a lot like the PS2 games. I think the PS3 is going to have that with the PS4 unfortunately. God, I hope I'm wrong.

# 25 Vikes1 @ 08/24/12 04:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RealmK


	Especially if they take the current iteration of the series and just build from there going forward with the next console systems nearing. It would be a crying shame if they once again rebooted the franchise when we've finally gotten some pretty major improvements after a few years of somewhat stagnation. The skating engine alone has really changed the way the game plays for the better in a major way imo.

Oh ya Real...the new skating imo is awesome!

About the next gen, I pray they don't decide to do a complete reboot. I agree Real, we're at a point now where some very solid upgrades have come. And I'd hate to see this progress lost, in order to start over again.

I suppose a reboot wouldn't be too terrible if it only took a year or two to get things at least back where they where. But man...it took several years. Please...not again EA Sports.

# 26 mercalnd @ 08/24/12 08:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by acelang123


	Remember, we are in year 5 of this console cycle, and consoles generally have a 5-7 year period as the latest and greatest, with the following 2-3 years of market decline.

Actually, we are in year 8 of this console cycle. The cycle started in 2005 with the release of the XBOX 360. As far as the NHL series goes, NHL 13 is the seventh release on these consoles.

# 27 tsp120 @ 08/24/12 08:35 AM

For those who are tired of Bill and Gary doing the commentary, have you ever considered just turning off the commentary? That's actually the first thing I do when I get a new sports game. I max out the crowd noise and remove the commentary. I love it that way. Just a thought.

# 28 Stroehms @ 08/24/12 08:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tsp120


	For those who are tired of Bill and Gary doing the commentary, have you ever considered just turning off the commentary? That's actually the first thing I do when I get a new sports game. I max out the crowd noise and remove the commentary. I love it that way. Just a thought.

Same here. In NHL, it feels like you're actually at the game. Great feeling when scoring a big goal at hom.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using Tapatalk 2

# 29 Section_25 @ 08/24/12 09:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tsp120


	For those who are tired of Bill and Gary doing the commentary, have you ever considered just turning off the commentary? That's actually the first thing I do when I get a new sports game. I max out the crowd noise and remove the commentary. I love it that way. Just a thought.

I tried that before and even though some of the commentary is getting a little on the stale side, no commentary at all is just not the same for me. IMO the commentary really does bring alot of realism to the game.

# 30 ComaFaction @ 08/24/12 10:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RealmK


	I know people are tired of Gary and Bill, and that alot of the commentary is the same from the past few years, but again, they're not going to redo commentary every year, more so add to it. I don't see the commentary itself changing much until their ESPN contract is up and they need to find a new broadcast tandem. (I believe Thorne and Clement are technically still somewhat tied to EA's overall ESPN contract, I could be wrong however)

When you see what the developers have done with NBA2k's commentary the last 3 iterations, it's hard to give a free pass on recycling commentary for 4-5 years. It's really not THAT big of a deal, especially since Thorne and Clement sound good together, but it certainly wears thin for someone who has purchased the game year after year.

# 31 Kadgo @ 08/24/12 11:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mercalnd


	Actually, we are in year 8 of this console cycle. The cycle started in 2005 with the release of the XBOX 360. As far as the NHL series goes, NHL 13 is the seventh release on these consoles.

the first nhl game in the cycle is nhl07. nhl 2k6 have a 360version but not nhl06

# 32 Reiny09 @ 08/24/12 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kadgo


	the first nhl game in the cycle is nhl07. nhl 2k6 have a 360version but not nhl06

Are you saying he was wrong by saying 13 will be the 7th of the cycle?

# 33 mercalnd @ 08/24/12 12:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kadgo


	the first nhl game in the cycle is nhl07. nhl 2k6 have a 360version but not nhl06

Yes and that means that 13 is the seventh: 07,08,09,10,11,12 and 13.

# 34 bwiggy33 @ 08/24/12 03:55 PM

With some of you talking about how this is the 7th title for 360 it brings me to a Question for you guys (No this is not an EA bashing, it's a serious question): Do you think NHL has really done a great job at improving from year to year since they began with NHL 07 for 360?

IMO I really think they could have been way more productive. I believe this new AI and strategies could have been done in NHL 09. I highly doubt that the programming for AI has changed from 09 to 13. AI is probably the one consistent "code" they work with. It's not like them having to build new code for the skating revamp they did this year, which has probably been a process that they've done for the past couple years. I'm not calling EA lazy because I don't know what goes on behind the scenes, their budget, how many workers they have, etc. However, I just think they could be so much further along at this point. I mean correct me if I'm wrong but truly we can name about 1 major thing they've done from NHL 08 to NHL 12 that doesn't include Online play. That major thing is physics (which still need improving). It's truly the only groundbreaking thing they've done over that span.

