NHL 15 News Post

NHL 15 Screenshot - P. K. Subban

06:08 PM - June 23, 2014 by Steve_OS

After releasing a screenshot of Patrice Bergeron yesterday, EA Sports has released a new NHL 15 screenshot today. This one featuring P. K. Subban.

As most of you already know, Bergeron and Subban are the finalists for the NHL 15 cover. The winner will be announced tomorrow during the 2014 NHL Awards.

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Member Comments

# 1 adayinthelife @ 06/23/14 06:12 PM

Face looks better than Bergeron's. Hopefully we'll see some fresh footage with the cover announcement vs. more screens.

# 2 garyjr33 @ 06/23/14 08:21 PM

Bergeron needs to get the cover win. Subban is such a dirty player.

# 3 crankybaker @ 06/23/14 09:45 PM

I just hope we get a little more information on game modes. Only ones confirmed are Live the Life and Hut.

# 4 jake19ny @ 06/24/14 10:19 AM

Hey EA enough with the eye candy I think we all agree that NHL 15 is going to look amazing but I'm drooling for some actual game play video and to see the new commentary in action.

# 5 habslover10_GoYanks @ 06/24/14 12:32 PM

If we don't get some gameplay along with the cover announcment today that's cheese

# 6 Simaofan-20 @ 06/24/14 12:40 PM

I'm surprised that its nearly July and not even an actual real in game video of any kind.

# 7 Moose24x @ 06/24/14 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpectralThundr


	I'm shocked there's not a ton of post saying his face is wrong like all the rest of the player shots so far. First time for everything I suppose.

It's actually not that surprising. The younger the player, or less time they have been considered a star for, the newer their facial scan is. This results in two things, both of which directly impact people's reactions. One, the technology used to take and render the scan is more recent, resulting in an overall better quality, more realistic looking scan. Two, because the player is young/hasn't been popular for long and thus only recently got a scan, their scan is still current and hasn't been in the game long enough to become outdated. PK Subban basically still looks exactly the same as he looked when he first entered the league and as when he got scanned a year or so later. Patrice Bergeron, on the other hand, got scanned as an 18-20 year old, at the end of the PS2 era. His scan was done on outdated equipment AND has simply become outdated due to him aging in real life.

When you look at that screen of Bergeron you're not looking at a new scan that people are complaining simply doesn't look right. You're looking at a very old scan that was once more accurate (because the player looked younger) and also once represented the best that the technology at that time could produce. It is now completely outdated and no amount of gloss and polish EA puts into it will mask that. Ditto Rick Nash in the teaser trailer or the screen of Joe Thornton. Guys like Subban or, for example, if we had seen younger guys like MacKinnon or Yakupov, look much better because the scan technology is better now and they haven't aged 10 years since their faces were rendered. If EA had updated the faces of the guys with the oldest scans, dating back to the end of the PS2 days and the first two years of the PS3 days, this problem would not exist. All of the faces that will be most harshly criticized and which will receive the most complaints when the game finally releases are the ones that have not changed in nearly 10 years. Rick Nash is a great example. He's had the same face since NHL 2004, when he won the Rocket. He was 20 years old and had a chubby, beardless baby face. He's now turning 30, his face thinned out years ago and I can't remember the last time this guy played without a beard; it must be 5 years ago. His facial scan may as well be someone else for how little it actually looks like the Rick Nash of today. That's the problem with the Bergeron and Thornton screens as well and the reason why guys like Subban or Van Riemsdyk or Justin Schultz will not generate complaints. They actually look like their scan. EA simply needs to find time, hopefully for next year's game, to update it's more dated faces that no longer really represent the players they're intended to.

# 8 actionhank @ 06/24/14 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpectralThundr


	I'm shocked there's not a ton of post saying his face is wrong like all the rest of the player shots so far. First time for everything I suppose.

That's because it looks remotely like him, not because anyone forgot.

# 9 actionhank @ 06/24/14 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpectralThundr


	Yet it still looks like Begeron, OMG HE DOESN"T HAVE A 5 o Clock SHADOW SOMEONE SUE EA! I'm obviously a Bruins fan and it doesn't bother me one bit. You're not going to have the budget with NHL to fly 700+ NHL players in to get scans every 2-4 years. It's just not going to happen. The idea that people expect it to happen anyway is simply flat out not realistic. Joe Thorton in that screen shot that was released, LOOKS like Joe Thorton. Anyone saying different is just flat out full of it. I'm sorry but it's getting to the point year in year out when you can practically name the same handful of people by handle who will do the same complaining, because every year it's like clockwork. My advise to them, don't buy the game, and stop playing video games, instead grab some skates and a stick, and go play the real thing. I am all for a sim game like anyone else but there's some who won't ever be happy unless the game is 100% like real life, and that's just never going to happen. So rather than set themselves up for disappointment every year, perhaps they need to find a new hobby.

