Sega Sports teams up with ESPN

Sega Sports has announced that they are teaming up with ESPN to use the ESPN license in all future Sega Sports games, including NHL2K3.

From http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2864818,00.html :

Sega snags the ESPN license

ESPN and Sega team up for upcoming Sega Sports games.

Sega has announced that it has signed a multiyear agreement with ESPN that will allow Sega to use the presentation of ESPN programming in its sports games. In addition, as part of the agreement, ESPN will help promote Sega's lineup of sports games through various forms of advertising. The ESPN license will allow Sega to change the look of the menus and the overall interface in its upcoming 2K3 games to mimic the presentation of various ESPN shows. NFL 2K3's interface and menus will be changed so that it looks like Sunday Night Football, while NHL 2K3 will be changed to resemble National Hockey Night. Unfortunately, Sega doesn't have enough time to incorporate as many of the ESPN features as it would've liked, but future versions of Sega Sports game will feature even a higher level of ESPN integration, including commentators from ESPN shows.

"We will be pulling ESPN's look, feel, and presentation elements and putting them directly into our games," said Tom Nichols, group director of sports marketing at Sega. "You'll see our statistics have the appropriate fonts and formatting of ESPN's live telecasts. You'll see the score bug in the corner, camera angles, intros, replays, and sports tickers."

"Eventually, we'll be integrating the ESPN talent into our games," Nichols added. "The commentary features in our games are very important--we feel that we have a real strength there versus our competition. With thousands of lines of voice-overs in our games, it requires a significant investment in time and resources from the talent. For most of the 2K3 products, we were not able to turn this around fast enough to get the ESPN talent into our games, but over time the goal is to get more ESPN talent and other [ESPN elements], like intros and SportsCenter highlights in the middle of the game, to increase the ESPN integration."

"ESPN is absolutely the best when it comes to sports telecast presentations," said Greg Thomas, president of Visual Concepts Entertainment, the development house behind the Sega Sports 2K series. "Incorporating ESPN elements into Sega Sports games will make them even more authentic, bridging the gap between a sports TV presentation and an immersive sports video game experience. Our development team has added key features that people recognize and identify with so that the end result is a sports video game that is unmatched in the industry."

This is really awesome! NHL2K2 was a great game, but it was sorely lacking in the presentation area. Teaming up with ESPN is the best thing that Sega Sports could do, especially given the fact that Konami (the company that had the ESPN license before Sega Sports) had very inferior sports game products. I can't wait to play NHL2K3 and have Gary Thorne, Steve Levy, and the Panger call all the games! :)

Chris Busse gives us feedback on NHL2K2

With NHL2K2 having been released, people are voicing their comments and feedback on Treyarch's Message Board. Chris Busse, chief producer of NHL2K2, has responded with some feedback of his own for the game. Check them out, and respond if you've played the game and have some thoughts of your own!

From http://www.treyarch.com/wwwboard/messages/2251.html:

Posted by Chris Busse on February 15, 2002 at 03:40:52:

You are going to think our defense is hard when you start, mostly because no one has ever really tried hard to model NHL style defense before. Defenses are smothering in the NHL; you rarely get to skate through the neutral zone unimpeded, it's hard to get a clean shot off each attack, etc. As your ability to play the game improves, so will your ability to work within and around a particular defense and score more easily.

One-Timers are probably the most familiar way from past games to set up a score which is why you probably find early on that you are scoring that way, but certainly are not the only way. You will all find more ways to score as you get more familiar with the game and your scoring will go up. My games tend to be 1-7 goals in a game on 10 min periods when I play on All-Star; Rookie I find very easy to score on and can often see 5 goals in a period.

I know you are all used to getting other titles and cranking it up to All-Star so you can at least keep the scoring in the low double digits per period; NHL2K2 is not like that. There is a reason we defaulted the game to Rookie and Fast speed; this is the most like what other titles are like. Please, play on Rookie, get used to moving the puck around on the ice and moving in and out of the defenses, learn the flow of what NHL hockey plays like, then when you are thrashing the computer, move the difficulty up a notch or two. We made it so that All-Star is a good challenge, even for us; and we have been playing the game for 6-12 months now.

