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2008 Hockey Videogame Thread (NHL 08 & NHL 2K8 out Sept. 11)
- Thread starter FightyF
- Start date
speculawyer
Member
nm
ChrisJames said:So I gamefly'd NHL 2k8 and I like it a lot. I'm using the classic controls, but it's still better than last year's version and I basically feel how everyone else in this thread who has it does ...
What's the word on a 2k8 league? I know not that many people are picking it up, but I figured I'd ask
I'm trying to organize a 2K8 league right now, but we only have a few people so far. Anyway, good games tonight, that first one was really good. Still can't believe you tied it with less than a minute to go in the 3rd. That spinning shot by Crosby was pretty wild in OT. Also, didn't really mean to lay it on so heavy in the rematch though, I think the final shot totals were like 44-11...
Kingpen, I'll be on tomorrow night again. Hit me up if you want to play.
Kingpen said:
Nope, I just had this spinning shot with Crosby. He got a loose puck in the slot with his back to the net, and just spun and shot it at the same time. I didn't even see the puck go in the net, the red light just came on.
I just started messing around with the superstar moves in my franchise, because I suck in penalty/shootouts. Those are pretty sweet. Especially the "Forsberg" move.
ChrisJames
Member
Yeah, good games Purge, that was a lot of fun.
AltogetherAndrews
Member
I just played the NHL 08 demo for PS3, looked real nice. But is there a trick to playing these games? I'm so bad at this that it's just ridiculous, and I'm a Swede god damn it! If I can solider up and win WWII but fail at hockey, the world makes a little less sense.
AltogetherAndrews said:
I had no difficulty at all but I am a Canadian. Though I am a Canadian who prefers baseball to hockey so that shouldn't mean much. All I did in the demo to not allow the computer a shot was to simply just maul them with the right stick when they had the puck. When I got the puck I just skates around, started dangling, would shoot or fake the shot to set up the one timers.
speculawyer
Member
I bought both NHL 08 and NHL 2K8 but I've got work I need to do. They are sitting next to me and taunting me.
I opened them both up and looked at the manuals. My initial impressions is that both games fail so far. These are really complex games and they both give you really short manuals that only scratch the surface of these games. They might as well just put in a slip of paper that says "Fuck you, you figure it out sucker!"
WTF? Are they afraid of wasting paper? At least use the paper you are gonna use efficiently! Don't brag about your new features, I already bought the fucking game. And don't give me Table of contents for a 17 page manual!
I opened them both up and looked at the manuals. My initial impressions is that both games fail so far. These are really complex games and they both give you really short manuals that only scratch the surface of these games. They might as well just put in a slip of paper that says "Fuck you, you figure it out sucker!"
WTF? Are they afraid of wasting paper? At least use the paper you are gonna use efficiently! Don't brag about your new features, I already bought the fucking game. And don't give me Table of contents for a 17 page manual!
MrToughPants
Brian Burke punched my mom
I lost 3-1 against Pittsburgh and Laraque had the game winner...!
I'm 0-4 so far at pro rating though i'm getting better with the controls. I still don't know how to check consistently... do you slide the analog away and then towards the opposing player(NHL08 PS3)? Faces-offs is another thing that is hit or miss for me.
NHL08 needs a free skate mode where you can just shoot, skate and practice dekes at the same time, the one shot/play attempt drills are getting annoying.
I'm 0-4 so far at pro rating though i'm getting better with the controls. I still don't know how to check consistently... do you slide the analog away and then towards the opposing player(NHL08 PS3)? Faces-offs is another thing that is hit or miss for me.
NHL08 needs a free skate mode where you can just shoot, skate and practice dekes at the same time, the one shot/play attempt drills are getting annoying.
rs7k said:
Played the demo on PS3, the skill stick isn't that bad, and 30fps isn't bad either. 07 was in fact worse looking because the animations were sub 30 fps. In this game everything seems to be going smoothly. Very playable on the PS3.
Pewp said:
Could be a bad press of the game. It happens sometimes. Exchange it.
On a side...I gotta say...the new Flames jersey actually looks pretty good! Besides the shoulder patches of course.
theREBELins
Banned
I hadn't planned on picking this (08) up so soon, but I did after playing the demo far too much. Anyone wanting someone else on their friends list to play the odd game with feel free to add me, peetah31. I usually get some gaming in on weekends as Mon-Fri is too hectic.