Other than that it's been small things and tuning (which isn't a bad thing) to what had already been in the game, which IMO is what made this game so stale. Things like broken sticks, broken glass, 1st person fighting, board play, and the list can go on. Overall though they really haven't made any significant gameplay improvements at all since the introduction of the skill stick in 07. Hell even EA admitted that themselves. I can only imagine where this game could be had EA implemented better AI back in 09 or even 10 (the AI would probably be spot on in NHL 13) and put other big things in the game that just can change the game in a big way. I understand that putting "big" features in a game is time consuming and could take a couple years to do, but ultimately I think we could have seen more from EA.

I believe the plan or lack there of that they had in place just wasn't very good. They didn't know which direction or what ideas they wanted to go with. I will also bring up the point that they got comfortable. They won sports game of the year and 2k fizzled out so they just said "we don't have to change anything." I think they finally realized with the complaints about 12 that they better make big improvements otherwise they were going to lose money.

Also google NHL 08-12 and go to wikipedia to see the different features for the games. It's actually astonishing how many little idiotic things they've added and used as "Big" features for their games.

What is your guys take on it?

# 35 acelang123 @ 08/24/12 07:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mercalnd


	Actually, we are in year 8 of this console cycle. The cycle started in 2005 with the release of the XBOX 360. As far as the NHL series goes, NHL 13 is the seventh release on these consoles.

You're right, I forgot 360 was out way before PS3.

# 36 acelang123 @ 08/24/12 08:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonapaloma


	I think alot of the causes are... Money! Even though I can understand it, its not good for us gamers, I think. They want to make as much money as possible on the franchise. Just look at the movie industry, all these sequels and remakes.

Making the perfect game is a doubled edged sword. Don't like TW 13, you play Links 2004 and don't like Madden 13 you play NFL 2K5. Those were perfect games, and have things that games today don't have. EA Sports is making money because they are budget minded and ruthless contract negotiators. They are on pace to have the success of a Disney like corporation, so the games will be near flawless in about 10-15 years.

# 37 bwiggy33 @ 08/25/12 02:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RealmK


	However the larger issues they needed to tackle, skating, GM logic, AI were more than just one cycle simple fixes. Getting all those strategies and forecheck situations into the game and working properly to me seems a far bigger task than just rewritting a couple lines of code from an existing base, because remember, often if you tweak one thing in code, it can break several other things. Yes the offline game was a bit neglected, but not knowing what was going on behind the scenes, and taking a much smaller budget into account, I have a hard time believing the team didn't want to rest on the laurels and just make small minor improvements. As we've seen this year with the skating engine addition, along with GMBrain (if it works as advertised) and GM Connected etc. If nothing else I'd say the game this year has more major additions in all the years prior on this current console cycle put together.

See and I understand that these fixes they made this year are not one cycle fixes. To me I just don't understand how these things weren't thought of when NHL 07 was released. These are all things that should have been in a plan of what they wanted to be done. Did they have the technology at the time? I have no clue, but I just think the NHL team is so far behind what they could have already had. The major changes that 13 has brought seem like they could have been done by at least NHL 11. I just think NHL has fallen 2 or 3 years behind where all of these changes could have been. Just my opinion and as I've stated I don't know what went on behind the scenes but I have an extremely hard time believing the things we are getting for 13 couldn't have been done sooner.

I honestly wish the NHL dev team would come out and say why this and that wasn't done sooner. I just want some communication from them so we know that they are listening. There really is none of that at all. If they just came out and said why this and that feature wasn't added it would make me feel a whole lot better. Since there is no communication or anything that's when I get kind of angry.

# 38 bwiggy33 @ 08/25/12 12:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RealmK


	Honestly I don't blame the NHL devs for not coming around OS anymore. There's only so many times you can explain that the game has no comeback logic to people only to have them call you wrong when you're a dev working on the game. Redshirt put up with a whole ton of crap from quite a few people for a while there. I don't blame him one bit.

I can understand that, but if you look at it the Madden and NCAA Devs even have at least some communication on OS and those are two of the most bashed games on this site. No matter what they do the games get bashed. I can't imagine the NHL forums being worse. Then again though Madden and NCAA definitely have more workers and budget to come on here and just interact with us.

# 39 TDKing @ 08/25/12 10:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RealmK


	How so? Holding 2 shoulder buttons to do a slap shot, while trying to aim with an analog while the AI is buzzing all over the zone like a hive of angry bees was oh so intuitive.

If you are referring to 2k8 controls I disagree. If you gave it sometime it all became very natural and was very intuitive. I actually felt like I had total control in that game, it actually felt like I was playing the game. Not this "contextual" crap EA has been forcing on us in all their games, not just hockey. Of course you won't agree but that's ok, and yes its jmo.

# 40 infinityBCRT @ 08/26/12 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RealmK


	Honestly I don't blame the NHL devs for not coming around OS anymore. There's only so many times you can explain that the game has no comeback logic to people only to have them call you wrong when you're a dev working on the game. Redshirt put up with a whole ton of crap from quite a few people for a while there. I don't blame him one bit.

Redshirt got quite mad at me at one point for digging in on the lack of skating physics a few years back. Of course, since then they made it their biggest goal to get in better skating physics

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