NHL 12 Info & Media Thread

[kirant]

Originally Posted by Yamer

The new sim engine and Action Tracker is cool, but they Be A GM blog was extremely underwhelming. A promise of a more refined trade system (promised every year), modified contract demands, and retired numbers. Meh.

Any news on whether they've fixed the broken RFA system yet? NHL11 became way too easy to draft via RFA instead of forcing actual drafting as the AI basically refused to match fair contracts (never matching my long term, low cap hit contacts like 4 million/5 years for Doughty or 3 million/4 years for Setoguchi).

[bubbsy]

man, compared to madden, the be a gm updates were basically non-existent.

what a disappointment this game sounds like it's going to be thus far.

basically, the updates summarize to:
- fixing AI in game play
- further enhancements to collisions
- gimicky stuff that only happens 1-2 times a season (winter classic, broken glass, hits into bench, goalie fights)
- improving sim engine
- goalie collisions (from what i've read, this already seems buggy, ie. getting pushed into goalie by defender, yet receiving an interference penalty)

that is extremely underwhelming.

[Yamer]

Originally Posted by kirant

Any news on whether they've fixed the broken RFA system yet? NHL11 became way too easy to draft via RFA instead of forcing actual drafting as the AI basically refused to match fair contracts (never matching my long term, low cap hit contacts like 4 million/5 years for Doughty or 3 million/4 years for Setoguchi).

Not that I have heard. And I didn't know you could lowball them so bad!? There are always a good chunk of RFA's that sit there for several years asking for 6-10 million.

They did say that the contract demands would be more reasonable. No word if any of it is based on performance.

[kirant]

Originally Posted by Yamer

Not that I have heard. And I didn't know you could lowball them so bad!? There are always a good chunk of RFA's that sit there for several years asking for 6-10 million.

I always dropped 1-2 million off their salary and upped the year by 1-2. It worked for most players that weren't asking for 7-10 million. You couldn't get star players that way, but it gave you everything those non-top 5 draft picks would.

[Flash Walken]

Signing Bobby Ryan to an 8 year deal for 4.1 per really helped me with my team building.

[likwid888]

Originally Posted by bubbsy

man, compared to madden, the be a gm updates were basically non-existent.

what a disappointment this game sounds like it's going to be thus far.

basically, the updates summarize to:
- fixing AI in game play
- further enhancements to collisions
- gimicky stuff that only happens 1-2 times a season (winter classic, broken glass, hits into bench, goalie fights)
- improving sim engine
- goalie collisions (from what i've read, this already seems buggy, ie. getting pushed into goalie by defender, yet receiving an interference penalty)

that is extremely underwhelming.

I agree, if that's all they add to the next generation of the game, then I will be extremely disappointed. Aside from the Winter Classic, a lot of these things sound like they could have been done via a paid update. There is no way they spent a year full-time, developing those things in your list.

[Hockeyguy15]

I happen to disagree, I think that they have changed quite a bit and I am excited.

-Fixed AI in gameplay....How is that underwhelming?
-Further enhancements to collisions....Sweet, you can hit your own players now too.
-Gimicky stuff...Don't really care so whatever.
-Improved sim engie...No more 3rd line plug getting 50 goals, sweet.
-Goalie collisions...I haven't read that it's a major issue like you make it sound, I'm sure it will require some tweaking though.

Sounds like some good upgrades that they couldn't have done via a paid update to me.

[Kipper is King]

How about fixing the headsets on PS3? I'm sure my EASHL teammates miss ignoring my screams for them to pass to me!

[Yasa]

Originally Posted by Hockeyguy15

I happen to disagree, I think that they have changed quite a bit and I am excited.

-Fixed AI in gameplay....How is that underwhelming?
-Further enhancements to collisions....Sweet, you can hit your own players now too.
-Gimicky stuff...Don't really care so whatever.
-Improved sim engie...No more 3rd line plug getting 50 goals, sweet.
-Goalie collisions...I haven't read that it's a major issue like you make it sound, I'm sure it will require some tweaking though.

Sounds like some good upgrades that they couldn't have done via a paid update to me.

Other than goalie collisions, these are the same features they advertise every year and the games still come out mediocre. I wouldn't mind if they were $40, but they're charging full price for half a game. It'd be nice if they could release roster updates for every version up to 5 years previous.

[Yamer]

Originally Posted by kirant

I always dropped 1-2 million off their salary and upped the year by 1-2. It worked for most players that weren't asking for 7-10 million. You couldn't get star players that way, but it gave you everything those non-top 5 draft picks would.

