NHL 2K11 - Road to the Cup By: 2K Admin Ron | Wednesday August 18 2010 Hi everyone, My name is Ben Bishop, producer for NHL 2K11, and I’m here to talk to you a little bit about our new Road to the Cup mode, as well as offer up a few extra tidbits on other new things that have been added to the game this year.
In NHL 2K10, we had the Mii Superskills mode, which allowed you to compete with your Mii characters in events themed after the Superskills Challenge at the NHL All-Star Game. It’s a lot of fun to actually see your Mii out there pulling off hockey moves like an NHL player would, so it seemed natural to try to expand that for NHL 2K11.
Road to the Cup is our biggest new game mode addition that once again pits Mii characters against one another in an attempt to earn as many fans as possible on the way to a final competition for the Stanley Cup. Players take turns by spinning a wheel that dictates what type of mini-game or event will take place, with the winner of each one earning a set number of fans. When one player gets to 1000 fans, the final event is played to determine who gets to claim the Cup. The more fans you have going into the final event, the better chance you have of winning.
Road to the Cup offers a fun alternative to the simulation hockey that you’re going to get throughout the rest of the game. It’s best played with 4 human players, but it still works well even if you’ve got only 1 or 2 other players there to join you. And if you’re on your own, don’t worry. Single players get to face-off against a Mii-styled Ryan Kesler. There are even special Mii-style appearances by Team 2K members Joe Thornton, Rick Nash, and Marty Turco too, so keep your eye out for them.
To break down the mode a little further and give you an idea of what the experience is like, here are the possible spaces you can land on when spinning the wheel during your turn:
Multiplayer – All 4 players compete at once in a fast-paced mini-game. Single Player – One player plays an All-Star Challenge mini-game based on the Skills Competition events at the NHL All-Star Game (similar to what you might remember from our Mii Superskills mode in NHL 2K10). Mini-Rink – The 4 players are randomly placed on teams and play a 2-on-2 game to 2 goals in our mini-rink environment. Trivia – Answer NHL trivia questions to earn fans, some text based, others using player headshots to identify the correct answer. +100 Fans – Get a free 100 fans. -100 Fans – Lose 100 fans.
The events take place in the various NHL arenas, with a map of North America acting as the backdrop. When you spin the wheel and land on Multiplayer, an NHL division is chosen at random, and you get to pick from one of the teams in that division, each having a different mini-game assigned to it. Single Player events take place in Carolina’s arena, where the All-Star Game will be held this year.
Here is a list of the Multiplayer events you can choose from:
Hot Streak – Skate around the ice with a colored tail trailing behind you, which is used to try and trip up opponents. Each player starts the round with 3 lives, and the last one standing wins. Barrels of Fun – Avoid barrels moving at different rates of speed all over the ice surface. Each player has 5 lives, and again, the last one standing wins. Capture Points – Hold the puck in various locations on the ice to try to “capture” that section while the other players attempt to get it away. Most points captured when time runs out wins. Graffiti Circles – Skate over colored icons scattered all over the ice that are worth up to 4 points each to turn them into your player’s color. Most points when time runs out wins. King of the Hill – Hold the puck in the circle at center ice for as long as possible while the other players try to get it away. Whoever has held the puck in the circle for the longest when time runs out wins.
And here is a list of the Single Player events:
Fastest Skater – Skate laps around the rink as quickly as possible. The better your time, the more fans you’ll earn. Be careful on the turns. Hardest Shot – Take a slap shot on an open net. The harder your shot, the more fans you’ll earn. Accuracy Shooting – Try to hit targets placed around the perimeter of an open net. The more targets hit, the more fans you’ll earn. Breakaway Challenge – You have 6 chances to go 1-on-1 against the goalie and try to score. The more goals you get, the more fans you’ll earn.
