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NHL 10: Battle for the Cup, Playoff Mode, and More

A few weeks back, while I was in Vancouver for EA Sports' summer press event, EA Sports revealed a ton of new information about its next hockey game, NHL 10. The biggest news was, of course Be a GM mode, which is the new look for the game's dynasty mode. Today, another embargo lifted and I...

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A few weeks back, while I was in Vancouver for EA Sports' summer press event, EA Sports revealed a ton of new information about its next hockey game, NHL 10. The biggest news was, of course Be a GM mode, which is the new look for the game's dynasty mode. Today, another embargo lifted and I can reveal another bunch of previously unannounced modes.

Battle For the Cup

If you're into hockey but can't play 82 regular season games, plus a full regular season schedule before seeing Lord Stanley's Cup, Battle for the Cup Mode is for you. Mimicking the NHL Finals, you pick two teams, the playoff length (best of 3, best of 5, best of 7, authentic, or single knockout) then you're off on your pursuit of the Stanley Cup (or the Calder Cup, or EA Cup, depending on your optional settings). Interestingly, you can set any two teams in the game against one another in your Battle For the Cup, so if you're looking to pit the Deutsche Eishockey Liga's Augsburger Panther against the NHL's Florida Panthers, you'll be able to.



Playoff Mode
Essentially an expanded Battle for the Cup, Playoff Mode extends the journey to the Stanley Cup to include the entire run through the playoffs. As in the real NHL, 16 teams begin the playoffs and you'll be able to substitute teams from any non-NHL league into your customized playoffs as you like. You'll have several options for playoff seeding: conference reseed, conference bracket, league reseed, league bracket or divisional and you'll have the same options for series length in Playoff Mode that you find in Battle For the Cup Mode.

Other options in this mode include home/away type (standard, alternate, reverse alternate), trophy type (Stanley Cup, Calder Cup, EA Cup), starting rosters (current and default), and tuner set version (version 1.0 or whatever set is the most recent). You'll also be able to adjust game rules for things like tie break (continuous OT, shootout, or 5 minutes of 4-on-4 followed by a shootout), icing, injuries, penalty frequency, as well as post-whistle rules (relaxed, authentic, or my personal favorite: anything goes).

Season Mode
Expanding out from the NHL Finals and the playoffs, Season Mode is just what it sounds like--the chance to play a full season schedule with your favorite team or teams, without getting into the more detailed rigmarole of Be a GM mode. All 30 NHL teams can be user-controlled in season mode if you like (though you can play in seasons with teams from the other leagues in the game such as the AHL, Elitserien, SM-Liiga, O2 Extarliga and more) and the same options you have for playoff length, tie breakers, and so on apply in season mode as well.

Injury Time and Storylines
Two common threads throughout all of the above modes are injuries and game storylines. While injuries are nothing new to season mode, you'll also need to be aware of injuries in your Battle For the Cup and Playoff series games. For example, if your star shooter injures his shoulder, you can choose to keep him out of the game and save him for later in the series, or play him with lower attributes and a risk for sustaining a greater injury.

Coupled with injuries are the idea of game storylines. Similar to what the NBA Live 10 team is doing with basketball, storylines in NHL 10 will keep track of big events throughout the series or season you're playing and update you along the way for big-matchups. It's all context sensitive too--so if, say, the Ducks' Ryan Getzlaf injures Patrick Marleau of the San Jose Sharks, the next time the Ducks visit the Shark Tank, the relevant storyline might be the Sharks' looking for revenge on Getzlaf. In addition, you can expect San Jose fans to boo mercilessly Getzlaf every time he touches the puck.

The complete picture of NHL 10 is slowly coming in to focus, with one of the remaining big chunks the changes to the EA Sports Hockey League feature that was introduced so successfully in last year's game. Look for details on the EASHL and more on NHL 10 in the coming weeks.

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