Speaking of drafting, I know that in the real world it can be somewhat of a gamble...but it's nothing like in this series. There is no informed decision making whatsoever. Even with a maxed scout I can only probably scout about 50% of the draft class, and it doesn't give you very much information.

[calgaryrocks]

haha I'm still rocking NHL08 for my comp, plan on getting a ps3 this summer/fall then NHL12, about time for a new one. roster updates for older versions would be awesome. I have given up on the rosters for '08 but have Calgary mostly right (except many of the prospects obviously). I created a bartschi though
and yea I have always traded my draft picks away if possible

[3 Justin 3]

The AI improvement can potentially make the game completely different. As of now the game is completely broken because the AI is so incredibly stupid.

If they get AI who actually understands the logistics of hockey, positioning, moving around to open space, etc. the game could be totally different...it could work!

[kirant]

Originally Posted by Yamer

Speaking of drafting, I know that in the real world it can be somewhat of a gamble...but it's nothing like in this series. There is no informed decision making whatsoever. Even with a maxed scout I can only probably scout about 50% of the draft class, and it doesn't give you very much information.

Yeah...and there are so many problems in the draft (even at max scouting). 60% of the good players have 50-55 Durability and 20% are stupid small (IE 5'8" and 160 lb)...and none of them pack on weight or height as time goes on.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by 3 Justin 3

The AI improvement can potentially make the game completely different. As of now the game is completely broken because the AI is so incredibly stupid.

If they get AI who actually understands the logistics of hockey, positioning, moving around to open space, etc. the game could be totally different...it could work!

Agreed, if they have actually fixed the AI it's a massive improvement. I'll live with horrible Be a GM features if the actual gameplay is really good. I'll believe when I see it though.

[Kipper is King]

In terms of the AI, this bugs me...

You are down by one goal with 1:30 to go in the game. You take a penalty. The AI keeps softly dumping the puck out of your zone, instead of trying to tie the game. Grrrrrrrr.

[likwid888]

The biggest piss off about the AI is in EASHL. Rather than making a clear pass out of the zone, the CPU defender will board play and allow the other team to come poke the puck from him. This happens despite having a clear pass to a teammate with the opposing team still fairly far away from him.

[Hockeyguy15]

I think hockey is one of the harder games to perfect the AI. Football seems like it would be pretty easy all it is is man coverage and zone coverage, pass and run.

Hockey is more dynamic which I think gives the devs a hard time, I just wish they would figure it out already. They have had how many years developing hockey games? I don't know how to code or anything but someone in the world has to know how to make the game work.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by Hockeyguy15

I think hockey is one of the harder games to perfect the AI. Football seems like it would be pretty easy all it is is man coverage and zone coverage, pass and run.

Hockey is more dynamic which I think gives the devs a hard time, I just wish they would figure it out already. They have had how many years developing hockey games? I don't know how to code or anything but someone in the world has to know how to make the game work.

Yeah, except that's not true at all. The Madden developers have done incredible things with the AI. Players reading blocks, defenders taking correct pursuit angles, coverages being disguised, the list goes on and on. It went from a simple game into the incredibly complex and dynamic game that football actually is. The NHL series has added a couple things here or there over the years but continues to have massive holes in terms of AI.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by valo403

Yeah, except that's not true at all. The Madden developers have done incredible things with the AI. Players reading blocks, defenders taking correct pursuit angles, coverages being disguised, the list goes on and on. It went from a simple game into the incredibly complex and dynamic game that football actually is. The NHL series has added a couple things here or there over the years but continues to have massive holes in terms of AI.

I agree with that. But at the end of the day, the AI is not as effective against Human players. The problem with hockey AI is completely different from football because Hockey is a far more motion based game with the player being able to do a lot of things with every step.

With Madden its a burst game.

But Madden's AI has come a long way. I can barely rush for 1800 yards a season as a running back.

[theinfinitejar]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

I agree with that. But at the end of the day, the AI is not as effective against Human players. The problem with hockey AI is completely different from football because Hockey is a far more motion based game with the player being able to do a lot of things with every step.

With Madden its a burst game.

But Madden's AI has come a long way. I can barely rush for 1800 yards a season as a running back.

I would say that hockey is probably the most difficult sport to try and program AI for (probably because hockey might be the most mentally taxing sport in the world). Hockey's a much more free flowing game than basketball or football and I would imagine having to program the read and react game of hockey is more difficult than almost any other sport.