The final event is a ton of fun, and one of the best parts is that even if you didn’t do so well leading up to it, you’ll still have a chance to make a comeback and wind up winning the Cup. Overall, we’re really excited that we were able to find a more fun and in-depth way to integrate Mii characters into the game while still keeping that tie to the sport of hockey and the NHL. Whether you’re on your own or you’ve invited a few friends over, give it a shot when you feel like taking a little break from your regular action on the ice.
And finally, before wrapping this insight up, I also wanted to mention a couple other additions to the game that you might find interesting:
Winter Classic Mode We’ve continued our tradition of including the Winter Classic in our games this year, but now it’s significantly easier to get to, as now it’s a separate mode. Right off the main menu you’ll be able to select Winter Classic, and immediately be set up in Fenway Park with both Boston and Philadelphia wearing their Winter Classic uniforms. Fenway Park is also still an option during Quick Game if you’d like to play with two other teams there. And Wrigley Field is even available too if you want to go back one more year.
New Equipment We’ve done some updates to the equipment, with a specific focus on getting the goalies as accurate as possible. So you will be seeing new goalie pads from Reebok, Bauer, and Sherwood (Martin Brodeur model) in the game. We’ve also added Bauer’s popular new 9900 helmet worn by many of top NHL players, including Ryan Kesler.
In closing, we’re really looking forward to everyone getting a chance to play NHL 2K11. Even though we’re only on Wii this year, we really feel like we’ve delivered an authentic hockey experience, and with additional features like Road to the Cup, hopefully there’s a little something for everyone. Get your copy on Tuesday, August 24th!
NBA 2K10: Draft Combine, Part I By: SimBaller | Tuesday August 11 2009 Hello 2K Sports Fans!
Erick Boenisch here, Lead Feature Designer for NBA 2K10. Some of you guys may know me around the various forums as SimBaller. I’m here today to talk to you about NBA 2K10: Draft Combine. By now, I hope you’ve read through the previews that have come out via TeamXbox, Gamespot, etc. If not, don’t worry, I’ll give you the scoop below. If you have read them, you’ll find plenty of new details below to tide you over until the game is released. Before I get started, special shout out to Derrick Rose who was announced as cover athlete for NBA 2K10 Draft Combine earlier this afternoon!
So, first things first, who wants to get their hands on core NBA 2K10 game play before anyone else? If you fall into that category, we’re giving you that opportunity. As announced earlier today, you will be able to get your hands on NBA 2K10: Draft Combine on August 26 on Xbox LIVE Arcade for the Xbox 360 and September 3 for the PlayStation Network.
What we’re doing here with NBA 2K10: Draft Combine is something that no other sports game has ever really attempted. We’re letting you begin your My Player career by creating your player and participating in the NBA Draft Combine at the Attack Athletics gym in Chicago, Illinois. Once you complete the Combine, upload your player to our servers in preparation for the launch of NBA 2K10. Then when you pop in the NBA 2K10 disc and plug in your Gamertag, your player is going to be waiting for you at the NBA Draft The only question at that point will be did you perform well enough to get drafted? That question will have to wait until October 6th when NBA 2K10 is released. In the meantime, let’s see what the Draft Combine is all about, and what you can do to get yourself drafted.
The NBA Draft Combine, in a nutshell, is an on-court basketball RPG. The main idea is that you create a fringe NBA player, and attempt to train and improve his skills in hopes of getting him drafted into the NBA. The Draft Combine game is broken down into three parts:
1. Creating and customizing your player, both in terms of looks and play style. 2. Putting your player through drills to gain Skill Points that go towards increasing skills and attributes. 3. Playing in 5-on-5 Draft Combine games where you are trying to get a great Teammate Grade, complete both Offensive & Defensive objectives assigned by the 2K Insider which ultimately improve your draft stock.
Creating and Customizing Your Player:
We have greatly expanded our Create Player tools for NBA 2K10: Draft Combine. This year’s game features the deepest character creation tool any 2K Sports game has ever seen. With it you’ll be able to utilize more than 300 different signature customizations, including player-specific shooting animations, dunk and dribble packages, and more, to allow each created player to have his own unique personal style. We even created new easy-to-use tools to help you get the exact face, head, mouth, eyes, and nose that you want.