Let me reiterate: this game is not arcadey, it is a sim through and through. I highly suggest playing on Rookie for at least a few days, or more. You have all spent years being trained how not to play hockey as they play it in the NHL. It takes some getting used to; I know, we all had to retrain ourselves as we made the game and improved it. But, I also know that as we got over the initial hump of throwing out the old, we LOVED the new stuff. There are several guys on the team who have played seasons upon seasons upon seasons of other titles, and still played them for a while when the game was first being worked on; now those guys can't stand to play a period of the other titles.

I'm not sure how other titles are doing the differences between the low difficulty levels and the high ones, but ours change dramatically. If you find yourself getting pokechecked to death, try playing on Rookie: the CPU is much less aggressive on the puck. If you find yourself not being able to score at all, try playing on Rookie: the CPU goalies are much less effective in Rookie. In Rookie, the CPU is crippled to allow for you to learn how to play the game. On All-Star, the CPU is on an even playing field with a human, there is no bonus to scoring or defense either way, it has the advantage of nearly instant reaction, but you all have an organic brain in your heads.

We assumed that people like to be treated intelligently; that they want a deep game that is challenging; not something that you can master in a weekend and then only challenge yourself by seeing if you can score 200 goals in a game. Please, play on Rookie for a while. You will enjoy the game more, learn the game better, and then when you switch up you will have a whole new challenge. I hope you all find many, many months of enjoyment from our title; everyone on the team worked very hard to make it that way.

Also, learn and use ALL of the controls; the game works together as a whole: Protect the puck can be very effective when the other team is trying to poke the puck away. Sliding is a great way to stop a lot of passes. Flip pass is a great way to get past you pal who keeps sliding to stop your passes. Forechecking is a great way to smother the opposition. Dumping is a great way to get past a smothering defense or getting the puck out of the zone when you need a breather. Protect Dump is a great way to stop a dump from getting out of the zone when you are pressing a powerplay.

I honestly expected much more negative feedback at first, because our game is NHL hockey, but not like anyone is used to playing it anymore: it takes a while to get a feel for it, but as time passes, it grows on you. All of the people here love the game, and many of them play it everyday even now that it is shipped; not because it is our game or even because we want to test it; but because we really enjoy playing it. And I don't know about you all, but it's been a while since that has been true for a hockey game for me. Now that I have some time, I look forward to being able to take Detroit all the way through a full season and all the way to the cup.

Finally, thank you all for your support both in the past and since the game hit the shelves; it means a lot to all of the people who work on the game; although they don't all post, I can assure you, most all read it; and everyone is walking around feeling a bit lighter in the step after today.

Thanks,
Chris

Thanks for the feedback, Chris. I must say that initially, I found the game to be rather difficult to play, especially when trying to master all of the advanced controls, some which have never before been seen on a hockey videogame. Since then, I've been pacing myself, patiently learning the advanced controls, and I must say that the gameplay is very, very deep and sophisticated; far more realistic than that garbage which EA Sports tries to pass along as hockey. I look forward to spending a lot of time with this game and learning all of its ins and outs. Hats off to Treyarch and Sega Sports for delivering the best hockey videogame sim ever released.

IGN's review of NHL2K2

IGN.com has posted their review of NHL2K2.

Read the review!

What a cool review! I think that this is definitely the game that all fans of realistic (i.e., not EA Sports) hockey have been waiting for! My copy of NHL2K2 is still on reserve at my local EB, and as soon as I pick it up and play a few games with it, I'll post a review of it right here on NHL2K2.net.

Interview with NHL2K2 Producer

Gamespot.com has posted a Q&A session with Randy Houser, producer of NHL2K2, who discusses some of the development and changes in the game. The producer also talks about the future of the NHL2K series on other platforms, including franchise and online modes. Check out the interview!

Brand New NHL2K2 Preview with Screenshots at IGN!

There is an awesome new preview, complete with screenshots, of NHL2K2 at IGN.com. Check it out!

Check out all the new screenshots! There are 22 new ones!

Chris Busse gives us more information about the game!

Chris Busse, chief developer at Treyarch, has responded to the new NHL2K2 screenshots and movies that were recently released, as well as giving us some more information about the game. Read on!

From http://pub11.bravenet.com/forum/fetch.php?id=9754666&usernum=868849078:

Posted by Chris Busse on January 28, 2002 at 7:39:35 PM:

You have all read it, speculated about it, poured over the movies and screen shots, and most of you probably have your opinion about what NHL2K2 will or will not be.

First off, I found out about this preview when you all did, when it was posted. How old is the build they were playing with? Looks like about 3 weeks, give or take; hard to tell.

