THE OFFICIAL NHL 13 THREAD

[-Vintage Canuck-]

NHL 13 Overhauls Its Trade Interface:

Any NHL general manager worth his salt will tell you that one of the quickest ways to shore up inadequacies on your roster is to make a quick trade. In NHL 12, making a smart trade was often tough thanks to strange AI quirks (teams would sometimes reject a proposal they just made to you), a lack of valuable feedback on trade offers from AI controlled teams, and an uncommonly even player value bar that made it tough to distinguish the true worth of different players. In NHL 13, a host of improvements make looking for that missing piece much more accommodating.

The revamped trade block lets teams fine-tune what they are willing to give up and be more specific about what kind of player they are looking for in return. Instead of vaguely requesting things like athleticism, AI controlled teams assess their current rosters and make a determinations of what kind of players they need, whether it be a first-line forward, a top-six forward, or a grinder. Teams are also more cognizant of where their organization stands within the league and make requests accordingly. For instance, a team in true Cup contention like the New York Rangers may be willing to trade away high draft picks or well regarded prospects to acquire a veteran player to fill out the roster, while rebuilding teams may part with their veterans to gather more draft picks and build for the future. Teams will constantly re-evaluate their standing throughout the year, so they are not locked into a specific philosophy. If the Columbus Blue Jackets somehow survive the Rick Nash exit and compete for a playoff spot, during the trade deadline they will actively try to improve instead of going into full rebuild mode.

Finding the exact kind of player you are looking for is also made easier thanks to a granular new system that lets you get very specific with different parameters. For instance, instead of just indicating that you need a scorer, you can let teams know you are looking for a top-six forward between the ages of 17 and 24 who has a prospect rating of four or higher. Upon entering your parameters, like FIFA 12 the game conducts a search for player matches. This gives you an opportunity to be aggressive rather than just posting this on your trading block and waiting for offers. You can also search based on the star level of six different skill groupings: skating, shooting, puck skills, physicality, hockey sense, and defense. If you’re looking for an aggressive blue liner who isn’t afraid to put people through the glass, searching for a player with four-star physicality and defending skills is much easier that drilling into the ratings of every single defender in the game to find an ideal candidate.

Once you propose a trade, if the opposing team doesn’t accept it will give you feedback about how closely your offer comes to being feasible. In my experience this could still use tweaking. Because Montreal was in the market for a top-six forward and was willing to give up its first round pick, I offered Pierre-Marc Bouchard for the pick (an admitted reach) to see how far off this proposal would be. The GM said that they were very interested but I had to sweeten the pot. I tried adding a sixth round pick, and that wasn't enough. I eventually worked my way up to offering Bouchard and a second rounder, and I was still receiving the same feedback even though it was apparent that my first offer was much further beneath their expectations than they originally let on since they were still rejecting my much more generous offer. Hopefully EA Canada has time to refine this feedback to be more specific.

The NHL development team also opened up about other changes its made since we saw the game a couple months ago. Based on early fan feedback on NHL 13’s direction, the development team decided to change the player ratings to create more of a gap between the star players and the average skaters in the league. Franchise players like Sidney Crosby are still rated in the 90s, but the average ratings of third-line defenders are in the mid-70s instead of the low-80s this year.

While talking GM Connected mode I also asked some questions about the planned companion app. EA is developing the app for the iOS platform only at this time, with no plans to bring it to Android. The app allows you to check out your league stats and standings, view player information, make trade offers, make claims for free agents, and send messages to the rest of your league. Though EA has looked into it, logistics prevent the app from supporting line editing, scouting, tweaking team strategy, and notifications at this time. The app offers no special functionality for commissioners; if you want to move the league forward or kick someone out, you need to do it from the console.

http://www.gameinfor...-interface.aspx

This is going to be freaking amazing, just makes me want to buy the game a lot sooner.

[Armada]

In before 250 integra still thinks they hadn't added anything new.

[Jägermeister]

That just sounds perfect.

Hopefully it's well done.

