For gamers - A NHL 09 Preview

Mike Chen finally returned from oblivion and he's brought with him a fairly in-depth comparison of NHL 2k9 and EA Sports NHL 09. The most passage for me was his description of the "Be a Pro" gameplay:

EA's implemented a new Be A Pro feature which lets you basically be one player for an entire season. Part of the appeal of this is creating your own player, then getting drafted by a team and simulating the experience of just being that one player for the entire season. For the purposes of the demo, though, you understand the gameplay aspect of it, and I think it's actually really cool. In this case, you play as the center for the entire one-period demo (either Sidney Crosby or Henrik Zetterberg). As the center, the camera follows you regardless of where the puck is, though an arrow appears to help you with where you should be going.

This feature gives gamers a totally different understanding and context for the game...

Here's an example: on one shift, I won the faceoff back to my D; I went into an open area on the half-boards and called for a pass, then passed it off to my wing in the slot. The puck caromed around and out the zone and a big blue arrow pointed me towards where my defensive responsibilities were. I got into the the defensive zone and looked for the open Red Wing in the slot while my two Penguins defensemen covered down low. I got behind my guy, lifted his stick, then lightly checked him until the puck cleared. My pinching D was rushing the puck, so I stayed behind him, and as he broke into the zone, I stayed on the blueline to cover his position. Once he dumped the puck to a wing, he swung back around and I drove the net.

That sounds fantastic to me. Looks like I'll have to get a PS3 this September.