Pewp said:
I've been seeing reports of this all over the place, and it's been happening to me too since the moment I opened the game. It seems to be a disc problem and not a system problem since it's so widepsread. If it continues, I think I'm going to call EA and tell them to send me another one because you're right, it ruins the game.
speculawyer
Member
theREBELins said:
Peter Moore doing some customer research confirmed.
So it seems that glitch i mentioned happened more than 1 time to me. I played like 6or 7 games and i can say it happened atleast 4-5 times.
Basically i just went into options and changed it so i don't get points for overtime losses. Hopefully this helps or i guess i just have to never lose in regulation.
I also had mt game freeze on me right after i choose "exit" after a game. I think it has something to do with the autosaving feature. I just went ahead and turned it off so it just automatically goes back to my main screen after a game instead of pausing to save everything and i just go ahead and save manually.
Dustin Penners not on the Oil so i just went ahead and got him. Pisani is out indefinitely this year(real NHL) so i scratched him and got rid of tjarnqvist and called up Schremp and Nilsson. Hopefully it plays out this way. I don't know about you guys but when i play hockey games i never make ridiculous trades for my team that never actually happen.
example: signing guys like forsberg, trading for guys like crosby or ovechkin. I just do exactly as my team does for real. Its just more realistic that way.
Other than that i am really impressed with the game...its pretty damn awesome. I played like 6 hours worth of shootouts when i first got it so i could adjust to the controls. Oh that reminds me...
Whats the deal with the 1st shooter on the opposing team doing the EXACT same deke over and over and over again. wasn't this in 07 aswell..I thought they fixed this. Oh well its minor anyways.
I also love spending time in pratice mode doing shooting plays...The game runs sooo damn smooth there..its fun as hell.
Wouldn't mind playing some shootouts or games online if anyone is interested sometime. PSN is Cyclonus.
Basically i just went into options and changed it so i don't get points for overtime losses. Hopefully this helps or i guess i just have to never lose in regulation.
I also had mt game freeze on me right after i choose "exit" after a game. I think it has something to do with the autosaving feature. I just went ahead and turned it off so it just automatically goes back to my main screen after a game instead of pausing to save everything and i just go ahead and save manually.
Dustin Penners not on the Oil so i just went ahead and got him. Pisani is out indefinitely this year(real NHL) so i scratched him and got rid of tjarnqvist and called up Schremp and Nilsson. Hopefully it plays out this way. I don't know about you guys but when i play hockey games i never make ridiculous trades for my team that never actually happen.
example: signing guys like forsberg, trading for guys like crosby or ovechkin. I just do exactly as my team does for real. Its just more realistic that way.
Other than that i am really impressed with the game...its pretty damn awesome. I played like 6 hours worth of shootouts when i first got it so i could adjust to the controls. Oh that reminds me...
Whats the deal with the 1st shooter on the opposing team doing the EXACT same deke over and over and over again. wasn't this in 07 aswell..I thought they fixed this. Oh well its minor anyways.
I also love spending time in pratice mode doing shooting plays...The game runs sooo damn smooth there..its fun as hell.
Wouldn't mind playing some shootouts or games online if anyone is interested sometime. PSN is Cyclonus.
theREBELins
Banned
speculawyer said:
:lol I hope this doesn't deter people from adding me
Picked up this gem of a game today(08) and so far It's a blast, so refreshing to have a great playing hockey game other than the 2k series.
Still learning the skill stick, my first 3 dynasty games I've been outscored 10-2, but I've gone into full practice scenarios and now I'm starting to really get the stick
Goalie animations are without a doubt the best I've ever seen in a hockey game, just life like.
Graphics are beautiful, AI seems strong and smart, and presentation is tops with gary thorne and bill clement.
bish do you mind posting your sliders for pro and superstar? I do feel like default needs to be tweaked, I just don't know where to start.
Still learning the skill stick, my first 3 dynasty games I've been outscored 10-2, but I've gone into full practice scenarios and now I'm starting to really get the stick
Goalie animations are without a doubt the best I've ever seen in a hockey game, just life like.
Graphics are beautiful, AI seems strong and smart, and presentation is tops with gary thorne and bill clement.
bishoptl said:I've got NHL 08 almost dialed in where I want it for Pro and Superstar, but 2K8 eludes me.
bish do you mind posting your sliders for pro and superstar? I do feel like default needs to be tweaked, I just don't know where to start.
