NHL 15 News Post

NHL 15 Video, Screenshots & Blog Featuring the Superstar Skill Stick

12:02 PM - July 23, 2014 by Steve_OS

EA Sports has released a new NHL 15 video featuring the Superstar Skill Stick. They have also released a new blog and some new screenshots.

Quote:


	Now, all the tools of an NHL superstar are in your hands.The revolutionary Skill Stick has evolved to give even more control to the player, featuring an intuitive right stick control scheme that is easy to use but also packed with depth. The all-new Superstar Skill Stick allows for complete fluidity when stickhandling, giving incredible control with the right analog stick. Use the Superstar Skill Stick with the right analog stick and True Performance Skating with the left to combine dekes and skating movement together. The left and right stick now act independently, allowing for more moves to embarrass the opposition. Chain moves together to keep defenders guessing. Use a stride deke to move a defender one way then turn him inside-out by chaining it together with a windmill deke. In NHL 15, there are countless ways to get past defenders and creating scoring opportunities using the Superstar Skill Stick.

NHL 15 screenshot gallery - Click to view

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NHL 15 Videos

Member Comments

# 61 JimmyDeicide @ 07/25/14 05:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpectralThundr


	Footage of 2 dude bros, locked on pro, default sliders of an alpha build 5+ months from being finished and gold. Let's judge how the game is going to play without slider tweaks and without even finished being made. GREAT IDEA!

Which is how 95% of people play the game and why we get the same rehashed **** every year with bigger hits more fights bigger dekes because thats what the NHL is like, all fighting and big hits and people knocking the crap out of each other between whistles.

# 62 actionhank @ 07/25/14 11:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Russo


	It's 2014. It's unacceptable to say "this is the first instalment in the next-fen series" to defend EA for a poor game. The video I posted plays like NHL last gen with a makeover. Am I really going to notice the concession stand guy or face paint on a fans face? No, worry about what's on the ice between the boards. Same with Madden, all these peripherals features to give an authentic NFL experience. The actual gameplay mechanics suck and are outdated. The problem with the NHL series is that EA has the wrong staff pitching ideas for this game whether its lack of budget or creativity, they're being lazy. I don't care about all the hours and work they put in...the end result looks dull and they need to change their thinking hats. I mean, their NHL 15 trailer has ridiculous looking hits especially the one with Kadri warping around the defenseman looking like a rag roll and the skating still looks lame (still gliding on ice) Look where FIFA is today. FIFA 14 is a spectacular game. A solid foundation to improve on where NHL 07 engine got old, and fast (like by NHL 10...)

I don't think it's unacceptable at all. The year doesn't matter. Finding a way to produce a product for two completely different systems does.
They have to make sure the things they make for the most part will still work on an older system, because there are a lot of people who don't have next-gen systems yet.
Look at it this way. What would you do? Throw out what could be 1/3 of your total sales to focus just on next-gen, or split your team up and accomplish less on both systems development?
I've played FIFA 15 on PS4 and it doesn't feel much different from what I've seen on my PC version, which didn't get the new Ignite engine.
EA's job is still to make money, so they're going to do what they can to maximize sales, and if that means waiting another year to drop last-gen systems, that's what they're likely to do. It's not an excuse, it's the reality of it all. I've been pretty critical of EA, but there are some things that i think people get too mad about.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryan97


	http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zPbD2bAwStc http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6fYkBoxrDoE http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0zDIBOfG23Y Same crap different year. We have heard all of this before. They have a format that works an they will stick to it. Don't expect anything much different then we already have. We need a massive AI overhaul. It's been years since this game was even remotely challenging. Always been a great party game though. But nothing more.

The surprising part is how much of those goalie animations are still in NHL14...also, i will say, i'm so glad they got rid of the "instant stop" after scoring a goal. Lordy it looked awful.

# 63 pm83 @ 07/26/14 02:34 AM

One thing that concerns me is that will we ever see truly new next-gen NHL? When thinking about earlier transition from old-gen (Xbox, PS2) to next-gen (Xbox360) the leap with NHL07 was a big one. It was really a new game. A fresh core to build series for years to come.

So what's the situation now when we are on the edge of next transition? With NHL15 it seems that we will get updated NHL build on that same "old" core. Trailers we've seen have some sweet new stuff but at the same time a lot of that "old" on 'em. This can be seen when looking those linked videos of 07 to 10 for example.

