NHL 07 vs. NHL 2K7

Has anybody gotten any info on what 2k and EA are planning for the next
generation of their NHL franchises? I've seen gameplay videos of NHL
2K7 but have no real details on what will be different in the game
whereas I have only see trailers and screenshots of NHL 07 with no
gameplay video and no details as to what changes are in store.

Does anyone know what's going on?

I have to assume that it's difficult to make a hockey game for EA
because they truly believe, year after year, that they're thought of
everything.

However, 2k has come up with ideas that I believe are ingenious and it
would be a surprise to me if EA didn't respond to them in some fashion.
Crease control (the ability to have total control of the goalie for a
save) is a brilliant idea that has, for me at least, become a way of
countering online cheaters. On the other hand, losing the puck when you
use turbo to increase the speed of your skater is a great idea on EA's
side.

There's a lot of room for improvement I have to admit.

There's one thing that I liked a lot a few years back though. I don't
remember whether it was NHL 2002 or 2003 but on the PC, during online
play, you started off with a generic team and the more you won, better
players became available to you. Basically everyone had a custom team
that reflected their skill. This brought up an interesting idea to me.

Considering Baseball Stars, IMO, on the original NES was the most 'fun'
baseball game ever made, and considering it did not have any real
baseball license, I'm surprised nobody thought of imitating it. Imagine
a hockey game that doesn't have the real NHL teams or any of the real
NHL players but allows you to fully customize a team by logo, by team
name, by player name, by arena name and by overall look. You would
start off with a certain budget and you would have to hire the players
available to you budget-wise. With every win, like in Baseball Stars,
you received a certain amount of money that went into improving your
team's roster. You can, for instance, hire better players or simply add
seats to your arena, advertise, or renovate your arena.

I'm not saying that EA or 2k should overlook the quality of the
gameplay by any means, but I don't think it is necessary for them to
put so much emphasis on the licenses. Midway lost the NFL license to EA
and it responded by making a football game that will certainly become a
classic with 'Blitz: The League' while 2k just gave up its acclaimed 2k
series. The more emphasis they put on licenses, the less though they
put into adding entertaining options to the game because they end up
going for realism alone and not fun factor.

Andre


TheMadStuntman wrote:
> CellFish wrote:
> > Has anybody gotten any info on what 2k and EA are planning for the next
> > generation of their NHL franchises? I've seen gameplay videos of NHL
> > 2K7 but have no real details on what will be different in the game
> > whereas I have only see trailers and screenshots of NHL 07 with no
> > gameplay video and no details as to what changes are in store.
> >
> > Does anyone know what's going on?
> >
> Does it matter? The whole NHL/NFL/NBA/FIFA franchise thing is a
> repetitive, turgid, soulless experience.
>
> Why let EA get away with releasing games that have superficial
> incremental 'improvements' rather than actually taking time to invest in
> something awe inspiring - like getting rid of the franchise and
> releasing some original IP that is fun to play?