NHL 11 News Post

Five Things to Know About NHL 11 (ESPN Videogames)

02:19 PM - June 8, 2010 by Steve_OS

ESPN Videogames has just posted five things to know about NHL 11.

Quote:


	"Over the last three years, EA Sports' "NHL" franchise has won 22 Sports Game of the Year awards from various publications. So to the game's creative director, David Littman, it doesn't even matter that this year the game faces no direct hockey game competition on the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 (2K Sports is only making "NHL 2K11" for the Wii). "Our competition has always been games like 'FIFA' and 'MLB: The Show,'" he explains. "We're not only trying to make the best hockey game out there, we're trying to make the best sports game period. "That's how we approach the 'NHL' franchise every year. For us, it's not about the hockey category, it's about growing the sport and winning more Sports Game of the Year awards because that means that we're among the best sports games in the world and that's our goal." So what does the team at EA Sports have planned for the "11" version of their game? I recently caught up with producer Sean Ramjagsingh to break down the five biggest gameplay improvements hockey heads should expect when the game drops September 7."

Game: NHL 11Reader Score: 7.5/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / Xbox 360Votes for game: 36 - View All

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Member Comments

# 1 Critical Kills @ 06/08/10 02:26 PM

It's going to be a great year for video game hockey I think!

# 2 06woz @ 06/08/10 02:29 PM

I really hope there are more than 4 'advanced' dekes....

# 3 ch46647 @ 06/08/10 02:41 PM

Wow!! This will take over MLB: The Show as best sports game ever IMO! I am still playing NHL 10 almost everday, this may be the only game I need all next year.

# 4 ch46647 @ 06/08/10 02:45 PM

I wonder when you go to jump over somebody if you land perfectly everytime... Hopefully the landing is completely un-predictable with you slipping or losing your balance (and the puck) a majority of times you try and do it.

# 5 plaidchuck @ 06/08/10 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ch46647


	I wonder when you go to jump over somebody if you land perfectly everytime... Hopefully the landing is completely un-predictable with you slipping or losing your balance (and the puck) a majority of times you try and do it.

Oi I hear ya I REALLY hope they don't go overboard with this next year and all you see is people leap frogging across the ice...

# 6 06woz @ 06/08/10 02:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ch46647


	I wonder when you go to jump over somebody if you land perfectly everytime... Hopefully the landing is completely un-predictable with you slipping or losing your balance (and the puck) a majority of times you try and do it.

One of these new articles, maybe it was luger. Said that it is a timing thing. So you can actually jump too early and get caught up on the player or his stick.

# 7 Vince @ 06/08/10 02:53 PM

In all my 17-18 years of watching hockey (I'm 22), I have very rarely seen a "jump deke".

I'm just saying....

I have full confidence in Litt and his crew, but I hope that is something that we don't see too often in the game.

# 8 ch46647 @ 06/08/10 03:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vince


	In all my 17-18 years of watching hockey (I'm 22), I have very rarely seen a "jump deke". I'm just saying.... I have full confidence in Litt and his crew, but I hope that is something that we don't see too often in the game.

That is because in real life defenseman very rarely lay down on the ice unless they are trying to block a shot. In the NHL series people go diving all over the place and it has become a "defensive strategy" for many that has become very effective. The ability to jump over them just balances the game out and hopefully will greatly reduce the amount of people who go diving all over the ice.

I completely understand where you are going with this though...

# 9 plaidchuck @ 06/08/10 03:09 PM

Well it looks like the horrible tripping/diving animation is still there.. I wonder why this isn't changed if everything is 'real time physics' now?

# 10 bh446066 @ 06/08/10 03:37 PM

I can't wait to use that hit stick on someone who's jumping over one of my guys who's flailed himself on the ice. I tend to play a wild, up tempo brand of hockey.

# 11 Red71Star @ 06/08/10 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vince


	In all my 17-18 years of watching hockey (I'm 22), I have very rarely seen a "jump deke". I'm just saying.... I have full confidence in Litt and his crew, but I hope that is something that we don't see too often in the game.

Watch more hockey. ;-) They're not really jump dekes. It's just eluding another player with a split second decision.

# 12 FUBAR2713 @ 06/08/10 03:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 06woz


	One of these new articles, maybe it was luger. Said that it is a timing thing. So you can actually jump too early and get caught up on the player or his stick.

This will interesting to see if you have to time your jumps. I would assume that if you mistime your jump and land on a player that the defenseman can get injured (offline only) or perhaps break his stick if you land on that. As a defenseman, I don't go down on the ice often but now I will have to be even more careful when I choose to do it since this seems like it could be an effective counter move. Can't wait to see this in action.

# 13 Vikes1 @ 06/08/10 06:19 PM

NHL'11' just keeps sounding better and better.

# 14 CS10029 @ 06/08/10 06:22 PM

As all these new features come out, it's kinda interesting to see how they will counter each other. Makes me worry about certain things, but for the most part every NHL from EA on next gen has been fairly balanced, I don't see that changing. With that said though... this game sounds freakin' sweet!

# 15 TDKing @ 06/08/10 07:50 PM

I keep having this vision of all the kiddies online bunny hopping all over the ice.

I sure hope that this jumping and deking stuff is heavly tied into a players ratings if not it will be poop! Seeing as how the player differentiation has been done in the past I have little hope.

# 16 Kyle1778 @ 06/08/10 09:28 PM

This looks great, Im truly excited for this game!!!

# 17 MizzouRah @ 06/08/10 09:45 PM

All sounds great.. any news on the presentation additions?

# 18 cheechoo98 @ 06/08/10 09:52 PM

Not to be disruptive here, I am looking forward to NHL11!

But the news here doesn't really get me going yet, simply because I've been playing those features in the 'other' game for the past few years.

- faceoff tie-up strategies, puck physics, more 1-on-1 dekes, ( jumping over players: http://community.2ksports.com/commun...fm?mediaid=365 ) It's all been there in the 2K series for a while now.. so I'm kinda 'meh' to all these new features...

The 'organic' feeling of gameplay they're talking about for NHL11, I hope, comes not from unintentional puck physics, but rather from how the CPU adjusts their on-ice positioning according the situation on the ice. Again, it's been there in 2K already for years, esp. 2K10.

Whenever I play NHL 10, the A.I. feels like it's locked into set positions like the 'steel-rod' hockey games of old. ( yes.. the Create-a-Play tools... but i shouldn't have to do all that work to make my CPU teamates go to the places they should go.)

As i mentioned, I am looking forward to NHL 11. Let's hope for some great A.I. this year.

peace and

# 19 green94 @ 06/08/10 10:26 PM

Holy ****!

# 20 06woz @ 06/09/10 01:24 PM

I think I figured out the deking system, if I'm right. . .

The new dekes that we will see are "quick dekes" pulled off by "flicks" along with the left bumper

Quote:


	"But none of these dekes are gimmicks. They're all counters to what people can do defensively. You can drop the puck down to your skates, and that's a counter to guys who like to poke check. The quick dekes left or right are a great counter to the guys who like to hit. These all just add to the overall gameplay balance on the ice."

these dekes would be essentially fast counters to other fast moves that the defense can pull off(dives, poke checks, hits etc...). That said, we will probably see the same style of one on one deking as last year where you can pull off more effective(crazy) dekes with a "set up" and "pull" with the right stick/left bumper, also Luger said that some of the old ones were removed, so expect to see a few new one on one dekes aside from the "quick dekes".

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