NHL 15 News Post

NHL 15: Living Worlds Trailer

01:00 PM - August 26, 2014 by Steve_OS

EA Sports released a new trailer for NHL 15, showing off the 'Living Worlds' aspect of the game. Here are some highlights:

Each arena has been brought to life like never before.
Lighting from the arena lights reflect off of the ice. The ice also shows incremental wear throughout the game.
Each arena is scaled uniquely, with precise seating charts and details, including championship banners.
9000 individual crowd models in the arena.
The fans have real behaviors, including banging on the glass during fights or big hits or anticipating big plays. Each fan has a different behavior, such as superfans being more active.

This aspect of the game does look darned impressive. What do you think of the in-arena details included within the game?

Game: NHL 15Reader Score: 6.5/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / PS4 / Xbox 360 / Xbox OneVotes for game: 16 - View All

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Member Comments

# 1 TheLetterZ @ 08/26/14 01:16 PM

Okay, I'll be the first to say it.

They spent all this time working on the crowd (which looks amazing, by the way) but couldn't get OTP and EASHL into the game?

I realize they don't necessarily use the same development resources, but come on.

It feels like a breakdown somewhere in the planning or development process.

# 2 Arrowhead21 @ 08/26/14 01:24 PM

Lol, wow. You can tell it's not a developer speaking when you compare something like crowd models to the exclusion of modes. Two totally different areas of the game. The people who work on crowd models are not the people who work on mode inclusion. You even reference that in your post and continue to make the complaint, lol. Its old news! I wish people would just get over the EASHL exclusion and play on last-gen if it bugs you that much

# 3 Hockeynut99 @ 08/26/14 01:32 PM

Finally scoring a goal in your home area will feel awesome!

# 4 actionhank @ 08/26/14 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arrowhead21


	Lol, wow. You can tell it's not a developer speaking when you compare something like crowd models to the exclusion of modes. Two totally different areas of the game. The people who work on crowd models are not the people who work on mode inclusion. You even reference that in your post and continue to make the complaint, lol. Its old news! I wish people would just get over the EASHL exclusion and play on last-gen if it bugs you that much

He acknowledges that they don't use many of the same resources, but, that said, they all use two very important ones which are money, and time.
EA Sports is focusing on things that while nice, will be much less important after the first few games. I'm not going to notice someone taking a selfie in the crowd, and honestly, i don't care to. I want the crowd to sound like they do, and jump up and cheer or boo when they should. A guy taking a selfie is a useless little extra.
The gameplay has been stale and has yet to look like it's really changed in any of the videos. I'm glad the crowd looks nice, and it would be nice to let that soak in, if i knew that the gameplay was going to be a big step forward. Every video i've seen from EA released to the shakey videos of two guys struggling to form a play have shown me things that lean towards the Gameplay being the same thing it was last season, possibly with tiny refinements, while things like all of these little features that don't affect the overall gameplay get an entire video, and development time. Sure, the guy who animated the crowd probably has little to nothing to do with handling the AI for CPU team pressure in the neutral zone, or the way your team sets up and moves on the powerplay, but he could likely have been used to create some improved goalie animations.
It just sucks when you want the game to be good, and instead of hearing about, oh i don't know, Be a GM, defensive AI improvements, the way teams and players play differently, anything that would breathe new life into the series, we get an entire video on crowds and shiny ice. It's frustrating, and it's gotten more so this season, compounding all the other frustrating released from EA.

# 5 hulk99 @ 08/26/14 01:33 PM

Ahhh....this brings me back to my days on the Genesis as a kid pausing the game, going into instant replay to try and scan the crowd for cool stuff, usually being pretty disappointed considering it was the same detailed models over and over, but this is outstanding from a detail level. Nice to see they are taking advantage of some new hardware. The kid in me will be excited to see some cool stuff happening around the arenas. I just hope playing an 82 game season that all of the games "feel" different otherwise it will get old really fast. Thats the one thing that is probably difficult to achieve, a feeling of variety in every game, atmospheric variety. Presentation has a lot to do with that, but I won't know until Ive gotten about 10 or 20 games into the season, either way if the gameplay is good, I will enjoy it! I look forward to trying the demo on PS4 later today.

