With a few days under the belt to give NHL 2K11 a run-through, I feel I’ve had enough time to draw up a few conclusions on the game (and the state of the franchise), thought – to be fair – I’ve yet to dive headfirst into the deeper modes (like franchise). My impressions are strictly based on exhibition gameplay (and a little online as well).

With that said, let’s get the show rolling. I’ll start with the positives…

1) Feature packed. When one looks at the state of Wii gaming as a whole, and especially Wii sports gaming, there isn’t a whole lot of depth there. NHL 2K11 is pretty loaded with features – this is the same 2K game you’ve seen on the current-gen consoles and not a Wii downgrade. Though if you’ve played NHL 2K10 on the Wii you might want to check out my number one complaint down below…

2) Road to the Cup. The biggest new feature utilizes your Mii and is a fun diversion (and can be more than that) for those who like the Mii angle. At the very least, it’s an addition to the same old mini rink and pond hockey we’ve seen year in and year out.

3) Graphics. This is a very sharp looking title on the Wii. It won’t blow you away if your used to playing PS3/Xbox 360 on your HD set, but in 480p, this game performs quite nicely.

4) Simple Gameplay. I have some issues with controls, but generally the game is easy to pick up and play. It does seem to cater more to the casual hockey fan in my opinion though.

OK, on to the bad…

1) Same ol’ same ol’. This is essentially the same gig that came out last year. I haven’t check this myself, but one 2K Sports forum user commented about the schedules in franchise being the same as last season. That’s uncalled for. I haven’t ran into that many bugs (have had players “freeze” into animations where all they do is spin around in place), but I’ve heard that many of the same ones as last year are back. Rosters seem ok in spots, but they are problematic (Huet as the starting goalie for the Blackhawks? Really?).

2) Online is a wasteland. I actually did get into a game yesterday after waiting only a couple minutes. The gameplay was smooth and effortless until a major slowdown midway through the second that essentially caused the session to disconnect. Being a ranked game, my opponent (who was up 1-0) didn’t receive a win. I wasn’t able to get into another game after that. I have signed up for a league, which filled up with 12 people. The league, called nhl2k11, seemed to be the only one filled as I write this. Only a handful of leagues have even been created.

3) Wonky controls. I hate readying myself for a one-timer only to pause while my player winds up for a point-blank slapshot – which, because of all the delay, he rarely ends up getting off anyway. I have found wrist-shots (and one-timers involving wrist-shots) to be quite problematic to pull off, maybe because they are tied to the same button. I have burned off a variety of goal scoring chances due to the game not knowing exactly what shot I was trying to do.

4) Impossible faceoffs. Maybe it’s just me, but you have to be ridiculously fast to win a faceoff, and even then it seems you end up, at best, in a scrum for the puck. I lost at least 85% of the faceoffs in every game I played.

5) Dull commentary. I know these guys work for real NHL organizations, but I’d hate for them to be calling games for my favorite team. It’s not the worst, but it just doesn’t standout, and half the fun of watching a hockey game is for the great commentary. Throw this one under No. 1 too, as it seems completely recycled from last year.

6) Gimmicky controls. Do I really need to pick up the puck on my stick when I deke, then 360 it into the net. Yeah, it’s not easy to pull off, but it’s still way easier than it would be in real life. In fact, I’ve never seen such a shot in real life…

Taken face value, with no regard for NHL 2K10 (or EA’s current series, and the upcoming NHL Slapshot for that matter), NHL 2K11 is a decent experience and emulates the game well. That’s always been the case for the series the past few years. It’s a pedestrian, but playable hockey game that will appeal to those who haven’t seen better, or don’t necesarrily care about online play (which EA’s game offers in droves). We’ve yet to see what EA offers with Slapshot though, so, for now, 2K11 remains the leader in the clubhouse on the Wii.

2K Sports’ hockey series has had an interesting life. It debuted on the Dreamcast as NHL 2K, a game that broke ground graphically and turned a few heads away from EA’s by-the-book NHL series. In later years, the 2K series actually set the standard for hockey gameplay, with the series early PS2 and Xbox installments garnering better reviews than EA’s game. The leap to next gen was ok at first, as NHL 2K7 butted heads with a much improved NHL 07. In the past few years, however, EA’s NHL series has become recognized as one of the best sports games out there and 2K couldn’t keep up. 2K10 marked the last (for now) appearance of the series on the current-gen platforms, with 2K instead opting to produce the game only for the Wii.