60% done?:
I'm not sure where this number came from, but it wasn't from anyone at VC or Treyarch. The game is coming out soon!

Same engine?:
That's so hard to say. We replaced VAST portions of the entire engine, but there are still portions of BBG code that remains, yes. I can say this, we push a lot more polys and textures than BBG ever did; and we do it at 60hz, not 20-30hz.

Visual Quality:
I'm not sure what models the reviewer is looking at, but our player and goalie models look nothing like the BBG models did. Yes, they are both of human hockey players, but after that they are not the same at all. If you want to, when the game comes out (SOON!), check out the two games side-by-side and check out the goalies of the two games. Tell me ours doesn't look 100 times better. Poly counts went way up, texture resolution went way up.

And the faces are about the same?!? I can tell you, MANY MANY MANY of our players look a heck of a lot like the real thing. Did we nail all 600+ players in the NHL? Probably not; but we have over 600 individually painted faces, and over 600 individually modeled heads, and I can tell you our players LOOK like the players: Drury looks like Drury; Hatcher looks like Hatcher, etc.

No, we don't have two different goalie models, so the 3 or 4 goalies in the league that were a cage mask will be wearing the wrong equipment. We felt this was a minor sacrifice for the many visual gains we did make. It is also something we are already taking strides to correct in the next version.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, authentic goalie mask paint jobs? We don't have them in this version. We want to have them, BADLY. Know how you get them? For each helmet you want, you call up the player or agent who represents the player and negotiate to use their helmet in the game. We hope we can get all of the ducks in a row for 2K3 or 2K4, but you know how it is when lawyer's and agents get involved.

Our ice and reflections look better than anything in the business. The amount of texture space we devote to it and the SFX we do with it are top notch. Our ice gets more reflective as you get to a more acute angle to the ice, it also slowly becomes more opaque as time passes over the game.

Ratings:
The ratings in the build are certainly not final.

Trades:
Uneven trades ARE allowed, although there is a restriction on it: You can trade one guy for none; not 3 for 2; which I realize is a inconvenience, but hopefully a minor one.

May I ask why people want the CPU to reject trades made by people? In a franchise mode, I can see this, but in season mode? Imagine this: You're playing a full-length season, and you want to follow a season along as it goes, making sure players stay on the right teams, etc. Now suppose we put some AI in to have the CPU determine what is a fair trade or not. Now imagine our AI doesn't think that Eloranta and Allison is not such a good deal for Stumpel and Murray, or vice-versa. How much fun are you having now? Why should we tell the player how to play his game? Want to trade Jagr, Sakic, Forsberg, Thornton, Hasek, Roy, Kariya, Bure, Lindros and all your other favorites to the Nashville Predators and kick every other teams butt? Who are we to stop you from doing that? Don't want to make and unfair trade to the CPU? Don't do it. Seems pretty simple to me. Yes, when you are playing a franchise mode, and the point of the game is to try and build an awesome team, then yes, the CPU should reject what it considers a bad trade. Is that the point in a full-length season mode? We don't think so.

Online Play:
I've said this long ago: we cut the feature. It sucks. I can't change it now. On the other hand, have you looked at the number of people using Sega Net these days? Log on and see how many NBA or NFL players there are at any given time. You've all shown a penchant for understanding business; I don't think this was such a tough call in the long run.

Franchise Mode:
This one hurts the most for me, personally. As I have said in the past, we want to do Franchise mode right. If we had pushed what we had in development out the door we and you all would have hated it more than not having it.

Control methods:
No one on the market has our control set. Others will borrow from us in the future, but no one can match what we have now. No one. Yes, we have basic controls, which are the same as most of the rest of the games out there, which can be my only guess as to what the reviewer was using.

Announcers/Audio:
I can now confirm: Hall of Famer, Bob Miller is our Play-by-Play announcer in the game. I can also say that our commentary is not as good as the rest of the Sega Sports line. It's definitely something we are gunning for in 2K3. As for the remainder of the audio, I would call it sufficient, not awe inspiring. Oh, and the horn will only sound for the home team in the final version.

Things the preview glossed over:
Gameplay, gameplay, gameplay: Our game plays more like NHL hockey than any other game on the market. We love the NHL, we think it is probably the most exciting major sport out there. We want our game to be as much like the NHL as it can be. Our AI looks and feels like the NHL, the coolest game on earth; not pee-wee hockey.

