NHL 10 Community Playdate

NBA LIVE 10 Launches and It's ON!

Since the demo launched over three weeks ago, close to a million gamers got a taste of NBA LIVE 10 and have marked their calendars for the release and EA SPORTS latest pro basketball title. Well, today’s the day we hit the hardwood and welcome fans back for a big year of tomahawk dunks, behind-the-back passes, and ankle-breaking drives.

Linden to Stick to Virtual Ice and Guarantees "No Comeback"

In preparation for tonight’s Midnight Launch at the Robson and Granville Future Shop, former Canuck Trevor Linden got his hands on NHL 10 alongside Producer David Littman and some of the local press.

FTW - Hockey Time

September is one of my favourite months of the year, not only because I get a year older (or despite it, that is) but the presents I receive are usually in the form of one of my all-time favorite games, NHL 10. This year NHL 10 hits the streets next week on Tuesday the 15th and for the first time we will be hosting a couple of midnight releases at Future Shops in Toronto and Vancouver. With President Obama welcoming the Pens to the White House today and team prospects hitting the ice this week, it's officially time to think hockey.

Growing up in Vancouver I've been a fan of the Canucks since I was allowed as a kid to stay up late in '82 to watch their magical first run into the Stanley Cup Finals against the New York Islanders. The series didn't go the way Canucks fans wanted it to, but it was a great run and a great year for the guys who wore the Flying V's. At seven years old I was hooked on the game and the team, and over the years as the jerseys and the team changed, I longed for them to return to the finals for another chance at their first Cup.

Then came '94 and that chance against the other New York team, the Rangers. In a battle where players on both teams left it all on the ice, the series would go seven games and the Rangers would win the Cup by a goal. One of the most memorable pictures is of the team's captain Trevor Linden leaning his head on goaltender Kirk McLean's mask after the loss. It signified all the sweat and tears and eventual heartache that came with coming so close to capturing the holy grail of hockey.

Back then while at UBC, my buddies and I relived the series looking for different outcomes on the SNES with NHL 95 and spent more hours playing the video game than I should have. We'd set up tournaments and battle throughout the school year and I even remembered playing games to simulate what we thought would happen in games to come. We didn't care that the game wasn't as authentic as it is today, we only cared that we could be play as our favorite team and feel the rush of scoring the game winner (most of the time with the dreaded one-timer goals). We always wondered, "Could it get any better than this???"

Your damn right it could and next week the series that has received the Sports Game of the Year nod for the past two years isn't holding back with NHL 10. The team followed up '09 with 3-on-3 NHL Arcade and still managed to put in over 200 gameplay improvements to kick it up a notch for this year's game. The producers have been providing the community with regular blogs and videos and screenshots to whet gamers' appetites. Even the demo was one like none other giving NHL fans new and old to the series a taste of the new Battle for the Cup and Be a Pro modes.

And so with Linden retired, there's time for him to take up gaming and what better game to do so than with NHL 10 where he can don the '94 uni's or, better yet, go old skool with the Flying V's in this year's game. Recreate those Stanley Cup Finals and hope for a different outcome in the new Battle for the Cup mode which has been implemented into the game very nicely. Or just jump into Season Mode and play with Luongo fresh off one of the most lucrative contracts ever for a Canuck (is Gillis a genius or what?). A whole other blog there in itself but something that I may look into with some of my own players with the new Be a GM mode.

Like most hockey fans, I'm excited at this time of year as the release of the game next week means that the season is right around the corner. Can this be the year my 'nucks go FTW and finally put it together? Again, another blog for another time.

Next week however, join Trevor Linden along with me and the game producers at Future Shop on Granville & Robson Monday night for the Midnight Release event. Be first to pick up a copy and see if you have the stick skills to bring home the Cup yourself. And for those of you in Toronto (boooo! Lol), you can join other NHL producers along with former captain Wendel Clark and current Leaf Ian White at the Toronto Life Square Future Shop. It's time to go FTW with one of the Best Titles of The Year!