An important aspect to keep in mind when creating your player is that physical attributes play a key role in your created player’s skills. The type of player and the position your created player will play will determine which player-specific shooting animations, and which dunk and dribble packages will be available to assign to your player. A pass-first point guard will have more dribbling and passing animations to select from, whereas an athletic small forward will have more dunk packages to choose from at the start. Improving your player’s skills will unlock more animation packages. You can choose from any of the 5 positions, and then from any of the 6-8 play styles at each position:
Your starting ratings will follow suit based on your position and play style. It’s worth noting that we have given you the ability to upgrade any attributes you want, but the attributes fundamental to your position will be noticeably cheaper. For those of you who want to create a 7’3 center with Ray Allen type range, you’ve got one heck of an uphill battle!
The next thing we should talk about is Skill Points, as these are what you will be using to upgrade your player as you play through the Draft Combine. Skill points are earned in a number of ways. The primary way is through playing games. Everything from your Teammate Grade, to your Objectives, to your Individual Stats go towards calculating how many Skill Points you earn. The other main method in earning Skill Points is by participating in the drills. Both of these I will discuss below.
One important thing to know is that height plays a major role in how many Skill Points you accrue. As height is a very important commodity in the NBA, it comes at the cost of slower Skill Point accrual in NBA 2K10: Draft Combine. For those of you who want to create a max height center, you can still do that, but you’re going to be earning up to 70% fewer Skill Points than someone who creates an average size player. By the same token, if you create a player who is very small for his position, you will see a bonus added to the amount of Skill Points you receive. Truth be told, there is really a lot of strategy taking place when you begin creating your player. Put some thought into it and make sure you are making the player best suited for your style of play.
I think we can now safely move on to the spending of Skill Points. Let’s be honest, that’s the best part! Attributes are directly upgraded by the spending of your hard-earned Skill Points. The cost of upgrading an attribute is determined by two factors, your current rating at the given attribute and your play style. What that last bit means is that a Pass First Point Guard will spend less Skill Points upgrading his Ball Handle rating than a Rebounding Center. This dynamic really allows you to go your own route if you so choose, but at the same time, we reward you (with cheaper upgrade costs) for upgrading attributes core to your play style. Remember, a 7’3” center with Ray Allen range isn’t a common thing in the NBA, so it won’t be here either unless you put in endless work!
Player Drills:
Let’s change gears here and dive into just what the drills can offer your player. NBA 2K10: Draft Combine comes with 8 drills for you to choose from. These drills include: Shooting, Dribble Course, Challenge Shot, Post Offense, Post Defense, Rebounding, Attack Basket, and Stealing. Depending on the type of player you made, you may want to do the same drill two times, three times, or more if you really are focusing on those skills. Your created player is only allowed to participate in 6 total drills while at the Draft Combine, which is clearly not enough to do every single drill., so you’re going to need to strategize on how you want your player to improve.
As you play through each drill, you will gain a score based on your performance. Every drill has three tiered levels (Bronze, Silver, and Gold) that you are aiming to hit. The Bronze and Silver levels will reward your player with much-needed Skill Points, while the Gold level gives you a direct upgrade to your attributes. For example, if you manage to obtain a Gold star in Attack Basket, you will receive an attribute boost in your Layup, Dunk, Shoot in Traffic, or Vertical.
The amount of points required to achieve the goals in the drills are scaled to the player’s abilities. This means that if you are competing in the Shooting drill with a “Scoring” Shooting Guard, then the number of baskets you need to make to get a Gold star will be much higher than that of an “Athletic” Center. However, it will also be much more difficult for that Athletic Center to make a basket compared to that Scoring Shooting Guard. This really demonstrates our philosophy with the Draft Combine and My Player as a whole, which is, we’re not going to stop you from becoming the player you want to be, but we’re going to keep it very realistic. That “Athletic” Center is going to need to work considerably harder to improve his shooting ratings over a ‘Scoring” Shooting Guard.