Strategies: Want to change your forechecking from 1-4 to 2-2-1? You have the power in NHL2K2. It doesn't stop there, either. We have 3 different strategies for each of the 6 zones as well as powerplay , and penalty kill strats that are under your control.

Separate season rosters: There is no way a previewer could notice this, but we keep our season rosters separate from the rest of the game. This way, you can play a full season, but when your buddy comes over you can play an exhibition or tournament and not lose all the progress you have on your season, and not mess up your rosters either.

Sorry for the diatribe, but I had to speak. Can I guarantee that you'll love NHL2K2? No. But, if you want a game that plays hockey like hockey was meant to be played, then you will probably like it. If you like brutal scrums for the puck in the corners and in front of the net, screaming at your buddy as you duke it out for control of the puck, then you'll probably like it. If you like feeling relieved as you finally get the puck out of your zone on a penalty kill, then you probably will like it. If you like battling with your pal for 30 minutes and then have to go into overtime to settle the 1-1 tie you have in regulation, then you will probably like it. If, on the otherhand, you like guys to burst into flames when they score more than one goal in a row, and the winning strategy to be grab a guy hit speed burst past the net; pass back to your buddy in front of the net and score with a final score: 198-1, then you may not like our game.

I hope you all do get it when it comes out, we haven't been working on it for 2 years, but we have poured our love for the game, and our talent to make games into this game for the last year, and we think anyone who likes the NHL will like our game.

Thanks for your time,
Chris Busse

WOW! Thanks Chris for all the information! Man, I am really starting to look forward to this game! I'll admit; I was getting pretty skeptical about this game ever even being released, but after seeing the screenshots and movies, I'm even more pumped! As usual, any new information we receive, I'll post them right here on NHL2K2.net for everyone to read!

New NHL2K2 Screenshots and Movies!!!

Finally, we've gotten some new screenshots and movies of NHL2K2!

Courtesy of Gamespot.com, I've posted the new NHL2K2 screenshots. Check them out!

Sega has also released new NHL2K2 movies! Three of them, in fact. Check out the new NHL2K2 movies!

It sure took Sega long enough to release these new screenshots and movies! I hope the game will be great, now that it does appear it will be coming out. Be sure to leave feedback and comments at Treyarch's Message Board and also the various forums at Sega Sports.

Check out the NHL2K2 ad!

As NHL2K2.net reported yesterday, the first NHL2K2 ad has appeared in numerous gaming magazines. Thanks to Dave Homenuck, Jr., a scan has been made of the ad!

Click here for the scan of the ad.

Just in case you cannot make out the text, this is what it says:

Pain is temporary. Bragging rights are forever.

• Improved goalies anticipate, play angles and baffle rookies.
• Humble rivals with realistic jukes, one-timers and slapshots.
• Burn the D with finesse skaters or unleash your enforcers.
• Settle your differences on the ice with a strong check.

As you can tell, the ad features four new screenshots which have not yet been released officially by Sega or Visual Concepts. The picture quality is a little poor, but it's the best we can do at this time until the screenshots are released officially in a higher quality and larger size.

First NHL2K2 ads appear in gaming magazines; new release date?

The first NHL2K2 ads have appeared in numerous gaming magazines, including GamePro and Electronic Gaming Monthly. There are four new, previously unreleased screenshots featured in the ads! As soon as the screenshots are released online by Sega or Visual Concepts, I'll post them on NHL2K2.net.

Also, it appears that NHL2K2 will yet again be delayed. Some websites are now saying that NHL2K2 will be released on February 12, and another even has it being released on February 19. Once a definite release date is confirmed by Sega, I'll post it here.

Despite lack of news, NHL2K2 is not cancelled

I picked up this little blurb on the Treyarch Message Board from a programmer at Treyarch confirming that NHL2K2 will still indeed be released, despite the recent acquisition of Treyarch by Activision. The programmer writes:

From http://www.treyarch.com/wwwboard/messages/842.html:

Posted by Greg Taylor on January 05, 2002 at 17:26:25:

As a part of the Treyarch aquisition contracts, Activision granted Treyarch the right to finish NHL2K2 and continue developing the series for Sega as long as Sega wishes it. I know the 2K2 team is hard at working knocking out the last few bugs, and NHL2K3 is in early development for all of the nextgen platforms (GC, XBOX, PS2). As far as I've heard, Sega has no problems with the aquisition and is happy to still have Treyarch's dynamite NHL team still working on their franchise. The NHL team hasn't taken any personel losses to the other teams.

