I am a relatively young man (stop snickering sweetie!), raised on NES video games and now have a good job which affords me a healthy chunk of disposable income. In short: I am exactly who video game developers are trying to lure. As if the 8-bit old NES Ice Hockey graphic I use as an avatar and as the unofficial logo as this blog wasn't a dead giveaway, I'm also the ideal person companies should be targeting to sell hockey video games. Alas, I usually find some enjoyment of hockey (and sports) video games, but I never enjoy them the same way I do games like Arkham Asylum or Assassin's Creed 2.

I played NHL 09 a lot, and it was a fulfilling game. But I feel like I wasted $60 on NHL 10. There just isn't enough time for a development crew to churn out substantial improvements to a game, update rosters, and put that polish on the improvements all within a year. I ended up bored with NHL 10 very quickly because I was playing almost an exact replica of NHL 09 (which I had already become bored with), but all the effort I had done for NHL 09 (franchise/be a player mode) was moot in NHL 10. NHL 10 offered me very little in the way of new gameplay, and NHL '09's Rosters felt archaic and out-of-date. Instead of having 2 great games, I had 2 games with substantial deficiencies. That yearly disappointment always left me, and I assume other gamers, unfulfilled with their hockey, and sports, game experience.

The NHL 2k Series, thought to be left for dead, may have finally taken a step to eliminate the annual disappointment that hockey games currently undergo.

More after the jump

Via the Video Game Blog Kotaku, NHL 2K has said they will release their series every other year. Personally, I find this to be a refreshing step in the right direction, if implemented properly. Two years gives NHL 2K enough time (and wiggle room) to really throw themselves into their game and develop a new hockey game that has significant upgrades over the previous version, instead of just rushing the same Malibu Stacey Doll to market with a new hat (Which is exactly what NHL '10 was compared to NHL '09. The fighting/boards play was a new hat, but the game was nearly identical).

Of course to be successful, NHL 2K has to alleviate the sports game fatigue described above. In order to keep the current release fresh they need to be active in updating rosters and player profiles. They need to put in roster updates, new designs for any "be a franchise" mode, and obviously update with new 3rd jerseys, all-star designs and patches etc for the uni nerds among us. all of this could even be purchasable ($5 or so) in order to continue to reap profits from the game. This would take some development work, as I imagine that there needs to be a lot of work that goes into player ratings. However paying a software developer to do that work seems like a poor allocation of resources. It seems like the majority of this work could be done by interns and fresh out of college students who are hockey fans. Hell they could even make a blog out of it and get input from other hockey fans, making their lives even easier, and doing a ton of research for free.

But the player ratings, etc would all be trivial to developing the next big thing for the the actual gameplay for the game 2 years down the road. The improvement in gameplay from one game to the next should be substantial, and enough to make people want to buy the game every release, while still playing it throughout its 2 year cycle.

Of course, the NHK 2K series has always played second fiddle to the EA's NHL series, and for good reason. The game play is significantly lacking, and the extras (Franchise mode, etc) are inferior and in some cases non-existent. This 2 year cycle may give the 2K series enough time to start bridging that development gap. Overall it's a risk because this has a substantial potential for failure. But it could be the next step in sports games, one that would improve the industry.

Comments (7)

Dude
written by lakalt, March 08, 2010

I haven't fully played an NHL title since '98, which had a double bonus because Forsberg was on the cover. The tweaks to each yearly update were OK, but somewhere along the line, they totally lost me.

Mapping the puck control to the right stick was a huge mistake in my opinion. While it seemed to work for some people, I just couldn't figure it out. On a breakaway, I used to hold triangle to deke, then square to shoot. Now I'd have use the stick to go left right left left down up up and I'd never even get a shot on net. Things just got too complicated.

The most recent version I tried introduced a new mechanic where you can pin someone up against the boards, and it changes all the buttons so you can shield the puck, elbow the guy, etc... too convoluted for my tastes. Can't I just check him?

