When it was finally confirmed last week that the NHL 2K series would be halted on the 360/PS3 it was stated that NHL 2K11 would in fact be released on the Wii. At the time it made sense considering the lesser development costs and having no competition on the casual heavy console. Now though it looks like that competition has arrived as a Walmart blog posting has revealed that EA Sports will be bringing NHL 11 to the Wii.

EA is going to be bringing their NHL game to the Wii system this year for the 1^st time. They showed us a video last week and it really looks like it could be something special.

This is a significant blow to the potential of NHL 2K11 on the Wii and the future of the series on other consoles (which already appeared very bleak). The advantage that 2K11 has is the base of players that purchased last year. It will be a battle to keep those players though, let alone grow sales, when faced with another hockey offering on the market. EA NHL has become the hockey game of choice on the HD consoles with reach going far beyond just fans of the sport. That mainstream appeal will give it an edge on a console where purchases are made primarily off titles and reputations. Team sports games generally have not translated that well or sold well on the Wii. That being said the companies continue to try and tap into the large user base that the console offers.

Back in December I broke the story that 2K Sports was likely benching the NHL 2K franchise. The company did not confirm that was the case at the time but they continued to let the rumors swirl which was indication enough that the series was being put to a halt.

Today 2K Sports confirmed (via Kotaku) that there will be no NHL 2K11 for the 360 and PS3 but they may return for 2K12. The series is not completely dead however as the Nintendo Wii will be will be receiving NHL 2K11.

“We’re doing that because we’re so committed to competing that the team needs a breather,” explained Feder during the Take-Two first quarter financial results conference call. ” The following year we will come back a lot stronger. We have an intention to win and we’re going to maximize the opportunity.”

It is difficult to imagine a game taking a year off and then coming back and performing better in a marketplace where any stragglers who haven’t switched to EA Sports NHL series will be doing so. Not only will 2K need to recapture those people just to break even on what they have now but they will need to find a way to get new consumers to give NHL 2K a chance. The only way they can do this is by innovating in some form or fashion that will differentiate itself from the competition. That would require an investment that does not seem viable under the current circumstances.

Late last night I posted an article regarding the lack of NHL 2K11 being mentioned in the list of titles for Take Two over the next fiscal year. NHL 2K had been included in the report in previous years making its omission glaring. The situation is mirroring that of College Hoops before it was officially canceled.

Chris Littmann at First Cuts was able to get comment from 2K Sports regarding the future of NHL 2K. As he points out the following statement speaks volumes as to the situation.

“We are currently in the process of evaluating our sports portfolio and have not announced any new NHL titles at this time.”

It is safe to say that if they had been questioned whether there would be an NBA 2K11 the response would have been completely different. Certainly they would have wanted to put out the fire of speculation building and it would have been easy for them to do so. That they didn’t makes it seem even more likely that NHL 2K is on the way out.

Ever since Take Two decided to shut down College Hoops due to the lack of sales potential vs development costs the next game that appeared to be in danger was the NHL 2K series. Sales have been dropping to miniscule levels as EA Sports NHL has grown and dominated the market. While it has been clear that resources have been limited with NHL 2K there have been no official statements made as to the future of the franchise.

However now there is an indication that NHL 2K11 may not be in development. In the Q4 fiscal report from Take Two on Thursday the games planned for the next fiscal year were laid out. Noticeably absent from the list is the mention of NHL 2K11.

One might think it was just an omission or the game was too far out from release to be cited. That is not the case though as NBA 2K11 is included and the NBA game comes out a month after the NHL game. The list is based on all titles planned for the coming year.

I went back to the previous year’s press release for Q4 2008 results which does display NHL 2K10 as being on the horizon. The 2007 Q4 report mentions NHL 2K9. That suggests there is a reason that it’s missing this time around.

When College Hoops was canceled it wasn’t until mid-January that Take Two made an official statement. Interestingly enough it was missing from the mentioned titles in that fiscal report but it wasn’t known until a month later that it was gone for good. That seems to be the exact situation that we have here with NHL 2K.

So there really may be something to this. Just recently it was 2K Sports MLB license deal that was stated to be the drag on the company but no mention was made regarding NHL one way or the other. Should any news make its way out regarding the future of NHL 2K I will be sure to update.