Ok, that’s all we have time for right now. In Part II of this Insight, I will dive deeper into Draft Combine games and all the paths your player can take. I hope to have a nice surprise for you in Part II as well, but we’ll need to see if it’s a go for Thursday (when I plan to submit Part II). Until then, feel free to discuss below!
- Erick Boenisch aka SimBaller
NEXT NBA 2K10 DEVELOPER INSIGHT: “Draft Combine (PART II),” by Erick Boenisch – Thursday, August 13th
Where will the draft combine games b sold bcuz i askd a guy at gamestop and he had no idea wat i was talkn about. I also wantd 2 knw if u dont get the draft combine game and you just get 2k10 will the my player mode b the same
heyy i love everything that your doing with 2k10 this year.. its brilliant and especially since im someone who loves doing the whole create-a-player thing... and iplay ball this is just great for me
Thiz iz cool & all but correct me if im wrong..
Can u do all 6 drillz in one day & then the next the be open to another 6 drills?
Along with the game? After your 6th game..is that it? Or can you continue?
Audio By: 2K Admin Ron | Wednesday February 24 2010 Hey guys, My name is Joel Simmons, Audio Director for Major League Baseball® 2K10. We've had a really exciting year for audio and broadcast in this year’s game. From Spring Training to the World Series, MLB Today (read a previous Insight about it here if you haven’t already) presents Major League Baseball within the context of what really makes a difference in a baseball season: the stories, the statistics, the trends and analysis. From player and team leaderboards, last game and series analysis, to detailed stat splits and upcoming series promos, refreshing broadcast segments are peppered throughout the presentation and gameplay. When Evan Longoria faces Justin Verlander in a Rays-Tigers series, you'll hear he's gone 3 for 9 lifetime against Verlander, or that last year Longoria hit .294 against the Tigers at Comerica Park. In the first meeting of the year between the Giants and the Dodgers, you might hear that Los Angeles is coming off a 3-game set in which they won 2 games against the Diamondbacks in Arizona, and that last year between SF and LA, the season series was 11-7 in favor of the Dodgers.
One of the first things you’ll notice in 2K10 is the addition of John Kruk to the broadcast booth. John brings a wealth of knowledge and passion about the game of baseball and his commentary on how players and teams have been performing adds a whole new dimension to the game's presentation. Throughout the season, Gary Thorne, Steve Phillips, and John Kruk will keep you up-to-date in MLB Today with what's going on in the real baseball season. The best part is that you'll also get these same breakdowns and analysis in your season or franchise. When teams in your league or division are off to a slow start in April, or have come on hot in May, you won't have to dig through menus to find that out. If you've got a tough upcoming road trip against the Braves and the Marlins, you'll hear about it in-game. What teams have the best pitching staffs over the last 30 days as you approach the All-Star Break? We'll show you. What players have been red hot with runners in scoring position, or have been the biggest threats on the base-paths? You'll hear about that too. The new broadcast keeps you updated with team rankings over the course of the entire season, displaying rankings not only in league standings, but in all of the top stat categories too. As the season winds down, we'll show you a breakdown of the Wild Card race in each league and what teams lead or trail in that race, and by how much. You'll hear about the trends of streaking or slumping players, how Kendry Morales went 2 for 4 in his last game against the Mariners, or how Justin Morneau is coming into the game following a walk-off home run last night against the White Sox. As a whole, the new broadcast features and analysis convey a wealth of information giving you that edge of knowing what really matters as the season progresses. Like the best Major League scouts, you'll be backed with real-world knowledge as you approach each matchup and situation. With these stats and analysis at your disposal, it can give you the edge to help you to become a better player and, ultimately, take YOUR team to the World Series.
