Nintendo Okie

Our interview series continues this week.  Today we’ve got Mike Rhinehart from 2K Sports with us to talk about the Wii exclusive hockey game NHL 2K11.  They’re definitely out making the rounds trying to make sure everyone hears about this game before it launches later in the month.  We’re going to find out exactly what it is that makes this release so special.

Thanks so much for joining us today. Can you introduce yourself to the readers and tell them how you’re associated with NHL 2K11?

My name is Mike Rhinehart and I am a senior brand manager at 2K Sports. I am lucky enough to say that I have been working on the NHL 2K franchise since its inception on the Dreamcast (for those of you that remember that far back). I have also been called “The crazy guy at 2K Sports” for whatever reason…

Last year’s version of the game received some rather lukewarm reviews for the 360 and the PS3, but the Wii version showed well. Was that the major factor behind only releasing the game on Wii this year?

NHL 2K on Wii has been our bread and butter for the last two years. It is not only our best selling version of the game, but as you mentioned it is our top rated as well. We felt it was important to focus on what was working for us this year. By doing so, the development team was able to get the most out of the Wii for NHL 2K11 that they possibly could.

Why is it so important to get the word out about the game through this pre-release tour?

The Real Hockey Experience on Wii tour for NHL 2K11 came to be because we felt strongly that people needed to play our game this year to see how special this iteration of the game is. Specifically, as a marketer I could say things like — better controls, improved graphics etc. but in reality these are things that consumers expect you to say about an annual sports release each and every year. I felt it was critical to let people try the game before release so consumers could decide for themselves that this year was a must buy game.

Is this a sort of make or break year for hockey games with 2K or could you describe it more as a rebuilding year to refresh and come back even stronger next year?

Each and every year is a make or break year for us and I mean that in the most sincere way. We treat every year as a chance to do well for the company, the 2K Sports brand, and as an opportunity to grow our audience and truly embed ourselves in the hockey community. I would not say this year is any different. In a lot of ways, I liken 2K Sports to our cover athlete Ryan Kesler. No one game is more important than another to him. He plays 100% all the time, every shift and puts himself on the line for the sake of the team, which made him an obvious choice for us this year.

What types of experiences can people who come to the events expect to see?

People who visit us on the tour are truly going to enjoy their experience. They’ll have time to play our game, get some free swag and in some instances interact with an NHL player. Next week for example, we’ll be in Detroit on August 10th and 11th with Ryan Kesler, Jack Johnson and Marty Turco. From 2K Sports’ standpoint, being able to put hockey’s greatest asset, its players, in a setting like this lets the public see what professional hockey players are really like. The guys will be playing games, talking, signing autographs and ultimately leaving some young fans with the memory of a lifetime.

What are some of the changes for this year’s game that will make it a better experience than NHL 2K10?

NHL 2K11 is special this year for several reasons. Our development team, only having one gaming console this year, was able to focus and build on what makes games great on Wii. Specifically, the Wii MotionPlus™ controls in NHL 2K11 are what truly take hockey video gaming to the next level. Stick handling, shooting and defensive stick maneuvers are all one-to-one motions this year which makes you (the gamer) feel like you are playing hockey when moving your Wii Remote™ on offense and defense. Additionally, 2K Sports allows you to “scoop” or lift the puck off the ice for some spectacular highlight reel acrobatics that you might expect from some of the NHL’s greatest players. In short, these new controls increase the scope of what can be done in video game hockey and expand the game in a way that brings as close to the real thing as you can get. We have also added a new mode to the game this year called Road to the Cup, which is a multi-player party game mode that incorporates your Mii characters you have created with the Wii. It’s a mix of mini-games, skills events, trivia and more all in an effort to garner the most fans going into the championship match. The championship match is an every man for themselves free for all in front of a netminder and one net. Essentially everyone participating is fighting for goals. Players will have a specific number of goals needed to win based on how successful a player was during the mini-games. It’s frenzied action at its best.

How different is it to create a sports title for a system like the Wii compared to the Xbox or the Playstation?

Mind you, these next few answers are coming from a marketing guy and not a developer, but creating a sports game on Wii is different in that you have a special opportunity to take advantage of a system that is, well… different if that makes sense. The Wii was designed to change the way people play video games by introducing motion controls. Keeping that in mind, our development team challenges itself in making the most of this uniqueness by developing an experience that can only be had on Wii. NHL 2K11 delivers this special experience in spades with the new one-to-one controls and the Road to the Cup mode. Our developers also went out of their way to ensure that NHL 2K11 Wii was a full-featured game, meaning online gameplay with leagues, Wii Speak support, Classic Controller support, Season Mode, Franchise mode (I think you get the picture).

What is the biggest challenge when trying to capture a sport in a video game?

