Big Difference in upcoming Hockey Games

EA's NHL games will offer online play but no league's

ESPN's will have leagues...

Odd choice from EA.

Pretty much cinches it if you want to have the kind of competitive fun that the leagues bring. EGM stated that the ESPN offering is superior in other aspects as well. I played last year''s EA game on the X-Box and I found it to be very difficult to control the game, as the screen showed too small an area of the rink. ColdForged has stated that he will be starting an ESPN league, so even though I don''t follow hockey veryu closely I may pick it up to play in the GWJHL

Not to open old wounds or arguments but didn''t EA want to charge for league and tournament play in their hockey series? Not to mention all of their sports games I guess.

EDIT - Found this. EA''s Premium Pass for Xbox Live and PS2 Online.

I heard that, also. Odd strategy, alienating and angering your potential customers.

EA will not be getting my money this year. Just like last year. Just like the year before.

Swampy is correct, the second I have ESPN NHL 2K5 in my grubbies, there will be a post in here about a league for it :).

EA is going to wake up one morning and realize that ESPN and Sega have totally Female Doggo-slapped them in the middle of the night. Just like Swampy said, all they''re doing is alienating their base while the 2kX series makes great strides in their direction. Suicide.

2 people agree with a post of mine. A record.

Sanj, you gonna spend $20 of the monet Certis told me he is paying you for your article on ESPN NHL so that I can smack you down like a poorly trained puppy? I hope so, as it appears the schedules of our football teams do not coincide. But perhaps we will meet in the playoffs - NOT!

Who are you bringing to the fight? The Whalers are in North Carolina now, old man.

And it''ll be a frosty day in Hell before any league I run has anyone but me in charge of the Hurricanes :).

Whalers/Hurricanes?! <spits on floor>

I''m thinking Sabres, Flyers, or Penguins. Rangers, maybe. Lord knows I probably won''t win and roll offs for my first pick, anyways. (Stated in bitter tone)

Geez, it is approaching time to trade in the PS2 for an XBox, just to get this game and join up. Any chance you would let me bring back the Winnipeg Jets?

Any chance you would let me bring back the Winnipeg Jets? :)

If that''s possible, I''ll kill you and take them for my own. MY PRECIOUSsSssss JETSSSssSSs!

Hehe Winnipeg Jets, thats a name I haven''t heard in a long time. What was their last year 1995?

As a hockey purist I''m gonna have a hard time taking one of these new-fangled southern NHL teams. Naturally I would stick with the Predators since they are in Tennessee and actually a decent team. But the hardcore purist in me would probably take Montreal since thats the team I grew-up on (NHL 95). Regardless I am looking forward to the game?

"Eezy_Bordone" wrote:

Not to open old wounds or arguments but didn''t EA want to charge for league and tournament play in their hockey series? Not to mention all of their sports games I guess.

EDIT - Found this. EA''s Premium Pass for Xbox Live and PS2 Online.

Man, there''s a lot of EA hate in here. Sure, EA may suck at times, but this year''s Madden is fantastic, IMHO.

Lets not go overboard on the ESPN games. They''re good, but they clearly have their faults, even at $19.99. This years'' ESPN football is quite fun, but it''s far from perfect.

Also, the EA Premium Pass is free, at least for the first year.

""Get ready to experience the next evolution of Madden NFL Football. We''re unleashing an online onslaught of features to add an elite new dynamic for Xbox Live™ and PlayStation®2 online gamers, and we''re inviting you to join with the EA SPORTS™ Premium Pass. Now you can manage tournaments, climb the ranks of members-only leaderboards, and pour through more stats, more scores, more records, and more league news than ever before. And during the NFL season we'll roll out even more features with the power of web leagues! Plus, thanks to our friends at Dodge, the inaugural season of the EA SPORTS Premium Pass for Madden NFL 2005 will be FREE! ""

And to get back on topic, ESPN Hockey looks pretty good. Just think, the only place you may be able to see hockey next season is on your XBOX! Maybe that''s why EA didn''t include leagues?

edit: html skillz

Lets not go overboard on the ESPN games. They''re good, but they clearly have their faults, even at $19.99. This years'' ESPN football is quite fun, but it''s far from perfect.

I don''t think anyone was EA hating or saying ESPN was perfect, hell, have a conversation with Elysium about ESPN football and you''ll probably get so depressed you''ll cut the game up and never touch your Xbox again.

This is true. However, I have read numerous posts about people''s love hate relationship with ESPN/EA, I guess I just happened to choose this thread to give my 2 cents.

And when I say ""hate"", I mean it in the kindest most endearing way.

also, lol.

have a conversation with Elysium about ESPN football and you''ll probably get so depressed you''ll cut the game up and never touch your Xbox again.