E3 2008: NHL 2K9 impressions
posted:
7/20/2008 11:32:00 AM
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E3 2008
The folks at 2K Sports are aware that they have fallen behind their competition in recent years as the word "reboot" was used at least three times during our presentation. While they weren't overly specific about what that reboot entailed for the PS3 and 360 versions of the game we did get to see the Wii version of NHL 2K9 in action. We did find out that demos of the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game will be released in a few weeks.
Ben has been clamoring for a Wii hockey game for a while and what I saw at the 2K sports presentation leads me to think that they are about half way to his vision. Skating is handled with the left thumbstick while checking is done by pushing both controllers forward (something that I'm very familiar with) while making a wrist shot movement with the Wiimote fires off a wrist shot. There's a new passing system in place where you target the person you want to pass it to which takes some of the guess work out of where the puck is going . You can even quick pass for those times when you want to move the puck around the ice quickly. Deking players while skating is done with the nunchuk. I'm going to hold off judgement until I play the game myself but the control scheme does sound good.
Fighting is also done with the Wii controls and you actually start fights by dropping the gloves (well, pushing the controllers down) and then starting to swing away. We weren't shown this in action but I'm guessing we're going to get some thing along the lines of the boxing mini-game in Wii Sports. We were also told that we'll get to drive the Zamboni in the game which isn't something that I think a lot of fans are clamoring for right now. The same might be said of the playoff beard feature but at least the folks at 2K Sports are trying something different.
Of course it was a bit of a charge to see Rick Nash on the cover of the game. Given how much of a star he's becoming in the league it was just a matter of time before he graced the cover of one of the two games (note: I am a Blue Jackets partial season ticket holder). I guess we'll find out what else 2K sports has up their sleeve when the game is released later this year.
Ben has been clamoring for a Wii hockey game for a while and what I saw at the 2K sports presentation leads me to think that they are about half way to his vision. Skating is handled with the left thumbstick while checking is done by pushing both controllers forward (something that I'm very familiar with) while making a wrist shot movement with the Wiimote fires off a wrist shot. There's a new passing system in place where you target the person you want to pass it to which takes some of the guess work out of where the puck is going . You can even quick pass for those times when you want to move the puck around the ice quickly. Deking players while skating is done with the nunchuk. I'm going to hold off judgement until I play the game myself but the control scheme does sound good.
Fighting is also done with the Wii controls and you actually start fights by dropping the gloves (well, pushing the controllers down) and then starting to swing away. We weren't shown this in action but I'm guessing we're going to get some thing along the lines of the boxing mini-game in Wii Sports. We were also told that we'll get to drive the Zamboni in the game which isn't something that I think a lot of fans are clamoring for right now. The same might be said of the playoff beard feature but at least the folks at 2K Sports are trying something different.
Of course it was a bit of a charge to see Rick Nash on the cover of the game. Given how much of a star he's becoming in the league it was just a matter of time before he graced the cover of one of the two games (note: I am a Blue Jackets partial season ticket holder). I guess we'll find out what else 2K sports has up their sleeve when the game is released later this year.