The game released yesterday, and from what I can tell so far, it hasn’t exactly been flying off the shelves. EA’s bringing it’s own version of hockey to the Wii in a couple weeks with NHL Slapshot, which may have something to do with it. The few diehard sports gamers that only own a Wii may be saving instead for that, especially when 2K’s series comes with a big question mark next to it – especially in light of the recent layoffs within the company.

However, a game is a game is a game and the business end of things mean nothing to a gamer if the game itself is fun to play. I’ll get into my impressions later this week, but for now check out my three-part video of the Winter Classic contest between the Bruins and Flyers (which happens to be an exclusive to 2K11).

The glitch existed throughout the entire game, only slightly hampering the overall experiance. See, I’m used to the sideline players being f’ugly compared to their counterparts on the field. I guess they just decided to disguise themselves in all black. There are some sideline shots that fully render the players (you usually see one before kickoff) but I don’t recall seeing one of the Bears sideline during this “blackout” game.

All seriousness, I’m actually enjoying my Madden franchise this year despite this and a few other flaws (notably the horrid pass protection). Anyway, if you happen to catch any glitches of this sort or any other, feel free to send me a line (philsites@thesportsgamer.com) and I may just highlight it here.

Since I couldn’t get out to the middle of the ocean (and I don’t swim well) to find some whales, I did the next best thing. I took some highlights of LeBron James in his new Miami Heat duds (from NBA 2k10 by the way…I wish I had a copy of 2K11) and slowed them down drastically for dramatic affect.

What results is a highlight video that MJ himself would be proud of. The music makes this 100 times better…

Why did I leave for awhile? Oh let’s count the ways. Actually let’s make that 1, 2, THREE jobs in the summer. I’m finishing up school as well. Hanging out with friends and family when I can. Needless to say, TSG went on the backburner. That, and as much as I love my NCAA and Madden, there are a trillion other places to go for news on those two games. Oh, and let’s also just say I haven’t had the best of luck crackin’ the code to get early release software to preview for my fantastic followers…of which there are many (urm…).

So with the summer winding down, I’ve decided on a few things. No, I’m not going to go retro. No, I’m not going to go sports gaming news. No, I’m not going to be the first to preview new sports games (though in some cases I might be the only). I’m just going to do my thing here, whenever I get a chance. I’m a sports gamer just like you and I also have a life just like you, and thats what I want this site to represent. Starting with NHL 2K11 this week, we’ll be back on. Watch out for NHL, Playstation Move and FIFA coverage in September as well. It’s going to be a fun ride!

EA will begin charging $10 for online gaming passes starting with the upcoming Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11. The vouchers will be included for free with each new game, but used game purchasers will need to shell out an additional $10 to unlock the online content.

Many websites have reported on this issue and here is EA’s official site which goes into a few specifics of the program. Instead of breaking it all down, here’s three reasons why I’m against this move…

1) The used game market has always been a way for budget-minded gamers and families to invest in this great hobby. Forcing the consumer to make up an extra $10 of the used purchase price if they want to experience the whole package is, in effect, negating the benefit. Used titles of sports games that are a handful of months old often retail for only $5-10 cheaper at places like Gamestop. This would put a used, open copy of the game at the exact price or very close to the price of a new copy (hence, wiping out the benefit in buying used). Isn’t there a way to force retailers like Gamestop to pay the companies for the sales of the used games instead of targeting each individual consumer. One may say that would drive up used game prices, but I’m not so sure. Gamestop would take a hit, but it’s not like they’d stop selling used games, essentially losing a very large chunk of their consumer base.

2) EA has been phasing out the content of online play for older games at a faster clip than in the past. Online communities in particular sports games suffer once the latest title replaces last season’s iteration. Is it fair to ask a budget gamer who purchases, say, Madden NFL 11 for $15 – after the release of Madden NFL 12 – a $10 fee to play online? Maybe a better way would be to charge $5 after, say, six months of release. Then drop the charge altogether if the servers are still running after the next year’s version releases.

3) Companies like EA are making money on microtransactions on their $60 games, money that would have never been made in past years. An extra $10 for used game online fees might seem like a legitimate argument (and it certainly is, the publisher isn’t getting any $ from the new purchaser). The problem is, this doesn’t help EA’s case and paints a greedy picture when that’s the last thing the publisher needs at this point. But those forums are blowing up right now, you better believe it.

