Nhl 09
 

Got this article from EA. I still play NHL 08 almost every day since launch. This really got me wanting 09. I can't wait.

First lets start off with the new skill stick enhancements, aside from the dekes we got to play around with last year, they have added in some new moves, rangeing from one handed dekes straight up to legendary moves. Now picture yourself on a break a way, trying to figure out what move to pull off. So you think should I go with the Datsyukian deke, or should I try and pull off what Foresbeg did in the 94" Olympics.
Now do not be getting to testy with these one on one dekes and legendary moves... Believe me Not everyone can pull them off, you will lose the puck, not to mention you will also lose the puck if it hits their skate or stick...They are now fully interactive!!!!

So what do you do now, Lets say your opponent has now set up in your zone, after busting in with a sic legendary move. How will you ever defend against it. Oh I know, With your new 360 degree control over your poke check you will be able to take out more of the passing lanes then ever before. But lest say that defencive style is not your cup of tea. You would rather be the dude in front of the net battling away with there top players. You now have a few more options in your arsenal of defencive moves, You could either tie them up, hook them, lift there stick, or get dirty and start pushing them around with some big cross checks till they hit the ground...mmmmm sounds so nice!

So after they get the shot off and your goalie has made a new desperation save added just this year... now what do you do?
My guess is you will use your newly created break-out play designed by you to school your opponents. so now you have broken out of your end you are coming down the boards like you have done for years.. till.....

BOOM... Well getting all fancy doing your dekes you have left yourself vulnerable to the new endorphin punishing body checks, littered with 3-400 animations, But do not expect a hip check so much these hits can range from minor bumps to call an ambulance hits. It's ok though your player will have full awareness now, so he will at least put his arm out to break his fall. So now that you know that your players can be vulnerable, so can there's, so get them back at your first chance.

So now they are back in your zone, you win the draw, pass it back to your defender.
You skate out behind your net wait for your team to set up in position... but wait they are rushing you from both ends... so you hesitate, so you slide to the side and go to dump it out of your zone... shoot you put it over the glass. coach it a little mad now your down a man.
You go to take the next face off, they win, here's your opportunity, you can lift his stick and get a break a way.. oh no you missed and high sticked him.. now the coach is steamed, you now are on a 5 on 3 but got a major for smoking the other guy in the face.

So for the next 5 minutes you have killed off both penalties, thanks to you stick lifts taking away the one timers, and your blocks taking away the passing lanes. It's nice to see even the CPU on your team, doing all the same stuff you are eh!
In the end you have won the game thanks to your newly added aggressive defence, and intelligence training made by experts specifically for AI for your team and players.


Now for some core improvements

- Game play quality

- online innovation

- Globalization

- skill stick

- legendary moves

- create break outs

- fore checking strategies

- create a play online

- aggressive defence

- new player collision

- intelligence training

- Separate line changes for forwards and d-men
-retro jerseys in the game (Seals, North Stars, etc)





Globalization

By this I mean, the great team at EA have added some new things to the European side of the game.

- Russian elite league

- German elite league

- Czech elite league

- Swedish tournament structure.

Nice don't you think!!


Oh what the heck I'll give you some more innovations

- Interactive tutorial

- on the fly feedback

- NHL 94 controls

- improved fighting

- improved entrances

- hockey card

- 3 stars shown on the ice

- new replays and announcers calling you out on good/bad plays


Now lets get into the game modes, I will give you all the key info on these features, but will leave quite a bit in the dark for you to discover on your own.

Lets start off with one of the biggest additions this year!


BE A PRO MODE

In this mode you will take yourself into one of the deepest be a pro mode/ superstar modes ever created!

You will of course be played by you, once drafted/ placed on your team. You will not be in the NHL just yet. You will start off with your teams affiliate in the AHL on the 3rd line. The entire time you will be in a 3rd player camera mode. This mode will teach you how to be in position at all times, as you will be graded well you play, along with some handy arrows telling you where to be.
As you play and get better you big league club will take notice, but if you do not play well they will not. Now lets say you are playing right wing, you were not in position, and it created a turn over... I hope you enjoy watching the game from the bench till you can convince your coach you won't do it again. This will all happen in the bench camera mode. Now lets say you are playing phenomenal in the AHL, and the big club decides to call you up, but you do not perform in the big league's at all, they will send you back down. But what if you were huge and performed at your full potential and exceeded all expectations. You have now moved up to the 2nd line, Now the trade deadline has come around, but the Blackhawks are interested in you. Oh ya they will trade you if the trade is right.
Well going through your career you will be graded on everything you do, so be in position at all times, you will be given feedback from your coach after all shifts, when you are not playing you will get to watch the game from the bench.
If you are starting your Be a pro as a goalie you will be set as the starter in the AHL. with all the same goals and expectations as a forward or a defenseman.
The goal of this mode of course is to get into the Hall of fame.


Oh here are more innovations

- Names for all players are in and said. including rookies.

- Uploads to easportsworld.com

- custom soundtracks

- Take screen shots and add them to your hockey card

- Penalties

These are new...There may be more to.
Delay of Game: If you play the puck over the glass: 2 minutes
High Sticking: If you high stick your opponent and hurt him: 4 minutes
High Sticking: If you high stick your opponent and really hurt him: 5 minutes major



Now lets talk a wee bit about these Custom soundtracks!
With this new feature you will be able to add a song for all defining moments.
weather it be your teams opening song, or your own personal players song for when you score a goal.
Or when your team scores, in between periods, etc.
Did I mention this is for both home and away... Man that's a lot of songs
...............Sweet!!!!