[The Sedin's 6th Sense]

Crap.....EA got me hooked with online GM now......crap crap crap.....what to do, what to do

(....I think I'll still pass on 13...same stuff mostly and online GM will probably have a lot of flaws first time around; sorry NHL, been a good 12+ years I've bought your games but the latest ones haven't impressed me )

[WillyFox]

Lp

[DollarAndADream]

Lots of Fantasy Hockey will become of this.

[*vInTaGe*]

Sounds awesome!

[-Vintage Canuck-]

[Beluga Whale]

I always loved BAGM, but it just got so boring always playing against the same old CPU, can't wait for GM connected it's gunna be amazing!!!!

[-Vintage Canuck-]

I always loved BAGM, but it just got so boring always playing against the same old CPU, can't wait for GM connected it's gunna be amazing!!!!

[250Integra]

In before 250 integra still thinks they hadn't added anything new.

[-Vintage Canuck-]

Sure the goalie animations look great, but like many and I have mentioned before, the new skating engine looks really choppy and it's setting up for cheese wars galore.

[Pears]

^

[Mr.Habitat]

Has there been any info on eashl?

[WillyFox]

They say the same thing about trading every year in BAGM, and how it's revamped so you can't get ridiculous trades. It's going to be the same old BS where you can pick up players from waivers, swap them with a boatload of draft picks for superstar forwards, and etc.

Anyways, GM connected sounds interesting but for myself, I'm not into that. I'm all about the EASHL and what they are going to do to improve the online gameplay (most importantly the servers).

The servers and host-lag issues for PS3 has been the same for the past 3 years and they've done nothing to improve it. Most of the top teams in the EASHL are in the East so it's retarded when there is a huge advantage for the host. Also, EA in the past 2 years actually made it sorta pointless to play EASHL as there really isn't much to look forward to. In NHL10, they had the end of the year playoffs where the top 12 teams from each console would face-off in a playoffs series, with the winning team receiving a trip to New York and some other stuff. Now, it's just about this monthly playoff thing where winning it is actually ridiculously dumb as it just makes other teams quit once they see the banner. If you guys haven't noticed, the OTP community for PS3 actually died around March, which is a huge issue. Of course, I don't expect anything new in regards to EASHL as it seems like the developers spent most of their time "revamping" BAGM once again and going on their diet plans.

Sure the goalie animations look great, but like many and I have mentioned before, the new skating engine looks really choppy and it's setting up for cheese wars galore.

[DollarAndADream]

They say the same thing about trading every year in BAGM, and how it's revamped so you can't get ridiculous trades. It's going to be the same old BS where you can pick up players from waivers, swap them with a boatload of draft picks for superstar forwards, and etc.

Anyways, GM connected sounds interesting but for myself, I'm not into that. I'm all about the EASHL and what they are going to do to improve the online gameplay (most importantly the servers).

The servers and host-lag issues for PS3 has been the same for the past 3 years and they've done nothing to improve it. Most of the top teams in the EASHL are in the East so it's retarded when there is a huge advantage for the host. Also, EA in the past 2 years actually made it sorta pointless to play EASHL as there really isn't much to look forward to. In NHL10, they had the end of the year playoffs where the top 12 teams from each console would face-off in a playoffs series, with the winning team receiving a trip to New York and some other stuff. Now, it's just about this monthly playoff thing where winning it is actually ridiculously dumb as it just makes other teams quit once they see the banner. If you guys haven't noticed, the OTP community for PS3 actually died around March, which is a huge issue. Of course, I don't expect anything new in regards to EASHL as it seems like the developers spent most of their time "revamping" BAGM once again and going on their diet plans.

Sure the goalie animations look great, but like many and I have mentioned before, the new skating engine looks really choppy and it's setting up for cheese wars galore.

[Steve Carell]

Yeah EASHL is getting pretty dumb.

There are still lots of people online playing, but basically all of the top teams cheese top corners. Sure you can stop them, but it's ridiculously boring having to do so because you know it's what they always go for.

