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Electronic Arts (EA) has been the leader in developing sports video games since 1993. They own popular game series such as NBA Live, FIFA, NHL, Madden NFL, and NASCAR. They established themselves as the most dominant sports game developer by focusing their games to portray reality as best as technology would allow. And unlike some other companies, they don’t have any special ties to a single platform, which means that EA can release their games for the best-selling active platform.
Being a sports fan, I’ve rented and played all of their sports games for PS3 and I have nothing but great reviews for each game. The life-like gameplay and graphics are amazing, which points to how remarkable it is that our technology has evolved so quickly and to perfection. It seems like just a while ago I was playing my Super Nintendo. If I were to clean the dust that has settled on that system and play NHL 95 I would be horrified because the graphics are ridiculously bad. I love the fact that I am witnessing such a rapid progression in technology.
Lets focus in on NHL 08 . The game was released on September 13, 2007 in North America and it won Gamespot’s “Best Sports Game of 2007″ award.

Tagline: “No game is ever the same”
Covers: Eric Staal (Main), Henrik Zetterberg (Sweden), Teemu Selanne (Finland), Jaromir Jagr (Czech Republic), Mark Streit (Switzerland)
Released for: Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Windows

Game Features

Skill Stick System:The Skill Stick gave you the power to deke the goalie in NHL 07. Now you can more easily control the puck and own the 1-on-1 matchup by dekeing opposing defenseman. You can use your stick to push the puck into space and walk around your defender. Once you’re all alone in front, improved stick handling and shooting accuracy will give you the toolset to embarass the goaltender.


Improved AI: Dynamic AI adjusts to your every move both on offense and defense, challenging even the most skilled gamers. The intelligent CPU scouts your tendencies

In 1997, after hearing complaints from American viewers that hockey is not a good TV sport because the puck is too small to follow, Fox, who was still broadcasting the NHL at the time, experimented with what it called FoxTrax.  This was Fox’s name for what is more generally known as a glowing puck.  At all times during a game, the puck is highlighted no matter where it is on the ice making it extremely traceable.  Not only was the puck highlighted, but whenever a shot was taken, there would be a streaking red tail and a pop-up at the bottom of the TV screen showing the speed of the shot.  It sounds like a great idea, but this innovation failed because of protests from avid hockey fans.  Before diving deeper into the two sides, take a look at this clip for the 1997 All-Star game:

 First, to understand how the whole thing works, you need to know the technology behind it.  Here is a cross-section of a FoxTrax puck:

 To create the FoxTrax puck, a standard NHL puck was cut in half, and a tiny circuit board with a battery was placed inside. The circuit board contained motion detectors and infrared emitters.  These additional enhancements added less than one-hundredth of a gram to the original puck’s mass. The two halves were sealed with epoxy and the puck could be used for game-play. However, the battery only had a 10 minute lifespan, so at least 50 FoxTrax pucks were produced before each game. The puck was activated when it was struck by a hockey stick.
During a Fox NHL broadcast, the puck emitted infrared pulses to motion sensors located along the boards of the rink. These sensors were synchronized to the pulses. Next, infrared cameras along the rafters detected these pulses and transmitted their coordinates to a television van outside the arena. The truck contained computers that superimposed computer graphics on the puck coordinates, which could be seen by viewers at home. The visual result was a bluish glow around the puck. Unfortunately, blue

Have you ever wondered what it must feel like to be a NHL goalie?  …Well now you can experience hockey from the goalie’s point of view, without having to stop 100 MPH slap-shots.  I’d like to introduce to you the GOALIE CAM:

In this clip from December 15, 2004, Marc-Andre Fleury, goaltender for the Pittsburgh Penguins, tested out the newly created goalie cam.  Though this is not the first goalie cam to be used, it is however the first time that a camera is actually built into the goalie’s mask instead of being mounted on the outside of the helmet.  Safety problems caused the latter to be reinvented.  The new and improved NHL goalie cam was developed by Jeff Silverman, owner of Inertia Unlimited in Jacksonville, Vt.  He used the Sony XC-555 mini camera which was mounted behind a pencil-sized hole drilled below the chin of the goalie mask.  Here is a close-up of Fleury’s custom made helmet:
 
                                                 

As you can see, the camera takes up minimal space in order to be more comfortable and safe for the goalie.  Jeff Silverman stated that live footage would be captured ”with an RS-232 interface on the Sony camera, they [broadcasters] can directly control the video gain, sharpness, and iris level of the fixed-image camera from a laptop with a USB connector by using a small Global Microwave Systems 2 GHz RF transmitter mounted atop the goal.”  This would allow a network such as NBC to easily switch from the traditional camera view point in the upper level of the arena to the goalie’s point of view on the ice.
Fleury has worn the goalie cam more than anyone else in the league, but its popularity with the public will increase the number of NHL goalies who will use it.  Here is better quality clip from NBC’s goalie cam on Philadelphia Flyers’ goalie, Robert Esche:
http://mfile.akamai.com/16532/wmv/nh…am_nbc_700.asx
The NHL is d

Congratulations to the Detroit Red Wings who won their 11th Stanley Cup Championship in franchise history, holding off the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-2, on June 4th and winning the series in six games. They were the best team in hockey this year when it was all said and done. Hats off to the Penguins on a solid playoff run, in the end, the Wings were far more superior but the Pens battled right to the very end. It was a great playoffs and very exciting to watch. I’ve added a video clip summarizing the best moments of the Stanley Cup Finals, so if you missed it, take a look:


May 24: Detroit 4 - Pittsburgh 0
May 26: Detroit 3 - Pittsburgh 0
May 28: Pittsburgh 3 - Detroit 2
May 31: Detroit 2 - Pittsburgh 1
June 2: Pittsburgh 4 - Detroit 3 (3 OT)
June 4: Detroit 3 - Pittsburgh 2
Detroit wins series 4-2

Conference Quarterfinals

All of the hype in the NHL has moved from Canadian superstar Sidney Crosby to Russia’s Alexander Ovechkin. 

He is currently ranked first in the league in points (99), goals (57), points per game, game winning goals (10), and he is the primary candidate to become this year’s MVP.  Not only are his stats amazing, but actually watching the way he plays the game is very intriguing.  I guess I’m not the only one who thinks so because on March 12, 2008, Comcast SportNet’s unveiled its latest innovation, the “OvechKam.”  This is a camera dedicated to following the Washington Capitals left wing Alexander Ovechkin throughout the entire game, providing viewers with an unprecedented look at the most prolific player in the NHL today.  Take a look:

I love it!  Being a huge fan and a player, I like to focus in on the best players and observe how they skate, control, and shoot the puck, and where they position themselves on the ice at all times.  Watching the pros helps me when I play hockey because I incorporate what they do into my playing style.  The OvechKam has made it easy to follow Alexander, who my focus would be naturally geared towards because of his abilities.  Previously, it has been very easy to lose sight of a particular player, especially when he is out of the camera’s view.  But now with Comcast’s new innovation, the job is done for me. 
There are however, many critics of this idea.  The NHL is attempting to individualize the sport on its best player today and many true hockey fans hate this.  If you take a look at the video, you can clearly see that they have focused on Ovechkin in the larger screen and the actual game in the smaller screen.  A lot of people have complained that the OvechKam is not only distracting because you cannot see the game being played but also it was focused on Alexander even when he was sitting on the bench resting.  I actually thought that this was a little ridiculous as w