I’d say one of the biggest challenges is trying to balance fun with realism. We had to be creative in finding ways to make NHL 2K11 more realistic and true to the sport, while still making sure to keep it accessible for a wide variety of users.

Is there any advantage in making a sports game that you don’t have while making games of other genres?

There are definitely some advantages, in that we get to start with last year’s game as a base, and we always have the real life NHL as inspiration for where we’d like to go with gameplay, or game modes like Franchise. At the same time though, we also deal with much shorter development cycles than most other games, and since we are based on a real life sport, we don’t have the same creative freedom, that maybe you’d have making action or story based games.

How do you try to recreate the feeling of watching a game at a stadium? Are these elements meant for the players to notice or for other watching?

We put a ton of effort into trying to make all the arenas as accurate as possible, so people that know the rink or attend games should definitely notice some of the visual subtleties in the game. On top of this though, we also try to get as many of the small details surrounding presentation done right, like the unique lighting a rink may have, getting the crowd to get louder at the right time, or certain sound effects tied to goals or other events. We hope that both the player and any spectators would take notice of this.

I’m a casual fan of hockey. I have a team that I “support” but I really only watch during the Stanley Cup playoffs. Hockey video games on the other hand have always been some of my favorite. How easy is it going to be for a casual fan to jump into the game and play?

We feel the game is very easy for casual fans to pick up and play, especially because of the multiple control schemes we support. Some people are very comfortable with the motion controls, but for those who prefer a gamepad, we have the Classic Controller as an option if you’re more traditional. We’re particularly excited this year about our new Wii MotionPlus controls, as they really give you the feeling of immersion. Despite being the most in-depth control scheme, it is still something new or casual users are going to be able to pick up and learn relatively quickly.

On the other hand, what about the game will make hockey veterans want to choose this game over any other releasing this year?

For us, attracting hardcore users really starts with gameplay. Hockey fans (and hockey video game fans) are extremely passionate about realism, and how the game plays. This year we feel that even some of the more subtle improvements in control go a very long way in improving both the feel and flow of the game. With our new Wii Motion Plus controls, we also feel we’re really giving users the best and deepest controls available in any hockey game. Beyond the basic gameplay, we also still have a full sports simulation experience, with everything from Franchise Mode to online leagues and online team play available.

Tell us a bit about the controls. I know Wii Motion Plus is supported. How will that work and what other controls options will be available for people who might feel more comfortable with a traditional game pad?

We’ve actually got quite a few different control schemes. We have our newly improved Wii MotionPlus controls, which will give you the most options and most precision over your action on the ice. We’ve also taken some of our improvements to that scheme and brought them to the basic Wii Remote + Nunchuk setup to allow you to do some of the more advanced deking even if you don’t have a Wii MotionPlus. And finally, the Classic Controller allows you to play the game in a more traditional fashion. It has three different schemes, the main one with shooting mapped to the right analog stick, a classic button based scheme, and finally a more advanced scheme that’s reminiscent of one we had in NHL 2K8 that some of our hardcore fans wanted back.

What types of online features will be available for the game this year? Any chance for things like online franchises?

One of the great things about NHL 2K11 is the ability to play almost any of our modes online. Quick Game, Pond Hockey, Mini Rink, and Franchise all allow you to invite friends to play with you directly from the Team Select screen. We also have Team-Up mode, where you lock to a single player and have multiple users connecting to the same game. And on top of that, we have a very deep online league system, with an absurd amount of statistics tracked for every single game. Another popular online feature we’ve brought back again is the ability to upload your franchise box scores to the 2K Sports website. This gives you the opportunity to blog about your season, as well as share the stats and stories with your friends, all from one central location.

When creating sports games like this do you get a lot of feedback from the people who actually play the sport? How much time goes into bringing them in to help get that authentic NHL feel?

Being able to communicate with the athletes helps a ton. It was a big reason Ryan Kesler was on our radar this year as a potential cover athlete, as he’s helped us out a lot over the past couple iterations of the game, with everything from motion capture to on-ice strategy. But a lot of guys on our development team also play the sport, something which is really important when trying to understand some of the subtleties in the gameplay.

Thanks so much for joining us today. Is there anything else you’d like to let our readers know before we leave?

We’re really excited about all of the things we’ve been able to do with NHL 2K11 this year. Everything from the enhanced controls to improved visuals to new features like Road to the Cup has created a truly unique experience that you can’t get with any other game or on any other console. We’re looking forward to everyone having a chance to try it out come August 24. See you online!

If you have the chance to get out and sample the game at one of their tour events make sure to let us know and send in some pictures.  We’ll post it all here at Nintendo Okie.  I’m looking forward to getting a chance to play this game.