Teams always leave if they see the banner, even if it's just a Pro banner. I had an Amateur banner once and teams left on us.

Plus, if they don't leave because of a banner, they will usually leave if they see you have 2PPG or more.

There is NO penalty for quitting a game in the first minute of play(estimated). I've had teams quit because my team scored a goal in the first 30-40 seconds or so, and the game didn't count.

On top of that there's all the freezing and disconnections. Plenty of times I've been winning games and got disconnected and given a loss. Even at times we were losing and got disconnected and given a win.

I don't even think they should show stats anymore before EASHL games.

[SidneyRaymond]

Haven't been following the new features of nhl13 closely, anyone want to update me on what to expect?

So there's GM connected, new skating features.. anything else?

Is the new skating automatic? Would we have to press or hold a button to skate backwards?

[-Vintage Canuck-]

Inside Look: Oilers RNH and Devan Dubnyk Visit EA SPORTS Canada for Secret NHL 13 Challenge"

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Devan Dubnyk meeting the EA SPORTS NHL team

This past Tuesday, Edmonton Oilers young gun Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and goaltender Devan Dubnyk stopped by the

EA SPORTS Canada development studio. While they knew beforehand that they were going to play

NHL 13

, what they didn’t

know was that we had a secret Hockey Ultimate Team challenge in store for them.

RNH getting photo reference shots

Before the challenge began, we got both players into EA Capture (motion capture studio) to take some photo reference

that will be used to improve their likeness in-game. This is how we make sure RNH actually looks like RNH in-game.

Producer Sean Ramjagsingh showing the guys the new features in

NHL 13

From the Capture studio, the crew then went to the

NHL 13

dev area. Producer Sean Ramjagsingh walked RNH &

Dubnyk through the improvements made to the game, focusing on True Performance Skating and goaltending. Both

players were thoroughly impressed by the new features and were ready to get hands on.

Team RNH-Dubnyk vs. Team Rammer-Andy

In an epic battle, Producers Sean Ramjagsingh and Andy Agostini took on RNH & Dubnyk in a 2v2 slug fest. The Oilers

crew took an early lead against the Producers (Canucks), until Rammer and Andy rallied late to send the game into OT.

It took an insane shootout winner from Dubnyk to put the Oilers back on top.

RNH takes a shot from the rooftop trying to hit the net on the soccer field below

That’s when we decided to let them know about the secret event, the HUT Challenge. Neither athlete knew about the

competition beforehand, but both were confident they could easily dispatch their opponents. The challenge consisted

of three events: rooftop shooting, accuracy shooting and an

NHL 13

shootout. For the rooftop shooting challenge the

players even Producer Sean Ramjagsingh took part in the event, but it was RNH who won the rooftop shooting event.

Dubnyk ripping one at the top cheese target

In the target shooting challenge Dubnyk put up a fight, but at the end of the second challenge he was no match for

RNH’s soft touch. RNH nailed four targets in five shots to take a 2-0 lead in the competition.

Dubnyk celebrating as his in-game character robs the shooter

The final event of the challenge was an

NHL 13

shootout. With RNH up 2-0 and the event worth 2 points, there was

still a chance for Dubnyk to tie it up. It took 14 rounds but Dubnyk showed some clutch goal scoring ability and got it

done. After three events we needed a tiebreaker.

An intense Foosball match to decide it

To decide the winner, both athletes decided to play Foosball. First to ten took the challenge. It was tight but at the

end of the competition, only one could emerge victorious.

Dubnyk celebrating as he wins the 1

st

ever HUT Challenge in OT!

With a glorious final goal, Devan Dubnyk took the first ever HUT Challenge, defeating RNH after being down 2-0 in

the competition. As the victor, a special edition Devan Dubnyk HUT card will be created featuring boosted stats.

Congratulations to Devan!

RNH and Dubnyk pose for a post-challenge photo

After the competition was over, one winner emerged but RNH and Dubnyk were still on good terms. At least we hope

so since they room together. Could make for some awkward breakfast conversations.

http://www.easports....ecret-challenge

[Jägermeister]