Speaking during an E3 demo of EA Sports’ NHL 10, producer David Littman told us of the one thing sports games were lacking the most — emotion.
“Hockey is one of the sports that has the most emotion,” he said.
He points to emotional staples of hockey events, like screaming fans banging glass or the player-on-player fights that often break out on the ice. The game will feature both. But to that last point, NHL 10 will feature fighting for the first time in years, with an interesting twist — it’s entirely in first-person.
More after the jump.
In the demo we saw, Littman used both analog sticks to throw punches, and to tug and yank on another player’s jersey. According to the NHL 10 producer, fighting is an integral part of the sport, allowing players to let off steam, to pump up the teams involved, and to act as a bit of palate cleanser for the fans. Given that, the fighting mechanic will award the winner’s team with a buff that can re-energize the team, making it more than merely gratuitous violence for violence’s sake.
Advances in the game’s A.I., and the new precision passing — which lets players use the left analog stick to have more control of the speed and direction of the puck — should have fans of last year’s game psyched for NHL 10’s release later this year. After all, it was one of the most critically acclaimed sports games of 2008, and Littman is looking to put the franchise in the same league as yearly must-haves like Madden NFL.
“We’re looking to create a dynasty,” he says.