Those three are right off the top of my head, but there are many more issues with this. You can see right on EA’s page that the internet is already fired up on this one. What is the compatibility with multiple systems in the same household, for instance? What if there are problems with the codes? What if I lost or sold my original game, then purchase it again used, do I have to pay for a new code? There are a lot of issues, but the biggest one of all to me is this…

As a long time gamer, it is easy to see this as one of many first steps into the elimination of retail games. Most gamers I know do not want to see a time in which we are downloading every game we play. We love having that display box, we love having the manuals, we love having the actual disc or cartridge. EA may be locking online play now, but what if they or other companies move forward with fees for just playing the game. I can imagine the day when you boot up a used game and are forced to play it while logged on – that way you can get treated to a screen that says “Please enter your gameplay code or pay $25 to unlock the ability to play this game”. Instead of that embarrasing scenario though, companies decide it best to save the manufacturing money and throw everything online. We’re nudging closer and closer to that each day I think. Here’s hoping I’m wrong.

After a couple weeks of hands-on gameplay with the current-gen version of 2010 FIFA World Cup, I can now convey some of my final impressions of the game. As a casual FIFA vet, having 40 games under my belt gives me a pretty good feeling about what the game offers opposed to past titles in the series and what still needs working on.

I could jump right into disecting all the gameplay aspects of FWC, but that’s pointless. There have been endless posts about what EA has included/updated/etc and those are all easy to find on the good ‘ol WWW. Instead let me take guide you through Suriname’s 2010 qualifying campaign, er, that is my qualifying campaign using Suriname.

See, the mode everyone who purchased the game (unless your big time into online footy) is to play the 2010 World Cup with their favorite country. Sure, you can just place any country into the tournament, but it’s way more fun to actually go through all the qualifying stages first. And this is where FWC truly shines.

I chose Suriname – the weakest link left in the third round of CONCACAF qualifying (they are rated a half-star in FWC). I actually wanted to take Montserrat, one of the weakest teams in the world, but, unfortunately, FWC does not include the very earliest qualifiers for the CONCACAF tournament, chosing to begin in stage 3. This might be frustrating for some who follow those smaller countries, as your essentially forced to create your own tournament with them in it, instead of starting in the nether regions of qualifying like they do in real life.

So, instead of tinkering with things, I decided just to start the real stage 3 and pick Suriname, in an effort to take them to their first World Cup ever. Now, in real life, Suriname got swamped in this group stage, but I managed to throw together a few upsets to begin qualifying, winning my first three by relatively wide margins (expectadly struggling the most with Costa Rica). On the back end, I managed two draws with Costa Rica and El Salvador while beating group weakling Haiti.

Suriname advanced to the final six - with the top three qualifying and the fourth place team getting a playoff series against a South American squad for a World Cup berth. Surprisingly, USA did not qualify out of Stage 3 – losing their final match to Trinidad & Tobago in which they needed just a draw. Canada, however, went through for the first time in years…

I definitely had my work cut out for me, but I toppled Guatemala and T&T and then got a heartbreaking draw on the road against the very tough Mexicans (managed a lucky deflection goal early on, but gave up the tying score in the waning minutes) in a game where I couldn’t generate much of an attack at all.

From there on out I managed very little the rest of the way. I struggled in two loses against Costa Rica and Canada. I lost my second game to T&T and drew with bottom feeders Guatamala. Amazingly enough I managed a 5-1 result in the rematch with Mexico, a result that proved to be quite critical later on. Unfortunately poor play against Canada and Costa Rica – in matches where a draw would have been good enough – left me one point behind T&T for fourth place.

My playoff series was against Chile, and in the first game I led 1-0 until Chile got an all-important away goal in the final minutes. Frustrated, I did nothing in the away series game – each time restarting the console (yeah I know, that’s cheap) to avoid the auto-save loss (you can’t quit, you have to forfeit). Hey, I’m not going this far with Suriname to lose a game before the World Cup!