Now, I'm not a legal guy at Treyarch, this is just what I know from across the building. For official quotes and policies, contact Activision's official channels. This is all subject to change at any time by many of the companies involved.

But I thought I'd squelch the fears of cancellation on NHL due to the aquisition.

-=GT=-
Engine Programmer
Spider-Man
Treyarch

Well, there we have it again, folks. The game is still on track for a supposed January 29 release. Of course, given the fact that January 29 is only 22 days away from today, and the fact that we -STILL- do not have new screenshots or movies of the game still irritates me. Hopefully, Sega/Visual Concepts/Treyarch will release some new footage soon!

NHL2K2 Release Date - January 29, 2002

It seems as if the release date for NHL2K2 has been confirmed, at least according to Swirlvision. In this article:

http://66.34.113.184/articles/swirlvision/675.asp

it states that NHL2K2 will be released on the Sega Dreamcast on January 29, 2002. There is also a TBA (To Be Announced) for NHL2K2 on the Xbox, which is something new. Please note that the article from Swirlvision states that this information was received from ebworld, which means that the date was not announced by Sega, Sega Sports, Visual Concepts, or Treyarch, and could still be changed at any time...

"How often do I need to post a message saying that the game is not cancelled? Each day? Each hour?"

From http://www.treyarch.com/wwwboard/messages/529.html:

Posted by Chris Busse on December 04, 2001 at 16:35:04:

I post information on November 27th and the VERY NEXT DAY someone is posting about how our game is cancelled. 1 day?!?

It has now been 7 days, 1 week, since my last post, since then everyone is sure or at least suspects that our game is cancelled and apparently I and my company are being disrespectful because I don't give you information which I am not allowed to give you. How often do I need to post a message saying that the game is not cancelled? Each day? Each hour?

If the game is not shipping then no one is telling me anything about it, and they are continuing to pay money out for it; they are acting very much like they plan to publish this game.

Once again:

• Treyarch does not equal Sega nor Visual Concepts. We are an entirely separate company from both of these companies.
• Treyarch has ZERO control of marketing.
• Treyarch is developing the game, for those of you not familiar with the game industry, this means that we create the code and the art for the game; the publisher promotes, distributes and sells the game. Think of us as the author of the book, and Sega/VC as the ones who publish it, that should get you through most of the situation.
• Treyarch and Sega/VC have a great relationship and the development of NHL2K2 is going great. Everyone involved with the product is very pleased with how things are coming together.
• No one at Sega or VC reads this message board, this is the Treyarch message board. Posting comments about what you do or do not like about various hockey games is a good thing; I read all of the messages here and have even made (small) changes to 2K2 based on some of the stuff I have read here. Bitching about no more new screen shots or how Sega sucks is not helpful, it falls of deaf ears.
• Treyarch has very little control on when the game is released, and even less control on when Sega/VC came to us with this game. I realize that all of you have been waiting for almost 2 years for this game; but we have not been secretly working on the project this whole time. Had we had this project since Feb 2000, we would have finished the product a long tme ago. I wish we did have it back then, for I really like this game and the franchise and I really like being a part of the Sega Sports line and I would like to have given you all a game that you really will enjoy at the beginning of the season. But, look on the bright side, now that you have played EA and Hitz to death you will have a new game to keep you interest piqued until another NHL title comes out next season.

Please be patient: the game is shipping, it is good, it looks great, you will enjoy it.

In the meantime, please continue to talk about what you do or do not like in a hockey game, or just hockey in general. Talking about cancellation or lack of information is not going to help anyone.

Oh, and in case someone has talked to another person at EB since I started writing this: the game is still not cancelled.

Thanks,
Chris

Phew! Thanks, Chris, you sure said a handful. Anyways, I guess the most important thing is that NHL2K2 is -NOT- cancelled, and promises to be a great game. Needless to say, folks, keep checking NHL2K2.net for up-to-the-date information about NHL2K2!

Also, there are numerous websites which list a January 29, 2002 release date for NHL2K2. Please note that this is -NOT- confirmed, and when a confirmed release date is announced, it will be posted here on NHL2K2.net. More later...

