NHL 10: EA Sports Answers Your Questions

Recently, I put out a call for readers to submit their questions to the producers of EA Sports' upcoming hockey game, NHL 10. With just a few days to go before the release of the game, it's time to post those answers. Series producer David Littman waded through a bunch of great questions--along with the occasional god-awful grammar and spelling--to give some insight into how this year's game came about. Enjoy! General&#47;Gameplay Silentscorn: I know this is late, but I'm going to post one any way lol. For NHL10, Why can't you guys have all of the refs on the ice? It adds to the realism, NHL 2K9 had them so you should be able to as well. And how will the fighting be handled if you are fighting a bud on the same system as you? David Littman: During pre-production, we make a list of all the features we want to try and do for the next iteration of the game and then we have to make some hard choices. Ultimately, features that directly impact gameplay always outweigh the 'nice to have' features but this is something we're definitely looking to add in the future. For fighting, you will get a split screen if you're playing multiplayer on a single console. -- Zer0starz: Why don't they release this game in Asia? With no Asia release and it being region locked it is impossible to play this game in Japan. There may not be a big enough market for it, but if you choose to not release a game in a region, then it shouldn't be region locked. David Littman: You are correct. The market for hockey in Asia is fairly minimal which is why we do not release there. -- Fattsgalore: I have a couple questions for NHL 10. 1) Canadian Hockey League? 2) Is the teams actual goal song going to be played when that team scores? example: Chicago - Chelsea dagger. David Littman: 1) The CHL will not be in NHL10 but it's definitely something that I'd like to see included in the future. 2) We have a custom music feature that enables you to add your own songs for when a goal is scored. -- Seasnpetersen: Also will you be fixing the glitch goals in the game? David Littman: Yes. You will notice that our goalies are vastly improved over last year with the addition of over 150 new goalie animations. We have also done things like bring in some of the top EASHL players to test out our goalies and look for glitches. -- Gameguy0697: i just want to know will the animation be better and more realistic? David Littman: Absolutely. We have lots of new animation in the game that support our new features, add to the realism and effectiveness of the goalies and simply freshen up the look and feel of the game. -- Mja712: Will large dekes be fixed so when you pick up the puck, the d man won't have time to get back into position? Will we see the return of business management in the NHL series? ie ticket prices, tv contracts, merchandising? Why was it removed? David Littman: The loose puck dekes have been retuned and I think you'll be happy with the feel and effectiveness of them. Especially when being done with the higher skilled players. The business management feature unfortunately will not be in NHL10. Instead, we focused on improving our Be A GM mode by overhauling the trade logic, adding a prospect game and entry draft plus adding a mini-game for trade deadline day and the draft. Those are just some of the new features to go along with countless refinements. -- Dangermouse25: One problem i have always had with NHL games is purely aesthetic, the crowd. One of the great sights of hockey is people jumping out of their chairs and the noise. You don't get that with this game. You've always got people standing up throughout the game and not changing in the slightest when a goal is scored. Now, i can understand that there was space constraints on the PS1 and 2, but you're working with blu-rays here. Get it sorted EA! David Littman: Our crowd has been completely overhauled this year. If you check out some of the videos that we've released you can see the new models and some of the new logic that we're really proud of. We've even included glass bangers this year. Also, in Battle for the Cup, story lines carry across the entire series and fans will remember what occurred in early games and respond accordingly &ndash; booing players and cheering others. -- QuackerJackets: In NHL will there be more new alternative camera angles. e.g., a camera that allows you you to see the entire width of the ice surface (left boards to right boards. in this year game in the offensive zone you often had to make blind passes from left point to right point since the camera view wasn't wide enough) i hope that makes sense. David Littman: We've tuned all of our cameras and payed particular attention to our BAP cameras to allow our users to see as much of the ice as possible. -- Killer_Peanut: Are they addressing the issue of the puck 'floating' into the glove of the goal keeper, or 'floating' onto the player's stick just because it's in their vicinity? It seems like standing in front of the net is the luck of the draw on either persons part... it could float to the goalie or the player and poke checking didn't even have an effect on this. If not a fix for NHL 10, then please put in NHL 11. Overall puck physics is something that we've spent a lot of time on to reduce the amount of f2. Any unlockables? Like announcers? I know a couple Buffalo fans that would LOVE to hear Rick Jeanneret on the game. Just a thought besides those boring announcers currently on the game. David Littman: The only unlockables in NHL10 are the new 3rd jerseys that some NHL teams will be wearing.Killer_Peanut: Haven't read up too much on the new goalie controls but in NHL 09 they were very limited... such as glove, blocker, poke check, and stacking the pads. Any other forms of control coming to the Keep? David Littman: Goalie controls have been completely overhauled to give the user much more control. We've added the ability to stack the pads left or right, hug post via button press, cover the puck, precision movement for subtle adjustments and you can even do the Hasek rollover just to name a few of the new things.Killer_Peanut: In regards to the controls, classic style and the skill stick set up. I've noticed since the hitting is a button in the classic set up players can knock other players down right next to them without any momentum, but with the skill stick all you do is shove the person next to you making it vastly unfair online, any changes coming to this David Littman: The changes that we've made to our checking by making ratings matter more (esp. for online) should alleviate any advantages that players using Classic controls have. -- Zombie_Massacre: Is the game gonna be combapablie with Project Natal and PS3's motion controls so it'll feel like we're beating up our least favorite players when we get into Melees? David Littman: The short answer is 'no'. That technology is still very new right now our time is better spent on improving the core aspects of our game. Be a ProThundergrave: Will there be any new features in be a pro? This may be something for next year: Will there be a skills competition along with the all-star game? David Littman: Be A Pro will have a new prospects game where the user will play in the prospects game to try and improve his rank in the upcoming NHL Entry draft. Once drafted the user will then be able to stick around the NHL for 4 games to try and impress the coaches and stick with the NHL team. If the user doesn't do well enough they will be sent down to the AHL for seasoning and have to work their way back up to the NHL. -- TheDolph: In Be A Pro, will the coaches be smarter this time around? Even if my player average a goal a game and maybe 1.5 point a game he gets sent down for having one -1 game, which doesn't make sence at all! Really annoying playing 10 second line games to get to 1st line only to be sent do the first game after that. Thanks. David Littman: We have added some logic to take care of this issue. Again scoring isn't the end all be all when it comes to the game so the other factors such as team play and positioning do determine if you are going to be staying on the top line as well. -- Be a GM Darren: In the new NHL10 dynasty mode, are you able to finally play online with others on the same team as if you were local on the coach? Also in the new EASHL cup games each month, is this still a manual&#47;email based tournament system like 09 or is there a EASHL playoff tree built into the game? David Littman: At this time we do not have this feature it will be something we will investigate for future iterations of the NHL Series. EASHL Monthly Seasons recognize the teams with the best records at the end of each month. These are teams that finish first in each league and also %'s of the remaining top teams. This is for the EASHL feature only and does not affect online leagues. Also, the EASHL Monthly season feature is on top of the existing systems from NHL09. We are tying to make the EASHL more like a real season. Also, there will not be any EASHL tournament trees visible to the user, but we do have a monthly leaderboard, the default view, which shows all the teams rankings within the league at any given time. So, you will still be able to see who you have to beat to get to the next position in the standings to win a trophy or medal -- KoolKatz: Is there a chance for Dynamic DNA to be incorporated into NHL 2010? If not is it a future consideration? Also, is NHL 2010 franchise mode being looked at, to become a more realistic experience? David Littman: We are always looking at new features and ideas for the NHL franchise and Dynamic DNA is a great feature from the NBA franchise but at this time there are no plans for NHL 10 to have Dynamic DNA in it. As for franchise mode we have created Be a GM mode where the user will be tracked in everything he does as well as having rewritten the trade AI , a prospects game and entry draft mini game and trade AI mini game that brings all the excitement of a GM's important days to the user. -- Lagwagon87: Will NHL 10 finally have a Fantasy Draft in it's dynasty mode? It's a feature present in other EA games and used to be present in past EA hockey games, so I don't see why they can't add it back in. David Littman: The Fantasy Draft is back in NHL 10 and is present in our Be a GM Mode and season mode. -- Zooda: I'm interested in the Dynasty mode for NHL10. - Is there going to be "Team goals" for the year, much like they had in 2005? I know that NBA Live 09 had a feature like this, where you got to choose each year whether or not you were rebuilding, a team on the rise, or a contender. David Littman: There are goals given to you by your owner which are based on your team's performance. Your goal is to keep the owner happy by meeting his expectations. So you can be hired or fired this year depending on your performance keep him happy and you might still receive offers from other teams when your contract is up as they might be interested in your services for their franchise. Zooda: How is the trade system shaping up? Has it been improved upon at all? David Littman: Our trade AI has been rewritten from the ground up. This AI now takes into account so many factors that we have been shocked at which players show up on the trading block. We had Ryan Whitney on the trading block in our game the day before he was traded to Anaheim. I was actually laughing at Pittsburgh's trading block thinking I don't think the Penguins would ever trade him. I was ready to make some minor tuning tweaks to the logic then the next day he was traded. Shows you how much I know about what teams will do. The basic fundamental of the trade AI is every team knows what type of team they are. There are 5 types of teams. Rebuilders Playoff HopefulsPlayoff BubblePlayoff ContenderChampionship ContenderDepending on where a team is in their development cycle they will all be looking for different things when it comes to making trades. This along with knowing its team's strengths and weaknesses led us to trades that will actually make more sense. So a rebuilding team is probably looking for draft picks and prospects over older veterans and a team who is a championship contender is more than likely willing to give up a prospect or pick for another veteran to add to their team for the final playoff run. Now as the season progresses if a team is doing better or worse than their original season prediction for itself it will change its team type on the fly and will react to their situation accordingly. This makes our new Trading Block much more important.The trading block in other games that I have seen were mainly about which players are you willing to trade. Ours has that as well as sliders which tell the CPU what you are looking for and what you are willing to give up in return. This makes it easier to get a lot of offers or very few offers if you are looking for something very specific. The screenshot below shows that the sliders are by position as well as what type of player or pick you are willing to give. This makes the trade offers be tailored to what you are looking for. Zooda: How is scouting and drafts shaping up? I felt that a lot of rookies in last year's game that were drafted were wastes, and didn't played much. David Littman: We have worked on our rookie creation as well as our draft logic. You should see more players being worthwhile NHL'ers in the game as well as having players who are busts in the league. Online&#47;EASHLWill there be a mjultiplayer practice mode where you can meet-up with your club members on the open ice and practice against each other with no time limit, whistles, or AI that will get in the way of setting up drills. David Littman: One of the most popular questions out thereJ Right now in NHL 10 we do not have a unique practice mode. However, OTP can be used to practice together against real competition and with our new menu system will be easier to navigate to get into games with your friends. Cueofdeath: During eashl if they could fix rebound attempts....our team goes for rebound but end up not going for puck and instead smoke a defender which ends up an unintentional penalty! David Littman: This is something that we've experienced as well and will be fixed.

NHL 10: EA Sports Answers Your Questions

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