(Update) With response from 2K Sports

EA Sports has released the full list of details on what the upcoming patch for NHL 10 will include. The game has faced some scattered criticism over freezes, online performance, Be a GM mode, and the downloadable content boosts but has largely been well received otherwise. The patch is expected to release by November 5th though there is no guarantee as it ultimately is dependent on the certification process. Continue on for the full list and leave your thoughts in the comments.

• Fixed the exploit to slap-shot a 5-hole goal from below the face-off circle.

• Increased speed of passes with Manual passing on.

• Reduced the ability to boardplay players who are far away from you.

• Tuning of trade logic.

• Added the ability for a user to apply boost slots to authentic helmets.

• Fixed the bug that would make a player sometimes exit pass blocking (L1/LT) when they got close to their goalie.

• Fixed the bug that would prevent offline Be a Pro player from getting ice-time in some situations.

• Fixed a crash that could happen on delayed penalty shots.

• Improved logic for how fighting affects teamplay scores in Be a Pro.

• Prevent L1/LT from allowing players to bypass stumble animations.

• Improvements to goalies to reduce 5-hole goals in some contexts.

• Tuned thresholds for injuries from hard shots.

• Added the ability to escape a prefight circle by pressing L2/LB.

• Fixed the bug that made it possible to “shoot” a puck slowly out of the one-handed animation such that nobody could pick it up.

• Improved goalie aggressiveness when poking the puck on cross-crease passes.

• Improved the ability of defensemen are able to do puck pickups behind them to help defend cross-crease passes.

• Reduced the ability to stuff the puck through the goalie by running into him without shooting (most common on wraparounds and reaching puck pickups).

• Reduced accidental interference in front of net.

• Fixed the offline Be a Pro line-change bug where the player is stuck at the bench.

• Prevent slap passes from being deflected at large angles.

• Fixed the bug where the goalie does not react to a shot if he’s banging his stick on the ice to signal the end of a penalty.

• Fixed the bug that makes flip dumps to the middle of the offensive zone go over the glass frequently.

• Fixed the bug that makes CPU center win draws to the the same side all of the time.

• Fixed the bug in the stat tracking of passing.

• Prevent accidental saucer passes after receiving the puck while trying to poke check (because both actions are on R1/RT).

• Tuning to reduce occurrence of tripping penalties when the player being tripped is stationary or moving slowly.

• Tuning to game logic to make it a little easier to stay up on the NHL team during 4-game trial in BAP.

• Many other changes to improve our ability to refine the gameplay tuning with via tuner sets.

NHL 10 came off a year where pretty much everything worked properly at and following launch, even with the introduction of the EASHL. That has not been the case this year. Initially it was the freezing issues with the game. They may have alleviated some that were being seen after a server fix however they remain a problem for some. Now though, and seemingly more widespread, the EA Forums are littered with threads and I have received numerous accounts directly relating to severe lag online.

The NHL series is especially popular due to its online modes and performance. Having lag become a major detriment to the enjoyment being had online is something that almost certainly will be addressed and hopefully that will be done immediately. To this point there has been no statement from EA regarding the lag that so many are experiencing.

Both NHL 10 and NHL 2K10 released yesterday and reports have been coming in of freezing issues with both. Various forums have posts from users who are having their games crash. For NHL 10 problems seem to be occurring in random places within games as well as during menu navigation or while in lobbies. NHL 2K10 sees the freeze happen primarily on face-offs when the ref does not drop the puck and users have yet to be able to narrow down the possible circumstances that could be causing it.

How widespread these issues may be is very difficult to assess. For both games the reports represent a small percentage of users within the forums. There has yet to be any sort of rush of people who normally don’t visit the forums as they seek out an answer to a freezing problem they are experiencing. That may be an indication that the problems are happening only sparingly and as with most games there are usually initial hiccups for a handful of people that relate to the hardware instead. Still for anyone who encounters a freeze it would be very frustrating and if it happens frequently would render the game essentially useless.

EA Sports has not directly stated that it was responsible for the issues, but they have noted that the online servers were overloaded on the first day due to higher than expected demand and have been fixed. Given that the freezes were being seen in different areas of the game having the connection fail could potentially explain that. So if you had freezes yesterday and everything is fine today post about it in the comments. 2K Sports has not made any statement about addressing the freezing problems their consumers are having. I will update this posting as soon as any new details are made available.