# 6 TheLetterZ @ 08/26/14 01:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arrowhead21


	Lol, wow. You can tell it's not a developer speaking when you compare something like crowd models to the exclusion of modes. Two totally different areas of the game. The people who work on crowd models are not the people who work on mode inclusion. You even reference that in your post and continue to make the complaint, lol. Its old news! I wish people would just get over the EASHL exclusion and play on last-gen if it bugs you that much

Hey, I'm a former developer!

Sure, they're different PEOPLE, but when you're hiring and laying off people at the start of a development cycle, you can choose which types of developers you have on your team and build your team accordingly.

If they hired people to work on crowds at the expense of hiring people to work on gameplay--and considering they surely had a limited budget of some sort, it seems clear they probably did--then I am correct.

# 7 Drakar @ 08/26/14 01:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheLetterZ


	Hey, I'm a former developer! Sure, they're different PEOPLE, but when you're hiring and laying off people at the start of a development cycle, you can choose which types of developers you have on your team and build your team accordingly. If they hired people to work on crowds at the expense of hiring people to work on gameplay--and considering they surely had a limited budget of some sort, it seems clear they probably did--then I am correct.

they hired an physicist that worked on the LHC to do the puck physics. Its a demo. Its only a very small slice of what the game will looks like. Its probably an older build too.

# 8 actionhank @ 08/26/14 01:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drakar


	they hired an physicist that worked on the LHC to do the puck physics. Its a demo. Its only a very small slice of what the game will looks like. Its probably an older build too.

If you've played the NHL Demos before, you know that in terms of gameplay, the demo isn't much different, if at all, than the final product before they start altering tuners.

# 9 Drakar @ 08/26/14 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by actionhank


	If you've played the NHL Demos before, you know that in terms of gameplay, the demo isn't much different, if at all, than the final product before they start altering tuners.

I've played every single NHL games since the Genesis days. I bet there will be a tuner on launch day. This place use to be great to hang around but lately its filled with drama queen.

I've seen tons of changes compare to NHL14 which IMO was not that great.

# 10 actionhank @ 08/26/14 02:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drakar


	I've played every single NHL games since the Genesis days. I bet there will be a tuner on launch day. This place use to be great to hang around but lately its filled with drama queen. I've seen tons of changes compare to NHL14 which IMO was not that great.

I'd hardly say it's people being drama queens. A lot of people have legitimate gripes. People who like Be A GM haven't heard much if anything from EA about that game mode, there still doesn't appear to be much player separation based on the videos EA's released, the videos i've seen from the Demo, and other videos that have leaked. A lot of people who enjoy online mode have seen their favorite modes cut out.
This isn't anything new, and i think it's finally starting to wear people thin. I've been one of the bigger defenders of EA, both here, and on other forums. But, it's getting harder and harder to do. Be a GM's been stale to me personally for a while, but i understood that EA was focusing on their online game modes, and things like HUT that bring in more money.
I've been able to get the gameplay to be somewhat enjoyable, but for the past 3 years I've gotten more and more frustrated with the same issues being in the game, that myself and others have long pointed out, only to have them get ignored in favor of online game modes.
But, when they cut out a lot of gameplay elements, and the people who liked them are frustrated, and then others who aren't seeing the improvements they would like see that things they hoped for still haven't changed, there's going to be a lot of displeasure. It's not people being drama queens, it's people being tired of the same old deal from EA, it's just this year there's more than usual because entire game modes got cut out.

# 11 CarryTheWeight @ 08/26/14 02:02 PM

Sounds like every arena is individually modeled. I just hope the rumored unlicensed arenas (BUF, CHI, ARI, NYI etc) at least look like their real-life counterparts even if they're lacking naming rights.

EDIT: Nassau Coliseum was showcased in this trailer, so hopefully it'll put to rest the rumor that arenas with unlicensed names will also look generic.