More information about NHL2K2

From http://www.treyarch.com/wwwboard/messages/428.html:

Posted by Chris Busse on November 27, 2001 at 15:15:07:

I was pretty much shot down in terms of releasing screen shots; they want to make sure that all of the screens go through the marketing department, which is standard fare and what I expected.

Sega, like other publishers, puts a LOT of money into advertising the game, and they want to make sure that they control the flow of information and the scope of the marketing campaign in all aspects. I can totally respect that.

I will say that I know that more screen shots have been taken for dissemination, but I don't know when or where these will be released.

I am going to try and take shots of the things people requested and send them by the marketing people and see if I can put them up on our site, but I am not holding my breath on that, and neither should you.

Hmm, some information I feel safe with releasing:

Our roster size will be 40 per team, with 40 created player slots and 80 free agents slots. This allows us to do things like put Forsberg on the Avalanche roster (without having to make him a starter) in case he decides to come back after he plays in the Olympics so that you'll be able to have him in your lineups.

We will only be out on DC for NHL2K2, no other platforms, in case you hear otherwise from an ill informed EB employee.

Alternate Jerseys: I wasn't sure before, so I held off on talking about it; but we have the code in and working now for selecting which jersey to wear including alternate jerseys. We have the new Edmonton, Colorado, Nashville, Pittsburgh alternates to mention a few. Due to licensing issues, we won't have the heritage jerseys, but we are working on those licenses for 2K3, and I am reasonably confident that we will have them then.

That's it for now; I'll post more later when I have more time. For now it's back to updating the rosters again... gotta figure how Audette fits into the Canadiens lines...

Chris

Not a whole lot of information, but still better than nothing! It's sort of disappointing that the Heritage jerseys won't be included in NHL2K2; I really did enjoy playing Hartford vs. Quebec in NHL2K. But at least the modern alternative jerseys will be included. And the promise of new screenshots hopefully becoming available soon will be enough to satiate the appetites of those of us eagerly craving NHL2K2! :)

Clue about NHL2K2 announcers?

From http://www.treyarch.com/wwwboard/messages/396.html:

Posted by Sergio Bustamante II on November 25, 2001 at 22:09:09:

Hey...
One of our announcers is... well, let's just say he an authority on the game and is an NHL hall of famer! :)
-Sergio
Audio Director, Treyarch

Well, it's not much, but it's still better than nothing. Dunno about you guys, but I'm getting really excited about this game. Let's hope it's out soon! :)

"NHL2K2 -IS- Coming Out"

From http://www.treyarch.com/wwwboard/messages/310.html:

Posted by Chris Busse on November 16, 2001 at 16:56:37:

Trust me, the title IS coming out. Development is going wonderfully! The game is really coming together! We have a team of nearly 40 people working on this title and our latest milestone was just approved. So, here at Treyarch we are going full force foward on this, and Sega is still paying for it development. Baring some unforseen tragedy like the complete collapse of Sega of America or similar catastrophic event, NHL2K2 WILL SHIP.

Whew! Thanks, Chris! :) Also, in another message, Chris mentioned that new screenshots and movies would be posted soon. As usual, as soon as I get word of any screenshots or movies, I'll post them here on NHL2K2.net for everyone!

Developer: NHL2K2 is "quite fun to play!"

From http://www.treyarch.com/wwwboard/messages/192.html:

Posted by Chris Busse on October 25, 2001 at 17:59:53:

Things are going well here at Treyarch on NHL2K2. The gameplay is really coming along, and it is quite fun to play! We still have some tweaking to do on the goalie and defense AI (they are not pinching effectively at the moment).

As for a release date and other such info, this is going to have to come via SEGA. I know, I sound like a broken record on this, but marketing and PR comes from the publisher and anything I do to interfere with that has the potential to disrupt their plan.

I'll find out what sort of stuff I can talk about from SEGA and when I can talk about it.

Until then, hang in there!
Chris

As usual, make sure you head on over to Treyarch's Message Board and leave Chris and the rest of Treyarch your opinions, suggestions, and feedback about NHL2K2!

Treyarch Developer Speaks Out about NHL2K2

From http://www.treyarch.com/wwwboard/messages/167.html:

Posted by Chris Busse on October 11, 2001 at 20:35:41:

I want to thank all of you who are posting your ideas about what will make SEGA Sports NHL Hockey a better title.