TemplaerDude
Member
man i'm loving the design decisions the morons made on the pc version of 08. (again, i don't have a 360 so don't say 'lol why wud u buy that moran').
the goalies will cover the puck up if you are between the faceoff circle and the end boards. always. nothing you can do. you could be in the corner and 5 players could be around him asking for the puck and he'd cover up.
the announcing is retarded. i think at one point they said something about roloson being one of the premier goaltenders in the league, and i spat my poutine out all over my monitor.
the skill stick does nothing. you never feel as if dekeing left or right makes a difference at all. and half the time your shot won't go off until you put the stick back in the center and then push up.
the a.i.s main way to get the puck off of you is to hit you and the puck dribbles off your stick. this will also become your way to get the puck off of them because your team mates are too stupid and tend to stand around.
they also like to hook you. repeatedly. i counted 13 hooks in one minute. it always works too. but don't try to hook them because you'll get a penalty.
the a.i. never takes a penalty because it's perfect. but you will take plenty. and none of them will make sense. apparently hitting a player who has the puck is interference.
the puck will constantly be poked off of your stick, but if you try to poke them they will power through you.
your only way to score is one times across the crease. 99% of your wrist shots will never go in, regardless of whether you deke. and don't even think about slap shots.
roberto luongo let in 6 goals. denis let in none. hlavac scored 3 of those goals.
player rating doesn't mean squat. unless you sim the game, having sidney crosby on your team doesn't mean anything more than having colby armstrong. they all play the same.
50% of the time if you deke with the skill stick it will fall off your stick. but i've yet to see the same happen to the a.i.
i lost count at 7. the amount of times the opposing teams players got the puck and stood exactly in place waiting to be hit.
i can see the development crew being told they have to integrate the ahl and swearing because that means more work. good thing they took the shortcut and only made the ahl usable in season play.
i love the absolute lack of any new animations. the game is essentially the exact same as nhl 07 on the psp.
thanks for not letting me know my salary cap in the trade menu, or even the other teams, and the players salary, so i don't have to constantly go into another menu and scroll through 10 pages of bullshit to find out who makes what and find out i can't afford him.
thanks for not telling me the salary of players when i'm in a fantasy draft until after i pick them, making the fantasy draft in dynasty essentially useless.
i've never seen anything more ridiculous than the back hand goal that tuuomo ruutu scored from the blue line.
it's these kind of decisions that make me question why these people make video games. they're clearly not inspired to make anything good.
the goalies will cover the puck up if you are between the faceoff circle and the end boards. always. nothing you can do. you could be in the corner and 5 players could be around him asking for the puck and he'd cover up.
the announcing is retarded. i think at one point they said something about roloson being one of the premier goaltenders in the league, and i spat my poutine out all over my monitor.
the skill stick does nothing. you never feel as if dekeing left or right makes a difference at all. and half the time your shot won't go off until you put the stick back in the center and then push up.
the a.i.s main way to get the puck off of you is to hit you and the puck dribbles off your stick. this will also become your way to get the puck off of them because your team mates are too stupid and tend to stand around.
they also like to hook you. repeatedly. i counted 13 hooks in one minute. it always works too. but don't try to hook them because you'll get a penalty.
the a.i. never takes a penalty because it's perfect. but you will take plenty. and none of them will make sense. apparently hitting a player who has the puck is interference.
the puck will constantly be poked off of your stick, but if you try to poke them they will power through you.
your only way to score is one times across the crease. 99% of your wrist shots will never go in, regardless of whether you deke. and don't even think about slap shots.
roberto luongo let in 6 goals. denis let in none. hlavac scored 3 of those goals.
player rating doesn't mean squat. unless you sim the game, having sidney crosby on your team doesn't mean anything more than having colby armstrong. they all play the same.
50% of the time if you deke with the skill stick it will fall off your stick. but i've yet to see the same happen to the a.i.
i lost count at 7. the amount of times the opposing teams players got the puck and stood exactly in place waiting to be hit.
i can see the development crew being told they have to integrate the ahl and swearing because that means more work. good thing they took the shortcut and only made the ahl usable in season play.
i love the absolute lack of any new animations. the game is essentially the exact same as nhl 07 on the psp.
thanks for not letting me know my salary cap in the trade menu, or even the other teams, and the players salary, so i don't have to constantly go into another menu and scroll through 10 pages of bullshit to find out who makes what and find out i can't afford him.
thanks for not telling me the salary of players when i'm in a fantasy draft until after i pick them, making the fantasy draft in dynasty essentially useless.
i've never seen anything more ridiculous than the back hand goal that tuuomo ruutu scored from the blue line.
it's these kind of decisions that make me question why these people make video games. they're clearly not inspired to make anything good.