As for the uploads to easportsworld for those of you who play Tiger woods, madden, or fifa, this is not new to you. But for everyone else it is. This is a place for you to upload your screenshots, videos of amazing plays you have done in the game, create a profile now before the game even comes out so you can start uploading right away.

Next

Online Mode:
This year's online mode tops every other sports game out on the market! We now have the possibility to play 6 VS 6, and all the players can be controlled by someone. The producers put all their efforts into bringing this game to a new generation of online gaming experience! Last year's was great, but it’ s nothing compared to NHL 09.

Online Team Play:
So I just mentioned the new ability to play 6 VS 6, but I’m happy to say that it doesn’t stop there! Our leagues will now offer full statistics on players, whether they are yours or your opponents!


That's right now you can play 6 on 6, with 12 different consoles. Mmm this is a much needed feature, gives everyone a chance to play where they love to play.

Leagues included this year

National Hockey League
American Hockey League
International Teams.
Russian Elite
German Elite
Swedish Tournament
Finnish Tournament
Czech Elite


OK one more innovation before I close this blog

- If a player scores a goal, you'll see a message appear under him: 1st goal of the season. A lot of gamers wanted this feature and we are thrilled to announce that it will be included in this new version.

NHL 08 was one of the best hockey video games EA has put out in years, but the online issues really dragged my experience of the game down. Online is the only thing I do with 08 and although I've done the "fix" that'll stop it from freezing in the lobbies; It gets annoying having to take the internet cord out of the back of the PS3 every time I finish a game and want to play another. If you have a wireless connection you pretty much have to restart the game after playing a game. That's even more of a pain because you have to re-download the rosters again. Little bugs like that turn into a big pain and I think some people over at the EA NHL forums reported them to the Better Business Bureau because of this. I think they were 360 users, but it isn't the servers of the PSN or Live; it's the EA servers.

I'd love both versions getting the same frame rate. I'm not a fanboy of any systems (all the current systems have pros and cons) so I'd like to see both the 360 and the PS3 versions of 09 get the same frame rate and have 1080p. The 08 version on the PS3 is only running at 30 frames per second.

If everything is done right with 09; we could be looking at the single greatest hockey video game. I can't wait to find out.

I'll definitely be getting this one since I skipped out on NHL 08 last year.

NHL 08 is a blast. I am in the 2nd season for my Penguins franchise and starting the Eastern Conference Finals. Not a bad playoff so far, 8-3 which is not bad considering Crosby received a herniated disc in game 3 of the playoffs and is out for the rest of the playoffs. He racked up 7 pts in those 3 games. A few games later, another 1st liner, Petr Sykora got diagnosed with a concussion and he is out a month. My forward pairings are looking pretty strange but it's challenging :)

I have seen some online blogs writing about their NHL 08 franchise. I was thinking of doing the same, maybe a blog to post on DVD talk. Wonder how many people would read it lol.

The same amount that read Flay's?

Flay has a blog?

See what I mean. ;)

Same for me.I just got my 360 last Nov so there was so many great games to get caught up on and only so much time for playing i never got around to NHL 08 so this years will be a for sure buy as long as its on par and by the sounds of it even better than 08 was.

I LOVED NHL 08....one of the best hockey games ever. I hope they don't try to get too "cute" with the new fancy moves....I hated NHL 2K8, since the control system was a mess. NHL 08 better now try to make you do button combos or dumb stuff like that.

That being said, I will get NHL 09. I played NHL 08 lots....but recently traded it in as I could still get a decent value for it at the time.

I've heard so much good stuff about NHL 08 that I might buy a copy. I'm not a hockey fan, but I do really enjoy a good sports game. It's been ages since I've gotten into one.

Want mine? Haven't played it in a few months.

I like the sounds of this:

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/37453.html

I wonder if they're actually going to issue updates in a reasonable amount of time this year. The roster updates fucking blew last year...

And I loved 08, but I really didn't seem to play it as much as I did 07, and the higher difficulty levels came off as purely cheap, as opposed to being just difficult to play against. I hope that is different this year.

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/897/897903p1.html

Sounds pretty cool.

I'm getting excited for this...looks like I have to try and finish a few '08 achievements this weekend and sell it quick...

just played the demo and "Be A Pro" mode is going to be absolutely the best thing to happen to this franchise

could be the best hockey game ever

demo on 360? or elsewhere?

I just DL'd the NHL 2k9 demo...haven't tried it yet, but they have fallen behind since NHL07 intro'd the skill stick. Still a good game, but EA has the gameplay.

PSN

2k9 demo was awful and so last gen
this coming from a huge 2k supporter prior to last year's EA effort

I hope they get the NHL 09 demo for us 360 people soon but i dont think i even need it to know i want the game.

As for the 2K9 demo it was very mediocre.I find it hilarious that they list "drive the zamboni" and "grow playoff beards" as two of the new features of the game :lol:

Wow. I may pick up 2k9 when it goes on clearance just for the zamboni feature.

Has anyone seen if EA is adding some classic teams this time around? It would be nice to play as the 92 pens using the skill stick. I still have several older 2K versions simply to play with old teams...

The demo for NHL 09 was great. I played on the PS3, but I will get for the 360 (I like the controller better).

Playoff beards are neat though ;)

^^ Hopefully Sidney Crosby can only grow a shit-stache like he had in this years finals.

Wasn't that lovely? Both he and Malkin...Staal looked like Lane Staley...

Like a few of you, I skipped '08 last year. I'm really looking forward to this though. The online play sounds great.

I don;t believe they are adding classic teams. They are doing something for the Montreal Canadians as it will be their 100th anniversary. I think you can play as an "All Time Greatest" Canadians team with players like Dryden, Roy, Lafleur, Richard, etc.