Last week’s two-day NHL 11 Community Event went off without a hitch and before I get into some of the details, it would not have been as successful as it was if it were not for the quality of feedback brought to the event by our 13 community invites. From hardcore hockey enthusiasts to casual sports gamers, the group received the full attention of many of the developers who were fully involved in the process as the group logged close to 200 hours of game time among them.
“It was the best one we’ve ever had,” replied Lead Gameplay Designer Jason Rupert who led many of the feedback discussions and was extremely hands-on with the representatives from many sites including Steve “Qb” Shaulis who moderates the NHL forums on Operation Sports.
“The devs were quite open about what could and couldn’t be done in this cycle,” Shaulis writes in his Arrival and Day One recap, “but at no point did they dismiss an idea or attempt to avoid discussing something.”
“I was greatly impressed with the number and length of the feedback discussion sessions as well as the developers taking notes (usually Gurn, Nate and Redshirt),” added Mandy “LadyLuck34″ Paez from Gamertag Radio in her NHL 11 Community Event Write-up. Check out LadyLuck34’s pics from the event here.
Day One started with presentations from Creative Director, David Littman who walked the group through the new features of NHL 11 to the wide-eyed approval of everyone present.
“They spoke about what they had and what they loved to see in the game from their point of view,” writes Luc Wolfe in his EA SPORTS NHL 11 Community Recap on crashthenet.ca. “The even spoke about some ideas they took from our websites.”
“A lot of what we saw was very impressive, and we learned a bit about how decisions regarding the game are made,” adds EA SPORTS Game Changer and NHL moderator, Stephen “LuGer33″ Boraske, in his NHL 11 Community Day Recap, “and also that the developers DO READ THE FORUMS. A LOT.”
For the next eight hours the group flipped through prepared notes searching for bugs and things that irked their respective communities, and I’m glad to say that there were many pleased looks throughout the room. Representing the EA SPORTS NHL forums, LuGer33 probably had the biggest list of all. “I had myself a packet from the forums (gameplay fixes, non-gameplay must fixes, etc), and I started heading through the game and checking off items on my list at a very satisfying rate.”
Qb adds, “I ignored the cheers, gasps, and ruckus caused by 13 other gamers getting their first taste of the game to do my appointed duties on behalf of the OS community. After cruising through the options - a surprise or two there - I chose the Penguins, went straight to their roster and proceeded to grin from ear to ear.”
The group provided quite a bit of feedback for Rupert, Producers Gurn Sumal & Nate Ng, along with Sean Ramjagsingh who joined the event for Day two and on this second day the team was able to produce a new build with some fixes directly from the feedback that was provided.
“I played a slightly newer version Friday than I did on Thursday because Rupert actually worked on tweaking the build until 1AM in order to be ready for day two of the event,” writes Ed “IrishSniper87″ from his NHL 11 Community Event Thread on HFBoards.com. “The devs wanted us to give them as much feedback as possible, all the way from minor issues and wants, to much larger issues and things that we might want in NHL 12. Gurn and Nate in particular spent almost the entire two days observing, taking notes, and interacting with us. It was incredible.”
Before the guys got their hands on their game controllers on Day Two, they first got their hands into some sweet gear for a morning skate with some of the developers and Abbotsford Heat coach, Jim Playfair at 8-Rinks in Burnaby.
“I met Rammer at the rink early,” writes Jordan “Vicodin14″ Patricio from the EASHL Forums on Operation Sports in his EA SPORTS Experience article. “I got to see the surprise early…brand new Bauer Vapor X:40 one piece composite sticks for each of us, a set of Bauer Vapor X:60 gloves and a home or away EA SPORTS NHL 11 jersey.”
“Having played in the NHL and coached for a number of years (Playfair) was really kind to us for not being very good at hockey,” quips Matt Elliott, one of the voices of the Target Demographic podcast hosted on Platform Nation, from his NHL 11 Community Day Experience article.
“We did some passing drills, skating drills, cycling drills, and ended up forming a scrimmage match with some of the developers,” adds Graeme Huysmans in his thread about the event on the IGN Boards. “I actually ended up scoring a diving one-timer during one of our drills, which was pretty cool. At the end of the skate, we managed to witness Jim smash his stick against the boards, almost taking out Epik from The Breakaway.” Video is on its way ;)
Following the AM skate, it was back to the studio for a Q&A with Playfair and then more gaming on the new build with more areas of the game to dive deeper into. Though the group was unable to share their impressions of the game at the time, two announcements were made from our PR department including a First Look at the All-New Real-Time Physics Engine in NHL 11 on Day One and the official announcement of the Canadian Hockey League in NHL 11 on Day Two. Check out all the latest screenshots on the NHL Facebook page.
From here, those that were present are now patiently putting together their impressions for a summer filled with feature releases and tidbits about the game. If you want to get a glimpse of the game before the September release, make sure you’re following these folks above who were here at EA Canada who had some serious hands-on experiences with the game. With E3 around the corner, Stanley Cup Finals, and upcoming NHL draft, we’ll be sure to be dropping the news you’ll all be waiting to hear about next year’s NHL title.
