NHL 15 News Post

First NHL 15 Screenshot Revealed, Pre-Order Offers Detailed

01:38 PM - June 2, 2014 by RaychelSnr

The first NHL 15 screenshot was released today featuring the San Jose Sharks' Joe Thornton and Scott Hannan.

The company is offering two different deals for customers who pre-order the game. For those who pre-order through Gamestop, you will get $24 in Hockey Ultimate Team content, or 24 HUT Gold Packs. If you pre-order from other retailers, you get $15 in HUT content, or 15 gold packs. Each deal will net gamers one gold pack per week until their deal expires.

What do you think?

Game: NHL 15Reader Score: 6.5/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / PS4 / Xbox 360 / Xbox OneVotes for game: 16 - View All

NHL 15 Videos

Member Comments

# 61 Diehardfan @ 06/03/14 07:24 PM

Who actually cares about shots like this when they are probably cut shots anyway? I mean who plays the game at that ice level? EA always leaks shots just like this one. It means nothing to me. I want to see what the game looks like on a playable ice level.

# 62 dlxsf18 @ 06/03/14 08:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SVCbearcat10


	Looks great, especially for it's first iteration on next-gen hardware. A lot of people complain about faces, but I'm not sure how quickly developers will be able to get them to these people's almost unrealistic expectation. NBA2k seems to be the standard, but they have by far the fewest number of players in the game. NHL, MLB, and NHL have, at a minimum, double the players that need to be active during a game. In order for games to run smoothly, you have to forgo some of that detail. So comparing NBA graphics to NHL is like comparing apples and oranges, whereas the only commonality is that they are both fruit. I think it will take a few years until developers can fit all this detail into games without sacrificing framerate. In the meantime, there are so many gameplay enhancements that can. and will be made. I expect this to be by far the best NHL to date even though it won't be perfect.

None of what you posted makes sense.

NBA: 10 players on the court
MLB: 10-13 players on the field
NHL: 12 players on the ice

Hardly apples and oranges. Meanwhile you say getting faces to meet people's expectations isn't possible right now without sacrificing framerate- that isn't true either. FIFA is rendering 22 players with a lot of them getting faces like this:

That's where the NHL series should be. This screen just doesn't do it for me.

# 63 Mikey88 @ 06/03/14 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IndyColts2


	Hopefully they fix the broadcast angle as well because it seemed a little too close and didn't track the puck properly. I hate playing up and down now its weird..

It would be great to have a decent broadcast cam but how would you go about taking a slapshot with yer controller? From side to side? *

# 64 johnnyg713 @ 06/03/14 10:48 PM

Clothing looks great. Crowd is extremely detailed. Reflection off players helmets looks amazing. Player models look very accurate and detailed. A bunch of complaints in this thread but this is gonna be the greatest hockey game ever made. Myself and 3 friends of mine are all buying Xbox one because of this game. Titles like this are what make gaming fun.

# 65 kehlis @ 06/03/14 10:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Diehardfan


	Who actually cares about shots like this when they are probably cut shots anyway? I mean who plays the game at that ice level? EA always leaks shots just like this one. It means nothing to me. I want to see what the game looks like on a playable ice level.

Agreed 100%, this is just a cgi anyway. It looks great but most screens from any EA game do.

My concern with any of their games is always gameplay, I don't care about how good it looks.

# 66 snowblind89 @ 06/03/14 11:13 PM

Quote:


	Clothing looks great. Crowd is extremely detailed. Reflection off players helmets looks amazing. Player models look very accurate and detailed. A bunch of complaints in this thread but this is gonna be the greatest hockey game ever made.