I've finally found a nice all-star slider setting that makes it possible to score without making the CPU sacrifice it's tenacity:
Shot accuracy all the way to full
Aggression at either 0 or 1 click
Perfect.
The AI still learns your strategies if you use them too often, and they still know how to play offense, but it's now possible to score on the CPU goalies without having to rely solely on one-timers across the crease.
Shot accuracy all the way to full
Aggression at either 0 or 1 click
Perfect.
The AI still learns your strategies if you use them too often, and they still know how to play offense, but it's now possible to score on the CPU goalies without having to rely solely on one-timers across the crease.
Got my first disk error today after playing this game for a grand total of maybe 3 hours. :\
I don't know why but I get more "game rage" with this game than with any game I've ever played. The other night some guy hit me from behind, and I actually yelled at my TV "THATS A DAMN PENALTY" and then when the announcer said that there was going to be a penalty called I said, "That's right!"
I was alone in my house. :lol
I don't know why but I get more "game rage" with this game than with any game I've ever played. The other night some guy hit me from behind, and I actually yelled at my TV "THATS A DAMN PENALTY" and then when the announcer said that there was going to be a penalty called I said, "That's right!"
I was alone in my house. :lol
TemplaerDude
Member
Souther said:
pronger took the oilers to the cup, not roloson.
but lets have a look at the list of goalies i, and any sane person, would take over rolobar.
luongo
brodeur
lundqvist
kiprusoff
giguere
turco
nabokov
(i think we may have just passed 'top goaltender' status)
vokoun
miller
backstrom
lehtonen
toskala
(i think 'premier goaltender' just flew by)
fluery
ward
hasek
biron
mason
dipietro
emery
khabibulin
i think that about covers it.
lets skim the fact that him being 37 or 38 makes him a competitor with chelios in the "old motherfuckers who should retire already" race, and the fact that he's never reached 30 wins in a season, ever, tell me again where that places him with every other goalie in the league.
Souther said:
I don't have much of an explanation, but it might be the team you're playing against. I found that the computer wasn't getting any penalties at all either, but then I played one team (may have been the Sharks) and they got like three penalties. It could be that some teams are set to be more likely to take penalties than others. Could just be random of course.
TemplaerDude said:
Mason isn't better, emery is not better, khabibulin is not better. nabokov is not better.
I agree he is getting old. But Look at hasek. Part of the reason why hasek is still putting up great numbers is the fact that he plays on detroit that has a real good defense core. You put a guy like hasek on a team like columbus and we will see how great he does.
Alot of the guys you mentioned are all very young still. So that automatically gives them the edge when it comes to saying who is better because of potential. Roloson at his age is the best hes ever gonna get, but he can still play the game.
Also, saying that pronger was the only reason that the Oilers made it to the SCFinals is bullshit. That whole team played well. If i was to pick 1 guy that was probably the main reason for them getting as far as they did i would say Pisani is probably the guy, He was ridiculously good when it mattered the most.
speculawyer
Member
chemicals said:
You'll notice a HUGE upgrade. They really fixed the skating engine in 2K7. And now there is a lot more in 2K8.
I'm Canadian and I love hockey but after trying the PS3 demo, I don't understand why people like NHL08. The controls are slow and imprecise and the players move awkwardly. It all just feels wrong, like I'm not in total control of my players. The last hockey game I bought was NHL04 for PC which is a lot more fun than any of these newer games. Can anyone explain why they like NHL08?
Ever since EA started on the path to try to recreate its old-style NHL game again, they've killed the gameplay for me. Every iteration since NHL05, I've tried the new game and been totally disappointed with it. The control in NHL04 is very tight and even though it's an older game, I actually prefer its graphics to any of the newer versions. NHL04 on PC runs at a higher resolution than NHL08 does on PS3/360 too. The rosters might be way out of date, but it's an awesome game. If you like hockey and never tried NHL04, go pickup the PC version for $5 or whatever. It's one of my favourite games of all time, and I'm still playing the dynasty mode after all these years. Really got my moneysworth out of that one. If EA keeps on this path, I guess I'll be able to save some money by not having to buy a hockey game ever again.