“It was the best one we’ve ever had,” replied Lead Gameplay Designer Jason Rupert who led many of the feedback discussions and was extremely hands-on with the representatives from many sites including Steve “Qb” Shaulis who moderates the NHL forums on Operation Sports.
“The devs were quite open about what could and couldn’t be done in this cycle,” Shaulis writes in his Arrival and Day One recap, “but at no point did they dismiss an idea or attempt to avoid discussing something.”
“I was greatly impressed with the number and length of the feedback discussion sessions as well as the developers taking notes (usually Gurn, Nate and Redshirt),” added Mandy “LadyLuck34″ Paez from Gamertag Radio in her NHL 11 Community Event Write-up. Check out LadyLuck34’s pics from the event here.
Day One started with presentations from Creative Director, David Littman who walked the group through the new features of NHL 11 to the wide-eyed approval of everyone present.
“They spoke about what they had and what they loved to see in the game from their point of view,” writes Luc Wolfe in his EA SPORTS NHL 11 Community Recap on crashthenet.ca. “The even spoke about some ideas they took from our websites.”
“A lot of what we saw was very impressive, and we learned a bit about how decisions regarding the game are made,” adds EA SPORTS Game Changer and NHL moderator, Stephen “LuGer33″ Boraske, in his NHL 11 Community Day Recap, “and also that the developers DO READ THE FORUMS. A LOT.”
For the next eight hours the group flipped through prepared notes searching for bugs and things that irked their respective communities, and I’m glad to say that there were many pleased looks throughout the room. Representing the EA SPORTS NHL forums, LuGer33 probably had the biggest list of all. “I had myself a packet from the forums (gameplay fixes, non-gameplay must fixes, etc), and I started heading through the game and checking off items on my list at a very satisfying rate.”
Qb adds, “I ignored the cheers, gasps, and ruckus caused by 13 other gamers getting their first taste of the game to do my appointed duties on behalf of the OS community. After cruising through the options - a surprise or two there - I chose the Penguins, went straight to their roster and proceeded to grin from ear to ear.”
The group provided quite a bit of feedback for Rupert, Producers Gurn Sumal & Nate Ng, along with Sean Ramjagsingh who joined the event for Day two and on this second day the team was able to produce a new build with some fixes directly from the feedback that was provided.
“I played a slightly newer version Friday than I did on Thursday because Rupert actually worked on tweaking the build until 1AM in order to be ready for day two of the event,” writes Ed “IrishSniper87″ from his NHL 11 Community Event Thread on HFBoards.com. “The devs wanted us to give them as much feedback as possible, all the way from minor issues and wants, to much larger issues and things that we might want in NHL 12. Gurn and Nate in particular spent almost the entire two days observing, taking notes, and interacting with us. It was incredible.”
Before the guys got their hands on their game controllers on Day Two, they first got their hands into some sweet gear for a morning skate with some of the developers and Abbotsford Heat coach, Jim Playfair at 8-Rinks in Burnaby.
“I met Rammer at the rink early,” writes Jordan “Vicodin14″ Patricio from the EASHL Forums on Operation Sports in his EA SPORTS Experience article. “I got to see the surprise early…brand new Bauer Vapor X:40 one piece composite sticks for each of us, a set of Bauer Vapor X:60 gloves and a home or away EA SPORTS NHL 11 jersey.”
“Having played in the NHL and coached for a number of years (Playfair) was really kind to us for not being very good at hockey,” quips Matt Elliott, one of the voices of the Target Demographic podcast hosted on Platform Nation, from his NHL 11 Community Day Experience article.
“We did some passing drills, skating drills, cycling drills, and ended up forming a scrimmage match with some of the developers,” adds Graeme Huysmans in his thread about the event on the IGN Boards. “I actually ended up scoring a diving one-timer during one of our drills, which was pretty cool. At the end of the skate, we managed to witness Jim smash his stick against the boards, almost taking out Epik from The Breakaway.” Video is on its way ;)
Following the AM skate, it was back to the studio for a Q&A with Playfair and then more gaming on the new build with more areas of the game to dive deeper into. Though the group was unable to share their impressions of the game at the time, two announcements were made from our PR department including a First Look at the All-New Real-Time Physics Engine in NHL 11 on Day One and the official announcement of the Canadian Hockey League in NHL 11 on Day Two. Check out all the latest screenshots on the NHL Facebook page.
From here, those that were present are now patiently putting together their impressions for a summer filled with feature releases and tidbits about the game. If you want to get a glimpse of the game before the September release, make sure you’re following these folks above who were here at EA Canada who had some serious hands-on experiences with the game. With E3 around the corner, Stanley Cup Finals, and upcoming NHL draft, we’ll be sure to be dropping the news you’ll all be waiting to hear about next year’s NHL title.
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