And the thing is that all of the complaints in this thread are almost all legitimate. Nobody is denying that this won't be the best NHL game ever made- in fact I fully expect it to be. However, it's the exact same scenario as FIFA 14. FIFA 14 is by far (World Cup 2010 being runner-up) football game ever made, and yet it has tons of gameplay, online, graphical, and authenticity problems. It's really repetitive, but the knock on EA only wanting to make money and sacrificing great gameplay is true. The facts are there for everyone to see. Constant resources and production time being spent on the Ultimate Team mode, while gameplay is left riddled with issues that go unfixed, and in the case of NHL 14 in relation to the bouncing puck, even being introduced halfway through it's life cycle. These gameplay issues affect ALL game modes, and that's why it's so confusing as to why year after year creating the best core gameplay, used across all game modes, is neglected both during pre-release and post-release. People need to take a step back and realize that it is completely acceptable to be critical of EA's work, and not accept that it's great simply because it is the only thing out there, or because it was alittle better than a previous installment. OS is built around a community that wants to see the best sports games possible, and as those consumers, we should demand as close to perfection as we can get,. When EA releases a game that has little things (among other, BIG things) like traveling Coyotes fans sitting in Sharks season ticket holder seating, wearing Winnipeg Jets jerseys, all of them wearing full face paint, it destroys the immersion, shows lack of attention to detail, and lack of respect for the consumer.

Look I'm not saying I'm going to be boycotting the game or not buying it or anything, we've seen that claim before and it's a totally unrealistic expectation when EA releases the only NHL game out there. Yes it's part of the problem, but NHL 14 was the best version to date- the problem lies where with a fraction more time and energy spent on things other than Ultimate Team- it could have been not good, but great. EA talks the talk, we just want to see that they have the passion and dedication to not just to our wallets, but to make the best game possible.

# 67 Madwolf @ 06/04/14 12:33 AM

The picture is there to allow people to pick up on the small improvements such as the following:

- The crowd looks great, everyone seems to have a different look, and the only two who seem similar action wise is the two girls with their arms folded in front of them, which doesn't look out of place. They could lose the face paint, and having them wear throw-back jets jerseys obviously isn't quite right.

- Joe Thorton looks pretty good, I know others thing he looks nothing like he does in real life, but from the side it's hard to tell. I think he looks good.

- The new body -> equipment - > jersey system looks amazing. The only thing I don't like is that the numbers and letting on the jerseys seems flat, I wish that had that little pop there to make it look more like a real jersey.

# 68 bwiggy33 @ 06/04/14 12:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpectralThundr


	Take Two never patched the PS3 version first of all, and one shouldn't have to use player based roster edits to get the game to play some what reasonable. If one were to say that about EA's game, to use roster edits done by the player base, you would chew EA's head off for not doing it themselves. I hate the double standard in regards to the two series, because it's obvious and sad that a publisher's name on the front of the box can have so much sway over one's opinion. From what I understand there's a huge roster edit project on these very forums that seem to be extremely popular for NHL 14, have you tried those? Accepting mediocrity from one game rather than both is flat out dishonest but that's exactly what you're doing, because of a simple "push off animation" pretty much. Not only that but all the roster edits in the world won't get 2k10's AI to break out of the zone properly, the second you control the puck your entire team is already at the opposing team's blue line. That's not hockey, it's not even remotely resembling realism. But yet it gets a pass from the same folks. Fancy that.

You act like I think NHL 2k is some ridiculously good game that I play every day. I rarely play 2k because even that game just isn't good enough for me. Just like NHL it has it's good and bad. They're both ok to play on occasion but neither game makes me want to play it every day. Really the only area of 2k I've talked about being better is goalies. I just don't get how me saying 2k's goalies are better all of a sudden means I think the entire 2k game is better. That's twice now that you've tried twisting my words so you could call me out. You need to breathe and stop thinking I'm out to bash the NHL series. From 07-09 you would have seen me praising the game. I had almost nothing to complain about. The issues they had in 07-08 were getting fixed each year and it was also improving in other areas. From 10 on, things changed. I'm not trying to hate on this game all the time, but the fact of the matter is that the game isn't good enough to not talk badly about it.