In all honesty, you don't need face scans. I've seen guys make new face models for FIFA14 on the PC using photos and shaped head models. That's nothing more fancy than some photoshop work and a 3D modelling program. Hell, people have gotten decent results with GameFace, and that's a web-browser based facial construction tool.

Maybe EA's problem is their reliance on head scans, and not just getting 2 or 3 guys who are good at making head models. I'm not sure how they do it, but if they're relying on getting busy NHL players in for head scans, it makes sense how it's slow.

Edit:
Honestly, i would love better tools for us to make our own player heads. Let EA work on gameplay, and give people a way to take advantage of roster/model sharing. USB drives and wireless internet are common, we need to take better advantage of it.

# 10 Moose24x @ 06/24/14 01:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpectralThundr


	Yet it still looks like Begeron, OMG HE DOESN"T HAVE A 5 o Clock SHADOW SOMEONE SUE EA! I'm obviously a Bruins fan and it doesn't bother me one bit. You're not going to have the budget with NHL to fly 700+ NHL players in to get scans every 2-4 years. It's just not going to happen. The idea that people expect it to happen anyway is simply flat out not realistic. Joe Thorton in that screen shot that was released, LOOKS like Joe Thorton. Anyone saying different is just flat out full of it. I'm sorry but it's getting to the point year in year out when you can practically name the same handful of people by handle who will do the same complaining, because every year it's like clockwork. My advise to them, don't buy the game, and stop playing video games, instead grab some skates and a stick, and go play the real thing. I am all for a sim game like anyone else but there's some who won't ever be happy unless the game is 100% like real life, and that's just never going to happen. So rather than set themselves up for disappointment every year, perhaps they need to find a new hobby.

Okay, my friend, take a chill pill. You are rapidly becoming THE most annoying poster I've ever met on the internet. Most people disagree with you that it looks remotely like Patrice Bergeron. You can bludgeon us with your trumped up, smartest guy in the room opinions all you want, but at the end of the day, it won't change what most of us see with our eyes and instantly think, which is that it doesn't look like Bergeron. You can continue to tell us "but it does!" and explain to us why we need new hobbies, as if we're morons who don't understand anything, rather than just people who disagree with you, but all your doing is being a sanctimonious, obnoxious windbag so I would request that you pipe down a bit. Of course, I'm positive, that is the exact opposite of what you will now do. The internet is populated with the worst people. It's no wonder I regularly take hiatuses from these kinds of sites.

# 11 wolfsjetta12 @ 06/24/14 04:37 PM

Moose is exactly right, shoot look at the "other" guy in the picture. It's Thomas Vanek! His face is from his first few years in Buffalo. He's hardly recognisable. So of course P.K. is going to look good, because his scan is only 2-3 years old.

# 12 dlxsf18 @ 06/24/14 10:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpectralThundr


	You're not going to have the budget with NHL to fly 700+ NHL players in to get scans every 2-4 years. It's just not going to happen. The idea that people expect it to happen anyway is simply flat out not realistic.

They don't have the budget to fly in players huh. I don't think it's fair for you to ridicule people who want the players to be updated every few years if you don't know how the process works.

Don't know how many times it has to be pointed out that it isn't necessary for EA to bring a player into their studio in Burnaby for them to get their face in the game. Over the past couple of years I'd say about 6 players max have actually done that.

EA really only uses two methods to give players faces. Either they create it on their own using reference imaging, which requires no meeting with a player at all, or they take their camera equipment and travel to meet the players themselves for scans. Whatever it costs to fly out their art staff to an NHL team's office or training facility, which admittedly could be somewhat pricey were that process to be repeated 30 times, it's nowhere near as difficult and costly as it would be to bring 700 players into EA's studio.

It remains to be seen whether this is what they've done for NHL 15. It's something they chose to make a selling point for the game, but the footage and screenshots we have seen don't give the impression that this is what's happened at all.

Additionally, even though FIFA and UFC have bigger budgets that make it seem more reasonable for fans of those series' to want their players updated every now and then, the nature of the NHL's schedule is why it would actually be easier for this dev team to update their players than it would for those games. At the highest levels of soccer, there isn't a draft, and there aren't really any awards shows either. If EA NHL attended these events every year with their mobile camera rig, they could feasibly get hundreds of new and updated scans every year.

# 13 wolfsjetta12 @ 06/25/14 08:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpectralThundr


	Obviously. I think my question is however does Vanek stop looking like Vanek because he doesn't have a few new wrinkles in his face due to age? Is that what we really want EA to be spending their time and smaller budget on with NHL? Making sure every player has enough wrinkles and age spots on their faces? I'd rather they spend those resources elsewhere to be honest.

No, I would much rather them fix other issues first, definitely. My point wasn't to say that I think that's what they should be doing, my point was just agreeing with someone else on why more recent ie new "star" players look more like themselves than others.

# 14 @legendm0de @ 06/29/14 12:15 AM

Again the whole crowd is wearing a hockey jersey, for some reason that is annoying me

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NHL 15 Screenshot - P. K. Subban