NHL 13 Catch-All

Canes checking in.

imbiginjapan wrote:

This looks good. The problem is I suck so bad at controlling these games. Being mostly a PC gamer I don't have much experience with either post Genesis-era sports games or modern console controllers, and generally revert to button mashing as I try to remember what button I need to push to do a certain move. Most of the time I end up icing the puck as I accidentally shoot it in yet again from behind my own red line.

No biggie! We all gotta start somewhere! Inever started playing CoD until 3 years ago. PLaying online, I was brutal. Takes practice.

I wish the Free-for-All mode would come back! It sure helps with skating and puck skills.

Coming out from the basement!!! I'll take the Oilers.

Already have this preordered. With over 100 NHL12 online games played this past year this was a no-brainer. I'm in for some league play if there's room.

Jayhawker wrote:

Then I will lay claim to the Blues.

Gah! I'll fall back to either Philly or Boston.

More St. Louis Jayhawk fans! It's pretty amazing how many of them there are.

All it takes is one decent season for the bandwagon to get its wheels going :p

Jayhawker wrote:

More St. Louis Jayhawk fans! It's pretty amazing how many of them there are.

Somebody's got to class up the joint.

I could be up for a GM Connected league.

As long as no one minds me sucking.

Well why the f*ck not!

Mr.Green wrote:

Well why the f*ck not!

Excellent! I'll pencil you in for the Leafs.

ColdForged wrote:
Mr.Green wrote:

Well why the f*ck not!

Excellent! I'll pencil you in for the Leafs.

IMAGE(http://i49.tinypic.com/spc2g1.jpg)

Mr.Green wrote:
ColdForged wrote:
Mr.Green wrote:

Well why the f*ck not!

Excellent! I'll pencil you in for the Leafs.

IMAGE(http://i49.tinypic.com/spc2g1.jpg)

Just for clarity for new guys, Green has the Habs. Unless he's really lost all patience for them, which, given they took Kaberle off our hands (!) and gave Cole half the Province's GDP, he might really have. (Smooooooch!)

If Green has any sense at all, he'd take the Sens instead.

See what I did there.

IMAGE(http://i49.tinypic.com/16j1zdj.jpg)

LooseTooth wrote:

If Green has any sense at all.

Have you seen my f*cking avatar?

Yes. This is actually my dog. No, really.

Mr.Green wrote:

IMAGE(http://i49.tinypic.com/16j1zdj.jpg)

Mon Dieu!!!

I'd be willing to give a league a shot.

Give me the Sabres.

Here's the dibs so far...

Jayhawker - Blues
Leroyog - Red Wings
ColdForged - Hurricanes
LooseTooth - Oilers
Boudreaux - Flyers or Bruins
Mr. Green - Canadiens
TheCounselor - Sabres

I messaged SwampYankee to see if he wanted in. I wold imagine he would really want the Bruins.

Looks like the demo is dropping 8/21. Let's see if we can get some more Goodjers on board. My first GWJ online league was way back with NHL 2K6. It would be fun to get some hockey going again.

Just wondering of the players in the league, what's everyone's skill level?

I've played EA NHL on and off since '92. Really started playing in 2002. But to be honest I lost interest in 2009. What they've done with the game is amazing, but I just found the speed in the game was lacking.

So to rate myself, less than Intermediate.

Seeing as ColdForged has the Canes, I guess I'll call dibs on the team I grew up rooting for...the Islanders.

The league needs at least one rebuilding project, right?

I barely played any real head to head games. I'm more of an otp guy so this will be kind of new to me

I updated the OP with the information who is calling dibs on teams, adding B Dog's choice of the Islanders.

And while I am a huge fan of rebuilding teams in all sports games, the chances of multiple seasons is pretty iffy. If I set up the league, I will try to use the shortest schedule as possible.

At the same time, I'm not calling dibs on setting up a league if anyone else has a hankering to do so. But I would gladly get something set up so we can get some games in sooner than later.

Oh, and I'm not very good. I lose most every online game I play. But I have really enjoyed the NHL series since 09.

Jayhawker wrote:

I updated the OP with the information who is calling dibs on teams, adding B Dog's choice of the Islanders.

And while I am a huge fan of rebuilding teams in all sports games, the chances of multiple seasons is pretty iffy. If I set up the league, I will try to use the shortest schedule as possible.

Understood. I was mostly being self-deprecating about my choice of team. That said, it will be fun to play with Grabner, Tavares, Okposo, Moulson, et al. And what are the odds that DiPietro gets hurt in a fictional league?

About as good as odds that Ryan Whitney gets hurt in the first 12 games. Ugh...

Out of curiosity, how would a league work? Are we talking just online play vs. each other, or the whole GM package where you manage your team, go through drafts, trades, etc.? I've played a ton of NHL12 this year but almost exclusively online head-to-head play. I know next to nothing about hockey team management. Not saying I wouldn't do it, just curious how much I'll need to temper my expectations.

And I'll just plan on Flyers if someone else would want Boston. Philly is the team I've played the most in NHL12 so I'd probably be most comfortable with them anyway.

How many people can play in a GM Connected league?

Up to 30 people can each manage their own NHL team in this multi-user NHL dynasty mode and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

With up to 30 human managed teams, the total number of players able to take part in a GM Connected league is 750. Essentially, it’s largest online dynasty mode ever in a sports game.

Five Ways to Play

1. Play against the computer

2. Play against another GM in head to head play.

3. Co-Op/Online Team Play – Have friends play with you against the computer or against another team with human-controlled players in up to 6 vs 6 action. (First time ever in a multi-user dynasty).

4. Build Your AI – New to the EA SPORTS NHL series: Control your team’s strategies with all-new systems and bias sliders. Customize and record AI sequences so that your players play your game. This can be set up so that a user who can’t make a game against another human controlled team will be able to let the CPU play for them with their strategies in place.