The NHL franchise from EA Sports has been breaking ground over the past few years along with the FIFA franchise. For sports that are not overly popular in the US, these games have proven that quality, depth, and fun factor can result in them reaching consumers who aren’t necessarily fans or close followers.

While reviews have been glowing (currently averaging an 9.1) NHL 10 is currently up over 09 just barely as some of the reviews have actually been lower. This is a curious development because it doesn’t sound as if there is anything specifically wrong with the game, just that it isn’t a huge leap over last year. 09 was considered by many to be the best sports game of the year and it won by far the most awards for that designation.

So it seems that EA is stuck with a Catch-22 here and are being penalized because of the quality and value of the previous iteration. I just find that interesting because it goes to show why these companies add what we might consider gimmicks to market every year. NHL 10 didn’t really do that, instead concentrating primarily on improving the already highly regarded gameplay and multitude of modes. The closest thing that could be considered gimmicky in 10 is the first person fighting. Like it or not, those are the things that resonate with reviewers.

While the trend with what reviewers look for and their influence on the games could be considered disturbing, I do somewhat understand the sentiment because I found myself less interested with NHL 10 than I was going into NHL 09. The EASHL was such a resounding success and so much fun initially but even that wore off. For someone who isn’t a hockey fan I’m finding it difficult to get excited about more of the same even if there are a bunch of improvements made. I might feel differently if they had allowed for you to make custom logos and jerseys for EASHL. The move towards downloadable content boosts is also off-putting especially so because it affects the online experience.

So I’m curious for those of you out there with NHL 10, what do you think of the game so far? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

After several EA Sports releases with demos that either did not do a good job of displaying improvements or being tied into preorders in some manner comes a reversal of sorts with NHL 10. The demo is available to everyone (no preorder requirements) and is now up for the 360 and will be out for the PS3 next Thursday. Not only does the demo offer extended stretches of play but it also has unique scenarios and two different modes of play. Skill level, game style, and camera angles are adjustable. Somehow it comes in at only 765.36 MB despite all the content it offers.

To begin with there is a quick player creation followed by an interactive tutorial. You can get a feel for new features such as the fighting and board play along with basic shooting, skating, and defensive skills.

One portion of the demo allows you to jump into the 3rd period of Game 7 of the Finals in “Battle for the Cup” mode. What happens the first time is you are dropped into it with the Penguins up 2-0 over the Red Wings. Sidney Crosby has been injured and you have to decide whether to play him (at decreased capacity) or sit him. What really makes this unique is that after this first occasion, every time you play the demo it supersims to Game 7 so the injuries, stats, and scores are different providing a new experience each time.

You can also try out the beginnings of “Be a Pro” mode in the 3rd period of the Prospects Game. You can be any player type and try to perform well enough to be drafted by an NHL team.

Hopefully this is a sign of what EA can do with demos going forward rather than providing the abbreviated quarters method that has become so stale and frustrating. This is a really impressive sampling of what the game has to offer and shows supreme confidence in the quality of NHL 10.

There has been a lot of discussion recently over the pre-order bonuses that EA along with Gamestop have been offering. For NCAA Football 10 it was an additional 13 Teambuilder slots, while Fight Night Round 4 and Madden 10 offered early or extended demos. With the release of NHL 10 approaching the bonus for that game has been revealed.

Reserve NHL 10 and get the in-game Kane-Bauer boost Pack. Patrick Kane’s Authentic Bauer Gloves, Skates and Stick. Plus a 9 point boost for your be a pro or EASHL Player. Available online or in-store while supplies last.

While something along these lines is preferred to the demo situations because it is more of a bonus than it is penalizing those who don’t go out of their way to purchase at Gamestop, it isn’t a perfect situation either. I’m not thrilled to see that people will be getting a free boost to their EASHL players while everyone else will be at a disadvantage online through no doing of their own. This actually looks like something that will be available via paid downloadable content amongst other options. Given the level of cheating that has gone on in EASHL it is somewhat disconcerting to think that now they may be promoting DLC cheats that can be used in the mode.

Of course the most ironic thing is with the used game market cutting into profits, Gamestop is the main culprit of pushing used copies. So in turn EA has been attempting to undercut that by making new copies more appealing using one time codes included with the game and charging for those features if not purchasing new. The two sides are at odds with each other in that regard yet they are in bed together with this pre-order business. EA benefits by assuring the initial rush is all new copies while Gamestop gets people in their stores that may have bought the games elsewhere.