Anyway, with this experience, I’ve seen a lot of what FWC offers. The teams play a realistic game, whether or not you agree with the specifics of the gameplay mechanics – some people like them, some people prefer PES, it’s allways been that way. See, throughout qualifying I noticed opposing teams shifting strategies and tactics, even on the fly, a lot more than in previous FIFA iterations. In those losses to Canada, the last-place team at the time, they were playing all-out desperate, and I wasn’t expecting it. Costa Rica just tended to have my number, I could never quite solve them, they were quick and wiley. Trinidad & Tobago played me much better the second time out, obviously learning from their tactical errors in the first game. Mexico, on the other hand, played like a group leader with too much of a cushion. They also played tight, especially in the second game on my turf. With a huge lead in the group in points, once they found themselves down, they started to press for goals with no worry of defense. I found huge holes, but they didn’t seem to care, with the group wrapped up for them. Chile, well, they’ve been playing like a team desperate for that World Cup berth, and even wriggling out a goal has been a near impossibility for me.

See, the gameplay mechanics are important, but to me, when it comes down to it, I want to get a real feel for the tournament. I don’t want to blow through the World Cup with any team – like I did with Vanuatu in the 2006 game. I should have to struggle a little, especially if I’m going through with a decided underdog. I definitely noticed a trend, with later group matches becoming much tougher in general as teams really dig in, with the only difference coming against a front-runner who seemed to be taking a day off. Whether it was pure coincidence, or intentional, FWC sold me on realistic difficulty without feeling false (i.e. the old rubber-band AI/forced difficulty) or out of my control. Though it’s going to be tough to beat those pesky Chileans at home…,um, speaking of that, I have a World Cup to qualify for…

According to the retailer EA will ship NHL 11 for the Xbox 360 and PS3 on September 7. The MSRP remains the expected $59.99.

NBA Live 11 will release on October 5th – the same day NBA 2K11 is now expected to release. Noticeable absent is a PSP version of the game. The PSP release of NBA Live 10 had a lot of bugs and I imagine it sold relatively poorly against the bare boned, yet playable, NBA 2K10. NBA 2K11 is also being priced at $49.99 for the PS3 and Xbox 360 according to the company’s listing.

FIFA 11 will be releasing on ever major console, including the PSP, DS and PS2. Of note – the last PS1 release was FIFA 2005, though I hate to speculate at this point. I thought many PS2 sports releases last year would be the final go around…

EA has been there from the start with the FIFA series with 2010 FIFA World Cup marking the ninth entry for the soccer franchise on the PSP. The series began on the handheld with FIFA Soccer, released just after and essentially based on the FIFA 2005 engine for Playstation 1 – the last PS1 game to release in the states. Have things changed much since then? Let’s find out…

My relative disappointment with FIFA 10 for the PSP stemmed from the fact that, no, the gameplay in the PSP series just hasn’t changed enough to warrant a new purchases year after year. However, with 2010 FIFA World Cup, the inclusion of the entire qualifying campains, World Cup and 199 national teams for the the first time ever, do add a lot of freshness to a series that was growing a bit stale on the handhelds.

This is actually the first FIFA title on the PSP that doesn’t have a PS2 counterpart, and it shows. I think the PSP games had been held back a bit by PS2 releases as both titles were caught in the backburner as EA concerned itself with the current-gen consoles.  I’m not saying the PS2 code was generally ported over, but feature additions were few and far between on those two games. The lone “major” addition to last-gen FIFA 10 was the Russian league , and, guess what? It was in both the PS2 and PSP versions. That seems proof enough that the PSP release depended a lot on what was happening with the PS2 game.

2010 FIFA World Cup didn’t get a PS2 release and it shows. The modes in the PSP version are quite similar to those included in the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions, including the solid Story of Qualifying mode (it even looks the same). Captain your country mode returns, this time with more on the line than just qualifying for the national team – you now are on the national team and have the World Cup in your sights. All the qualifiers are here and the structure and appearance of the qualification stages and the tournament itself is very similar to the console versions.

Online play is also included, but hasn’t changed a bit. It’s simply comprised of one-on-one ranked or unranked matches and is utilized through the EA Online lobbies (which I really hate, since they don’t look anything at all like the front-end presentation for the game). I got into a game that was slightly laggy, though I had the feeling I was playing someone from overseas. Unfortunately I accidentally turned the console off while I was up 3-0. Doh!

While the gameplay is still very familiar to those who have played any entry in the PSP series, there are some changes. There seems to be more ways to score as bicycle kicks have become a tad easier to perform and headers are a bit less troublesome to set up. I could be just confusing that with the scoring becoming generally easier. I took one of the world’s worst teams in Montserrat and am currently rolling up my opposition in CONCACAF qualifying. After three games I’ve scored 11 goals while blanking the opposition. Hardly realistic and hardly something that happened on FIFA 10 for me at the same difficulty settings. That said, games against top flight competition seem to be a little more competitive, with CPU players maybe relying a bit on rubber-band AI, as I found myself up early in games only to barely escape when it was all said and done.

