I essentially got NHL '08 for free because a Blockbuster employee screwed up my trades and ended up giving me the game for free and giving me my credit, so I won't feel bad paying for NHL '09 this time around. I'll probably just end up doing the EB Games deal where you can trade games in and get it for $9.99. It sounds amazing.

So did '08, but the damn thing was a crapshoot at best if you could finish a game.

Yeah the times I played it at a buddies' house there were definitely some glitches with it. A few games disconnected right at the shootout. Hopefully EA worked out these big bugs.

Really looking forward to this.

When is the release date? I have it pre-ordered, but I forgot when it releases.

My son tells me 9/11.

Demo is on Live :)

To answer myself, EBGames.com says 09/09 for release date....glad the 360 demo is up. I will check it out tonight....I pre-ordered the 360 version, so hopefully it holds up as well as the PS3 version.

Any thoughts on the Demo. I am at work and have hockey tonite and probably won't have a chance to play it for the next little while.

Im liking it a lot from the demo but its hard for me to say cuz i didnt have 08 and boy am i ever lost on the controls :lol: I think NHL 09 will be a great one for me to get back into what used to be my most anticipated game of the year going back to my Sega Genesis days.

Played some Be A Pro for 4 games. It is going to be awesome but its pretty damn hard to get my position. I am used to switching players and going straight at the puck. I was Crosby (centre) so I was rushing the D-man in the defensive zone which is a big no no in real hockey so its going to be interesting.

Scored a nice goal (only goal) with Crosby as well. Malkin hit the Wings d-man which left a loose puck in the slot and one timed it top shelf.

Astro: Once you get used to the controls, they kick ass.

Yeah im getting the hang of it slowly and its pretty neat.Still cant seem to get a speed burst though.Anyway i look forward to getting my ass kicked by whoever here is getting it and wants not much of a challenge ;)

spoken like true arcaders

give me the sim style anyday of the week over arcade
EA is finally getting the picture while 2K has regressed

Yeah, about that...the 360 version has firmly pissed on the PS3 version for a while now in graphics, framerate, and controls. The PS3 version felt downright sluggish compared to the 360 version last year...

Well, I played the demo for both PS3/360 and they actually seemed to be equal this year. I will still go with the 360 version.

I love this game...NHL 08 was great, and this has some nice tweaks. The Be A Pro mode seems like a rip-off of Road to the Show in MLB The Show (which is a GREAT thing...not a fault).

I still have to learn some moves with the skill stick. I always see the CPU do some crazy stuff in shoot-outs, and I never can duplicate it.

I did the Forsberg (one hander) by accident in a shootout, not sure how I did it.

Astro: There is no speed burst and hasn't been one in years in the NHL games. The only type of speed burst you can do if you hit your RB with the puck, it pushes the puck up a little bit and you can skate a little faster. The downside of this is you have less control and it's easy too lose the puck.

I am loving the fact that we can lift oppenents stick. Comes in handy along the boards, backchecking and if a player is expecting a pass. I also like the protecting the puck feature when cutting down the wing.

Musick: I am a very good defensive player playing position in a regular game, the Be A Pro mode is a much different story since you are locked on one player at all times.

that's why I love the mode
it forces you to take responsibility for your positioning without the "out" of hitting a button to switch your control to the closest player to the puck

Oh,that explains it! Thanks ElementZ :)

Yeah, the Be A Pro mode is interesting. I think the full game you can create yourself and you ONLY play the shifts you are on the ice....that seems interesting.

From IGN's 9.0 review of the game:

"NHL 09 isn’t just a great hockey game, it’s one of the best sports games to be released in the last decade."

Well, I was going to wait until after some more reviews came out to get it, but I've got more than $60 in Amazon GC's, so I might as well just bite the bullet...

I'm honestly not surprised. All of the elements were there, it was just lacking some tweaks to the online game, more robust sim options, and slightly less cheap AI on the harder levels.

I can't wait...Tuesday!

Now let's just hope the online bugs that made it unplayable last year (for me at least...couldn't get through a full game after I played a couple with you lordzeppelin) are nowhere to be found. I can't help but be pessimistic on that topic - if 2 people had problems last year, how are they going to do games with 2 full teams?

On second thought, I'm going to wait until I hear online play works good before I order it.

My 360 just died....I'm debating of switching my Pre-Order from the 360 to PS3 now....damn you Microsoft!

got a question about the demo, can i put the controls when X is Shoot O is Pass? i know in 07 it classic mode does 08 have that that same mode?