To me NHL07 is still "the game" when thinking about latest releases of EA. I know it sounds odd because when you compare 07 to 14...well yeah. But there's a good reason behind it. And the reason is that 07 was truly a new game. It really hooked me from the start by it's never-seen-before-demo. Forums were filled with hyped hockeyheads talking about Canes going against Oilers in this amazing shootout. It looked new and it felt new.

With NHL15 we won't be getting that fresh new feel. And who knows how long they will build on this core now that they've made transition with it instead of creating something totally new?

# 64 pm83 @ 07/26/14 05:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpectralThundr


	I disagree with this. You're getting all 30 arenas this time out, not 1 generic with just a different center ice logo slapped on. You're getting NBC commentary and presentation, complete with outside arena shots, greenscreening of Doc and Edzo and Ferrero between the benches. 2 refs and 2 lines men finally in an EA NHL game. Refinements to an already solid skating engine from 14, better looking and behaving puck physics that have never graced this series. better crowds and crowd reactions to what's happening on ice among other presentation enhancements. If that isn't enough to make it feel fresh from last gen, then people really need to lower their expectations. What did people honestly want them to do this gen still needing to put out a game on 360 and PS3 at least for another year? Toss out everything and start over? On a limited budget compared to Madden since that is their flagship and always will be. I'm really starting to get the idea that people just do not look at current sports game development realistically at all. They have this pedestal or heights that their expectations are at going into this gen without really understanding that the hardware itself is already ho hum compared to a high end PC in the first place. Never mind the realities of how much these games costs to produce and market at this point.

Those are all very good additions to solid core and I'm really glad that for example presentation will be top class because it will add a lot for authentic feel. However they don't have that fresh impact to gameplay itself (expect likely puck physics if it's executed well) and that's all what matters the most.

The shadow of 07 glides on the ice no matter how many layers new player models have or how many officials there are. Skating, passing, receiving, shooting, saves for example still feel the same. And I'm not saying that they are executed badly but they definitely could be better. It would been great to see them bring totally new versions of those aspects on the table.

I also understand that resources are limited for the team and truly feel pleased that there will be a hockey game on next-gen also. However I can't help the feeling that team took an easy route, route that we've already seen just because this route won't disappoint their biggest crowd. So instead of pushing series towards more realistic approach they chosed to still balance between arcade and sim. And I totally understand why. But just because I understand it I still can say how I feel of the series and on what direction I would loved to see it going.

I'm also an offline guy. Trying to tweak the game as close to real deal as it can be done with what they've giving us. Been like that since 2k3. And I'm happy that people enjoy the game and can have sim-experience with it. But for me EA's route has been getting very old and to be honest more I play this series, more I see how far it is from an actual game.

# 65 JimmyDeicide @ 07/26/14 11:45 AM

I only hope on next gen they are able to fill in the animation blanks like they did with Fifa 14 on next gen and that will make skating look and feel better and give us that tighter control that playing defense needs .

That will go a long way to making the game feel different but looking at the E3 vid didnt look positive.

# 66 onac22 @ 07/26/14 12:26 PM

I really hope that this skill stick is actually rating based. If Ea van has payed attention to FIFA like they say the. There should be some star rating that determines the skill level of stick moves a player can bust out. I really don't want to play another year in which dan "carbomb" Carcillo can dangle through the other team. From the sounds of it now carbomb can even chain skills together? That doesn't fly for me. Ea pitches it as if every player in the league can bust all of these skills out. But it looks good.

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# 67 ChitownFan526 @ 07/27/14 07:39 PM

From a business standpoint, I don't know how much EA has to gain by showing gameplay videos at this point. I'm not sure that any videos could really turn new people onto the game, but the videos could open up a lot of areas to criticism by skeptical folks who have very high expectations for the game. I think the information that's released has only one purpose, and that's to create hype for the game. I wouldn't take much more than that from any of the gameplay series videos. At the end of the day, I would say rent before you buy if you're leery about what's being released on Sept 9th.

# 68 drog1602 @ 07/27/14 08:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChitownFan526


	From a business standpoint, I don't know how much EA has to gain by showing gameplay videos at this point. I'm not sure that any videos could really turn new people onto the game, but the videos could open up a lot of areas to criticism by skeptical folks who have very high expectations for the game. I think the information that's released has only one purpose, and that's to create hype for the game. I wouldn't take much more than that from any of the gameplay series videos. At the end of the day, I would say rent before you buy if you're leery about what's being released on Sept 9th.

This sounds about right. I am just going to wait a week and buy it used.

# 69 drog1602 @ 07/27/14 09:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpectralThundr


	So if they continue to push for authentic hockey, you're not going to reward that push and instead buy it used.