The general feel of the game is still a bit slippy, players seem to glide even though their legs look like they are running. The precision of the current-gen console iterations doesn’t exist in this one. Despite that, those that have managed to wriggle out some fun out of the FIFA series on PSP will probably do so again. I’ve always found the FIFA series to be a blast to play on the road – when nothing else is an option – but when I’m at home, with a copy of 2010 FIFA World Cup for the PS3, I’d rather play that.

Graphically, nothing really has changed as the game looks and sounds very familiar – despite the added pageantry of the World Cup. The game awards points for partaking in the various modes and accomplishing particular goals (though you’d be hard pressed to find a list of these). You can spend the points to unlock stadiums, all-star teams and balls resembling the flags of all 199 nations.

Overall this might be the freshest FIFA package to date for Sony’s handheld and warrants a purchase if your in the market for soccer on-the-go. Even if you have FIFA 10, you may want to pick this up for the bevy of new modes and teams. If you’ve been there, done that and don’t want to do it again, well then maybe you should look away. 2010 FIFA World Cup might be one of the stronger FIFA titles on the PSP, but there is still a lot of room to improve.

OK, so in between my April 25th post on Fritz Chess, a witty back-and-forth banter with collectors on digitpress.com (if your a member, just head to the forums, go to Modern Gaming and find the title header “Rare” wii games, the discussion has really been quite enlightening for me as a casual collector) and now – eight days later, I’ve been digging up little hints here and there about what could very well be the first truly rare game for the Nintendo Wii. Heck, the only way I stumbled onto this game was when I was assembling a feature on recent board/card game simulations and how the stack up in the market.  

The first hint of obscurity comes from a Deep Silver press event held in New York. I found two websites where writers attended the event (which showcased games like Risen for the Xbox 360 and Cursed Mountain for the Wii). The company let the attendees check out Fritz Chess for the DS, and while availability for the PS3 and Wii was mentioned, nothing was released from the company. So, it seems the PS3 version was planned (it’s easy and cheap to find in Europe) but never released, while the Wii version was hardly promoed and may have stumbled off the blocks for whatever reason.

One reason might be the economy. Deep Silver Vienna, the producers of Cursed Mountain, was forced to close its doors last fall. The company also reorganized, as I could easily tell when I e-mailed Cathy Tische, the former VP of Sales and Marketing for Deep Silver, and got an automated message that she no longer works for the company. However, I was able to get ahold of Senior Producer Jon Schutts, who, while not answering my specific inquiries regarding production numbers, did admit to the game being hard to find…

“Fritz Chess was released last summer on the Nintendo DS and Wii. It is difficult to find in retail now and if I had a copy in the office, I’d send you one (unfortunately I don’t). I see Amazon lists it through other vendors, but they are asking $39.99. The game originally retailed for only $19.99.”

It’s easy to jump the gun after reading that and come up with a million reasons why the game must be rare. I have three. One, Schutts openly admits to it being difficult to find at retail. Two, he doesn’t mention the numbers (likely out of policy) because it would be compromising to the company - and those beholden to its success – to give out specific (possibly embarrasing, but, then again, who knows) reasons for the game being in short supply. Three, he doesn’t even have a copy.

But the naysayers will say this. No numbers = no proof. The potentially embarrasing admission of mass liquidation of 10,000-15,000 copies  wouldn’t make sense to go on record with. Also, the fact that you can still find the game at particular stores in Los Angeles (at least – according to a fellow collector on digitpress).

To counter though, I would say this. 10-15,000 copies, while generally scarce, is not quite that rare. However, that’s if we’re assuming all first production runs of Wii games are at least 10,000-15,000 units. Yes, it is likely more expensive per unit to have a smaller run, but if the company can’t afford a large run – and (just throwing this out there) if the company decided to halt production to save money, one could argue that they liquidated stock to major markets and decided that was it.

One last note. I did procure a copy of the game from an amazon seller when I first stumbled upon the title. The collector in me doesn’t want to open it yet, though. As of today, those three used copies Schutts mentioned being on Amazon are the only three North American versions available right now – to my knowledge – on the WWW. The lone ebay seller from last week actually moved his price up to $142 before it expired and Yesasia.com sold out whatever stock it had (or didn’t have).