E3 2002: NHL 2K3 preshow report

The latest entry in Sega Sports' NHL series, NHL 2K3, marks the series' first multiplatform appearance. The franchise began to find its footing with its final outing on the Dreamcast and began smoothing out the rough edges of gameplay.

Treyarch will once again be handling the development chores of the title and building on its work from NHL 2K2. NHL 2K3 will offer the standard features you'd expect from a sequel, such as updated rosters, schedules, and all the NHL arenas for the 2002-2003 season. In addition, you'll find tweaked AI, improved physics, a redesigned franchise mode, and improved graphics, which will offer high-resolution details on player uniforms, unique paint jobs on goalie helmets, and improved environmental effects on the ice and arenas. Ambient audio in the game will also see an improvement with reactive crowd sounds.

NHL 2K3 also looks likely to join VC's football and basketball franchises online, although this hasn't been confirmed. NHL 2K3 is currently slated to ship on the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube this winter. Look for more on the game from the show floor at E3 this week.