This game has become way too arcade in the gameplay, so let me know when they start pushing authentic hockey.

# 70 drog1602 @ 07/28/14 01:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpectralThundr


	Do you remember the early 200x versions of NHL? Those were arcadey, what we have now is NOTHING like that. I think people forget 100 mile an hour wrist shots, hero icons and commentary that was almost slapstickesk comedy in nature were the norm back then. That being said is the game a perfect representation of sim? Nope, and it never will be. But compared to the direction the game took during the Dave Warfield days at EA Canada it's plenty sim. And like the devs on Madden said as they try to take that game in a more sim direction, if the sales aren't there the suits won't think twice about telling them to arcade it up in hopes of generating more sales.

Funny that you mention Madden, I am buying it this year because of the direction they took. The last one I had was Madden12.

I thought NHL13 offline with proper sliders was a good game, but NHL14 was a step backwards IMO. Hopefully NHL16 they get it on track again.

# 71 ChitownFan526 @ 07/28/14 11:59 PM

It's an interesting debate in how far they can go sim vs. arcade style in gameplay. The challenge is that there's a large group of consumers that are casual gamers, and it's their dollars that are needed to continue to support the NHL series at the level it currently occupies. We all know it's a smaller audience that Madden or FIFA or even NBA. The one thing they could do to support a lot of their hardcore sim style players is to put in sliders that really function well, and I think that's been missing for a while now. This one little thing would do a lot of good for those sim gamers to be able to create the sim game they want. Another thing they could do is borrow a move from 2K and let players play their Be a GM/Dynasty games against friends, especially if there continues to be glaring flaws in the AI's hockey IQ. The online part of the game will always be a battleground between casual and hardcore gamers because that's where EA has to walk a fine line. If it's too goofy they turn off the hardcore fan base, if it's too sim then it's not accessible to casual gamers and they lose interest. It's a fine game, and for me it's about the only game I play, just don't have the time I used to for video games. It's well worth the price, I'll get more than enough time out of the game over the course of a year to justify the purchase.

# 72 meep316 @ 07/29/14 12:10 AM

People talking about EA having to live up to "unrealistic expectations", is it unrealistic to expect that your AI teammate knows how to execute a simple 2 on 1 that any pee wee could? Or for your AI teammates to play their position and skate to open ice, instead of clogging up lanes like 5 year olds who have just started instructional, when trying to break out?

Is it unrealistic to ask that we be able to save our online lines, so that we don't have to take 200 years to edit them before every single game because whoever does the rosters is horrific at making the lines reflect their irl counterparts?

# 73 actionhank @ 07/29/14 12:42 PM

My fear is that a more "sim" type of game is always going to take backseat to things like HUT and the "Big hits!" that we get. I think it's the same way there's a pretty niche market for flight sims, while games like Call of Duty are global blockbusters.
A lot of guys who want "simulation gameplay" are likely to play a bit of online against like-minded players, or play Be a GM into the ground, and sadly, those guys aren't dropping handfuls of money on HUT player packs, or anything of that sort. They could maybe offer National Jerseys, Throwback Jerseys, and other stuff as DLC, but honestly, i hate the DLC focus that seems to come with everything anymore.
I think those of us who want a more realistic game of hockey will just have to make due with sliders (which would definitely be a nice change if those actually worked, and a 0 on a slider meant it didn't happen, and a 100 meant it happened every time, allowing us to actually fine tune gameplay.) and settle for what EA gives us.
Sadly, I don't see EA focusing a ton on simulation gameplay when the guys upstairs are going to be wanting emphasis on what brings home the money, and no one else is going to be able to challenge NHL in terms of making their own game, not that i can see at least.

# 74 Wrythm @ 08/01/14 10:27 AM

Put this in my LIFE.

# 75 hanzsomehanz @ 08/02/14 02:12 AM

I was looking to purchase this game as my first XB1 title but I am now going to pump the breaks.

I am usually a strickt NFL and NBA gamee but the last two years I have been on a strict NFL diet.

I am now giving up Madden and migjt forgoe this title as well depending on how gameplay is deliveres on both sides but esp defenss.

I appreciate the knowledge yiu veterans of this series have imparted here - were it not for this forum: I would not be able to make an educated purchase.

I am a casual NHL gamer but I aspire to partake in a NHL experience that is rich with simulation aspects.

I had no idea of how lackluster defense was and how overhyped big hits were - this is typically par for the course in Madden as well.

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