With the dawn of a new console generation, NHL was the only sports series to not jump for an upgrade. That’s going to change as EA announced NHL 15 will be available for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. Sorry Wii U owners. Like usual, the title will come with some upgrades over its predecessors.
The big one this year is real-world physics. For players, this means hits feel realer, and there can be pile-ups for the puck. For the puck, this means it should have more of a weight to it. And hopefully that means there won’t be those weird bounces everywhere. The ice has also been revamped to prevent that. Players will now have three layers. The first is the body, second is equipment and third is the jersey. EA says they will operate independently from each other, so players interactions with everything should feel more authentic.
There’s a bit of a shake up at commentary this year as NBC’s commentating team of Mike Emrick and Eddie Olczyk will provide play by play and colour commentary while TSN’s Ray Ferraro will bring ice level incites. So, There’s a mix of American and Canadian broadcasting here. These are just a few of the additions EA has announced for the upcoming NHL game. They also wrote about new crowd animations, smarter AI, and authentic arenas.
On top of all this there will also be a cover vote. Fans can vote online for their favourite player in a tournament style selection. They can also double their vote by using twitter or instagram by using #NHL15______. That blank is the players last name. Votes with the same name will only count once a day.This years candidates are: Boston Bruins centre Patrice Bergeron, San Jose Sharks centre Logan Couture, LA Kings defenseman Drew Doughty, Colorado Avalanche centre Matt Duchene, Ottawa Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson, Toronto Maple Leafs winger Phil Kessel, St. Louis Blues winger T.J Oshie, and Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K Subban.
NHL 15 is slated for a fall 2014 release, just in time for the NHL season. As for the cover vote, fans have until May 18 to vote in the quarterfinals.