Used to be a time when there was a great balance between arcade style action and game simulation. Now it seems like they're looking for full-on simulation, and that's just not any fun in my opinion. As much as I love hockey and video games, I don't pair the two anymore.

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written by Jibble, March 08, 2010

I agree with you about arcade style action. sometimes games are just too complicated.

In the "Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympics" they have Ice hockey. It's 3 vs 3 arcade-style, with three commands. 1- change player, 2-pass/check, 3 shoot/big check.

It's as fun as the NHL series. I liek the NHL series, but sometimes the arcade style games are just as much fun. Too bad EA owns the rights for Mutant league, a Mutant league Hockey relaunch would be fantastic.

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written by horbayj, March 08, 2010

you were talking about you being a uni-nerd jibs, and i totally agree, when i ditched the PC to start playing EA's love child on the 360 i missed modding the shit out of it I was all about the eye candy, the proper boards, ice, even all the signage was true to form, granted i didn't write it myself, (thanks nhldepot) but it added that little something that you can't do on the 360

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written by Holy the Goalie, March 08, 2010

The NHL 2K series has been downright unplayable since 2K6 (which was the last time I bought a 2K game). The graphics, sound design, commentary (although to be fair, game commentary is atrocious regardless of desginer or sport), "buginess", and the "fun" factor have all been inexcusably poor since 2K6.

I could understand something as esoteric as player momentum and goalie movement not being quite up to snuff; but when my players absolutely refuse to cycle when I'm on the power play, something is terribly wrong. When I made the switch from the Sega product to the EA product, I had the distinct feeling that the developers of the the 2K line had never even seen a hockey game, let alone played REAL hockey.

However, I do agree that last year's NHL 2010 was pretty underwhelming. I haven't played it nearly as much as I played '09, although that could also have something to do with the pile of good games that have come out since last September (Batman: Arkham Asylum, Modern Warfare 2, Borderlands, Assassin's Creed 2, Uncharted 2, Left 4 Dead 2, etc.) I barely have time to play a new IP, let alone a rehash of an older (good) game.

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written by Jibble, March 08, 2010

@Horbay
My favorite thing to do in sports games is custom design a new sweater and play franchise mode. The NHL series custom designs are awful. I remember playing madden '02/'03 and their customization (logos, uniform designs, etc) still blow the NHL ones out of the water. I'm not really sure why player art couldn't be added. It's a small thing, but it would go a long ways.

@ Holy

Agree, the NHL sK series has been pretty bad. I think part of their problem is that they have had to try and focus on quickness, getting their product out before the NHL series, instead of focusing on quality.

Now they get 2 years to really improve the game and make it playable. That'll go a long ways towards decreasing the playability gap between 2K and NHL.

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written by an unmitigated disaster (Sean), March 08, 2010

Honestly, I could see sports games go the way of world of warcraft and you buy the disk and they update for a suscription for 3-5 years then you buy a new disk. How much production cost do you think they run up each year?

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written by naknak, March 12, 2010

I really don't think people give 2k enough credit for what they put out there, because I find it substantially better than EA. I think that the AI in NHL 2k10 is a lot better than NHL 10, for example, how many times have you thrown it back to the defenseman, only to have him sit in a spot, and not even go for the puck, leaving you to chase down the ice and stop the other team from getting it? I also find that the animations in 2k are a lot better, although for a lot of good ones, there are some bad ones. The dekes though, are far and above EA's dekes. Instead of one dimensional left-right stick deke, you can put it through your legs, and put it in the back of the net. The only reason reviewers give 2k a bad rap is because they play the base game for 2 hours, without even modifying the sliders. It really is something that needs to be done if you want to enjoy either game. If you're on the 360, try out desouza's sliders through 2K share. It'll make you play smart, enjoyable hockey, because its a bit challenging, although you'll always want to modify them yourself, to get them to your liking.

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