Sports MMO… Already Out
I have no idea how this slipped by me. There is already a sports MMO out there! They even describe it as one. I only found it because I signed up to play in a local hockey league (it’s been forever since I’ve played), so I decided to check out some of the latest hockey games. NHL 09, the latest in a series of games I’ve played since NHLPA Hockey ’93 in 1992, is a friggin’ MMO!
Seriously, look at this description from the official website:
Jump into the EA SPORTS Hockey League and become part of the first console sports MMO. Take your created player online and join a team with friends, or scout for players. Featuring 6 vs. 6 online team play, the ability to level up your player, tournament brackets, and awards at the end of every season – you can become the first great name in videogame hockey.
Heck yes! I grabbed the demo of the game, which is 5 minutes of Penguins vs. Red Wings (screw you Red Wings!), and I played it for about 3 hours. Yes, 3 hours, 5 minutes at a time. They have this awesome mode that I’ve always wanted called “Be A Pro,” in which you play the same player the entire time (normally, you switch to the person with the puck). You develop your character from the AHL on up, and can take him online and play 6 on 6, with each player playing a single position the entire game.
Awesome!
Needless to say, I’m picking the full version of the game up tonight and I’ll be checking out the online part extensively. Sounds extremely cool, and is almost exactly how I would have implemented it myself from the description.
Does anyone else who visits the site have this game? I’d be happy to take some pointers and eventually play you online after I’m not miserably bad.
Unfortunately the PC version of NHL09 is actually a port of the console version of NHL08. Only XBox users get the ‘good’ version.
Honestly, I never thought it would happen. Secondly…it’s about freakin’ time. I love the concept as you described. Only downsides I see is possibly sucking hard and getting kicked off teams. Or not getting picked up at all if you have terrible stats. I’m sure they would mix in the players so you wouldn’t really notice it.
Oh…I’m talking about you signing up to play in a local hockey league.
The game? Yeah…that sounds cool, too.
In all seriousness…I wonder if the game will be anything like real life. An overabundance of wannabe centers and never being able to find a goalie to save your life. If I had time, I’d pick it up and check it out. If anything, I’ll at least check out the web site.
Congrats on playing hockey again. Being in Boston, you almost have to play, right? We have an extensive hockey culture here in Jamestown. I’d like to play again, but I really want to lose another 15 – 20 lbs. One of my friends has an old set of gear that would fit me…so maybe someday.
6 vs. 6 is massively multiplayer?
Yes, how exactly is it an MMO? Is there a persistent world that you interact with other players in? If not, it’s a lobby game (not that there’s anything wrong with lobby games).
I would say it is an MMO because you play a character along with other players that advance in skill within a general environment. Unlike lobby games where you pretty much playing yourself using tools to play the game. Of course it’s all relative.
This sentence – “Featuring 6 vs. 6 online team play, the ability to level up your player, tournament brackets, and awards at the end of every season” – pretty much gives it the MMO definition. How is that different than getting a group together, questing, getting XP and gaining loot at the end?
I could break WAR down to just being a glorified lobby game. You participate in PvE activities (the lobby) while you wait for your next game to become active (scenarios). And how are 16 vs. 16 players in scenarios really an MMO? Of course, trivializing it that much is just as wrong.
(screw you Red Wings!)
Blasphemer!
You had me at “screw you Red Wings!”
Jason (resident drunken idiot of Channel Massive)
“This sentence – “Featuring 6 vs. 6 online team play, the ability to level up your player, tournament brackets, and awards at the end of every season†– pretty much gives it the MMO definition. How is that different than getting a group together, questing, getting XP and gaining loot at the end?”
I’d say it’s roughly 2988 players short. 12 players doesn’t even come close to ‘massively’ in my book. Your book may have different pages…
Well, it’s all a question of definition. To be honest, I probably wouldn’t classify it as an MMO. An MMO to me has to have a persistent state world within which players can exist. Though avatars are persistent, and there are many thousands of them, there is no world within which this large number of players coexists.
However, if you classify Guild Wars as an MMO (which I really don’t), then NHL ’09 is also an MMO. It has all the same traits as GW plus a few (even a lobby atmosphere from which players can fire up a game).
A lot of my questions were answered in this IGN Story. You can have a team of 50 people, which should make it easy to meet tournament schedules. Don’t have a full squad, then 3 of your players can be AI. There is an advancement system that seems challenging but doable. There are roles or classes with sniper being mentioned in the article. I imagine enforcer would be one of them. It seems like a cool interpretation of the Be A Pro side of the game.
Yeah, it’s very cool. I played for a few hours last night. The advancement is mega slow in my opinion, but it’s still doable. I’m playing a defensive defenseman who happens to also score some sweet goals. I’m still trying to get more comfortable with the controls, especially when it comes to guarding people in front of the net. But it’s friggin’ fun.
Hrm, sounds pretty cool, and pretty well thought out/ implemented. And everyone knows playing Left Wing is where it’s at – everyone watches the center, but being the fast & agile LW takes them by surprise. (Oh the memories of playing!)
Oh yeah, go Hawks, Detroit can DIAF.
Vald
Am newcomer to this blog but I’d thought I’d point out that there exists an actual sports-based MMO out-there. It’s called Football Superstars (that’s actual football and not American-football). Forgotten address of website but its something along the lines of footballsuperstars.com. It looks like something I could easily enjoy as a Euro and I have signed up for access to it (right now its in Open Beta phase) not sure if asoccer-based MMO will be that appealing to anyone living across the pond though.
[...] trackback In one of those minor moments of daily synchronicity, shortly after reading the write up over on Nerfbat about NHL 09, an email hit my inbox describing another sports [...]
Hmmm..so by that definition CoD4 is now an mmo : /.
not so much.