We do read your posts here at Treyarch, although we do not always have time to respond to each and every one. Please continue to share your thoughts here, and I will continue to read them.

So, to feedback:
Let me start by saying that we are in the closing stages of development on 2K2, so changes for this year's title, based on your feedback, is not a very likely proposition. That said, we are in the early stages of planning for next year's title, any feedback you give now will have a better chance of being considered for 2K3.

Some background: Treyarch aquired the 2K2 title WELL after NHL2K was released, so we have not had as long as would have been nice to take over a new sports franchise. Had we tried to do every feature this year, we would have produced something half-baked and had a dissapointing title. What we decided to do was concentrate on the things that mattered the most and do them as well as we could.

What we chose to do:

• Sim first. As with the rest of the Sega Sports line, we enjoy the sport we are making as much as most fans of the game. Playing hockey as hockey is played is our direction and goal, year in and year out.
  
• Rewrite the AI from the ground up. Michel, our french-canadian dynamo, has been working 80+ hour weeks for the last 6 months, completely throwing out the old AI engine and writing a new, more intuitive, expandable and better AI engine.
  
• Provide a visually competitive product. I'm proud to put our title next to any NHL title available, on any platform, and say we look as good or better.
  
• "It's the gameplay, stupid!" If it impacted the play of the game, that's what we went after. Player Control, Skating, Passing, Play calling, Line changes.

Casualties:
Online Play: We realized relatively early in development, that trying to shove online play into an engine that was not prepared to handle it was going to take a LOT of resources and introduce a LOT of risk.
Franchise Mode: We realized that the franchise mode we were going to be able to deliver was not going to be one that was a satisfying experience and the manpower we were putting towards what was going to be a less than great franchise mode, could be used to make our core action more exciting, realistic and fun.

Both Online play and Franchise mode will be in the NHL2K line, just not this year. And believe you me, there is not one person on the development team that does not ache as deeply as each of you that these features are not present for 2K2. The realities of our industry can often be a very harsh mistress.

I hope I have cleared up some questions for some of you, and I am sure I have prompted many more.

Thanks,
Chris Busse

Well, make sure you head on over to Treyarch's Message Board and leave Chris and the rest of Treyarch your opinions, suggestions, and feedback about NHL2K2!

NHL2K2 to not have Franchise Mode?

Apparently, a rumour has surfaced that NHL2K2 will not include Franchise Mode, according to Swirlvision. Where this information has come from, I do not know. When I spoke recently with some Treyarch developers, they informed me that Online Play was indeed dropped from NHL2K2, but no mention was made of not including Franchise Mode. As usual, as soon as I receive further information related to this topic, I'll update NHL2K2.net.

NHL2K2 Message Board at Treyarch

Treyarch, which is the software company handling the development of NHL2K2, has put up a Message Board where you can give your thoughts, comments, and suggestions about NHL2K2. Let your voice be heard! :)

New NHL2K2 preview

NHL2K2 Movies!

IGN.com has posted the first NHL2K2 movies! They are in .mov format, and you may need to download Quicktime in order to view them. Be sure to check them out!

Online Play Canned for NHL2K2

After speaking with a developer from Treyarch (the company that is handling primary development of NHL2K2), I received confirmation that NHL2K2 will -NOT- have online play. Apparently, their development cycle for the game was only about 10 months, and network play got canned because Treyarch wanted to focus on the graphics and gameplay. Treyarch deeply regrets leaving out the network play, but necessary cuts had to be made due to time constraints.

It looks like us hockey fans will just have to wait until an online hockey game appears on the PS2, XBox, or Gamecube (given the fact that NHL2K2 will most likely be the last hockey game produced for the Dreamcast). What a pity. I truly was looking forward to playing NHL2K2 online. In any event, I'd like to think that Treyarch/Visual Concepts now has absolutely -no- excuse not to be able to deliver an excellent, top-notch hockey game (albeit without online play) to us. It better damn well be near perfect...

Links to Previews and First Impressions of NHL2K2

Here are some links to some previews and early hands-on impressions of NHL2K2:

• "NHL2K2 Hands-On Impressions" - dreamcast.ign.com
• "Hands-on: NHL2K2 DC from Sega Sports Summit 2001" - gamespot.com
• "NHL2K2 Preview" - segaweb.com

NHL2K2 Screenshots!

Courtesy of gaming-age.com, I've posted the first NHL2K2 screenshots. They look pretty good!