As I write this I am sitting in Vancouver's Airport. My original flight which should've been leaving right now was cancelled. So I've been placed on another flight which doesn't leave till around 9am. It is currently 6:40am. Yep. I should be upset, but at the same time, if I had checked my airline at the hotel and saw it cancelled, I wouldn't have been able to jump on another flight which I was able to do by being at the airport this early. Everyone after me is on standby right now including a friend who attended this event with me, and he got here 20 mines after I did.
 | As far as the event goes, it was definitely one of the coolest experiences of my life. I've never seen this much enthusiasm about a game from other people. Likewise, I've never encountered players with this much knowledge of the sport itself. It was awesome just talking about the sport and what's been in the news in terms of transactions, contracts, and individual teams. At one point during the trip I was in a pub, just sitting back, a beer in my hand, talking to a now-friend about the NHL draft and our thoughts on it. I guess it's so strange and new to me because I don't do that stuff in Chicago at all. All of my friends are either into baseball or football and that's all. Mention hockey and they immediately start bashing the Chicago Blackhawks organization for their past antics. Although some do talk briefly about how well their draft went this year and how much their looking forward to Patrick Kane lacing his skates up and stepping onto United Center ice for the first time. |
Besides having great discussions with fellow attendees, I really enjoyed talking to the producers of the game too. We had several Q&A sessions with just about every producer on the NHL 08 team, most importantly hearing from David himself. They answered all of our questions and listened to all of our comments which was awesome. The whole team was totally into what we thought and if any changes were necessary for future releases. On top of answering questions and listening to us, they showed us all the new aspects of the game and talked about the thought process of each detail that was put into it. I have never felt this overwhelmed from a game. This game is every NHL fans dream. Seriously. It really is that insane in terms of detail and what should be in the game. Every change I wanted in 07, was answered to a T. It was crazy, almost as if they had read my mind during the production of this game. We spent almost the entire day with the team firing questions or commentary as it came to us. I remember eating lunch across from David asking him about the AI and how smart it is this time around. It was almost surreal. The coolest part of it all? They answered our questions with bright eyes and smiles as if they were having just as much fun and were into the game just as much as we were. It truly was amazing and I can't say that enough. 
After that we all headed to the ice where yours truly fell seven times since he's never laced up skates before. Needless to say I need to practice tons but now that I've fallen and overcome that fear I'm really looking forward to it. And the appreciation for what these players do every night, has grown immensely, which is weird because I looked up to them all anyway. On the ice, the producers went into depth about new features and showed demonstrations which gave us another angle into their thought process which was very cool and unique. As if that wasn't enough, defenseman Shea Weber of the Nashville Predators was there (one of my favorite players today). Shea was a part of each demonstration and also played the game a lot since he's become a big fan. Meeting Shea was definitely a huge highlight for all of us. He's one of the most down to earth players I've ever met, being all smiles and answering any questions we had, with tons of enthusiasm. I'm ordering his new EDGE jersey as soon as that baby becomes available!
From there we all went back into the gaming room and played for a really long time, testing everything on the game, trying different modes, and just getting a really good feel for the game. I can't say much at all about the game until it is released, but I can say the gameplay is amazing this time around. Total, total control of everything this year people. A brand new skating engine that actually allows you the opportunity to slow the game down to watch things develop before you make a pass. More checking and brand new physics (as seen in the video) are also in this year's release. Better and even more animations on everything, from getting boarded into a wall to a goalie making a save and covering up. The new animations and feel of the game are made evident immediately. It truly feels like a different game at times. After playing for so long I can definitely say this game is levels above NHL 07. I expected a few changes here and there, but I never expected this. You almost can't call this game NHL 08 since that usually means it's a continuation from a previous version. This is a totally new game in its own right and I can't wait to hear from you all on what you think. Large kudos goes out to the entire NHL 08 team. You guys made me smile so much during these past few days my mouth hurts. Now if only I could turn back time….ugh I can feel Monday crawling around the corner.
This is Steve and thanks for reading!!