5. Coach Controls – Be the mastermind behind the bench and control your team’s strategies and line changes to help your team to victory. (A quick shoot button allows you to control when your team goes for goal.)

GM Connected: What’s your Role?

Users will be able to choose between one of three roles within the league, each one giving them a different way to experience the league:

The Commissioner

Each league will have one Commissioner. The Commissioner will also run a franchise in the league.

The Commissioner creates the league, manages the invitations to the league and confirms join requests. The Commish also sets up the schedule of when the games are to be played and how long each round is. The commissioner can set each round to represent between 3 days and 2 weeks, allowing for more or less playable games per round.

Once the league is up and running the Commissioner’s job isn’t done. He is the one in control of moving the schedule forward in the league by advancing the league and simulating any games that have not been played to the next round of games. Just like the real NHL, all trades and free agent signings also have to be approved by the league, which in GM Connected falls to the Commissioner.

The Commissioner is not all powerful. If he is abusing his power as Commissioner, the league’s GMs can vote to have him removed. The GM who initiates the vote, if successful, will then become Commissioner.

General Manager

A league can have between one and 30 General Managers, each vying to lead their team to success. As with previous GM modes in the EA SPORTS NHL series, a team’s GM is in charge of building the team via trades, free agent signings and the draft.

A GM can both be a player on his team as well as recruit up to twenty-four friends to play with him in co-op or Online Team Play.

Players

The role of a player is quite a bit more traditional. Marshaled by their General Manager their task is to show up at game time to play their part on the ice.

As with existing Online Team Play modes, the players in a GM Connected league can be vital in helping their team to victory, even if they’re not the ones in the boardroom making the deals. Though they might want to suggest deals if it can help them in their player role.

Staying Connected

Staying in touch with everyone in the league is important, especially with so many potential players filling out the team rosters. In GM Connected there are two different types of messaging to keep everyone in the loop.

“League News messaging is to allow people to send quick messages to the league news ‘blog’ screen. This allows people to send messages to the Commissioner, All other GMs and to players on their team,” Agostini explained via email.

Commissioners and GMs also have private mailboxes which will receive in-game emails about league activities. These activities include:

· Waiver alerts – Lets GMs know when a player is available on waivers in case they would like to claim him

· Free Agent signings – Tells GM if they have won a free agent claim

· For Commissioners it allows them to see all trades and veto or approve them which will help stop cheating in the league

· Also gives them the ability to see transactions from around the league as they happen

This messaging system will allow GMs and the Commissioner go through any actionable league related items they have, thus making it an integral part of their experience.

GM Connected Mobile App

Created specifically for GM Connected is the GM Connected Mobile App which will allow gamers to take the league with them when they leave their consoles. The app will allow them to:

· View: Team Standings, Player Stats, Schedule, Injury Report, Transactions

· Trade: Offer trades to other teams,

· Free Agents: Make offers to free agents

· Post: GMs can send messages to the Commissioner, other GMs or his team

Drafting

The Entry Draft is done though the creation of a Draft Priority List. Rather than making players sit through a long draft process we instead allow them to create a list of their draft targets before the start of the Entry Draft and allow the computer to draft for them based on the order of their picks and who remains available.

NHL 13 will have a randomize team rosters option. This will randomize the team rosters so that teams will start out relatively even. That way you can avoid arguments over who gets what team, and nobody has an automatic advantage because of the strength of the team they pick.

Here is an explanation of how the game employs its scheduling.

GM Connected uses the real NHL schedule. To play the games, the commissioner selects a "tick length," which can be anywhere from 3 days to 2 weeks I believe. The length of this tick represents actual weeks of an NHL schedule. So when you enter your GM Connected, you will see all the games your NHL team has scheduled in real life as playable during that tick.

So for example, let's say I'm the Flyers, and the commissioner sets the league tick for 2 weeks. The first time I start my GM Connected as Philly, I will see all their games on the first two weeks of the schedule, let's say October 11-25.

THU OCT 11, 2012 BRUINS FLYERS 7:00 PM
SAT OCT 13, 2012 FLYERS ISLANDERS 7:00 PM
THU OCT 18, 2012 PENGUINS FLYERS 7:00 PM
SAT OCT 20, 2012 JETS FLYERS 7:00 PM
THU OCT 25, 2012 FLYERS CANADIENS 7:30 PM

Now the game will show whether these teams are human or AI controlled, and I can play them in any order. So if the GM of the Penguins is on but the Bruins guy isn't, I can still play my game against the Penguins even though it isn't "next" on the schedule.

The length of time for advancing the tick will be informal and vary league by league. So let's say your league decides that you will advance your schedule every REAL 5 days. So you have 5 days to play all your league games and once the commish advances, any unplayed games will be simmed. The schedule will then change to October 26-November 9, and you will have all your team's games from those two weeks available to play in the next five days, and so on.

I'll take the Kings, of course....This is XBox .. right?

I think GM connected is the way to go. Managing your team won't be that difficult, editted lines can be saved.
1 thing that could make things difficult is if they include their AHL affiliate. But if anyone is having difficulty, I don't mind lending a hand.

I'd like to see it as easy as possible to create a an environment where we all can try and get online to play games with other Goodjers. Getting to fil in with games versus the CPU is something we have really appreciated in the NCAA Online dynasties. The trick is, there are a lot more games to get in, and weekly schedules are not easy to accomplish.

I think their method is pretty good. Give us a week or two of games to play, get in games versus the CPU or humans in whatever order wil work for each member. I'd like to keep it as laid back as possible, with the emphasis on providing plenty of opportunities to play guys online.

That scheduling method is awesome