I get that the PS3 version was not patched. That's a bummer for people who played on that system. I'd be angry as well if I had it for PS3. However, now you are saying you don't want to play some game that takes so many edits yet NHL is basically in the same exact spot. I've used the revamped rosters but they don't improve the game enough for me to play, even though they do for many others. Those guys put in a ton of work.

# 69 bwiggy33 @ 06/04/14 01:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpectralThundr


	With all that being said however, I still truly believe hockey is the hardest sport to replicate in video game form, and the memory limitations of the PS3/360 likely handcuffed EA Canada on just how much they could do while still keeping a respectable framerate and making sure that the area they make money post release was at least sound. That doesn't mean I have to like HUT or the online modes getting more attention, and hell us GM guys certainly deserve a bone to be thrown our way. But I get why attention is paid to HUT. And to be honest, I would be very surprised that with 6 gigs of ram to play with now, that EA doesn't at least make an effort on AI going into this gen. the PS3 and 360 were not powerful machines, to be honest the PS4 and Xbone aren't all that powerful either but they do have more room now under the hood to do much more than coast like they did towards the end of last gen.

This 100%. Hockey is ridiculously hard to replicate through a video game, but with how the AI is programmed now I still think they could have done a whole lot better than what they did. EA just seemed to get into the mode where if it wasn't fully broke, why fix it. I hope for the best with 15, I really do. Hell why wouldn't I? It's our only hockey option and no way in hell I want to sit without a hockey game for the second year straight. This was the first year I was without a hockey game on release day since I got NHL 98 along with my Playstation for Christmas when I was 7.

# 70 johnnyg713 @ 06/04/14 01:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by snowblind89


	And the thing is that all of the complaints in this thread are almost all legitimate. Nobody is denying that this won't be the best NHL game ever made- in fact I fully expect it to be. However, it's the exact same scenario as FIFA 14. FIFA 14 is by far (World Cup 2010 being runner-up) football game ever made, and yet it has tons of gameplay, online, graphical, and authenticity problems. It's really repetitive, but the knock on EA only wanting to make money and sacrificing great gameplay is true. The facts are there for everyone to see. Constant resources and production time being spent on the Ultimate Team mode, while gameplay is left riddled with issues that go unfixed, and in the case of NHL 14 in relation to the bouncing puck, even being introduced halfway through it's life cycle. These gameplay issues affect ALL game modes, and that's why it's so confusing as to why year after year creating the best core gameplay, used across all game modes, is neglected both during pre-release and post-release. People need to take a step back and realize that it is completely acceptable to be critical of EA's work, and not accept that it's great simply because it is the only thing out there, or because it was alittle better than a previous installment. OS is built around a community that wants to see the best sports games possible, and as those consumers, we should demand as close to perfection as we can get,. When EA releases a game that has little things (among other, BIG things) like traveling Coyotes fans sitting in Sharks season ticket holder seating, wearing Winnipeg Jets jerseys, all of them wearing full face paint, it destroys the immersion, shows lack of attention to detail, and lack of respect for the consumer. Look I'm not saying I'm going to be boycotting the game or not buying it or anything, we've seen that claim before and it's a totally unrealistic expectation when EA releases the only NHL game out there. Yes it's part of the problem, but NHL 14 was the best version to date- the problem lies where with a fraction more time and energy spent on things other than Ultimate Team- it could have been not good, but great. EA talks the talk, we just want to see that they have the passion and dedication to not just to our wallets, but to make the best game possible.

I completely see where you are coming from, but in my opinion, the game is what it is. It's not real life hockey it's video game hockey. Can they always improve and try to replicate real life? Sure, but there will always be flaws. Even games like nba 2k that are nearly perfect in my eyes are not enjoyed by some members of the "hardcore" community. I go over to the nba 2k forums and see dozens of "this game is unplayable" "I'm done with this game" posts. A video game that people literally mistake for an actual game being broadcast on television still has customers who are not satisfied.

