You can also do the Ultimate Team thing in the demo which is cool. Game speed is set too slow for me but that's of course adjustable in the full game.

My first line with the Ultimate Team was Malkin centering Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle

I'm thinking the demo threw you a bone. If it's anything like the FIFA Ultimate Team your first #1 center will be a third-liner from the Manitoba Moose.

small personal nitpick - one thing I love about sports games is working through a season to win it all and then getting to see what kind of championship celebration they've put into the game. This demo gives all of this away for free. Again, a small complaint, but it wouldn't even let me skip past it.

Agreed, it is kinda weird about this demo.

Every time ive done it ive had a decent lineup with a few all-star players along with some top prospects. Not sure if that ll be the case in the full game though.

From the recent developer chat, it looks like you'll get decent Ultimate team players in the demo, but in the released game you'll start out with mostly prospects:

"Quick overview of what is included in the demo. You will get a first look at HUT. What is included in HUT will be a starter pack, with a mix of prospects and some rare cards. You will get to play through an offline tournament. Each portion of the tournament bracket you get to play will be the 3rd period of the game. You win? you move on, you lose? you start from the beginning of the tourney."

(Rare cards are current elite NHL'ers like Crosby, Malkin, etc.)

Yeah, I had Malkin, Zetterberg, Seguin, Tavares, Vokoun and the Kipper. Pretty stacked team. Played one game, screwed around trying to break sticks and whatever other new stuff I could do. Next game I'll actually try to play. I can't decide if I like the slower pace to the game or not. The player movements are more fluid, more realistic. There's also a small hesitation between the command and the action - an extra split second before a pass... They really ramped the realism here, IMO.

They did the same thing last year. No surprise here. Doesn't really bother me though. I only get a little misty when my Be a Pro player wins the championship.

Sniffle.

Played around with it for an hour or so earlier. I don't mind the players moving slower, as it does seem more realistic (I didn't play last year's game, so not sure if it was that way then...), but passes seemed way too slow, almost as slow as the players skating.

Anybody get to Canada and beat them? I get by Windsor easy, can beat the Flyers in the 2nd round, but can't get by the Hawks in the semis. Sucks having to go back and start again, using up the games you have for each player.

I've lost 1-0 to Canada twice now, once in overtime. I managed to get a fun rookie squad my first go-round with Hall, Seguin, Hodgson and Brayden Schenn. All those guys along with Zetterberg, Filppula, Doughty and Luongo with Kipper backing him up. Crazy.

Second go-round I got Doughty and Filppula again, but then got Malkin, Backstrom, Ryan Miller, Tuukka Rask and Tore VIKINGSTAD. Both teams I tried out I managed to get Pascal Dupuis and Cam Fowler. Seems like it'd be a really fun mode, I'd be OK with just playing that off-line. Dealing with that stuff online could get really annoying though.

They've actually done a really nice job of doing the online stuff with the UT. You don't have to arrange games or anything. You just sign in to the bracket tournament and you get matched up with anyone playing that tournament. You win you move on to the next random opponent. It's really very simple and intuitive.

I am also having trouble with the passing. There's just something off about it. I can't figure out why I'm sometimes passing the puck into the wall and not at a player. I never had trouble with the passing in prior years. I wonder if something's amiss, or if that's just the new mechanic... either way, it's frustrating right now. Really the only complaint I've got. Though I think I've found a new cheap bastard way to score.

Passing across the crease or the low slot for a one timer is nearly impossible it seems. I changed the settings to normal and it seems to be slightly better than default, who knows if there's actually any difference between the two or not. I wish they let you see what the exact settings were, just shade them out like with most other screens.

I've had the most luck with just stepping out from the corner close to the goal and going near-side high.

I keep getting stuck with shitty goalies (compared to who you guys seem to be getting)...Rask is the best I've gotten yet.

as I understand it there is a new pressure sensitive mechanic to passing

There's definitely that going on but it feels really wonky.

such a simple thing but maybe the greatest tweek to this game in ages is the ability for better/faster skaters to accelerate by slower/defensive skaters without the use of rediculous boosters

in the past all skaters seemed to mysteriously be able to adjust their speed to the player they were defending ... no more, in this demo I've been able to maneuver more skilled skaters around and past the D instead of always running into 2 D back at all times putting up a wall

How has everyone been scoring their goals?

I know that the ways I scored on NHL10 don't seem to be nearly as effective. The cross-crease seems almost impossible without lofting the pass. I've only had one finish... by Pascal Dupuis from Ryan Getzlaf.

I've had more success skating across the crease, stopping just to the far side of the goaltender and slapping one over his shoulder. But you don't really get a path across this area of the ice very often.

Admittedly I haven't played NHL10 consistently in a few months, but I used to be good... and while I love the tweaks in NHL11 (still getting used to the passing mechanic) I'm frustrated with my inability to score.

Agreed, definitely noticed that, especially with a guy like Malkin playing against an OHL club. If a faster guy catches a breakout pass and the dman isn't very far back, you can actually skate around him for once and get a lot more odd man breaks.

I scored a one-timer on a 2-on-1 breakaway (in OT) and a nice deke. Played 3 games and only scored 2 goals on Pro.

Is this demo only available for Gold Members on Xbox?

HOLY $#!^

A few new updates on the NHL producers' blog.

RFA and UFA rules now apply to GM mode. Finally! Can't wait to figure out that 500+ page CBA.

http://www.easports.com/blogs/inthec...ts-in-the-game

ALSO.... a ton of new options and features for the EASHL (the online team games). Huge improvements. Take a look...

http://www.easports.com/blogs/inthec...nts-for-nhl-11

I will just keep responding to myself.

Trophy list

A lot of EASHL and online Vs. match trophies... which isn't very nice. I generally don't bother trophy hunting with sports games though.

One week left...

to the RFA additions.

Where are you guys getting this? Deals that I've seen:

-Kmart - $20 gaming gift card of some sort (I think it's $20 off a future purchase)
-Target - $10 gift card
-Amazon - $58 and 3 free digital issues of The Hockey News ()

Any others?

I'm probably just going to use an Amazon gaming credit that needs to be used. Wish there was one for this game, or that it was at least a few bucks cheaper.

I'll be renting/keeping it through Gamefly. Should cost around $40.

8.5 from IGN:

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/111/1118230p1.html

They mention the framerate issues in Be a Pro. Ive found that in just regular game mode when you use the action camera which is low to the ice same as in BAP. Shame they cant seem to fix that. They posted the exact same review for PS3 and 360 but i have a 360 and that issue has been in the last few years. Otherwise a stellar review