NHL 12 was not with out its flaws. Physics wise it suffered from many of the issues that plagued the new FIFA physics engine (although guys doing triple axels over a slight push seems a bit more believable in FIFA). But any man who thought that EA was just going to seamlessly integrate a new physics engine in the first year was being a bit naive, I fully expect NHL13 to be much more balance and believable. What I'm really looking for in NHL 13 is a little imagination.

What I mean when I say imagination is that feature wise NHL has grown stagnant which is disappointing because fundamentally the gameplay continues to surpass expectations. One of the best examples of this is NHL Be a Pro, the mode (that is now a standard in all sports games) allows players to take the role of just one hockey player and bring him up through the ranks of the Canadian Junior system, the NHL draft, the AHL, and ultimately the NHL. And while the gameplay in this mode is awesome and so easy to lose hours of ones life to, the features the mode offers hasn't changed too much in 3-4 years. This past year added a full Canadian Junior season prior to the draft, which was awesome, but the mode is lack so much more to really drag the player in to feeling like they're a hockey play, so here's my suggestions...

• Expanded off ice features- Now I'm not suggesting they go all hokey like NCAA did a few years back and give you tests on whether you want to enter a wing eating contest or not, but they should present you with a more realistic idea of what issues players deal with. Media for instance is a huge thing, from the constant spot light of being a top rated prospect to just trying to get some attention by being a lowly rated one. On the NHL level media is huge, they make or break a players perception in a city, they can glorify him into a hero or villainize him and run him out of town. A player should certainly be aware of how he's being perceived.

• Deeper contractual aspects- I want to know what's going on with my players contract. As it stands once you resign with a team that's the last you hear of your contract until the next resigning. I want to be able to hold out, I want, to be able to demand a trade, I want to be able to hear the teams reasoning for why they're doing what. One of the coolest moments I had in NHL gaming history was NHL 09. My player was crushing the Art Ross race with the Flyers, we were in first place and then for some reason I was traded. It was wild, but I was left to use my imagination as to why it happened.

• International play/The inclusion of other leagues- This one is so simple because all the necessary components are already there. We already have international teams, we already have alternative Euro leagues, include them in BAP. International hockey is so important in hockey, it's a shame it's under utilized.

Thoughts?

All your ideas sound great! As a swedish hockey fan I would love to be able to play in the Swedish Elite League before going overseas.

The last NHL I bought was 10, and one thing that bothered me was that it felt like my career was moving too fast, as I went from AHL to first line in NHL in less than one season. But I guess that could be blamed on me playing on the wrong difficulty setting.

I don't think more off ice stuff is a good idea. NHL 11 came with my second PS3 and I tried it. I felt that there was too much time wasted in menus than actually playing hockey. I do agree with you about other leagues though. This morning I was looking at my Sergei Zubov card from 1992 when he played for Central Red Army and realized that the KHL has probably never appeared in an NHL game. I checked the giant bomb wiki and it seems they've never been in any video game, let alone an NHL one. I would think EA could at least sign a deal and put out a KHL game in Russia using the NHL game as the backbone of the tech.

I didn't like NHL 11 very much. I still prefer NHL Hitz 2002. I'm not a big sports gamer though. I only like ones that either embrace their arcadey nature or ones that get simulation correct. The NHL games don't reach the level of sim that I want. I feel like the only sports games that have gotten sim right are F1, Tiger Woods and MLB The Show.

@mosespippy said:

I don't think more off ice stuff is a good idea. NHL 11 came with my second PS3 and I tried it. I felt that there was too much time wasted in menus than actually playing hockey. I do agree with you about other leagues though. This morning I was looking at my Sergei Zubov card from 1992 when he played for Central Red Army and realized that the KHL has probably never appeared in an NHL game. I checked the giant bomb wiki and it seems they've never been in any video game, let alone an NHL one. I would think EA could at least sign a deal and put out a KHL game in Russia using the NHL game as the backbone of the tech.

I didn't like NHL 11 very much. I still prefer NHL Hitz 2002. I'm not a big sports gamer though. I only like ones that either embrace their arcadey nature or ones that get simulation correct. The NHL games don't reach the level of sim that I want. I feel like the only sports games that have gotten sim right are F1, Tiger Woods and MLB The Show.