I used to be very nit-picky but I've learned to appreciate what the game does right and finally I'm starting to enjoy my games again. Not saying you or anyone else doesn't enjoy the game because you want to see improvement but I think there are some people who hold games to ridiculous standards (I used to be one of them).

As for bouncing puck complaints. EA has said they have completely redone puck physics. Wait and see how gameplay looks before getting worked up over what they have and haven't done for this years game. Again IMO I have learned to focus on what they have improved instead of worrying about what the game doesn't have.

# 71 snowblind89 @ 06/04/14 04:49 AM

Spectral and Johnny, I think you guys are misunderstanding my attitude here. I understand that no, NHL will never be as perfect, or real, as the actual game, and I don't think that's anyones expectation for it to be that way anytime at least in the near future. I'll try and present my perspective another way: I think you would both agree that my initial criticisms (presence of Jets jerseys, face paint, lack of nameplate, the pitch black shadows on the inside of Thornton's and Hannan's eyes, etc.) of the released screenshot, the only look we have so far of NHL 15, are very accurate. Would you agree that these are fixable problems? I'm not saying they will be present in the final build of the game and will persist through release, nobody could know that, but all we know right now is that these issues exist. Assuming EA lives up to it's word and includes new puck physics, I would 100% expect the bouncing puck to not be in 15 either, but I was using it as an example of a fixable problem in the past that the development team overlooked taking attention to. I think you would also agree that dumping the puck into the opposition's zone is a crucial, crucial part of a hockey game? The bouncing puck rendered this mechanic of hockey strategy broken and hurt the game in the sense that it was both highly unrealistic, and directly affected gameplay. Both concepts that nobody wants present in NHL, no matter what. Again, I'm just using this as an example to prove EA's track record when it comes to attention to detail and vigilance in correcting those missed details.

I'll say it again, I am completely optimistic about NHL 15. I absolutely believe that they are taking a huge step in the right direction bringing the NBC package into the game, among other things, and with a full year of development I expect it to even surpass FIFA as EA's next generation masterpiece (Hell, NHL 14 on 360 was damn near close to being better than FIFA 14 on next gen anyway). I love the series and I love spending my time playing, when I, like everyone else who plays NHL, could be doing a million other things. It's really about balancing expectations, and when some parts of the only screenshot we have of NHL 15 look amazing (reflections, jersey and equipment modeling, authentic, licensed gear, image resolution and color correction) it raises those expectations, and some of the errors made in the same screenshot are near inexcusable for an engine and software that can produce such high graphical fidelity. I'm not attacking EA, I'm expressing my desire for the company to match the consumer's passion and desire when creating the game that we all spend our money on. OS is a perfect example of the communities passion, slider sub-forums for just about every game are hosted here, mods, settings, rosters, ratings, you name it- it has been tested and tried by the community. To relate to what I said earlier, you could say that this community has been "filling in the details". All of which make for a more realistic game experience, and definitely is for the better. When EA can really start closing the gap on the quality of content being put out by themselves community is when things will be looking great for sports video gaming.

# 72 Aggies7 @ 06/04/14 07:43 AM

Not really going to argue over the screenshot. I personally think it looks good, but screenshots don't do anything for me. I need to see videos.

# 73 canucksss @ 06/04/14 11:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpectralThundr


	And to be honest, I would be very surprised that with 6 gigs of ram to play with now, that EA doesn't at least make an effort on AI going into this gen. the PS3 and 360 were not powerful machines, to be honest the PS4 and Xbone aren't all that powerful either but they do have more room now under the hood to do much more than coast like they did towards the end of last gen.

I dont know what kind of power do we need to replicate this game over video game. IMO, EA is just lazy in doing its job. I mean, do you really need a powerful machine to differentiate players and how they play? At least give the superstars an extra leverage compared to 3-4 liners. How about the way teams play their game? All the teams play the same. How about the team celebration after scoring a goal? I understand puck physics could be one of the hardest to replicate....but at least if im playing against superstar players, i need to see the difference when Im using a D-3 line. Or if i am against a powerful team, at least give me the feeling that im in for a show.