# 12 lyleman222 @ 08/26/14 04:07 PM

hi guys will this be PS4 and X1 only?

# 13 Cardot @ 08/26/14 04:10 PM

Crowd cutscenes are always a bit of a delicate balance in sports games. It is great to have some creativity, team specific or even humorous scenes, but they should be relatively infrequent. Some of the super fan scenes in the vid look fun and add immersion. But if they happen 5 times a game, it will get old fast.

# 14 pm83 @ 08/26/14 04:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lyleman222


	hi guys will this be PS4 and X1 only?

Yes. Based on the info they've given us so far.

# 15 ericromain @ 08/26/14 07:12 PM

Seeing that shot from the crowd with the fight on the other side of the glass looks incredible. This is so overdue. Looks incredible. I might have to lower my camera angle to get take advantage of their reactions.

I don't expect them to be perfect, but it's annoying when they make a hyperbolic statement like "these arenas will feel like their real life counter parts in EVERY way." That's obviously not true. Not authentic banners in all the arenas, no authentic board ads, not all arenas have naming rights, etc. But oh man how far the crowds have come since NHL 08. Beautiful.

On a side not, bringing up EASHL in every unrelated thread is getting annoying. It's impossible to have a real on topic discussion here anymore.

# 16 hobbs2121 @ 08/26/14 10:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by actionhank


	I'd hardly say it's people being drama queens. A lot of people have legitimate gripes. People who like Be A GM haven't heard much if anything from EA about that game mode, there still doesn't appear to be much player separation based on the videos EA's released, the videos i've seen from the Demo, and other videos that have leaked. A lot of people who enjoy online mode have seen their favorite modes cut out. This isn't anything new, and i think it's finally starting to wear people thin. I've been one of the bigger defenders of EA, both here, and on other forums. But, it's getting harder and harder to do. Be a GM's been stale to me personally for a while, but i understood that EA was focusing on their online game modes, and things like HUT that bring in more money. I've been able to get the gameplay to be somewhat enjoyable, but for the past 3 years I've gotten more and more frustrated with the same issues being in the game, that myself and others have long pointed out, only to have them get ignored in favor of online game modes. But, when they cut out a lot of gameplay elements, and the people who liked them are frustrated, and then others who aren't seeing the improvements they would like see that things they hoped for still haven't changed, there's going to be a lot of displeasure. It's not people being drama queens, it's people being tired of the same old deal from EA, it's just this year there's more than usual because entire game modes got cut out.

Drama queens... So true. Its a great game.

# 17 TreyIM2 @ 08/26/14 10:53 PM

Playing the demo with my nephew I must say we were wowed by the crowds. The looks of the arenas were phenomenal too then add in the slick presentation - Great job, EA. This is just the first gen game of this now current gen. It should just go up from here and I haven't owned an NHL game in forever although I've at least rented some to played demos but the game felt good. Only gripe is the resolution, so far, especially after playing Madden 15 and seeing how crispy and high res that game is. Res gotta get a bump next year but I'll still consider NHL 15 for purchase.

# 18 statum71 @ 08/26/14 11:59 PM

So so awesome. I'm just devastated that there's no Season Mode.

I wanted to buy this game bad.

# 19 Nas160 @ 08/28/14 09:18 PM

Good to see this. The thing I'm most happy to see is that the championship banners actually have the individual years on them, unlike what we saw from older screens of the game. I'm very happy. The crowd and arena detail has really boosted with this game, I'm happy about that as well.

I'm totally down for this game.

# 20 mcavner @ 08/28/14 10:09 PM

You know... they go to such lengths to make the stadiums authentic, but the real problem is that the stadiums are static. I don't need stadium specific lighting reflecting on the ice - what I need is for the stadium to reflect my gaming experience. Sure there's banners hanging there - but none of them are mine. Five years into my GM mode I'll have a handful of cups or division championships and none of those banners will be hanging in the rafters and the pregame camera shots will remind me over and over again.

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