The trouble with the KHL is that it views itself as being a competitor to the NHL as opposed to a supplemental league, and as a result the relationship between the NHL and KHL has been frosty to say the least. So the KHL would likely never sign off on appearing in an NHL game unless it was called NHL/KHL 13, and they probably wouldn't even go for that unless they were paid just as much. But honestly the game can live with out the KHL, it has the German leagues, it has the SEL, it has a fair amount of Euro leagues, it just doesn't use them at all.

Also I'm not really following one the "too much time wasted in menus". I mean if you want to play hockey you could most definitely just play the quick play and be in and out like that, but if you want to play franchise the whole point is kind of to get lost in menus. Complaining about menu's in something like BAP or Franchise is like playing Final Fantasy and being upset over turn based combat, it's a core part of the feature. Also as I'm sure anyone who has spent extended time with BAP can tell you, after playing game after game you almost want something to break up that monotony. The whole point of the feature is to put you in a players shoes, so why not actually do it?

@WVUEers said:

• Expanded off ice features- Now I'm not suggesting they go all hokey like NCAA did a few years back and give you tests on whether you want to enter a wing eating contest or not, but they should present you with a more realistic idea of what issues players deal with. Media for instance is a huge thing, from the constant spot light of being a top rated prospect to just trying to get some attention by being a lowly rated one. On the NHL level media is huge, they make or break a players perception in a city, they can glorify him into a hero or villainize him and run him out of town. A player should certainly be aware of how he's being perceived.

• Deeper contractual aspects- I want to know what's going on with my players contract. As it stands once you resign with a team that's the last you hear of your contract until the next resigning. I want to be able to hold out, I want, to be able to demand a trade, I want to be able to hear the teams reasoning for why they're doing what. One of the coolest moments I had in NHL gaming history was NHL 09. My player was crushing the Art Ross race with the Flyers, we were in first place and then for some reason I was traded. It was wild, but I was left to use my imagination as to why it happened.

• International play/The inclusion of other leagues- This one is so simple because all the necessary components are already there. We already have international teams, we already have alternative Euro leagues, include them in BAP. International hockey is so important in hockey, it's a shame it's under utilized.

Thoughts?

You're spot on with these. I really want to see more of this sort of stuff. To be honest, this is definitely one of those years where I'm not sure if NHL 13 is worth it since I still have 12.

I would love to see more media integration with your BAP. I think NBA 2k12 did this in a great way. After each game you'd answer questions from the media which would effect your status with fans, team mates, etc. Contract situations could use some work as well like you mention. I'd love to see more interaction with the coaching staff and GM as well. I'm still hoping some day we'll see the NCAA and Frozen Four in the NHL series. I'd really enjoy playing as some of the college hockey teams.

You know what I'd like for NHL 13? A goalie mode that isn't cheap as shit with cross-crease plays and piss-poor shot percentages. Just once I'd like to be able to get through a game with 7 minute periods and have decent stats. Or you know what? Add that "sim to next shift" for goalies. Only play when the puck is in your zone. I play goal in real life and while the NHL series is the best a hockey video game has ever been, they've done butt-fuck all for fellows between pipes.

That really gets under my skin.

@WVUEers: The part where just playing hockey in quick play falls apart (at least in NHL 11) is that you will only be able to get 4 trophies doing so. If you are going to play hockey then why do it in a mode where you receive almost no rewards when you can do it in a mode that provides greater rewards? That's the psychology that trophies and achievements bring and EA uses it to funnel players into the game modes that they spend the most time working on and have monetized the most (with purchasable unlocks and trading cards).

Even Final Fantasy XII realized that menus aren't fun and included a feature where you automated your combat based on certain situations such as "if party leader HP<40% then cast curaga". Then in Final Fantasy XIII most of the game can be played by pressing the autobattle button or change paradigm button. Menus in Final Fantasy seem to be becoming less and less important.

@mosespippy: I mean if trophies are your sole motivation then why even play? Your original complaint was that there wasn't enough hockey, there's plenty of hockey, you just don't like that they evenly dispersed their achievements/trophies to other modes not that they haven't provided you with "enough hockey". It's not like trophies are a huge part of the game so they're not forcing you in anyway to play these modes you detest.

@WVUEers: My biggest problem isn't that there isn't enough hockey. It's that the hockey isn't near close enough to a real sim for me to be interested. As someone who follows the sport closely all the little things that the game gets wrong on the ice immediately jump out at me as broken. Without any competition the game isn't going to get much improvement either. I'll sit out until the next generation comes along and see if they eventually get there.