Again, IMHO, EA is only focusing online....I could estimate, based on the games im seeing from 2010-13 games, they have 80% focus on HUT and 20% in all other aspects and modes. Since I play 98% offline, BAGM or BAP, unless they address gameplay issues...I am going to stay away from this game.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aggies7


	Not really going to argue over the screenshot. I personally think it looks good, but screenshots don't do anything for me. I need to see videos.

better yet....play the demo...i mean not just 2 team option, but all teams with 1 period of 5 minutes play...at least i can gauge if they put a good effort in NHL 15.

# 74 Aggies7 @ 06/04/14 12:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by canucksss


	better yet....play the demo...i mean not just 2 team option, but all teams with 1 period of 5 minutes play...at least i can gauge if they put a good effort in NHL 15.

Sadly, you know that ain't going to happen. So I will settle for some E3 video with people playing sim hockey. I want to see how AI reacts and if it's realistic as I primarily play offline.

I appreciate and love online sports games, but I feel like ever since online gaming for sports was added EA has given up on the offline folks. Just my opinion.

# 75 canucksss @ 06/04/14 02:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpectralThundr


	You're aware that both the 360 and PS3 don't even have a gig of ram right? 512 megs, some of that reserved for system processes, that leaves very little room for complicated AI run routines. You clearly aren't a programmer.

Obviously I am not...i'm in the medical field for your information, that's why I was asking about the necessary power is needed for us to see a replica of NHL in video games. But you dont need to be a programmer to see the effort of EA, like removing the things that works in the past...group hug after scoring....penalties....neutral zone pressure (ive seen this early in 13, but after the patch/tuner...it disappeared) etc.

# 76 feedmeccc @ 06/04/14 04:11 PM

Two new screenshots here. Most important thing I noticed are that they finally have 4 refs!!
http://www.easports.com/nhl/news-upd...=1401912360394

# 77 bad_philanthropy @ 06/04/14 04:14 PM

Good lord! The lighting is bang on! I was just at MSG at the beginning of May for the Pens series, and this looks scary real! Haven't been impressed by video game screenshots in a long time.

# 78 Money99 @ 06/04/14 04:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by feedmeccc


	Two new screenshots here. Most important thing I noticed are that they finally have 4 refs!! http://www.easports.com/nhl/news-upd...=1401912360394

Is the MSG pic no longer available to anyone else?

The Joe looks really nice.
I hope we get that same angle during a goal celebration.

# 79 adayinthelife @ 06/04/14 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by feedmeccc


	Two new screenshots here. Most important thing I noticed are that they finally have 4 refs!! http://www.easports.com/nhl/news-upd...=1401912360394

Nice. I'm more impressed by these 2 shots than the first one for sure. Glass looks great in that MSG shot.

# 80 snowblind89 @ 06/04/14 06:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Segagendude


	Eyebrows being too low is a legitimate complaint? Lol

You mean when you are trying to accurately model someone's face? The eyebrows are a major facial feature so yeah, I would absolutely call that a legitimate complaint. Come on, let's be real.

See, now this is more of what EA is capable of. Having 4 refs present on the ice surface is a great addition. The glass and dasher look immaculate in the MSG pic, and the steel railing along the glass has even been represented nicely as well as the ceiling materials. The visible details in both stadiums look good, being able to look up in the rafters and see the lighting tracks, the famed octopus, the banners, PA system speakers, etc., all add to the immersion. That octopus is even hanging in the correct location as it does during real games. That's the attention to detail I've been talking about. The lighting even looks to be near or on par with NBA 2k, which is definitely going in the right direction. These 2 screenshots blow the first one out of the water, and I hope that EA keeps these coming.

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