Tonight We Dine With Kings

Today the LA Kings had their opening day of LA Kings Fest and EA SPORTS was to not only be a part of the festivities with a large chunk of space carved out with systems set up to show off NHL 10, we were also invited to meet some of the Kings prior to their walking on to the stage to meet their fans at the Nokia Center.

FTW - These guys have played before

Over the weekend the LA Kings kicked off their 2009-10 season with interactive events and face-to-face time among fans at the first ever Hockey Fest in LA.

Tiger maintains attitude during 4-shot swing on the 16th to win Bridgestone for 70th victory

Photo courtesy of Greenwood/Getty Images

A week after he wins the Buick Open after an up and down series of rounds, and three weeks after missing the cut at The British Open, Tiger went to work this week at the Bridgestone Invitational and hit an 8-iron on the par-5 16^th hole, 182 yards, to put the ball within one foot of the cup. A gimmie.

Tiger started the round three strokes back of Padraig Harrington who also hit his first shot in the rough, though on the opposite side on the right of the 16^th. Tiger had to punch his ball out to the fairway leaving him a long third. Padraig, however, looked to clear a bunker on the left leaving him a little closer for a third shot, though a risky play. He would barely clear the bunker and give himself a terrible uphill lie on the lip to go at the tight flag, no more than three paces to the drink.

With Tiger to shoot and down a shot just after giving up the lead following bogeys on 13 and 14, this was one of the biggest tests for him all weekend. You could see him holding himself back from exploding when he teed off into the rough and maintaining his attitude. He’s recently been called out following his missing the cut at The Open for being a little more emotional than others following a poor shot and you he knew the best way to turn things right back around was a perfect third shot and put the pressure right back on Harrington.

He took out his 8-iron. Someone better tell him that it’s 182-yards and not 138. Oh, wait, that’s my shot…he can hit that. Full swing, power at 110%, a little left to right wind. With those two bogeys behind him and a chance to swing himself right back into the lead assuming Harrington will leave himself a tough 4^th, Tiger took back the club for the swing and in an instant hit the poor golf ball as hard as he could and looked to fly the ball over the water and next to pin. An improbable shot…unless you’re the number one player in the world.

The ball flew majestically high and landed to left of the hole a few yards past it. The ball spun back to the hole as close-to-perfect as one could be less than a foot from the pin. Check.

Harrington, the defending PGA Champion to be played next week, would put his shot over green and into the deep stuff. He would then follow with an attempt to full-swing a flier to within a few feet, a tough shot regardless, but knowing that Tiger’s ball is sitting a few inches from the cup for birdie made this his forth even more pressure filled.

His swing would get more of the ball than he wanted to as it bounced next to the hole and skipped into the pond. With that shot, he would have to pace back to the other side of water and back-up to get a full swing at the hole, close to a hundred yards from the hole. Check-mate.

By the end of the hole, Paddy would triple bogey and then watch Tiger tap in his birdie for a four-shot swing with two holes to play. Tiger would then finish another work week with a birdie putt on the 18^th to win his 70^th tournament on the tour and position himself, once again as the favorite going into a major with the PGA Championships next weekend.

Just when you thought that Tiger couldn’t impress, he takes out a pressure-filled eight-iron and makes the shot of the tournament. So sure, at times he may lose his cool on a bad shot. With shots he knows he can make, it’s these he counts on when the pressure is on. More often than not, we see him come up with something incredible that just makes people shake their heads. Less often, he’ll miss and that may come with a wince or even a curse.

My take, it happens less often than not and he’s entitled to be unimpressed after, time and time again, showing such perfection. It’s such a rare occurrence for him to miss that people break it apart because it’s the one thing that happens so rarely. He’s only human and he wears his emotions, win or lose, on his sleeve. It’s these emotions that push him to even attempt the shots he looks at making. He knew going into that third that he pulled the club out of his bag for one reason only…to impress. I don’t know about you, but I’m impressed. Damn…impressed.