Ever since EA started on the path to try to recreate its old-style NHL game again, they've killed the gameplay for me. Every iteration since NHL05, I've tried the new game and been totally disappointed with it. The control in NHL04 is very tight and even though it's an older game, I actually prefer its graphics to any of the newer versions. NHL04 on PC runs at a higher resolution than NHL08 does on PS3/360 too. The rosters might be way out of date, but it's an awesome game. If you like hockey and never tried NHL04, go pickup the PC version for $5 or whatever. It's one of my favourite games of all time, and I'm still playing the dynasty mode after all these years. Really got my moneysworth out of that one. If EA keeps on this path, I guess I'll be able to save some money by not having to buy a hockey game ever again.
speculawyer
Member
OK, I sent off my patent draft application and got to play a little hockey. So here some impressions. Disclosure: I do own TTWO stock. But the bigger disclosure is that I played a lot of NHL 2K7 last year and are more familiar with it.
NHL 08: very nice graphics, good commentary. But right now I am completely flailing out there. Ironically, it told me I won most of the face offs in a game I played but I had no idea what I was doing . . . there are no instructions for how to do a face off! I guess I just point with the right stick and pull the right-trigger pass button? The menus are well done. I haven't tried it yet (because I suck too much) but the multi-console play is there. I love the thing that emails your stats to you. And there are tons of teams. It is like 4 or 5 different leagues (NHL, AHL, International, and others I didn't know what they were . . . European?) each with their own teams. I don't like the little red diamond thingy identifying the player you are controlling . . . it is too small.
NHL 2K8: I'm flailing at this game too but a little less since I played a lot of 2K7. This game is MUCH deeper as far as controls go. Holy smokes! You can play the game knowing just some controls, but I was going through some tutorials and there is just so much you can do. Pinning, kicking the puck, wrist shots (from any where you move the stick to), snap shots, full slap shots, one timer shot, deflection, normal pass, saucer pass, loose puck pass, one-timer pass, wrist dump, higher dump, slap dump, L/R/F deke, quick stop, speed burst, sprint, glide, backwards skate (both on offense & defense), defense stick control, poke check, lay stick to ice, kneel, dive, check, intense contact check, hook, good fighting(move, duck, break hold, punch, uppercut, taunt, fake punch, grab left, grab right), etc.
Oh . . . and that doesn't even include the goalie control in crease control and the set of super-star moves for special goal attemps. I think reviewers have been overwhelmed by the games complex controls . . . I am. The learning curve is pretty darn steep.
Right now I'm enjoying 2K8 more but that is probably because it is more familiar to me. I'll be giving NHL 08 some more time. The games are very different in that NHL 08 seems more finesse whereas NHL 2K8 is more physical.
Both games are very good. The 1Up guy that gave NHL 2K8 a 4 either got a big moneyhat, is an EA fanboy, or is just a dick. There is no way you can call NHL 2K8 bad.
NHL 08: very nice graphics, good commentary. But right now I am completely flailing out there. Ironically, it told me I won most of the face offs in a game I played but I had no idea what I was doing . . . there are no instructions for how to do a face off! I guess I just point with the right stick and pull the right-trigger pass button? The menus are well done. I haven't tried it yet (because I suck too much) but the multi-console play is there. I love the thing that emails your stats to you. And there are tons of teams. It is like 4 or 5 different leagues (NHL, AHL, International, and others I didn't know what they were . . . European?) each with their own teams. I don't like the little red diamond thingy identifying the player you are controlling . . . it is too small.
NHL 2K8: I'm flailing at this game too but a little less since I played a lot of 2K7. This game is MUCH deeper as far as controls go. Holy smokes! You can play the game knowing just some controls, but I was going through some tutorials and there is just so much you can do. Pinning, kicking the puck, wrist shots (from any where you move the stick to), snap shots, full slap shots, one timer shot, deflection, normal pass, saucer pass, loose puck pass, one-timer pass, wrist dump, higher dump, slap dump, L/R/F deke, quick stop, speed burst, sprint, glide, backwards skate (both on offense & defense), defense stick control, poke check, lay stick to ice, kneel, dive, check, intense contact check, hook, good fighting(move, duck, break hold, punch, uppercut, taunt, fake punch, grab left, grab right), etc.
Oh . . . and that doesn't even include the goalie control in crease control and the set of super-star moves for special goal attemps. I think reviewers have been overwhelmed by the games complex controls . . . I am. The learning curve is pretty darn steep.
Right now I'm enjoying 2K8 more but that is probably because it is more familiar to me. I'll be giving NHL 08 some more time. The games are very different in that NHL 08 seems more finesse whereas NHL 2K8 is more physical.
Both games are very good. The 1Up guy that gave NHL 2K8 a 4 either got a big moneyhat, is an EA fanboy, or is just a dick. There is no way you can call NHL 2K8 bad.
speculawyer
Member
purgeface said:
I'll probably sign up and take the sharks. I'm sure I'll get my butt kicked. :lol