We have listened to feedback from our fans and concentrated on greatly expanding and improving the level of detail of our in-game stadium sound. This year, we've started fresh with dozens of new bat hit sound effects that are much more realistic and accurate to broadcast, revealing the location and quality of contact. How you swing the bat, whether for contact, power, or a defensive approach - this year's hitting experience sounds and feels deeper and more satisfying. Each stadium has its own unique sonic signature too. We've added over a thousand new stadium specific beats, chants, charge calls, and music clips. Our fans asked for true-to-life stadium beats and organ representation, so we modeled each stadium's organ sound to match its real-life counterpart to put you right in the stands. And for all of you Philly fans, since there is no organist in Citizen's Bank Park, there isn't one in Major League Baseball® 2K10 either. As you travel around the league throughout a season, the variety and unique character of each stadium's sound treatment provides a much more immersive experience.
We hope that everyone enjoys the new broadcast and audio presentation and are as excited about it as we are here at 2K Sports. We can't wait to hear from our fans as we find out just what the upcoming baseball season brings.
- Joel Simmons Audio Director
NEXT MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL 2K10 DEVELOPER INSIGHT: TBD
so i am not surprised to see you have an annoying web site being that you make a sports game with the worst physics i have ever had the displeasure of trying to control. as a ball player and a gamer i have never been more frustrated playing a game, i have decent stats and yet my fielder is incapable of chasing balls down in the same time the AI take and they managed to grab it and i have better stats than said fielder. also how are you going to have a center fielder have to track a fly into left field right where the left fielder is.. come on? i can go on and on about the problems with your game but you don't pay me for that, the only reason i signed up for this was so i could tell you that i will not be playing ANY 2k games until you guys start taking the time to make sure that it's worth the already bloated prices you are asking for... never again. tayntidfate
Why does the server disconnect durring the game? I continuly have an issue with the 2k servers on baseball. It doesnt allow us to finish the game or stay conntected. If I chose tampaba and play against NY yankees it locks up. I am getting really frustrated. I dont have this problem with tiger. Only baseball
Wonder what the fatigue will be set at in that flu game? Should never get above like 60. Also, I think people playing on the highest difficulty Hall of Fame should get more than others
I wonder if this is too late to add.... and I dont know if any one thought of this....but what about a jordan challenge that requires you to duplicate the success of the 1995-1996 season (72-10 regular season record, NBA champions). Im not asking for those teams to be present from that season but to take either the 1995-96 Bulls or perhaps any team in the game currently, and have the user try and duplicate this feat or if they can, better it. I like the idea of trying to do that. I've tried several times over the years to better 72 wins and the closest I have gotten is 68 wins with LA in 2K9 (no simulations either). 72 wins is really hard especially when you play on superstar level or higher. So I'm asking is this at all possible to add as a challenge? If not as a challenge, can it become trophy or recognition of some sort. I think the community would be able to really appreciate this task and challenge. Anyone who plays thru an entire 82 game season + playoffs knows it's tough to do especially without simulating. To me theres a sort of honor by playing thru every game of a season and dealing with whatever comes up. Let me know what you think.
I wonder if this is too late to add.... and I dont know if any one thought of this....but what about a jordan challenge that requires you to duplicate the success of the 1995-1996 season (72-10 regular season record, NBA champions). Im not asking for those teams to be present from that season but to take either the 1995-96 Bulls or perhaps any team in the game currently, and have the user try and duplicate this feat or if they can, better it. I like the idea of trying to do that. I've tried several times over the years to better 72 wins and the closest I have gotten is 68 wins with LA in 2K9 (no simulations either). 72 wins is really hard especially when you play on superstar level or higher. So I'm asking is this at all possible to add as a challenge? If not as a challenge, can it become trophy or recognition of some sort. I think the community would be able to really appreciate this task and challenge. Anyone who plays thru an entire 82 game season + playoffs knows it's tough to do especially without simulating. To me theres a sort of honor by playing thru every game of a season and dealing with whatever comes up. Let me know what you think.
