1st NHL 360 League signups!

He spanked me, actually.

I'm now 0-3 in the new league. Ouch!

Actually, make that 0-4

Nice article on the league web site, Legion. Bastard.

So anyways, it seems to me that I am playing well, so for those of you that have played me - Any advice on improving my games would be welcome.

You know you love the women's-cut jersey picture. Pure brilliance!

Yeah, the way I'm playing. So - Our game at 9 EST tonight?

I'll be online later tonight so if anyone wants to play some games that'll work. After that, I'll be out of town skiing so I hope you girls can survive a few days without me. I know I can.

I just logged on to message you to play, and you went from playing Hexic to being offline. Bastard!

Anyone with whom I have league games yet to play available for a game between 9 EST and 11 EST tonight (Tuesday)?

Psycho and I played a league game tonight, it was a real barn-burner with the score tied at 6 going into OT. About a minute in I slapped a shot from the blue line and Naslund smacked in the rebound before his goalie could get on it. As usual, Psycho and I played a really tight game and it came down to the wire.

What's interesting is that despite the 7 - 6 score, it was actually a really defensive effort for both of us. For the most part, our goals only came when the other guy fell of position on defense or couldn't prevent the other guy from getting a clean shot. Our goalies were almost useless.

I played LiquidMercury a day ago, that one went 7-1 in my favor. My offense played strong and Garon decided that he was Patrick Roy for a day. My defense was good but Liquid's offense should have scored more from the shots they had on net. Maybe 7-4 or 7-5-ish.

I will be online tonight at around 9 or 10 EST if anyone want to play a league game with me.

Certis, sorry about last night, we were having an ice/rain/wind storm and the inty popped off for a few minutes. My system locked on the "waiting for opponent" screen and I had to reboot. I had to reboot the cable modem, too. It looked like you were still on when I finally got back online, but I couldn't tell for sure.

Certis wrote:

Yet another great battle in the Certis v. Psycho saga. With the exception of the finals from two seasons ago (during which I played like I was asleep), I don't believe we've had a bad game. Looking forward to a potential playoff rematch.

Lots of high-scoring games, I can't help but wonder if the goalies aren't good enough. Not a knock against Psycho, but all of his goals were scored in roughly the same area of the ice using similar moves. If the goalies aren't solid enough, we're going to find "high percentage" shots scoring fairly often as the league wears on.

It's an acknowledged problem as I've recently discovered. Or at least widely known. Any time you see a goal where the goalie is doing that ineffectual "shrug" animation on a blocker-side shot you pretty much got beat on a "gimme shot." Similar to the s-move of 2k3 yore, it's something that I guess the defense will have to be built upon.

From distance, or up close?

That sucks, it won't be like NFL2k5 where you could easily see someone taking advantage of an exploit.

Anywhere, really. Cross the blue line blocker side and let loose. Yes, it is slightly ridiculous, isn't it?

If a defense allows a skater to get behind or between everyone with enough room to give the goalie a shuck and jive move before firing, the shot's gonna have a pretty good chance of going in. I don't think that is unrealistic. I would also note that two of my goals came from wrap arounds with delayed shots, another from a rebound, and another from a mid-range quick release shot, leaving a grand total of two that came from simple skate-move, take-a-chance-on-a-corner shots. I don't mean to be defensive, but it sounds to me like there's an implication that I'm taking advantage of a defect in the AI. With the exception of playing better defense, I've played the same game of hockey every for as long as I've played video hockey. My offense consists of trying to beat the defense to the doorstep of the goal and giving myself as good an angle as I can get. If there is a cheap aspect to this method of play, this if the first I'm hearing of it.

Oh hell no, I'm not pointing out anyone's "cheap" play. I'm noting that it's been observed that the 360 version of the game has a distinct weakness blocker side that can be exploited.

*ColdForged reads back*

Oh, I see. Certis said your shots came from the same place and hence the defensiveness. I see your point. Note that my post wasn't trying necessarily commenting on your game. When I played you I was happy because we both play something that looks like hockey, so I have zero complaints. Hell, I have no complaints from anyone in the league, really. I was just pointing out something that others have characterized.

but it sounds to me like there's an implication that I'm taking advantage of a defect in the AI.

Didn't even cross my mind, I was speaking to the AI skill setting of the goalies, not some cheating exploit. If the goalies are set too "dumb" then we're all going to find preferred ways to score that almost never fail, it's got nothing to do with "cheating", it's simply a matter of whether or not the goalie is realistically good enough to make saves. Like I said, we were both scoring at will last night, in the old league we rarely had games where both teams scored six or more goals yet in this league people are routinely scoring 5 to 8 goals per game.

I can understand that point, but I did think your post insinuated that all my goals came from the same shot, which was not the case by a long shot. Mostly, I just want to be certain that when I finally beat you in the playoffs this year, nobody will think that it was only because of cheap play.

I can understand that point, but I did think your post insinuated that all my goals came from the same shot, which was not the case by a long shot. Mostly, I just want to be certain that when I finally beat you in the playoffs this year, nobody will think that it was only because of cheap play.

Sorry, I should have addressed this directly, I in no way shape or form thought you were playing "cheap" or something that didn't look like hockey. We had a great game and we both played well against each other, as usual. My point is it seems like we're completely out-classing the goalies with the current settings, I didn't mean to make you feel like you were being singled out. I could as easily point out my one-timers or how I tend to attack the goal as symptoms, there are certain moves I know the goalie is almost completely unable to stop on Pro.

Are we playing Pro/Sim setting right now? We might want to try All-star/Sim instead.

Certis wrote:

Alright, man. We cool.

OK, to be honest I can't see any way around this other than All-Star.

With football, you could take steps so that you were never in a position where you could take avantage of an exploit, but what can you do here, no shoot from the blocker side? Hell, I have very little control over where I am at any given time anyways!

I'll bet jacking the difficulty to SIM/All-Star would help. I have already changed my online challenges to be that level.

So Certis, were you still on last night or were you locked up or what?

So Certis, were you still on last night or were you locked up or what?

I waited for you a while and then left the living room for a bit. By the time I got back, you were off.

If we're taking an informal poll, I wouldn't mind a higher difficulty one bit.

Maybe someday games will auto-save when there is a dissconnect so you can get baack on and finish them. That was shaping up to be an intense final 12 minutes.

Hey Poly, why don't they do that?

I believe we're already on All-Star, by the way. And I love you people. Let's hug!

Yeah we're on All Star. The next step is Hall of Fame, where goalies are MADDENINGLY good, but its worth a shot. Would you rather try it now or wait for the next league?

What I see is that some nights a goalie seems to have a weakness, an exploitable weakness. In my game vs Legion, Turco's glove hand reacted like it was made of iron. Im pretty sure all 7 of his stinking goals went glove side. I pointed the flaw out and he scored once more glove side just to prove it. It was unfortunate. If I'd been paying more attention I'd have pulled him. He does great most night, but it looks like the game simulates being 'off'... or it just hates me.

or it just hates me

Oh, I'm firmly convinced there's a player hatred dice roll at the beginning of the game. And there's a regular expression search that keys on my name for a higher overall percentage opportunity for said hatred. Maybe it was for calling Bish a "hockey hating gap-toothed galoot."

Well, if we're on all-star/sim already, not much else we can do but crank up the goalie skill. Which seems like a bit much at this point, up to you guys!

I had a team of NASA scientists assist me in trying to figure out how to pull a goalie. I sent them home when one began weeping.

Clear as mud to me, that particular mechanic!

So...anyone wanna beat down the old man tonight?