Interview avec David Littman

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-Match-making looks to be one of the big areas of focus. For example, in NHL 10 you'll only be matched up against teams with the same number of human players as yours. No more six-on-two match-ups where you get worked by a team full of experienced players while your AI teammates play with their hockey shorts. In addition, the new match-making system will match teams based on their EASHL rating, and a new decay mechanism will be built into the system so that successive wins against the same opponent will earn you less points.

En résumé, il dit que dans NHL 10, lorsque vous jouerez en ligne dans un club, vous affronterez seulement des équipes ayant le même nombre de joueurs humain que vous. Le "match-making" sera fait selon un systeme qui se basera sur le classement EASHL, et plusieurs victoires de suite contre le même adversaire rapportera moins de points.

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-The cheesing factor looks to take a bit of dive this year thanks to a couple of improvements: First, DNFs will be listed not just on a team basis but an individual one as well, so you'll be able to see which players on any team might be liable to "accidentally" drop out if things don't go their way. Also, in order to prevent frequent and annoying pausing, players will only be able to pause the game during a complete stoppage of play on the ice.

Les joueurs pourront voir si leurs adversaires sont souvent liés a des "déconnection accidentelle" et, pour prévenir les fréquente pauses innutiles, on ne pourra en faire que durant des arrêts de jeu.

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-Expect to see more customization options in NHL 10, such as lots of new jerseys to choose from. This is especially important for creating an online identity for your team. Ideally I'd love to see some sort of Web application akin to what the NCAA Football 10 folks are doing with Create a School, but I think that might be a hair too ambitious for NHL 10. At the very least, more jerseys and more logo and color combinations would be a good start.

Plus de chandails et de logos seront disponible pour la création d'équipe.

David Littman parle du jeu sur le bord des bandes :

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Offensively, you want to use boardplay to control the puck. By holding the boardplay button on the controller, your player will put the puck into his skates and go into the boardplay protect puck position. You can then move left and right while in this position. You can also pass out of it. Your player will kick the puck in the direction you want the puck to go. The benefit to using boardplay is that you will be way harder to knock off of the puck. A defensive player that comes in to hit you will bounce off and you can maintain puck possession.

Defensively, boardplay is used to contain opposing puck carriers. As the defender, hold down the boardplay button when you are closing in on a puck carrier near the boards. Your player will try to pin the opponent to the boards. You can move left and right during the pin to force the puck in the direction you want it to go. Pinning a puck carrier is a great way to contain and get the puck back instead of risking a hitting from behind penalty.

Of course, player attributes come into play. Bigger, stronger players, and players with great puck control, will be successful using boardplay. Most importantly, the AI will react to boardplay and come help support the puck. I had a goal the other day where I went into boardplay in the offensive zone. My center came down low to support me and give me an outlet pass. I kicked the puck to his stick, and was able to get to the net with the center and score.

En court résumé, l'attaquant peut utiliser la bande pour controller la rondelle, Ilkpeut bouger de droite a gauche et paser la puck a son coéquipier. À la défensive,le joueur peut forcer l'attaquant à envoyer la rondelle du bord qu'il veut en le maintenant sur la bande,mais peut avoir ue punition.Les joueurs plus gros sont priviligiés dans ces jeux.

Je laisse Google traduire le reste:P

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Gamespot interview David Littman :

GS: Much was made of the distinction between player types in NHL 09. How have those differences been improved in NHL 10?

DL: Well, we have added the "tough guy" player type. His job is to protect the skilled players and get his team and the home crowd going. Big hits and fighting at the right time are some of the tough guy responsibilities. We also have tuned the differences between 1st line players and 4th line players. Big, tough 4th liners can lose the puck on dekes, but will be more effective in the corners.

GS: It seems that every year, fans ask for better fighting in hockey games. What are you doing this year that's different?

DL: We have developed a first person fighting system that puts you in the skates of an NHL tough guy. The first person perspective makes you feel like you are in the fight as opposed to just watching it. You have full control over your fist and full control over your head movement side to side. So basically you are trying to make the opponent miss his punches while landing your own. The right stick controls the direction of your punch. The left stick controls your side to side head movement. You can also pull down the left stick to tug an opponent forward and at the same time hit him with a hook or uppercut. You can also pull back the right stick to power up a punch. If you are a big tough fighter, you can just throw bombs. If you are a lightweight, you will want to get your head out of the way and be more strategic. Also, if you are a skill player or it's not to your team's advantage to fight than you can always choose to turtle. Another element we have that is authentic to the real life is if you challenge one of the stars to a fight, than one of his teammates will step in to take the fight for him. The CPU will send a tough guy over to protect the star.

GS: What tangible effects will fighting have for your team?

DL: Fighting will get your team's energy level up. If your team is tired, worn down, or intimidated from the opposing team, a fight can turn the tide. The fatigue levels of your lines will go back to full strength and possibly even last a bit longer at full, before settling back to normal. It will also get your home crowd pumped up.

GS: We understand that physical intimidation plays a larger role than ever in NHL 10. Can you give us some examples?

DL: A big tough team that finishes checks and fights at the right times can intimidate an opposing team. Staying authentic to real life hockey, we did not want to add momentum meters or anything like that. What will happen is you will sometimes see changes in player behavior.

• Passes may be bobbled
• Defensemen will fire the puck up the boards instead of a direct pass
• Players will wear down and fatigue more (once they are fatigued and worn down there is a greater chance of injury)



You can turn this around by starting a fight or hitting back. One key to this feature is that you don't need to play this way. If you have a skilled team you can just try and score goals while the opposing team is running around trying to hit and fight you. It is simply one way to play.

GS: Once the ref blows the whistle, how much time will you have to get an extra shot or two in? Can you be penalized if you go too far after the whistle?

DL: Post whistle play is a big part of playoff hockey. In NHL 10 you can start scrums after the whistle and face wash guys to get their attention. If you shoot the puck at the opposing goalie after the whistle you better get ready to fight. The AI players will protect their goalie. You can get penalties after the whistle, so you may want to go after the other team's scorer with your tough guy because if you both get penalties, you have done your job. You can also bait the other team into taking stupid penalties after the whistle.

(Yaaa )

GS: How has passing changed this time around?

DL: We have created a new precision passing system that gives you full control over the speed and direction of the pass. Gone are the automatic tape to tape passes where you just passed in the direction of a teammate and it ended up on his stick. Now passing is a skill that enables players to bank passes off the boards or play the puck into space for teammates to skate on to it. It really opens up the game, enables you to be more creative and give you a lot more options offensively. Plus, we have also added new animations so players will take poor passes off their skates and kick the puck to their sticks